Review – Livewire Cocktails

Time to check out a new to me, bartender focused canned cocktail brand, LiveWire.

I started with Golden God who looks like a Doctor Who villain and has apricot, green tea and elderflower on top of Rye Whiskey and Brandy. GG pours white with a hint of taupe to it. Sweetened green tea hits the nose first. Both sweet and tart in flavor. Apricot reigns supreme here which leads me to believe that the brandy is a bigger player than rye. The brandy does show up after the apricot plays out. Not bad if a touch too sweet.

Tropipop is big, big on that candied coconut flavor. The pineapple comes in behind but is a clear second fiddle to the coconut. Coming in third is the rum. Which makes sense when you find out that Casa Magdelena from Guatemala is a blanco / light rum. I might have added a third flavor to tone down the coconut.

The winner is Golden God but both were a little too light on the abv and too sweet overall.

RTD Day – Acting

File this under, “Maybe you do not need to sign everything your manager gives you.”  Both Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively, who are not drinkers now have RTD’s.  Lopez with Delola and Lively with Betty Booze.

Why they couldn’t just do N/A cocktails is better left to the philosophers I guess cause I sure don’t understand. Celebrity beer, spirits or RTD’s might be super good but you have to get behind the curtain of why it is being made and then if the celebrity won’t even drink it, then that is another hurdle to jump.

Pool Shark

Not a land shark, though that would be a logical brand extension, but Pool Shark a gin cocktail from Portuguese Bend Distilling in Long Beach.

They offer PBD rum, vodka and gin cocktails. Each can is two cocktails so when you get quoted thirty bucks for two cans, remember to divide by four and not two. I am a gin fan so I went for the spicy and fruity Pool Shark.

The jalapeno spice is there but the mango cuts it down to size as does the gin and lemon. It is a bit muddy orange in complexion but hazy IPA drinkers have seen worse. This is quite tasty and it does make me want to try the Rum Punch and Suga Suga cans as well.

Death & Co. – Canned

Death & Co. the popular bi-coastal cocktail spot is in the canned cocktail game and I tried a couple of them recently.

I was kind of suspicious since both that I grabbed have quite a few ingredients listed but the D&C name drew me past that. And I was glad that I did. Both were really good. They are possibly over sweet to some but I liked the big taste of passion fruit in the Moonsail Fizz and the mint / brandy combo in the Aurora Highball. Because of the combo in the latter, I rank it a bit higher. I did see a third cocktail, that I will have to re-find.

Zaddy’s

Now here is where seltzer finally comes in handy! Zaddy’s has a new range of gin drinks that have a foot in both the canned cocktail realm and the world of seltzer. Meaning, low alcohol (4.5%) and low in the calories too.

They kindly sent me samples and here are my thoughts…

Gin Sonic – Neither the gin or the tonic shone through in the Zaddy’s take on the G&T. I get mint on the nose and a nice mojito-esque taste. This is quite refreshing but less mint and more tonic would have improved this for me.

Gin(ger) Fizz – Lovely ginger aroma to this one. A little balance of lemon to a big hit of ginger flavor is here. Again, this is a tasty drink but the gin is absent to me. I wish it would peek out a bit.

Corpse Reviver – This is my favorite of the trio. The aroma is heavenly. A smoothed fennel greets the nose. That spice with seltzer really works well. Also working in its favor is that I have never had this particular cocktail before so this is a new experience to me.

Those capsule reviews may seem harsh but that is only if you look at them as their cocktail analogues. On their own, without previous exposure to the drinks, these are solidly tasty. I would take these over a hard seltzer every day of the week.

12 Ounces Long

This new RTD is being promoted at the right time. Canned cocktails are a growing segment of beverages and one with a story and a Hollywood connection will certainly get more play. For me The Finnish Long Drink sounds like an interesting way to incorporate gin without going the staid G&T route .

Rogue Spirits Canned

Just catching up to the fact that Rogue has taken its Spirits to the next logical extension and canned cocktails. For me, the green cucumber lime is the first choice since I am a gin man with the ginger lime mule being my second choice. I am wondering where the whiskey drinks are though.

Do the Can Can

I like a good cocktail but between prices at fancy bars and the ingredients that need to be muddled at home, I don’t drink a lot.

Now if the Can Can Cocktails could work their way to L.A. from up north. I would be interested.

This White Linen sounds quite good…
“To make the White Linen we take the freshest cucumbers we can find, infuse them in high proof vodka, add gin botanicals, elderflower, lemon, a little bit of cane sugar than carbonate the whole thing in our 1000L pressure tanks.”