Mai Tai in a Can?
One thing I've noticed as I've been periodically working on my Beer Tasting 2022 project- yes, it's still ongoing here in late 2024-is how popular premixed cocktails have become in the past few years. I'm judging that popularity by how much shelf space such drinks have taken over when I'm cruising the beer aisle at the liquor store and the grocery store. What used to be maybe half a rack of larger bottles of premixed cocktail drinks has now grown into 1/4 of the beer section. And, yes, they're sold next to beer because the category has grown and diversified with new producers selling them in packs of single serving cans.
I've long been skeptical of this category. I remember when wine coolers came out in the 1980s. At first they were made with real wine and fruit juice. The idea was create a lighter, sweeter wine-drinking experience, something like a wine spritzer drink for people who found the idea of table wine too intimidating. But within a few years the makers all switched from using real wine in their drinks to using using malt liquor, i.e., beer. Thus they also became a drink for people who can't handle beer and need it sweeter.
These "malternative" beverages always struck me as fake because most are branded to imply they contain wine or hard alcohol, when really it's just beer, sugar and artificial flavors. And the category has spawned real losers. Who else remembers Zima from the early 1990s? It launched with an enormous ad campaign. My friends and I in college tried it once. Once. Once was enough. It was downright disgusting.
And while wine coolers, Zima, and other malt beverages were advertised to be enjoyed by hip young men and women, they rapidly gained a cultural stereotype as being "girly" drinks- a thing young women, or girly men, would drink because they couldn't handle traditional wine... or even traditional beer unless it's sweetened up like Kool-Aid with sugars and artificial flavors. It's alco-pop.
Thus I mostly ignored the growing presence of canned alternative drinks in the beer aisle at the liquor store and the supermarket, kind of rolling my eyes as I strolled past to get to the real drinks instead of alco-pop. But then I noticed some of these new drinks are not just beer plus sugar masquerading as something else; some of them actually contain the liquor their branding implies!
The brand of this new type that caught my eye first is Cutwater. They're a liquor distiller based in San Diego. I'll say honestly that the reason they caught my eye is because they were on sale. Yes, I always appreciate getting a bargain! 😅 And seriously, the bright yellow "SALE!" tags are eye-catching. They're designed to be eye-catching.
A week ago I bought a four-pack of Cutwater's Mai Tai premixed cocktail. The label states it's made with two kinds of rum, actual rum as opposed to, basically, beer flavored to taste like rum. Cutwater has at least half a dozen different cocktail varieties on store shelves. I picked Mai Tai to try first because it's a cocktail I enjoy drinking but is a bit fussy to make from scratch. How often do you have orgeat syrup on hand?
So, How Does it Taste?
The question, "So, how does it taste?" can be answered a few different ways- all contextualized with, "...as compared to what?"
For a premixed cocktail Cutwater Mai Tai tastes pretty good. It has legit rum flavor. It does not taste like a beer-based facsimile. It's not a fizzy drink meant to impersonate a real cocktail. With 12.5% ABV it has a pretty good hit. One can of this is like 2 medium-strong beers or 3 lighter ones.
As a competitor to an actual Mai Tai, this Cutwater drink is barely even close. It's got a couple kinds of rum, which is on track, but then it's got fruity flavors. It's closer to being another tiki rum drink, possibly a Bahama Mama, than being a Mai Tai.
That said, as a generic tiki rum drink, it's pretty darn good. Think of it as a rum punch and there's no argument. Plus, the convenience of just opening a can and pouring over ice can't be beat. It's so easy to enjoy when going out to the pool or just settling down to watch some TV in the living room.
I've long been skeptical of this category. I remember when wine coolers came out in the 1980s. At first they were made with real wine and fruit juice. The idea was create a lighter, sweeter wine-drinking experience, something like a wine spritzer drink for people who found the idea of table wine too intimidating. But within a few years the makers all switched from using real wine in their drinks to using using malt liquor, i.e., beer. Thus they also became a drink for people who can't handle beer and need it sweeter.
These "malternative" beverages always struck me as fake because most are branded to imply they contain wine or hard alcohol, when really it's just beer, sugar and artificial flavors. And the category has spawned real losers. Who else remembers Zima from the early 1990s? It launched with an enormous ad campaign. My friends and I in college tried it once. Once. Once was enough. It was downright disgusting.
And while wine coolers, Zima, and other malt beverages were advertised to be enjoyed by hip young men and women, they rapidly gained a cultural stereotype as being "girly" drinks- a thing young women, or girly men, would drink because they couldn't handle traditional wine... or even traditional beer unless it's sweetened up like Kool-Aid with sugars and artificial flavors. It's alco-pop.
Thus I mostly ignored the growing presence of canned alternative drinks in the beer aisle at the liquor store and the supermarket, kind of rolling my eyes as I strolled past to get to the real drinks instead of alco-pop. But then I noticed some of these new drinks are not just beer plus sugar masquerading as something else; some of them actually contain the liquor their branding implies!
The brand of this new type that caught my eye first is Cutwater. They're a liquor distiller based in San Diego. I'll say honestly that the reason they caught my eye is because they were on sale. Yes, I always appreciate getting a bargain! 😅 And seriously, the bright yellow "SALE!" tags are eye-catching. They're designed to be eye-catching.
A week ago I bought a four-pack of Cutwater's Mai Tai premixed cocktail. The label states it's made with two kinds of rum, actual rum as opposed to, basically, beer flavored to taste like rum. Cutwater has at least half a dozen different cocktail varieties on store shelves. I picked Mai Tai to try first because it's a cocktail I enjoy drinking but is a bit fussy to make from scratch. How often do you have orgeat syrup on hand?
So, How Does it Taste?
The question, "So, how does it taste?" can be answered a few different ways- all contextualized with, "...as compared to what?"
For a premixed cocktail Cutwater Mai Tai tastes pretty good. It has legit rum flavor. It does not taste like a beer-based facsimile. It's not a fizzy drink meant to impersonate a real cocktail. With 12.5% ABV it has a pretty good hit. One can of this is like 2 medium-strong beers or 3 lighter ones.
As a competitor to an actual Mai Tai, this Cutwater drink is barely even close. It's got a couple kinds of rum, which is on track, but then it's got fruity flavors. It's closer to being another tiki rum drink, possibly a Bahama Mama, than being a Mai Tai.
That said, as a generic tiki rum drink, it's pretty darn good. Think of it as a rum punch and there's no argument. Plus, the convenience of just opening a can and pouring over ice can't be beat. It's so easy to enjoy when going out to the pool or just settling down to watch some TV in the living room.