Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we primarily chronicle and evaluation beers, however gladly broaden that scope to any drink (or food) that sets well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough scotch.
Jim Beam requires no intro. It’s like Honda or Budweiser, a staple of its market and ever-present anyplace you go.
The Kentucky bourbon hasactually been around consideringthat the 1700s, developing gradually, then extremely rapidly as scotch suffered through downswings (prohibition, the 1980s) before blowingup. But simply making a good bourbon isn’t enough in a landscape where tough seltzers and legal marijuana are gobbling up market share. So Jim Beam is leaping into the canned mixeddrink area.
Well, the “malt drink” area. I’m not sure there’s any real bourbon included in the brandname’s Kentucky Coolers, and it turns out it’s quite much difficult to discover a complete activeingredients list online. So you get platitudes about “bourbon taste” and “bourbon notes” however absolutelynothing that states “YES, THERE’S ACTUAL JIM BEAM BOURBON IN HERE.” Which, not to get all Tommy Boy on you, is a assurance I would like to see on the can.
Maybe that’s simply semantics, however Absolut’s mashups with Ocean Spray guarantee real vodka in each can. “Malt drink,” too typically, is the world of neutral spirits. That’s not always a bad thing, however if I’m drinking Jim Beam branded items I would actually like to be able to taste the Jim Beam within.
Will Kentucky Coolers come through inspiteof their obtuse labeling? Let’s discover out.
It puts without carbonation and smells completely enjoyable. It’s mainly citrus, however dig deep and you get a little bit of that blueberry taste. Blueberry is greatly underrepresented on the canned mixeddrink spectrum, so I’m delighted for a little taste of a remarkable fruit.
The veryfirst sip is familiar. A little underwhelming at veryfirst — it tastes a lot like other canned mixeddrinks. Then the light existing of blueberry kicks in. It’s verylittle, however it makes a distinction, lifting this from average to… well, not terrific, however muchbetter. The beverage itself is light and sweet, though you wouldn’t be able to inform there’s Jim Beam on there from sip to sip.
That’s not a bad thing — I like Jim Beam, however a 120 calorie canned mixeddrink is intended particularly at a market that sorta doesn’t. It’s simple to beverage and brings that lemon-blueberry mantle well, Not subduing, however not boozy, either. It’s a strong mixeddrink beverage. I’m pounding one throughout a dream football draft and it’s doing its task.
It puts white and somewhat cloudy with simply a little carbonation. It’s got a particular peach ring odor to it that’s sweet however not frustrating.
There’s a minor firmness to it that makes it stand out from comparable mixeddrinks. An inadvance… not rather boozy sharpness that lets you understand it’s not a soda. From there, the peach kicks in to smooth things out and that light carbonation leads to a stabilized surface. That peach isn’t subduing and the sweettaste inside is managed with a light touch, leaving it midway inbetween a syrupy tough tea-type beverage and a tough seltzer.
Rather, thinkof a tough seltzer with more taste. That’s where Crush Peach lands, neverever blowing you away however offering enough to keep you coming back. It’s crisp and a little dry towards the end, which is right where I desire to be with a canned mixeddrink. Or, in this case, a “malt drink with natural tastes.”
There’s something about that surface — a little salt, a little tart — that makes this appealing. It’s not pe