Zima and Jolly Ranchers

Melissa DeCicco
4400 days ago.

Oh, the memories! I have been seeing articles, most recently on stltoday.com citing the return of the ‘Malternative’ beverage. I admit, I had to look up what the heck they were talking about. I now know, it is another word for alternative beverages, malt beverages, or just in general an alternative to real beer with a taste more in line with liquor.  I happen to be a beer lover…maybe not in the die-hard sense but I like to try different beers and brewers. I do, however, always fall back on Bud Light so take it for what it’s worth.

I am intrigued by the return of these types of beverages even though they are generally too sweet to drink in excess for me. These are the beverages like hard lemonade, woodchuck, hard iced tea, and mojito flavored drinks. Does anyone else remember when it was all the rage to put a jolly rancher in their Zima…that was really tasty!  Either way, with beer sales slipping I am sure new trends will begin to arise.  A-B is planning a Bud Light Lime-A-Rita next month which is a spin off of Bud Light Lime and margaritas.  Maybe we can line the tops of the bottles with salt (maybe that needs more work).  In addition, A-B plans an Arnold Palmer type drink and a Michelob Ultra light Cider.  Coors in the meantime is rolling out Twisted Tea.

In my opinion, this is similar to the other trends like flavored vodka that will likely be short lived.  Or it will live on in the drinking stories of underage people who simply need a stepping stone to harder alcohol in order to get drunk.  I am certainly not condoning underage drinking but this seems to be similar to the Joe Camel of alcohol or at least the potential precursor (maybe I am overreacting).   I am really tired of seeing the shelves lined with a million options of sugary alcoholic drinks.  It has become unnecessarily overwhelming.  I think beer and traditional hard liquor are the only classics that will survive the ages.

Do you plan to jump on the ‘malternative’ drink bandwagon?  Are all these crazy new drinks necessary?

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Photo courtesy of the Chicagoist
 

Melissa DeCicco

Melissa is a wiz at crazy facial expressions, golfs at every chance possible, and loves super uncomfortable shoes. A dedicated Dolly Parton fan, she purchased Dollywood season passes several years in a row (it’s 500 miles away) and finally met her in 2004 – she ROCKS!

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