I hear people complain about the sizes of drinks a lot at F&W, but for the most part I thought the size of the pours were decent. The festival is about trying new things and re-visiting your favorites, so I definitely want something more on the size of a sampler. You can always get more if you like it and if you don't, you don't have to waste your drink. I was also surprised to find that the beers seemed a lot larger than the size sounded.
Let's start with one of my absolute favorite drinks of the festival - the Citrus Thistle from Scotland. I don't really like gin all that much, but this was one of the best things I drank and I got more than one of these throughout my time at F&W. It was $10.00 so definitely not the cheapest offering at the festival, but it was a good size and made with the real deal, Hendrick's gin. I purchased this with my Tasting Sampler (more on that in Part Three) so that made it cheaper.
Pictured above is the Bunratty Meade Honey Wine from Ireland. This was a lot stronger than I anticipated but I really liked it. I was curious to try meade and I'm glad I did. I thought $5.50 wasn't bad for a glass considering the alcohol strength.
Please forgive this picture being taken on a trash can, but on this particular occasion we had trouble finding a table. My first drink in Canada was the Moosehead Radler, infused with Grapefruit, Grape and Lemon Juices. Oh my gosh so incredibly delicious! It was fruity and refreshing, but still tasted like beer, it was amazing and I think I got this two or three times at the festival. I thought $4.00 was a fair price and it seemed like a really decent amount of beer. Thankfully I discovered one liquor store (that may or may not be on the corner of my street) that sells this at home ;)
Also in Canada I tried the Neige Premiere “Apple Ice Wine” and it was really good! Another drink that was stronger than I expected but also very fruity and refreshing. I will say however, that this was the one and only time we were shocked by the size of the pour. Labeling it "wine" implied to me that it would be a glass, but this was basically a shot glass, which you can probably see by looking at the size compared to Remy. Definitely not worth $6.00.
Another high ranking favorite of mine, this is the Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer from the Brewer's Collection. This beer was fantastic and I wish I could buy this at home! I should have gotten it again. At $4.00 I thought that was a very reasonable price for a German beer.
Over in Morocco, this Moroccan Sangria gets an honorable mention! It was $6.00 and really, really good! Probably the best sangria I've had. It was fruity but also plenty alcoholic.
Up there in my favorites list is this Chilled Coffee featuring Godiva Chocolate Liqueur from Belgium. I love coffee and I love coffee with liquor in it, so what's not to love about this one? Godiva is delicious and you could taste both the coffee and the chocolate liqueur so it was perfectly flavored and balanced. Not to mention, being frozen made it an ideal beverage choice in the Florida heat. I would get this again! It was $10.00 but that's a typical price for coffee and booze, and the brand was a more expensive choice.
There were two drinks that I enjoyed in Hawaii. The first was the Florida Orange Groves Sparkling Pineapple Wine. It had a definite pineapple taste without being overpowering and it still tasted like wine and not like fruit juice. This actually reminded me of champagne or a sweeter version of prosecco. Really good and not bad at $6.00.
The second drink I enjoyed in Hawaii was the Mai Tai featuring Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum. Absolutely delicious! $9.00 is a little pricey but hey, it's Food & Wine. Cocktails in my home town will set you back $8.00-$10.00 and the only difference is they may be a little bit bigger in size. Food & Wine prices are not outrageous by any means. This may have been the least alcoholic drink I had during the festival, or maybe it just seemed that way to me after already having a drink or two before sampling this one. Still I'd get it again.
Going back to Ireland, the one and only non-alcoholic drink I purchased during the festival, but highly recommend, was the Twinings Pumpkin Chai Tea and Caramel Shake. There is however an alcoholic version, Twinings Pumpkin Chai Tea Frozen Cocktail with Caramel Vodka, that I did not try. I had read reviews that said the drinks tasted near enough the same so one was just a more expensive version. I can't comment on the accuracy of that statement, but hearing it is what made me choose the non-alcoholic version. That and tea with vodka sounded weird. The non-alcoholic version was $4.75 and the alcoholic version was $9.75.
I don't drink tea, and you could definitely taste it in this shake, but it wasn't bad. This was a perfect fall offering because it had a great pumpkin flavor, and again it being a frozen drink was perfect for the Florida heat. It was more filling than I expected, and while it seemed strange to me that this drink cost more than most of the beer offerings despite being non-alcoholic, there was a lot that went into this one and it was delicious. I'd recommend it and I would get it again.
Thank you for reading Part Two of my Food & Wine Festival Review, all about drinks! Please join me for my third and final installment where I will be reviewing the Tasting Sampler.
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