Taste Cocktails aim is to “help you make bar-quality cocktails at home”, which they do by posting you mixer sets with either a monthly subscription or one-off service.
Each box contains enough to make 5 – 6 drinks, and a recipe guide for three cocktails to make with your bottled goods. You’ll need to find the non-alcoholic ingredients / mixers yourself. This box is just about the booze.
The recipe book gives you a bit of info and history about the cocktail and the ingredients. Taste also have an online magazine that provides more details about the stuff you’re drinking!
The guide requires that you have a number of things not included in the box. For these cocktails, I needed to provide lemon juice and peel, orange peel and cloves. You also need a cocktail shaker which, fortunately, I have. If you don’t have the shaker, or if you’re looking to kit yourself out with a cabinet full of cocktail paraphenalia, then Taste can also help you out with that.
The three cocktails are The Sidecar, The Christmas Sidecar and Desir Noir. The guide tells us that they are Parisien cocktails usually made with Cognac, but in this case, they’ve used Armagnac. They’ve also included Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, and chocolate & ginger liqueurs.
First up is the original, the Sidecar.
Armagnac, triple sec and lemon juice shaken with ice then poured and served with lemon peel to garnish. The ladies (Emma & Rachel) loved this. They both love citrusy drinks and this delivered that well without being too acidic. It also packs a punch. This is for sipping, unless you’re in a hurry to get tipsy.
Now, this was more my thing. Essentially the same but with fresh orange instead of lemon, and with the addition of cloves and ginger liqueur. Again, super kick to this drink, but it had a lovely mix of flavours which created the Christmassy atmosphere that it promised.
Armagnac, Grand Marnier, cacao liqueur and orange peel. All alcohol, no mixer. This was the strongest of the bunch and scared off the ladies with its intensity. I’d imagined a chocolatey orange flavour to this, but it didn’t quite come across like that. Perhaps a little too strong a flavour for my tastes.
After trying out each of the three combinations, there was still plenty of the ingredients left over to either make further of the cocktails listed, or to experiment with myself.
The boxes work at as around £24 per month if you subscribe with no tie-ins or commitments. If you like, you can order specific cocktail boxes from previous months but the price for that bumps up to £29. It’s perhaps a little pricy for the casual tippler but if you’re serious about experimenting with cocktails then you can visit Taste Cocktails for more info.
I like the concept of this but a little to pricy for me, could make a good gift for someone as something different x
oh wow yes this sounds great and I would be more than happy tosample them all
Now THIS sounds like my kind of subscription box! I’m a bit disappointed by how much you have to add yourself. I would expect a shaker in your first box at the very least.
Though I think it is quite pricey, it is an interesting idea!
Now this is my kind of subscription – I love cocktails
Wow, I am loving this concept. You have just solved my birthday present issues for my younger sister. This will be a big hit I’m sure
I love cocktails and this would at least save having to buy loads of big bottles of spirits. Would be a good gift for a party.