I don’t know about you, but I hate advertising. I have a visceral reaction to it. So much so that I voluntarily pay for “free” content to remove ads. YouTube? I pay for Premium. Podcasts? I join Patreon to support them. I refuse to listen to the radio, preferring Spotify (which I also pay for to remove ads). If you stop by my house because “you are working at one of my neighbors.” I will shut the door, and if I am handed your info, it immediately gets tossed in the trash bin. Same with the direct mail that lands in my mailbox. That hits the recycling can before I reach the house.
I just really hate advertising. Very probably this is because I’ve spent the last twenty years making ads of one sort or another to the point where I just don’t want to see them or hear them. In fact, the only places where I even see ads anymore are while watching sports on tv…and my email box.
The email ones are insidious. Most of the ones I still get are “newsletters.” You know, the ads where they pretend it is a piece of content. I say they are insidious because they are just good enough at the content part that you don’t quite want to unsubscribe. So, imagine my surprise when I opened my email a couple of months ago and saw a very intriguing thing. It was a liqueur being sold by one of the online liquor stores that I occasionally order from. It sounded delicious. I know that because, much to my chagrin, I actually read the damn thing. Before I knew it, I was searching the websites of my local liquor stores trying to see if I could buy it locally (couldn’t give the online store the satisfaction of a sale based on their sneaky advertising). And it just so happens that Total Wine carried it. I texted my wife a request to stop on her way home to pick some up. And before I knew it I had two bottles in my possession (she misread my text).
So, what is this liqueur that caused me to almost break my commitment to not letting advertising work on me? It is called Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur. And let me tell you, it is delicious. But before we get into that, let’s see what the producer has to say about it:
Vine to bottle. When we were experimenting with chinola (passion fruit), our ultimate goal was to make an all-natural liqueur that still possessed the aromatic fragrance and taste profile of raw passion fruit juice. As our product came to life, it felt fitting to name the liqueur after this sacred Dominican fruit, to honor its origin and forever create memories of sipping chinola-inspired cocktails on the beaches of the Dominican Republic. CHINOLA liqueur is a handcrafted beverage made from distilled spirits and real passion fruit. Through our unique blend and proprietary formulation, we have created a ‘natural’ liqueur with unparalleled taste and versatility. It can be consumed by itself or mixed with any base spirit into top quality cocktails.
Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur
Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Eagan, MN.
Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.00
Details: 21% ABV
Nose: Passion fruit, pineapple, and citrus.
Mouth: Thick and syrupy with tart passion fruit notes.
Finish: Tart and tangy and warmer than I had expected.
Thoughts: This is my new favorite cocktail ingredient. It adds depth to any drink that calls for citrus juice. It tastes good enough to drink straight, but it is a bit too thick for my tastes when on its own. But as far as a cocktail goes? I’ve tried it with every spirit I can think of and it works wonderfully with all of them. I started out with the Chinola Daiquiri that is on their website. That was tasty enough that I needed to send my second bottle home with my daughter when she and her fiance visited because they loved the cocktail. Then I added it along with the lemon juice in a Whiskey Sour. I’m not usually a fan of Whiskey Sours because I find them a bit thin in the mouth. But the Chinola added both depth of flavor and a nicer mouthfeel. Last night, in preparation for this post, I added it to a Margarita on the Rocks for my wife, and she loved it. I added some to a Gin Ricky, and it paired very nicely with the floral gin. All in all, if you like passion fruit, buy this. If you like citrus cocktails, buy this.
I think I’m in love.
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