Still spending most of your free time at home? Here are some recommendations for your home bar, for some beverages you can enjoy without mixers.
It has not been an easy first few months of 2020, to say the least. Hundreds of millions of us (if not billions of us) are still spending most (or all) of the day at home. Why not upgrade your home bar?
There may be plenty of time and opportunities to utilize that home bar of yours for some responsible alcohol consumption. On behalf of Guilty Eats, below are 5 recommendations of beverages worth adding to your home bar.
Absolut Juice Pear & Elderflower
A popular brand of vodka produced in southern Sweden, Absolut recently added a new flavor to its Juice lineup, Absolut Juice Pear & Elderflower. This new sip-with-a-spritz blend is made with an excellent balance of Absolut Vodka and 5 percent real fruit juice, offering a bold, sweet and juicy taste of ripe pear and sunny elderflower in every sip.
At 99 calories per serving, Absolut Juice itself makes for a fantastic go-to drink for all of your upcoming virtual happy hours. The new flavor launched nationwide on April 1st, and it can be purchased via ReserveBar.com for easy delivery.
WhistlePig HomeStock Whiskey
Flaviar is a club for fine spirits enthusiasts. Launched in 2012 in Europe, the London-based company’s mission is to help everyday people build their dream home bar. Both an online-based and a real-world community, Flaviar currently ships to 35 states, offering free shipping. Participating brands include Glenfarclas, Patron, The Macallan, Lagavulin, Yamazaki, Bulleit Bourbon, Sipsmith, and Woodford Reserve. Membership is $20 monthly, as billed quarterly.
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New from Flaviar is a collaboration with WhistlePig Whiskey on “Blend Your Own Whiskey” kits as part of a live blending experiment in which they will crowd-curate a new limited edition expression called WhistlePig HomeStock. WhistlePig HomeStock will be bottled in May and 20 percent of online sales will be donated to USBG Foundation’s Bartender Emergency Assistance Program to help fund its COVID-19 Relief Grants.
Flaviar aside, WhistlePig was award the coveted “Best In Show Whiskey” title from the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
J Vineyards & Winery Brut Rosé, Russian River Valley
A great celebratory wine, the J Brut Rosé sparkles with a vibrant, pink salmon hue. Expect deep and delicious flavors of ripe strawberry, Bing cherry, blood orange, lemon meringue and hints of slivered almond and watermelon juice from this versatile bubbly.
You can pair this lively sparkling Rosé with tuna poke or grilled prawns with Meyer lemon gastrique over basmati rice. Also you can try pairing it with a cheese pairing of gruyere with strawberry mostarda or gouda with grilled peaches.
The J Brut Rosé is available for purchase on the J Vineyards & Wine website — it ships free with an order of 3+ bottles — as well as on Wine.com, Drizly and Total Wine. The vineyard also has plenty of red and white offerings if rosé isn’t normally your preferred wine option; I recommend the 2016 Strata Pinot Noir.
Blue Lotus Chai
Blue Lotus Chai is a delicious, pure, authentic spiced tea that is easy and quick to prepare, economically-available to everyone, and versatile enough to meet a variety of dietary needs. Because of its easy preparation, anyone can enjoy Blue Lotus Chai — the lone non-alcoholic entry within this list — wherever and whenever they would like. Spiritual intention, environmental responsibility, and a positive attitude of service are among the fundamental values behind the brand.
Beyond positive press from New York Times Magazine, the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune alike, Blue Lotus Chai was the Silver Award Winner in the “Tea Category” of the 2019 Sofi Awards. The product is also Non-GMO-Project Verified while carrying less caffeine than black or green leaf tea; the brand has also had a naturally-caffeine-free Rooibos Masala Chai on the market since September 2012.
Dueling Pistols Wine
Terlato Wines is reportedly the leading marketer of luxury wines in the U.S., with a global portfolio of more than 80 exceptional brands and more than 90 wines.
The Dueling Pistols brand intertwines the nine characters you will see on its labels, including the two main characters, Eli Guyot and Edward O’Rourke.
The company’s blends were created with Gen X males in mind and unlike any other top-tier wine label I can think of — or practically any beverage which immediately comes to mind — the Dueling Pistols brand has its own podcast, as launched in February 2020.
Which of these brands will you be adding to your home bar?