20 Apr Lunch in a bottle? Introducing PB&J vodka
Just when you thought all of your favourite foods had their corresponding alcoholic counterparts, a vodka version of America’s most beloved childhood sandwich rounded out the list.
According to BarBiz mag, Dutch distillery Van Gogh Vodka has added PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) to its lineup of creatively-flavoured vodkas, which includes Dutch chocolate and double espresso. Equal parts innocence and mischief, PB&J is sure to be a hit among the college crowd now that it’s available in liquor stores.
After several rounds of taste testing, Van Gogh’s master distiller, Tim Vos, named raspberry his best flavour for the mix: “For me, the raspberry jelly came out the best,” Vos told BarBiz. “It is fresh, fruity and mingles very well with the oily structure of the peanut butter.”
Apparently the liquor tastes primarily like jelly with subtle undertones of vanilla, but smells overwhelmingly like peanuts.
Though the flavoured liquor trend seems to have exploded recently, distillers started capitalising on vodka’s potential in the 1980s, Fox News reports. At first the flavours were pretty tame. A little lemon, pepper, cherry. Nothing too dramatic. But thanks to the Cosmo-swigging cocktail culture popularised in part by Sex and the City, more and more offbeat flavours — Bubble gum? Salmon? Bacon? — started entering the market in the past few years.
Source: Newsfeed.time.com
This weird flavour stuff may be getting tough to swallow in 2012….
Like BLT potato chips. PB&J vodka. Birthday cake Oreos. Tacos made of Doritos. Rainbow sherbet gum. And, for the strong of stomach, bacon milkshakes.
At issue: Are marketers reaching to the very limits of their powers to extend and differentiate their brands in order to attract attention and ring up sales in very tough times, or have America’s taste buds really become this whacky?