Brass Monkey, A Trip Down Memory Lane
Written: Oct 26 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Almost as I remembered.
Cons: I am not 18 any more.
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| cmuir's Full Review: Mothers Sour Strawberry Schnapps |
This review is not on the liqueur shown here, but on a premixed cocktail called Brass Monkey. Now, before you get your panties in a bunch, please keep reading. You may just find yourself taking a little trip down memory lane also..
My 42nd birthday was just over a week ago, and on my weekly liquor store trip, I was feeling a bit nostalgic. When I was 18, so many years ago, the drinking age in the closely neighboring state of New York, was 18. So several road trips were made, over the state line, where I was of legal age to drink. We used to visit the 2001 Club in Jamestown, New York. That is where I was first introduced to Brass Monkey. I know, you are all saying, you have got to be kidding? But please keep in mind how many years ago that was, didn’t we all have to start our refined taste buds with something?
Anyway, since I was feeling a bit like reminiscing today, I picked up a bottle, to see if it was what I remembered. Brass Monkey is made by Heublein’s Club Cocktails in Stamford Connecticut. “The Club”, as it is called makes a large variety of premixed cocktails. Upon doing a bit of research, that of course I wouldn’t have cared about when I was 18, I came up with the following information.
The Heublein Company has a long and rich history. First founded in 1875 in Hartford Connecticut, in 1892 began to market premixed drinks such as Martinis and Brandy Alexanders. During the prohibition the company stayed in business by making and selling A-1 Steak Sauce.
In 1971, this premix cocktail company purchased Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The company now known as R.J. Reynolds, purchased the entire company in 1982. And in 1987 they sold the company, minus the KFC to BritainÆÆs Grand Metropolitan for $1.2 billion.
Now know as United Distillers and Vintners, The Club Cocktails are still made by a division of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness Brewing. Smirnoff Vodka, Popov Vodka and premixes for the TGI Friday’s are also made by this company. While they did fall into a 15 year decline during the early 1980's, they are now making comeback.
Yes, Brass Monkey is known as a girly drink, but I was and still am a girl. Maybe not age wise, but in spirit. While Jack Daniels and Pennsylvania Wines are my preference now, I hope you will indulge me on my little trip down memory lane. Upon reading the label on my purchase, I find that the ingredients are listed as “rum, vodka, natural flavors and certified colors”. I suppose as to uncertified colors? It is a whopping 32 proof, which at 18 was quite a bit, being the inexperienced drinker that I was.
Brass Monkey used to come in a brown bottle, I do know this was true up until several months ago. It is entirely possible that there was more than one company making a Brass Monkey premix, but this is the only one available now. The “new” Brass Monkey now comes in a clear bottle with an orange and black label, with white and orange lettering. It is also recommended to serve this chilled or over ice.
While my memory of what Brass Monkey used to taste and look like, is quite faded, the “new” Brass Monkey is similar in color to weakly made Tang or the insides of an uncooked winter squash. Rather a light orange/yellow in color. For some reason, I remember it being more of a lemonade looking color.
When unscrewing the cap and smelling, it smells like slightly weak orange juice. Uh oh, the Brass Monkey from my youth, was a sour, lemony type drink. This may be completely different. The trip down memory lane may just have come to an abrupt halt or at least hit several very large potholes.
I dutifully filled my glass with ice. While I am using a real glass here, my memories of this include a plastic cup from the bar. I hope this doesn’t throw the few memories I have left all out of wack. All right, by pouring this into the glass, I now have replaced weak Tang, with a rather dark colored Mountain Dew look. This road may be getting a little smoother, although maybe not completely, still smells like weak OJ. The viscosity of this is like water, of course I did not chill this first, but just added some ice to my glass, it may get a little thicker when chilled, but it can not be much.
Now for the real test, the taste! It is at first very sweet, then turns sour. Thank god!! I was hoping this entire trip was not going to have to take a detour. Okay, now that I got that out of the way, let me delve a little deeper here. This reminds me of drinking a sours drink. More like a Tom Collins, which is made from Gin, lemon juice, a sugar syrup and club soda. I can definitely taste the sours mix in this, which is rather sour lemon flavored. The sugar syrup does make a sweet appearance. But there is no fizz of the club soda. There is no alcohol taste to this at all, which is what I remembered also. Well, even though the packaging has changed, the taste remains pretty much the same. Which in my experiences, haven't most of us had a change in packaging? But many things remain the same?
The aftertaste will leave a slightly bitter, lemon rind taste in your mouth. But that does fade quickly, and is not terribly unpleasant.
All in all, if you enjoy sours drinks, you will probably like this. I do still enjoy a sours drink once in a while, and this will cure my cravings for any such drink for quite some time. It is only $6.99 per fifth, but since it is a premix, you will not be adding any mixer to it. A fifth will not last for long, but that is probably all I will be able to take anyway at this stage of my little trip. It is just a convenient way to have a sours drink, if you do not want to mess around with mixers, this premix is the way to go.
As for food pairing, I think this would match any barbecue or bar type foods. For my little trip, I included a burger and fries. This is certainly not a gourmet type food accompaniment, but for simple foods, it will be fine.
And I would highly recommend to anyone writing wine, beer or liqueur reviews here at Epinions, to take their own little trip down memory lane. It amazes me, that so much time has passed since I was 18, sometimes it certainly doesn’t feel like it. And that my tastes and preferences in liqueurs, wine and men have changed so much. Maybe birthday’s just make you feel like reliving your youth a bit, and in this case I was not too terribly disappointed in the trip.
Recommended:
Yes
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