Lemonade Stand
Strawberries. Lemonade. And local vodka. I’m so there.
Posted by: John Chandler on Jun 03, 2009 at 11:00AM
7 Comments
I got stinking drunk on Mike’s Hard Lemonade a few weeks ago and woke up with a hangover that can best be described as King Kong river-dancing on my brainpan. Vile potion! So it was with lingering memories of cranial devastation that I read a press release this morning about Hello Lovely, a blended strawberry-lemonade cocktail from local spirit purveyors Northwest Distillery, best known for its Liquid Vodka brand (which of course spelled d-o-o-m for my freeze-dried vodka operation—damn!). Owner Meghan Zonich says Hello Lovely is made from natural ingredients (local strawberries!), and there’s not a hint of high-fructose corn syrup to be found in the mix. “We launched it last summer in a limited test-market run, and the demand was overwhelming,” she tells me. Meghan also steers me to the website for some swell cocktail recipes. I suggest one with iced tea, and she seems intrigued (or at least polite).
Mmmm. Spiked strawberry-lemonade iced tea. It’ll be like Arnold Palmer crocked on the back nine at Augusta. Time to get to work. After all, it’s well past five o’clock in England, so I’d best dispatch an intern to the nearest vodka vendor posthaste.
“Hey! Sam! It’s happy hour! Hop down to the boozer and snag me a bottle of Hello Lovely! Yeah, I’ll getcha back next week, buddy, promise!”
Stay tuned.
Tags: Cocktails
Hello Lovely sounds lovely in theory, but is it a premix cocktail in a bottle or is it a strawberry lemon infused vodka? I don’t wan’t to pay $16.95 or however much for some schmancy premix cocktails. . .
P.s. Bar Pilot, I hate to break it to you but the only thing “hard” about those lemonades is the alcohol content and the hangover. If I recall correctly, they are actually malt liquor and run something like 9% by volume.
The fact that they taste all lemonady and harmless gives rise to some controversy about them being the “poor boy’s rufie” You did wake up at you own house with your clothes on correctly I hope?
After an intro like ‘I got stinking drunk on Mike’s Hard Lemonade a few weeks ago’, all bets are off…
Sparkle: Hello Lovely is indeed a premixed cocktail and it conforms to strict OLCC regulations about alcohol content. Given that Liquid Vodka is a quality product I’m willing to give HL a day in court. That is, if my freakin’ intern ever gets back with the hooch!
As for the Mike’s Hard Lemonade debacle, you’ll be happy to know I woke up in my usual spot—curled into a tiny ball on the lower OHSU tram platform.
Hey aaronski…give an old man a break. John boy has to pace himself to keep up with us youngsters. That grey hair ain’t from the booze (or at least not completely). Besides…he did qualify it by acknowledging “Mike’s” is a vile potion. Can’t have Shakespeare every time.
Next time I promise I won’t leave the rest of my six pack at your place. At least it was the punch. The lemonade stuff has a nasty acid reflux redux.
It is good that this is coming from a local manufacturer.
John- try the lime for your next brain cell sacrifice. It treads a bit lighter on the cerebellum. My fave-Mike’s Lime with a shot of Stoly’s and a twist over lot’s of ice.