Having a NÜTRL at Yankee Stadium May 22, 2025

What's up peeps!!!! I recently went to the Yankees vs Rangers game at Yankee Stadium with my daughter Jordan. Since I was going to the game with work on the next day, I didn't want to have anything too heavy to drink. A hard seltzer always is a good choice. 

For those who don't know, it has been almost three years since I left the bar business. In the last five years I worked in Brooklyn, hard seltzer was the craze. It seemed as if every beer brand was trying their hand at cracking into the hard seltzer arena that was led by White Claw and Truly. To say that I am out of the loop in the last three years is an understatement. Now you have hard juices, hard kombucha, Aguas frescas, hard iced tea with vodka and other combinations. Back to Yankee Stadium.

They've really done a good job at the Stadium to provide alternatives to their current beer selections. I came across and decided to try two of the NÜTRL cans that you can see in the picture to the right. NÜTRL is a vodka seltzer that contains real juice and is sold by Anheuser-Busch InBev. There are three different types of NÜTRL blends: Fruit Juice, Lemonade and Cranberry. In each of the three there are a number of flavors available for a total of 14 flavors. Each NÜTRL clocks in at 4.5% ABV. From the Fruit Juice blend I purchased an Orange and Pineapple. What did I think? 

First the Orange. I can describe it with one word: DANGEROUS. It tastes like a blend of Orange Fanta and Hi-C and it is very chuggable and crushable. It just goes down nice and easy. Luckily the cans have this unique cap that you can reclose and when open, leaves a smaller drink hole than you would get with your standard beer can. I found that it made it harder to chug. I'm not sure if that is by design, but if it was it works in limiting the amount you can suck down in one chug. Now the Pineapple. 

I love the taste of Pineapple soda. I was looking forward to this one meeting the expectation of Pineapple soda. It did not. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't bad. But I felt as if the Pineapple had a weird aftertaste on my palate. I actually never finished it. I gave it to Jordan for her to finish. I'll have to keep an eye out for all of the other NÜTRL selections. Have any of you had any of these before? What did you think. Let me know in the comments box. 

For my next post, I have another hard vodka seltzer that I purchased at the Stadium but my daughter drank it: Suntory -198. Keep an eye out for it. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,

SiscoVanilla
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What Is The Oaks Lilly Cocktail May 7, 2025

Welcome back folks. In my last post How Many Mint Juleps Are Served At The Kentucky Derby May 5, 2025, I took a look at the classic cocktail of the Kentucky Derby: The Mint Julep. In researching the Mint Julep, I came across of a second cocktail that is very popular at Churchill Downs known as the Oaks Lilly. 

The Oaks Lilly is the official cocktail of the Kentucy Oaks race that takes place on the day before the Kentucky Derby. According to the article What is an Oaks Lily? Here's how to make the official drink of the Kentucky Oaks by Amanda Hancock, Louisville Courier Journal from MSN.com dated February 5, 2025

"The Oaks Lily draws influence from the Cosmopolitan, according to the cocktail's inventor, Tim Laird. Known as America’s chief entertaining officer, Baird brought pink to the drink as a reference to the long-running Kentucky Oaks tradition of stargazer lilies. The blushing flowers are draped over the winning filly’s shoulders after the Longines Kentucky Oaks"

So how is it made? Here is the official recipe

Finlandia Oaks Lily Cocktail

The official drink of the Kentucky Oaks. Serves 1

1 1/4 ounces Finlandia Vodka
1 ounce sweet and sour mix
1/4 ounce triple sec
3 ounces cranberry juice

Mix the ingredients and pour them into a stemless wine glass with crushed ice. Add a straw and garnish with a blackberry and lemon wedge.

The photo of the Finlandia Oaks Lilly cocktail comes © Courtesy of Churchill Downs Racetrack. 

I can definitely see the Cosmopolitan influence on this cocktail. It sounds like it can be delicious and refreshing on a hot summer's day. Have you had it? Like it? Hate it? Don't really care about it? Let me know in the comments.

I'm working on a couple of new posts. Keep an eye out for it. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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How Many Mint Juleps Are Served At The Kentucky Derby May 5, 2025

What's up mi gente. I know today is the 5th of May aka Cinco de Mayo aka Cinco de Drinko. Instead of focusing on this made-up obnoxious drinking holiday, I'm going to focus on the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby: The Mint Julep. The 2025 edition of "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" is in the books and I was thinking to myself: How Many Mint Jules are sold at Churchill Downs. 

Now I did a small post on my Instagram in September 2024 on Honey Deuce, which is the official cocktail of the U.S. Open Tennis tournament. In the post I focused on the rise of the price of the cocktail from $14 in 2012 to $23 during the last tournament. The USTA announced that a total of 550,000 Honey Deuces were served during the 14 days of the 2024 U.S. Open. Crazy 🤯. How about the Juleps?

The article The 150th Kentucky Derby By The Numbers by Caleb Stultz from the Leo Weekly website states that it was expected that at $22 dollars a cocktail, 125,000 Mint Juleps were going to be served during the day's festivities. That's almost a quarter of the Honey Deuce cocktails sold during the 14 days of the U.S. Open. And that's not counting the 15,000 gallons of Bourbon, 85,000 Oaks Lilies, 425,000 cans of beer and other spirits that were expected to be sold. Double 🤯🤯. So what is a Mint Julep. 

Way back in 2013 I wrote the following post Kentucky Derby Day At The Vault at Pfaff's. In said post, I visited a bar that was showing the Derby on a big screen. I hadn't had a Mint Julep up to that point, so this is what I thought of it:

"The Mint Julep is a very simple cocktail to make. Usually, you would make it in a Copper (or another metal) Julep cup but since this was a somewhat high-volume event, not having the cup for the Juleps is excusable. I had never had a Mint Julep before; I was curious as to how it tasted. The cocktail was nice and light. There was also a subtle sweetness to the cocktail that seemed to mingle well with the bourbon. Since I had to go to work right after, I tried to pace myself since I could see myself quickly sucking the Mint Julep down. On a hot summer day that can be a dangerous thing to do."

Here is the recipe for the cocktail from the official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby Woodford Reserve:

The traditional Derby Day cocktail, and a southern ritual crafted from bourbon, simple syrup and mint.

INGREDIENTS

2 OZ. Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 OZ. Woodford Reserve® Mint Julep Cocktail Syrup
3 Fresh Mint Leaves
Crushed Ice

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: Express the essential oils in the mint and rub them inside the glass.
STEP 2: To the same glass, add simple syrup, bourbon, and crushed ice.
STEP 3: Stir.
STEP 4: Garnish with more ice, fresh mint, and powdered sugar.

Did you all cash in on the race? What do you think about the classic Mint Julep? Yea? Nay? Meh? Let me know in the comments. I have a side post on the aforementioned Oaks Lilly cocktail coming up next. Keep an eye out for it. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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