A HURRICANE OF A DIFFERENT SORT - MIKE'S HARD LEMONADE CO. & THE GRATEFUL DEAD

Yesterday, when I went to the local beer distributor to pick up ice for my neighbor Jessica, I decided I would buy something else out of respect for the distributor being open. It was pretty obvious that customers had not been flocking there in droves to buy beer or ice. Even though they were open, they were without power and had ice only because they had filled there ice freezer (a walk in sized freezer) with ice before the storm and it stayed frozen. I figured that their being open was a sort of a public service and felt I had to buy more than just 4 bags of ice from them in two days to at least show some support. It is only a few blocks from my home and I usually do not shop there because I know I can get better prices elsewhere. maybe I should consider shopping there more often because I don't think I get better service elsewhere. Yes my other distributor, a couple of miles away, instead of a few blocks like this one, was also open and even had power, but they had no ice. Costco is also a place I buy beer, by the case when they have something  like, because I usually save at least 5 bucks on a case there from the distributor where I usually shop. In all, I would probably pay $7.00 to $10.00 more per case at the local distributor, the one that had the ice. Maybe it is not a bad trade off, at least sometimes. I think I will spread the wealth a little more in the future even though they are nowhere near as inexpensive as Costco nor can they match the price or have the wide variety of the other distributor. What the heck, they were open and had ice - plenty of it - right after the storm! Good thinking on the owner's, or manager's, or worker's part. 
 

Well there I go blabbing and digressing again. I wanted to tell you what I bought there to give them some business other than me just buying ice. It was a small purchase but one that I could not resist. Right across from the counter, they had a piled up display of things like Mike's Hard Lemonade. Atop those, there were a few 4 packs of something called Mike's On The Rocks Hurricane.  I grabbed a 4 pack; how could I not out of respect for the owners having opened their store right after the so called hurricane (that was really only a tropical storm but a hell of a one at that). I am drinking my second 16 oz. can right now and am beginning to think this stuff may be more like a tropical storm too, instead of a hurricane, but a heck of one at that! I had the other with my dinner, a NY strip steak that I grilled, a salad my wife made, and a sesame seed roll from a local supermarket. It was delicious - the meal - anyway. 

As for the Mike's On The Rocks Hurricane, well - I have had many, many, many mixed type and malt beverage type drinks that were a lot better and more than enough that also were a lot worse. On the side of the can, in the small print, it says this: "PREMIUM MALT BEVERAGE WITH NATURAL FLAVORS AND CERTIFIED COLORS". I imagine that the natural flavors are those of a fruity nature. No not gay but fruity as in like fruit punch. What the certified colors are, I have no clue. In addition to those flavors and colors is the flavor of alcohol. It is not a strong flavor but the alcohol content is listed as 8%. Quite a bit stronger than your average American beer. (Do you know why most American beers and sex in a canoe are alike? They are both fucking close to water!) I am guessing that must be how they were able to include “premium” on the label because other than a higher alcohol content I do not see any reason to pay a premium for this stuff.  

In other words, the first one did not impress me as anything other than something akin to Annie Green Springs or Yago Sangria and may in actuality have been closer to MD 20/20 or Muscatel albeit with a cheap fruit punch added to the mix. (Those of you true connoisseurs of the not so finer wines know exactly what I mean.) I have to admit, though now that I have eaten dinner, and had the first one, and am now almost done with the second one, I am looking forward to the third and fourth ones in the pack. Not because it is a premium beverage as far as my idea of premium goes but probably because the alcohol content has made the flavor acceptable, maybe even almost delicious, after almost two of them.

Before I get too sloshed, and I intend to do just that, let me say that if I want a fruity flavored alcoholic drink, I usually go for something I make myself from whole fresh fruit (like bananas, nectarines, apples, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple and oranges - not essence of gay guys) in the blender to which I add a couple to few types of rum, and/or vodka, and/or whiskey. We only got a blender, in our home, within the last 2 or 3 years at most. I have no clue how I ever survived without one. The drinks one can mix in it are extravagant as far as I am concerned - and that goes whether or not you add alcohol. I may even have to try adding bacon one of these days but have to give some serious thought as to the other ingredients. I was thinking along the lines of sour mash or Bourbon or Irish whiskey but vodka may do, especially potato vodka (one of my favorite vodkas). Of course, I could add home fries and gin.  

Yet, in the meanwhile, since I do not have a blender full of some glorious concoction of God's mashed together fruity goodness, I have settled for whatever in Hades it is that Mike or the company known as Mike's has thrown together for me and I must admit, I am enjoying the heck out of it; any reservations to the contrary, mentioned above, fading with each gulp. 

 

Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. is located in both Rochester, NY and La Crosse, WI and I have to say, I my just have to give them some more business - if not because they are made in NY or bot because of the On The Rocks Hurricane then because I find their Mike's Hard Lemonade rather palatable and intoxicating. Then again, that is sort of like I am finding this On The Rocks Hurricane drink while getting well into can number 3. (Yes dear readers, somewhere in there, I ran outside to my 48 degree patio and grabbed another one).

Just checked another website and wow, now I see why it has gotten to me so much, it is made from fruit juice, rum and the devils own brew - red grenadine! These Mike's Hurricanes, with their red granadine, just stirred up some deelpy burined memories of bygone times. Now if only I had a couple of Brown Eyed Women with whom to share them, maybe like Delilah Jones! Thems were the days, those days of Grateful Dead concerts, when a drink like Mike's On The Rocks Hurricane would have been an extravagance! I would have loved to have met and shared one of these drinks with Delilah Jones. "Delilah Jones was the mother of twins, two times over and the rest was sins, raised 8 boys only I turned bad, didn't get the rules that the other ones had...". Her old man sounded worth meeting too: "Daddy made whiskey and he made it well, cost two dollars and it burned like hell". 

 One of my favorite Dead songs has always been Brown Eyed Women, if not my favorite, not that: "I cut hickory just to fire the still, drank down a bottle and was ready to kill" but then sometimes I could just about...

All the best,
Glenn B