Ever wish fantastic cocktails would show up on your doorstep? Your dreams just came true with Cocktail Courier! This is a subscription by ShakeStir that sends everything you need to make a tasty drink concocted by some of the worlds best bartenders. That includes the alcohol!
How do they get these interesting recipes, you wonder? Well, ShakeStir is an online community of professional bartenders who offer up their creations and exchange ideas. Each month, they choose a winning recipes to be added to Cocktail Courier’s cocktail list. This means that you’ll find innovative, seasonal and brilliant new drinks to get hooked on.
This review is for the “Paloma Diabla” which is a tequila drink. When you sign up for Cocktail Courier, you’ll be able to specify which types of spirits you would like. You will also designate how often you want to receive a box. Why get only one a month when you can get one a week!? Truly, though, they send enough for a LOT of drinks.
The Cost: $39.99/month (or week)
What You Get: Each box is carefully packaged with all necessary ingredients (including garnish and alcohol) for 4-12 absolutely delicious cocktails, accompanied by printed step-by-step instructions on how to make each drink.
My box arrived by stealth. I thought I was going to have to sign for it but apparently the mailman knows me well enough. *cough* I do get a lot of boxes. Poor guy.
Anyway, it was perfect timing because we were about to head out to a party at a friends so I decided to bring it along.
First out of the box was the recipe! After looking at it, I was a little nervous about the Habanero Cinnamon Syrup but the whole thing sounded so delicious, there was no way I was missing out.
The directions are broken into step and include handy notes like “1 grapefruit will yield approximately 8oz of fresh juice).” That made it easy to plan for making several drinks at once.
Starting with the grapefruit, I sliced them in half and squeezed out the juice. They were perfectly ripe and ready for this. The limes, on the other hand, were not quite so juice-tastic but that was okay because there was lime juice in the fridge to help supplement.
The next thing to go in the glass was some agave nectar and Habenero Cinnamon Syrup. These are professionally made cocktail syrups and you can use them for anything (just keep them in the fridge). I tasted the syrup separately and it was really good. I could definitely taste the cinnamon and my mouth had a hint of burn from the pepper. I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy and it was about as much as I could take.
While the Fever-Tree Club Soda went in after everything had been shaken up, the Don Julio tequila was the last in the shaker for mixing. I was surprised they sent Don Julio and it’s a nice size bottle at 375ml. I was expecting airplane bottles or something so I think my jaw dropped when I pulled this out of the box.
The club soda went in the shaker after it was shook, then swirled. When I poured the drinks, they weren’t as pink as the picture but my grapefruit juice wasn’t super pink to begin with.
After the drinks were passed around, I wanted to know what everyone thought. First impressions were that it was quite tasty, refreshing and not spicy. A little later in the evening, though, a couple people said that the habenero sneaks up on you after awhile.
It’s said to serve the Paloma Diabla in a Collins glass but we didn’t have any. Mason jars are just as good and probably hold more. I even garnished with a grapefruit slice (although in hindsight a curl of peel would also have been awesome).
VERDICT: Cocktail Courier was so much fun. It was so easy since everything was provided all in one place. The Paloma Diabla was tasty and there was plenty to go around and even some ingredients left over for more. It also turned out to be the perfect party favor. Everyone was interested and wanting to help so I was surrounded for awhile. Either that or they just wanted an unusual drink as fast as they could get it! 🙂 I’m definitely hooked. I looked at their cocktail list and there’s a few I’d like to try. As for the cost, I think it’s really reasonably priced and shipping is free which makes it even better. I’m impressed.
Remember that you get to choose your favorite spirits and you can have a box delivered as often as you like. This means you can have a steady supply of award winning cocktail recipes and their ingredients to treat yourself to or impress people with. You can also Skip, Suspend or Cancel your subscription from your account. I always love it when Skip is available.
Cocktail Courier ships everywhere except AL, AR, DE, KY, MS, ND, OK, RI, SD and UT. Oh, and if you don’t want to subscribe, you can just buy an a la carte box of your drink choice. Easy peasy.
If you would like to sign up for Cocktail Courier, you can do that here! Use code BITSANDBOXES to get $10 off your first month. That means it’ll be $29.99 which is a total deal.
What do you think of a box like this? It used to be that you could mail alcohol in our state (WA) but now that it’s legal, this is a great subscription.
