New Drinks Announced - More Hot Takes!

We’re entering the home stretch in the leadup to the Fair, and the new drink list came out today, with 63 new specialty drinks debuting this year. I won’t go as deep as I went on the new foods list, but here’s a quick pass with my initial thoughts.

I’ll preface this by saying I think that most new drinks are failures. A lot of it seems to be that someone will come out with a great drink, and then for the next few years copycats will ride whatever that flavor trend was, but not do it as well. Another batch of drinks each year is clearly going straight for novelty or Instagram value regardless of what it tastes like. So, before I even look closely at this list, of the 63 I expect to be interested in trying about a dozen or so.

Ok, let’s see what we’ve got!

Yes!

• Apple Pie Hazy Cider at Blue Barn. Basically cider with pie spice. Not a big risk, this will be yummy.
• Chelsea’s Southern Sipper at RC’s BBQ. Bourbon and peaches could be a match made in heaven.
• Grilled Pineapple Lager at Mancini’s. Maybe the new drink I’m most excited for, pineapple being my favorite fruit.
• Mai Tai Slushie at LuLu’s. Another safe pick, but this is from Lift Bridge, probably decent. If I’m going to try a slushie it’s probably this one.
• Pina Ciderlada at Giggle’s. Ok now this is interesting! Dry cider sweetened with pineapple juice and coconut cream, with a pineapple and cherry garnish.
• Prickly Pear Passion Fruit Cider at O’Gara’s. I’m loving all the playing around with cider this year!
• Purple Maize at Shanghai Henri’s. Mexican lager made with purple corn, with honey and biscuit notes. This could be the light beer with a twist that is right in the sit-and-people-watch wheelhouse.
• Sparkling Pearsecco at Mancini’s. A bubbly pear cider sounds delicious and just different enough to be a Fair novelty.

Meh

• Agua Fresca Hard Slushie at LuLu’s Public House. Watermelon and mint flavored. Maybe this works, but I’m always skeptical of mint drinks.
• Baja Breeze Slushie at Shanghai Henri’s. Made by Lift Bridge, mango, pineapple and lime. Seems very middle of the road to me.
• Blood Orange Mimosa Cider at LuLu’s. Dry cider, blood OJ. Ok. If you like mimosas (which I don’t), I can see this being decent.
• Cakewalk Berry Bliss Lager at Coasters. Same folks making the Blueberry Pancake Lager. I feel like strawberries, vanilla and cake have a slightly better chance of succeeding.
• Cherry Lime Freeze at Mancini’s. This feels safe.
• Frozen Mango Tango at Ball Park. Again, safe.
• Frozen Pina Colada at Cafe Caribe. It’s like they’re not even trying.
• Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri at Ball Park. Ok, they’re definitely not trying.
• Golden Spike Ale at Ball Park. I had a hard time with this one. Prickly pear and mezcal flavors in a golden ale, by Lift Bridge. Could actually work. Could be terrible.
• Grumpy Old Manhattan at Hideaway Speakeasy. Ok, here’s a potentially good use of malt alcohol, with bourbon and cherry flavors. Packs a decent punch at 7%.
• Lake Dayz Spritz at O’Gara’s. Made with Minnesota wine, you get points for that. And a hint of tropical fruit could be nice. But I’m not a wine guy, and Minnesota isn’t a wine state, so meh.
• Passion Fruit Daiquiri Seltzer at Dino’s. A lot of “ho-hum, yeah that’s an obvious drink” items on the list this year.
• Pineapple Party at LuLu’s. Ok, this is in meh territory because we have a more intriguing grilled pineapple beer above. I think just straight pineapple in a blonde ale might be too one-noted. Another Lift Bridge creation.
• Pink Lady Lemonade at Rajin Cajun. Basically frozen lemonade. I’m sure it’s fine, but it’s not that creative. And ANOTHER Lift Bridge creation. See my worries after the list.
• Red Devil Hurricane at Rajin Cajun. Yeah, exactly the kind of drink you wander around New Orleans with. Seems safe.
• Steph’s Summer Spritzer at Blue Barn. Of the wine drinks this one is most interesting to me. White wine, peaches, mangos, citrus. 6.3%. I could maybe get behind that.
• Sweet Clementine Beer at Giggle’s. Orange-flavored lager. Probably fine.

Nope

• Attack of the Quack! at The Hideaway Speakeasy. A 4.5% Vikings-inspired purple kettle sour? Pass.
• Barn Storm at Blue Barn. Tropical sour ale with jalapeno? Jala no.
• Black Currant Mead at LuLu’s. There’s a reason mead fell out of favor after the Middle Ages.
• Blackberry Breeze at Dino’s. It’s a cider. This just doesn’t sound good to me.
• Blackberry Limeade Lager at Dino’s. Did Dino’s get a deal on blackberries? The worst beer I ever had involved lime.
• Blackberry Mojito Hard Seltzer at Cafe Caribe. Another purple drink, with too much going on - blackberry (again!), lime, mint and “sweet honey” (Is there another kind of honey? It’s literally sugar.)
• Bloody Mary at Shanghai Henri’s. I love bloody marys. I don’t love them when a cider house makes one with malt alcohol.
• Blueberry Pancake Lager at Cafe Caribe. “The zing of tart blueberries”. Those are called unripe blueberries. I’m not super opposed to this concept, but when you try to get into the malty, yeasty beer game, you’re inevitably going to be compared to mini donut beer, and you are very, very unlikely to come out of that comparison favorably.
• Boombox Freeze at Blue Barn. I don’t get it. Tropical and strawberry seltzer? Ok fine. What does that have to do with a boombox?
• Chocobananas Wheat Ale at Blue Barn. Banana and beer? I dunno.
• Cinnamon Lemoncello Cake’d Up at The Hangar. Who thought cinnamon and lemon would be good together in a beer? The most common use of those two flavors together is literally as a gut cleanse.
• Firecracker Cream Ale at LuLu’s. Again with the lime in beer, and raspberries, in a cream ale. Oof.
• Frozen Spicy Pineapple Margarita at Cafe Caribe. The purpose of the liquid is to cool the palate after eating the spicy food. Stop making spicy drinks.
• Hazy Days IPA at LuLu’s. I fully admit my anti-IPA bias, but I really dislike the idea of piling a bunch of tropical fruit flavors into a beer only to then throw IPA-levels of hoppiness on it. There’s a lot going on there.
• A Hazy Shade at Blue Barn. Another hazy IPA. More tropical fruit in hops, and lime this time.
• Iced Tea Lemonade Blonde Ale at Coasters. Cream ale meets Arnold Palmer. Cream ale should be low bitterness, not tart like lemonade.
• Imperial Lager at LuLu’s. There’s nothing wrong with Imperial Lager, but I don’t want a 7.8% beer during a long day at the Fair.
• Imperial Mai Tai Seltzer at Dino’s. 8% ABV - see previous item.
• Lemon Bellini at Mancini’s. 12% ABV PEOPLE I AM NOT GOING TO THE FAIR TO GET HAMMERED.
• Lingonberry Blast at The Hangar. From Mankato Brewery. Maybe? But see next item…
• “The Lingonburg” Lingonberry Shandy at The Hangar. A lingonberry beer from Excelsior Brewing. Come on The Hangar, TWO lingonberry beer drinks? Why?
• Mudslide Slushie at Coasters. This is another read-the-room miss. I don’t want a heavy drink like this at the Fair. It’s by Lift Bridge, and now I’m worried that Lift Bridge is trying to do too much at the Fair.
• Mustard Stain IPA at Aldo’s Burgers. I couldn’t have devised a more horrific beer if I tried. ACK!!!!!!!
• Orange Bellini at Mancini’s. I’m getting repetitive but 12% ABV.
• Popping Good Wine at Coasters. Please stop trying to make popping candy happen.
• Purple Reign IPA at Dino’s. IPA, pineapple, nectarine, and it’s purple. See my Hazy Days IPA comments above.
• S’more Than A Feeling Slushie at Swine & Spuds. S’mores are all about warm coziness. A slushie is not.
• Sour Batch Fizz at LuLu’s. Sour beer with extra fizz. The fizz might actually make sour beer better, but I ain’t gonna find out.
• Strawberry Guava Miraculum at O’Garas. Wayyyy too hoppy at 75 IBUs.
• Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble at LuLu’s. Cider with rhubarb, strawberry juice, blackstrap molasses and lactose. I can’t get past molasses and lactose.
• Tangerine Sunset Mojito at LuLu’s. Malt, mint, tangerine… those are going to be fighting with each other.
• Touchy Peely at LuLu’s. Kolsch with lemon and malty flavors. Are you sour or are you malty? It’s hard to get that right, which is maybe why I don’t usually like kolsch beers.
• Triple Berry Cream Ale at Frontier Bar. Cream ale with strawberry, blueberry and raspberry. Pick one and maybe I’d try it. I’m not going to be able to taste the specific berries here, it’s going to taste like fruit punch.
• Tutti Frutti Bubblegum Hard Slushy at Andy’s Grille. Lost me at bubblegum.
• Watermelon Crush at O’Garas. It’s a Red Bull based drink. Alcohol or caffeine, not both. By Lift Bridge. Hrmm.
• Watermelon Hard Candy Seltzer at Dino’s. Claims to start sour and finish sweet. I’m skeptical of that order, sour doesn’t usually give way to sweet.

Wrapup

Some overall observations:

• There are a lot of really safe picks this year. All these frozen tropical drinks don’t feel new - you can always get those sorts of drinks at the Fair.
• The number of high ABV drinks is disappointing. Just like with the food, the whole idea of the Fair is to wander and graze. You need to keep things on the lighter side!
• LuLu’s has 12 new drinks on this list. It feels like they’re just throwing darts at the board and hoping a couple stick.
• Lift Bridge is making 15 of these new drinks. 15! I’m really worried that they are overextending here, they’re not a huge operation. I get that they’re in demand as the makers of the most successful Fair novelty drink of all time which kickstarted the whole novelty beer at the Fair craze (Mini Donut Beer - see my author bio line below…), but I hope quality and reputation don’t slip.

Well, eight drinks made my Yes! list. Even fewer than I expected. But, I’m looking forward to trying these, especially the ciders. Cheers!