Taylor's Tonic Candy Cane Shake

The final bottle of the holiday themed four pack from Taylor's Tonic Botanical Brewery is this bottle of liquid candy cane. 

Brewed with organic peppermint and vanilla it certainly smells like a candy cane. The liquid even has the sort opalescence you see in the glossy candy cane coating. The peppermint has a cooling effect on the tongue. Although quite sweet and sugary, something in the recipe gives it a touch of tartness as well. While it isn't the most pleasing soda it is the best tasting of this themed bunch. I'd say the best part of it would be the lingering coolness the peppermint leaves in the mouth. All in all you can save your money and pass up this pack and head for tastier waters.

Taylor's Tonics Gingerbread House

Moving onto the dessert portion of Taylor's Tonics holiday themed pack, I have this bottle. As someone who enjoys both ginger ale soda and gingerbread cookies I have high hopes for this one. 

It has the beautiful aroma of cloves. A peek at the ingredients shows it also includes organic ginger, cinnamon and molasses. But that smell of cloves really is reminiscent of gingerbread. Oooh, but the taste is a doozy. It gave quite a kick. Think of sour brown sugar molasses. For some odd reason I almost feel like a need to chew even though it has the same watery thinness of any soda. High hopes are quickly dashed as I can only imagine drinking this thinned down with vodka to both weaken the bottled flavor as well as make my taste buds forget it.

Taylor's Tonics Cranberry Dream

Another bottle from Taylor's Tonics here is Cranberry Dream. 

I'd have to say this is the first beverage of any kind I've had made with balsam fir needles as an ingredient, among some spices, herbs and juices. But it has the smell of vanilla like a cream soda. Wow, the flavors are a bit wacky. The first thing I sense is not like a cranberry juice, but rather like chewing on a christmas tree twig. Yes there's a twinkle of tart cranberry flavor that hits, but it's very slight. This taste of fir trees is so strong I get the feeling a flock of birds would do better off drinking this than me. My advice, try it because it's strange, then put it down.

Taylor's Tonics Eggnog Fizz

After a a long hiatus due to relocating and other things I'm bringing you all a holiday themed post tonight. I've found a four pack from Taylor's Tonics Botanical Brewery out of California called the Holiday Fizz collection and Christmas day is probably the most opportune time to taste it. 

Taylor's Tonics is sort of a fusion brewer. By that I mean that they take old fashioned brewing techniques and collections of herbs and spices in their drinks. According to them, they also aim to include at least one thing with a health benefit to each of their concoctions.

Here I've got a bottle of Eggnog Fizz made with organic Vanilla, Nutmeg, Ginger and Allspice as well as some sort of rum flavoring. While eggnog is okay, I've never been someone who drank it with aplomb just because it's the holidays. It's aroma is strong with the scent of allspice and nutmeg. Though I'm no chef, my love of pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread has made me acutely aware of those smells. It also carries a hint of cream soda. 

At first sip I find it rather drab. The scent of the spices is not backed up in the flavor... it's only a moment after hitting the palate that you taste a wisp of the spices. I was expecting more of a creamier feel but that isn't so. The egginess you get with a homemade batch of eggnog only rears its head in the aftertaste left in your mouth. Let's face it... these theme packs are more of a novelty, and that's okay. However I do expect more, so this is a bottle you can skip.