Care for a little beverage?

With the long Labor Day weekend, and gorgeous weather in the Tri-State Area, I'm sure many beverages of various types will be popped open and consumed. Well, the same is true here at Vitamin Fred, although possibly not the kind that normal people are drinking.

Last week I wrote about my quest for a strong ginger beer, one that could clear the sinuses, and I think I found one. Q Mixers makes the high-priced beverage above, specifically for making drinks like Moscow Mules. Here's how they describe their ginger beer:

"Other ginger beers try to be both a spicy soda and a mixer. So they end up doing neither well. Q Ginger Beer is a mixer and a mixer only – it is spicier, more carbonated and less sweet. It is exactly what your vodka, rum, or whiskey is looking for."

 It comes in a four-pack of 7-oz. bottles, so you're really getting a little drink if you're not using it with booze to make a big drink. However, it has the burn I was looking for, the heat in the back of the throat that tells you it is a ginger beer that is done fooling around and is here to drop the hammer. The dopey non-GMO butterfly on the box kind of undermines the badassery, and no doubt adds two bucks to the price, but as I have been looking for a ginger beer strong enough to clear my sinus headaches, I don't care. Now I have to wait until I get a sinus headache to measure its medicinal power, but with autumn on the way that won't take long.

Q Mixers also makes an elderflower tonic water, which I expect is low on the badass scale, but if I ever see it I have to try that too.

On the other end of the li'l drinkie spectrum is Nature's Promise, the all-natural house brand for Giant and Stop and Shop stores, which to my surprise is selling seltzer to children.

Aren't these little cans just adorbs? Squee!

I like seltzer, including the flavored ones that have become popular, but I never expected to see it marketed to kids. It comes in a variety of flavors, but Bubble Gum seemed the most childlike to me, so I had to buy it.

Verdict: It's good. Yes, it's a bit odd to drink bubble gum flavoring, but the flavor is the real thing. My wife said it was just like the Bazooka gum she remembers chewing, which always seemed to make the gum flavor go up into her nose. I think I know what she meant. It reminded me of that gum that came with Topps cards until 1992. No surprise, actually, since Topps makes Bazooka. (It did get me wondering if a ginger beer chewing gum was what I need for sinus-clearing....)

I'm not sure if the kiddie seltzer will appeal to children, but if it gets them drinking water and not soda or juice, that's probably for the better. Save the teeth for the Bazooka.

So those are the peewee potables I'm enjoying this Labor Day weekend; how about you?