I was blessed to spend about three hours this evening drinking and talking with two good friends, Rawlins and Bill H., whose comments you see from time to time on this blog. Bill took us to a semi-out-of-the-way Dallas bar called The Meridian Room, which I quite liked. The Meridian Room will forever live in my mind because it is the place where I first tasted one of the cultural triumphs of the South: Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. As one farklempt Southern reviewer put it:
Ladies and gentlemen. Sweet tea that gets you drunk and actually tastes like sweet tea. I tasted it and a single tear rolled down my cheek like that Indian in that commercial from the 60's. This is definitely a drink that will have a permanent place in my repertoire of sit on the back porch and chill drinks. I didn't drink a lot of it. This isn't the type of stuff you buy and try to kill the bottle. I drank a few to get a good buzz going and left it at that.So if you're a true Southerner, or someone who thinks they are, or just someone who enjoys watching the sun go down with a drink. I highly recommend keeping a bottle of Firefly on hand. It's the best $20 you'll ever spend on alcohol.
Oh, brother, do I ever concur. I drank one of the bar's Arnold Palmers spiked with the stuff, but that was way too sweet. I ordered my next one in a cocktail glass with nothing but club soda. That hit the spot. The only way it could have been improved was to have had some fresh crushed mint in the bottom. I later tried the mint sweet tea version, but it was off. No. What you need to do is to get you a bottle of the sweet tea vodka, a bucket of ice, some fresh mint from your backyard, a bottle of Schweppes club soda, and a Mason jar. Bliss. It helps too to have Rawlins on hand telling some of his crazy-ass Texas stories. But we mustn't get greedy.
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Me, I drank Pyramid apricot ale (Washington state) which is like nectar from the gods of something somewhere. As for my 'crazy assed Texas stories, I guess that's a compliment. Surviving life is definitely a sport best suited to a mongoose and I feel sometimes that Texas has it's share of excentric and/or agressive cobras.
It also has no few wildly intelligent and sensitive new-age hybrid-mutant males. Like Bill who is the old south and the neo-future rolled into one. And Rod who managed to grow up in rural Louisiana while hating the outdoors more than a Brooklyn agoraphobic frau.
Ah to our trio 'tomando como loco' as they say (and do) in Latin worlds. At the Meridian, which was long ago in a life far away...the State Bar. PS Bob: Rod was doing research. We encouraged in-depth studies.
Okay, went out and bought some... Rod's right, pretty darn good. There's also peach and raspberry varieties. A friend of mine also suggested trying it with lemonade (the Arnold Palmer). Dunno how the bar made their version of the Arnie, but I imagine fresh lemonade would work pretty darn well.
So, I went out to buy a bottle of this good stuff in Michigan. I asked the guy at the store if this stuff was pretty popular (as it was placed directly behind the cash register at eye level). He said it was, but that another sweet tea vodka, Sweet Carolina (I think), was even more popular. Anyone tried this alternative? Which is better - Sweet Carolina or Firefly?
It's funny that I read this post on Friday night and thought the drink sounded good. Saturday night, I went to a restaurant that had it on the menu. They said they had had Firefly for only a couple of weeks. Their drink was part Firefly sweet tea vodka, part lemonade. It had half a lemon in it. They called it the John Daly, of course. I'm going to buy a bottle this week.
Rod,
Hope you're well!!
This elixir is the tastiest and most dangerous spirit I've had in years. The sugar content makes it especially dangerous in the realm of hangover chemistry.
I first had it at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta in April, made with Peach Scnapps and homemeade sour mix. I felt like a sorority girl, but it was delicious.
Since, I've had it in Arnold Palmers, with soda, with mint, with pureed watermelon, with real Texas peaches. All good. It disappears in a crowd, so keep an eye on the bar when you're at a private function.
I've also, in the last 3 months, watched its price increase by 50% at Siegels from Arpil to July.
Many local bars carry it now, from Fearings, Bolsa & Eno's to Delaney's Irish Pub in McKinney.
I don't know how I'll like it come Winter, but for the summer (which lasts til October here) I'm all for it.
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