Vodkas are flavored, tequilas are super-aged and wines are “made” by celebrities — but it’s still just vodka, tequila and wine after all.
So it was easy to get worked up about the prospects of Veev, the self-styled first and only distilled spirit made from an exotic Amazon berry, complete with hyperbolic claims of environmental friendliness and antioxidant benefits.
It comes in a handsome, frosted bottle. The folks who make it offer a handful of intriguing cocktail recipes. And by golly, it tastes like nothing else.
Veev, supposedly made from the purple berry of the acai palm tree, has the clean mouthfeel of vodka, the slight citrus tang of fine tequila and a blueberryish overtone all its own that raises the question: “What kind of killer, last-gasp-of summer cocktail can I make with this stuff?”
To answer that, we go back to the source, deep in the Brazilian rainforest.
Acai juice, which used to be nothing more than a goopy staple of Amazon cuisine we’d never heard of, went from total obscurity to global superfood in little more than a decade.
You can’t swing a smoothie menu these days without waving its claims of antioxidant potency, cholesterol fighting abilities and sexual, er, enhancements.
Acai (pronounced ah-sah-YEE’) defies categorization. A clear elixir, it smells a little like very ripe grapefruit, is smoother than most tequilas and mixes beautifully with anything rum does, such as fresh fruit juices like watermelon, mango and pomegranate.
It also dances deftly on the rocks with a squeeze of lemon.
Veev is available in limited release. To order it online, go to www.melandrose.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=90314. A 750-ml bottle, which holds about 3 cups of liquor, lists at $34.99.
Josh L. Dickey,
Associated Press
RAINFOREST ON THE ROCKS
Ice cubes
4ounces Veev liqueur
2cups cut-up watermelon
8sprigs fresh mint
Club soda
To make 3 ounces of watermelon juice, puree the cut-up watermelon in a blender, then pour the puree through a mesh strainer. Use the back of a spoon to press the pulp to extract all the juice.
Fill a tall glass with ice cubes.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the liqueur, watermelon juice and mint. Shake, then strain into the glass. Top the glass with club soda.
If desired, garnish the glass with additional mint sprigs.
Makes 2 servings.
Recipe from www.veevlife.com
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