DiSaronno wears Trussardi

When they holidays come, it's a sure bet that liquor stores will have displays of a variety of products that are fit for celebrating or for gifting. Some of the most interesting are the limited-edition boxed products, some of which include extras, like fancy glasses.

When the nice folks at DiSaronno emailed me about their limited edition bottles, covered with a design by a fashion designer, I thought, well, sure, I'll take a free sample.

I've loved DiSaronno for a long time. It's great over ice, and there are plenty of cocktails where it fits the glass, too. It's sweet and a little nutty, and it has a nice warmth without being harsh. While I normally think if it as a winter drink, I've also seen it used in an "Italian Margarita" which included lime juice for a refreshing, summery cocktail.

Luckily, the bottles I got were full and not just samples of the design. Lucky, lucky me, right? Not only did I get a single boxed bottle, but also a set that included some pretty glasses, and some three packs of little bottles that would make awesome stocking stuffers. Look for 'em next time you're shopping for beverages - they'd all be darned easy to wrap.

Trussardi is an Italian fashion house, so it's a good pair for the liquor, and the colors are interesting with bright yellow, bright and light pink, pale blue, and orange, among other colors. My inner hippie approves. These are not your usual Christmas colors, so it will look good behind the bar long after the tree is kindling and the presents are no longer new and shiny.

Why yes, I did get these at no cost to me.

Stillhouse Whiskey

Oooooh, lookie here. It's hand packed for ME.

What could it possibly be?

Does it get any better? Okay, sampling is better. The smaller metal flask contains black bourbon that's been "mellowed in coffee beans." I didn't notice a coffee flavor, but this was definitely mellow. No harsh flavor. Smoooooooth. It would be great neat or over ice, but I'll admit that I've been spiking eggnog with it.

Since it's not actually flavored, you could use this in any cocktail that uses bourbon. I'd suggest something where the flavor comes through.

The Apple Crisp Whiskey is corn whiskey infused with apple crisp whiskey. It's got a nice green apple flavor and it's just slightly sweet. Not super sweet, but just slightly. So it would be good for mixing into fruity cocktails. I'm thinking perhaps something with a little lemon or orange. Maybe a bit of cinnamon.

Hush, I'm thinking here.

So many cocktail ideas. So many.

But it could also work well all by itself, over ice.

Wait, could I make a margarita with this? It's not tequila, obviously, but it would pair well with lime. Oh, the possibilities!

The Apple Crisp Whiskey came in a box that would be nice for gifting, and included two shotglasses, plus a pourer that fits the metal flask. Aside from being a unique container, the metal flask and metal accessories also makes this whole thing a lot more sturdy for gifting and sending. If it drops, nothing's going to break.

This is a fairly new company founded in 2016. They've got a bunch of other flavors, too, including spiced cherry (yum), mint chip (yum) and coconut (the dreaded coconut!)

I'll be looking for these at the liquor store. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying my free samples.

Davidson's Organic Tea: Chai

Want chai?

Davidson's Organic Tea recently sent me samples of three of their chai teas, along with a sweet mug. Yes, that's a ginormous mug. And there's a fox inside. Yup.

But back to the chai.

To be honest, I'm not sure what makes tea chai or not chai, but I'm okay with that. They called these chai. I drank. Job done.

They sent Cardamom Macchiato, S'mores Chai, and Pumpkin Chai. All three were quite different from the usual teas that are, well, tea leaves or "tea" that is actually herbs and stuff.

The Cardamom Macciato included coffee beans, among other things; the S'mores Chai included marshmallow and chocolate, and the Pumpkin Chai included pumpkin flakes and caramel.

Which was the best? Yeah, that's personal taste, but I think the S'mores might have been the winner for me, although I wouldn't turn down any of 'em.

These would be great stocking stuffers for anyone you know who likes tea and who has already tried all the ones at the grocery store. Or, you know, grab yourself a ginormous mug and settle in on a cool evening to enjoy some chai.

Why, yes, I did get these from Davidson't Tea at no cost to me.

Murder on the Orient Express Tea

I usually refuse offers to review tea, mostly because I have an insane amount of tea on hand. And I tend to drink tea in binges. I'll go crazy for iced tea for a while, then get tired of it. I'll drink mint tea in the evening, then stop for no reason. I'll brew herbal teas or green teas, and then forget about them for a while.

But when I got an offer to sample a tea called Murder on the Orient Express, the name intrigued me so much that I had to say yes. What does a murder mystery taste like?

It turns out, this tea is very aptly named, and I can't quite explain why. But the scent is ... hmmm ... mysterious and old fashioned and exotic all at once.

I can imagine sipping this in the elegant but somewhat worn dining car while a passenger in a nearby car succumbs to some bad oysters.

But is that really what happened? Was it really bad oysters, or was it a here-to-for undisclosed shellfish allergy that the murderer was privy to? And who is this gallant but somewhat odd stranger who wants to escort me back to my car, so I won't be perturbed by the sudden flurry of activity surrounding the mysterious death?

These are questions that might never be answered.

But the tea is pretty darned good.

The teabags are cute mesh pyramid-like devices that also amused the hell out of me.

If murderous tea isn't your thing, Harney & Sons has a mind-boggling array of others to choose from.

I got this sample at no cost to me. Unfortunately, train tickets were not included.

Bai Beverages

I quit drinking the usual sodas quite a while ago, and now they just taste cloyingly sweet to me. Once in a while I indulge in root beer, but it's more of a treat than a beverage. When I'm thirsty, I usually just drink water.

But when the folks at Bai Beverages contacted me and asked if I wanted samples, I figured I'd give it a shot, particularly since they said that their sodas (Black, Bai base, Superteas, Cocofusion and Bubbles all had "5 calories, 1 gram of sugar and no artificial sweeteners."

Well, okay then. I figured that they wouldn't be super-sweet, so I said, sure, I'll take a few, but skip the Cocofusion (it's coconut-based) and the Superteas (I'm not that crazy about canned tea).

They hooked me up with plenty of the other flavors. I've been drinking one pretty much every day, as a little treat. So far, I think I like the canned fruit-flavored sodas the best, but the Black are kind of fun, too. There's a cola-flavored drink, a gingery one, and a cream soda type. The fruity bottled ones are nice, too. Fruity flavor, refreshing, but not like dessert in a bottle.

I have to say that I'm glad that these sorts of drinks have appeared on the market, for the times when I don't want to make my own flavored fizzy water. These are sooooo convenient. And tasty.

Who's it for: People who want non-sweet sodas.

Pros: Low calorie.

Cons: If you drink a lot of soda, I suspect these could to be an expensive habit.

Wishes: Root beer, please!

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Drinkmate

Let me get this out of the way. I kind of love this thing.

Yes, I'll be objective, but ... I've been using the Drinkmate just about every day since I got it. And I don't see any sign of stopping.

The Drinkmate is a product that carbonates water, just like all those other products that carbonate water. But the big difference is that the manufacturer says you can use this device to carbonate things other than water. In fact, they say you can use it to carbonate pretty much anything, as long as it isn't "pulpy." I guess that means you'll need to use orange juice without pulp.

I've mostly been using it to carbonate water with ginger flavoring in it. It's refreshing and crisp and not sweet. I'm not a huge fan of super-sweet drinks most of the time, so this is perfect for me.

It uses a large 60-liter carbonation tank rather than the single-use little cartridges. It comes with a smaller 3-ounce tank, but the larger ones are available in stores, or from Amazon. I actually found them at my local Ace Hardware, so that's really convenient.

This thing is easy to use - just press the button on top to send carbonation into the liquid. When it's at capacity, you hear it hiss a bit. Or you can make your drink less carbonated, if you prefer.

There's a screw-on top that you can use to store the bottle in the fridge. I usually end up drinking it all in a short time, so I really don't know how long the carbonation lasts. I'd guess you wouldn't have any reason to make it in advance though, since it's so quick to make a batch.

Who's it for: People who like fizzy drinks but maybe don't want all the sugar. Or folks who want to create their own flavors or have fizzy water for cocktails.

Pros: It's easy to use, doesn't require power. Not huge. You can buy a spare fizz infuser, so if you lose it or your dog chews it, it's not tragic.

Cons: The 60-liter gas canisters aren't super cheap - probably less expensive than soda, but still not super-cheap.

Wishes: Spare bottles are about $20 for two, which is kind of spendy.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Primal Essence Super Tea

I like tea. A lot. But waiting for tea to brew is not optimal for me when I'm being absent-minded. I've been known to leave a teabag steeping and come back to find that the water in the mug is completely cold.

The Primal Essence Super Tea is a whole different thing. Is a super-concentrated flavor in a little pump bottle. They suggest 1-3 pumps in a glass or mug. I found that one was sufficient.

They sent me the Vanilla Chai flavor and Ginger Zing. I tried the ginger flavor first, and the ginger flavor was very prominent and it tasted surprisingly fresh. More like freshly grated ginger than like tea made from a dried ginger.

Really good.

The chai was also really nice. It had a nice amount of spice and it tasted like a lovely chai. I've tried both of these hot and cold, and I even add a little bit of the chai to some hot chocolate. Although I haven't tried it yet, I'm thinking I might try one of these in either cooking or baking. I mean, why not?

I also think I might try carbonating some ginger tea. It would be sort of like ginger beer, which I really like.

The weird thing is that the tea is pretty much clear. Maybe a little foggy. But not brown like a brewed tea. But I'm okay with that.

How much to I like these? Well, I've already ordered more from their website. I have Lemon Ginger and Peppermint on the way. I'm pretty sure I'll like both of those just as much.

Who's it for: Tea drinkers.

Pros: So darned easy. Great flavor. Small bottles are easy to store or to carry along.

Cons: The Primal Essence teas aren't (yet) available on Amazon or my local grocery store.

Wishes: I can't wait to see if they come up with more flavors.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Precidio Design's Multi Flask

I have a love-hate relationship with water bottles. I love them when I need them. But it seems like I either have way too many of them or I can't find one. People like to give them away as promotional items. Heck, I even got one from my dentist.

Some are only good for cold drinks, some are meant for hot. There are different openings. There are different materials. Just too many.

Recently, Presidio Design sent me their multi-flask to test. So, how do you test a water bottle? For this one it involved some assembly and disassembly, because it's meant to be used in many different ways. It can be used as an infuser, or as a shaker bottle or for hot drinks or for cold drinks. There are inserts and different lids.

It's one basic bottle with a bunch of different inserts and parts.

One of the best parts is the storage bag. Because I'm really good for losing parts of things.

Where do they go? I have no idea. I recently lost a margarita glass ... which is ridiculous, since there are a limited number of places where I'd put stemmed glassware. So parts of a water bottle are pretty doomed unless I can keep them together.

Overall, the multi-flask is a pretty good idea. You can load up some hot coffee in the morning, change out some parts to infuse fruit or make tea for the afternoon, and sip water the rest of the day.

Who's it for: Folks who need to hydrate on the go. Or I guess you could use it around the house - a sealed bottle is certainly safer as far as spillage is concerned.

Pros: One bottle has multi uses, so you don't need to have one for hot drinks and a separate one for cold.

Cons: It's a little pricy if your other travel mugs were promotional freebies.

Wishes: Pretty happy with it as-is.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Voga Wine and Sparkling Ice Lemonade

As a food blogger, sometimes I get, well, food to sample. And drinks. 

Not long ago, I received a package with Voga wines and Sparkling Ice Lemonade. The idea is that you'd make a wine cocktail using the wine and the lemonade. And presumably something else. But after trying the wine and lemonade together, I didn't think it needed anything else. It was pretty tasty just like that.

On the other hand, if I was serving this to company, I'd probably have some lemon or lime slices as a garnish. Or maybe some cherries on a skewer.

Wine cocktails can be potent, or they can be light, depending on what you add. In this case, the cocktail is very light, both in alcohol content, and in calories. The Ice lemonades are calorie-free, so they don't add calories to the drink. And obviously, adding a non-alcoholic beverage to the wine lowers the overall alcohol content.

Add some ice, if you like, and it's even lighter.

The Voga wine was nice all by itself, and I have to say that I liked the bottle design. Yes, you shouldn't buy a wine because of a bottle. But it is different. And fun. The bottle is sealed with the cork, but it also has a screw-on cap.

This combo would be fun for a party, either pre-mixed, or as a mix-your-own bar, since there are several flavors of the Ice lemonade and of course there are a variety of wines. This would also make a nice gift item or hostess gift.

Who's it for: Wine drinkers. Lemonade drinkers who'd like a little fizz.

Pros: Nice wine, unique bottle. No-calorie lemonade.

Cons: I know some folks don't like no-calorie beverages. I generally don't drink them, but unlike some, this didn't have a weird taste that I've detected in other brands.

Wishes: None that I can think of.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Easy Clean Tea Infuser

I have a lot of tea - in bags, loose, and even some Greek mountain tea that's still on stems. The ones in teabags are easy enough to deal with, but loose tea is a whole other story.

I like drinking it, and I like mixing some of the flavors. But what I don't like is when I get to the bottom of the mug and I end up with bits of ... stuff.

I mean, I know the tea leaves and herbal bits are edible but that doesn't mean I actually want to eat them.

I've tried a number of different tea-brewing things, but I'm always on the search for something that's better.

Recently, Frieling sent me their stainless steel infuser. It's made from 18/8 stainless steel, so it's completely food-safe, and pretty much indestructible with regards to normal kitchen use and dishwashing. I mean, you could run it over with your car or go after it with a chainsaw, but you're unlikely to damage it making tea.

The holes in the infuser are sufficiently small that you're not going to get leaves and bits into your tea, and it fit well in every cup I tried. I'm sure there are some odd-shaped cups out there where this wouldn't fit, but if you have one of those, you probably have another.

One unique feature in this infuser is that there's a cover that you can use on top of the infuser to keep the water warm during steeping. Then, that same cover can be used as a base to hold the infuser after you take it out of the cup, so you don't have a tea-filled drippy thing to contend with.

When you're done making tea, the bottom of the infuser comes off so it's easier to clean out, which is a huge plus. I hate it when I try to rinse itty bitty leaves and bits out of a regular infuser and they just cling, so that removable bottom makes me happy.

Overall, I like the infuser. The only small issue I have - and it's just me - is that it's pretty large and I don't measure tea, so I've made a few cups of tea that are stronger than usual. I'm getting used to it, though, and more recent cups have been less potent. Then again, maybe you prefer a strong brew.


Who's it for: Tea drinkers.

Pros: Easy to clean, fine holes, stainless steel doesn't pick up odors so your mint tea won't taste like chai.

Cons: Can't think of any - it works well.

Wishes: None I can think of.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

More info: You can find Frieling on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Coffee Maker 3.0

Very recently, my beloved Breville single-cup coffee brewer started exhibiting strange behavior. It was making peculiar sounds and it was dispensing less and less coffee with each brew.

In a fit of do-it-yourselfishness, I watched a few YouTube videos and decided that a filter was clogged and I could fix it.

How hard could it be? I used to fix computers for a living.

I unscrewed a bunch of screws, took out the filter, cleaned it (and there were little bits of stuff in there that looked sort of like very fine coffee grounds) and put it all back together.

I reassembled it, filled the water tank, plugged it in, and pressed appropriate buttons.

It spewed a little bit of water, and then nada. No more water pumping at all.

I took it apart several more times, trying to figure out what I had botched. I watched more YouTube videos and followed more advice. Then the menu buttons didn't work. That wasn't an improvement.

The next morning, after drinking some instant coffee, I toddled off to find a new machine. Most of them proclaimed that they only worked with Keurig cups. Nope, that's not going to do. I like using my own ground coffee and sometimes I get samples of non-Keurig brands of coffees and teas.

When I can afford the really good ground coffee, I splurge. Otherwise, the cheap stuff will do - and that's a heck of a lot cheaper than those K-Cups, so it's very budget-friendly.

I had a couple of choices of coffee makers, and picked a mid-priced machine that looked fairly sturdy. When I got home I set up and tested the machine - a Mr. Coffee model - by running water through it - and hot water came out of it. It took quite a while for the water to heat and the water to dispense, but it wasn't a super-expensive machine, so I figured it wouldn't kill me to be a tiny bit more patient in the morning.

I wasn't planning on drinking more coffee that day, so I let it rest until the next morning.

But then I thought, gee, I like those folks at Breville and every product of theirs that I own has been really solid. Even the coffee maker. Other people complained that their Keurig machines were lucky to last 6 months or a year, but I'd had the Breville for ... well, a long time.

I wasn't looking for a replacement machine, but I thought Breville might have some tips on fixing the problem. They did have a troubleshooting page on their website, but it didn't have any more information than the videos I watched. And we know how helpful those were.

I chatted with a very friendly person at Breville who gave me a few tips, but finally we concluded that the pump must be malfunctioning or some other deep internal thing had gone bad. Which makes sense. It pumped a lot of water over its lifetime without any problems.

She said that the model I had was discontinued "several years ago" and that even the newer model of single-cup brewer had been discontinued for some time. See, I told you my machine was old.

So, she couldn't offer a direct replacement, but she did offer a discount on anything else of theirs that I might want to buy. Anything else ... not just a coffee maker. That was a pretty good offer. Unfortunately, they only had full-pot coffee brewers, and I needed a single cup model.

Oh well. At least I had Mr. Coffee to keep me company in the morning.

I joked with my husband that I had fixed the coffee machine, and I only replaced one part - the part that starts at the outlet and ends at the mug. I crack myself up...

But apparently I didn't fix it well enough, because the morning cup of coffee was tragically weak. And the amount brewed wasn't huge. This didn't bode well for happy, perky mornings.

Weak coffee bolstering my shopping savvy, I wandered off to another store, determined to find a single-cup brewer that didn't require K-Cups. Again, that narrowed down the search considerably. I found a few models that shyly said that you could use any brand of cup-thing, and some that whispered about using your own ground coffee, but then I found one that very prominently proclaimed that you could use all the third-party products with no problem. It even came with its own refillable filter thingie (a technical term, right?), but I could also use the filters and holder that I already had.

The coffee maker that caught my eye was called the iCoffee Opus, and it also boasted a swirl technology that allegedly brewed the coffee better. There was another iCoffee model, the Express, but it didn't have a water reservoir, so you had to add the water for each cup, and I imagine the brewing time would be longer.

Call me skeptical. Swirling water sounds good, but would it make a difference? I got online and found a review on a coffee-lover site and the iCoffee Opus was highly praised. It was rated better than a Keurig.

That was enough. I grabbed the Opus box, dragged it to the register, and brought it home. Sorry, Mr. Coffee, but you're being returned.

While the iCoffee Express was a little less expensive than the Opus, I decided that I didn't want to add water for each cup of coffee, and a faster cup of coffee was a good thing, too.

I set it up as soon as I got it home, and ran some water though it. One nice feature is that you can set the amount of coffee you want to brew in half-ounce increments from 4 to 12 ounces. I chose 12 ounces, because I use a big coffee cup and I wanted to see how full it would be. That worked just fine. And then I decided that since my first cup of coffee that morning was insanely weak, it would be fine if I brewed a supplemental cup of coffee.

For testing purposes, of course.

And ... what do you know? It wasn't weak.

I've been drinking K-Cup-like coffee for a while, from a company that sent me sample for review, and I have to say that this cup had more flavor, more layers of flavor, more depth of flavor, more coffee flavor ... than I had noticed before.

Well, wow. That's interesting. Apparently the swirling-water technology makes a difference.

Later, I tried a tea product that I had. It had more flavor with the iCoffee than I'd tasted before.

The swirl-technology reminded me of a device called CaliX that I saw on the TV show Food Fortunes, but that device was just the coffee-holder-thingie rather than a whole machine. I haven't tried it, but if you've got a single cup brewer that's functioning but not brewing a great cup of coffee, it might be worth looking into.

So - I usually don't review anything until I've used it for a while, but in this case, I thought a "first impression" post would make some sense, since the machine is made to do one thing - make coffee - and there's no learning curve in operating it.

Besides brewing a nice cup of coffee, the iCoffee is also a rather attractive machine with pretty blue lights. And, if you need a visual cue that the brewing is done, a blue light shines on the cup when the coffee is dispensing. The light turns off when it's safe to remove the cup.

The one thing this brewer doesn't have is a clock. Which is great. A coffee maker isn't something that needs a clock, and I have plenty of other clocks in the kitchen.

Of course, only time will tell if this coffee maker lasts as long as my last one. I certainly hope so, because I like my morning coffee, and I'm really happy with the way it brews.

Who's it for: People who want a single-serve coffee maker.

Pros: It makes a good cup of coffee. It looks good on the counter.

Cons: Not the cheapest machine in the world. It's also not the most expensive.

Wishes: So far, nothing. It does what it's supposed to do, and it does it well.

Source: I bought all three of the coffee makers that I wrote about; one is being returned to the store.

Numi Tea in Single-Serve Realcups

Numi teas; Cosy mug courtesy of Duralex.

I've been enamored with Numi teas since they came up with the idea of the "blooming flower" teas that expand in the hot water to form a beautiful presentation.

Their newest offering is about as far from those blooming teas as you can imagine. The single-serve Realcups are designed to work in a Keurig coffee maker.

But, unlike the cups that are filling up landfills, these are recyclable. So you can have easy tea and not feel so guilt-ridden.

I like tea a lot, but I'm prone to leaving a teabag (or loose tea in a holder) in the water for too long. It's just too easy to get distracted and walk away from it and forget about it.

With the Numi Realcup, it's just brew, and drink.

I was given all four flavors to sample - Aged Earl Grey, Jasmine Green Tea, Moroccan Mint, and Rooibos Chai.

Of the four, the Moroccan Mint was my favorite, but that's simply because I love mint tea. It's a perfect warming drink on a chilly evening. I liked the Earl Grey more than I expected. Not that I dislike it, but it wouldn't be my first choice. This one, though, is a nice morning tea.

The Rooibos Chai had the spicy chai flavors, but it wasn't overwhelmingly strong, so it would work well with food or by itself. The Jasmine Green was my least favorite, but only because one of them had to be last.

Overall, I liked all of them, and I liked the convenience of being able to just pop one into the machine and have the tea brewed correctly. Oh, and Numi teas are organic, if that's important to you.

If you don't have a Keurig machine or don't like the cups, even if they're recyclable, Numi also sells loose tea, teabags, and those crazy flowering teas. And other stuff.

Who's it for: Tea lovers who love their Keurigs

Pros: Easy to use, recyclable.

Cons: If you're intense about recycling, you'll want to tear the cup open and compost the tea, so that lessens the convenience factor a bit.

Wishes: More flavors!!! More! More!

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Ice Ball Tray

When I was a kid, ice cube trays were pretty basic, and they were pretty good for making cracked ice. No neat cubes, no uniform pieces. The ice cubes from restaurants were so much more ... interesting.

Because they had fancy machines that molded the ice.

Now, you can mold your ice cubes into all sorts of fun shapes. Like balls.

I tested an Ice Ball Tray that makes four 2-inch balls in one tray. It's fairly simple - just fill the bottom tray with water (it's suggested that you use distilled water for clearer ice cubes, but I'm not that fussy) then put the top part on and press down. When water started coming out of the overflow holes on top of the mold, I put my fingers on the holes, kept pressing down, and the overflow went out the sides. Probably not necessary, but it kept water from filling the top of the mold, which made it easier to get the ice balls out later.

Or, you could put the tray together and pour water into the holes. Either way works.

I have to say that not every ball is perfect. If there's a little too much water, it can create a nub at the overflow hole like the one at the top right in the photo. If the two halves of the mold aren't snugged up to each other, you might end up with a ring of ice around the cubes.

But neither of those things are a big deal. Those smaller, thinner bits will be the first to melt when the balls are in a drink, so people will probably never notice that the balls aren't perfect. They'll just think that you made round ice balls.

Or, if you really need to have perfect rounds, you can run some cool water over the protruding excess pieces to melt them away.

These aren't the biggest ice balls I've seen, but they're a decent size and the mold is easy to use. And you could use it for other things as well, like making round balls of Jello. Why you'd want to do that, I don't know. But you certainly could.

Next time I bake a cake, I'm going to try baking a few ball-shaped cakes as well. It's probably going to be tricky because I'll have to account for the rising cake, and I have a feeling that there will be excess cake around the perimeter of the balls - but even half-rounds or Saturn-shaped cakes could be fun.

If it works out, there will probably be a post about it on Cookistry.

Meanwhile, I'm just making plain old ice. With plain water, which makes cloudy ice. And I'm okay with that.

Who's it for: People who want to make quirky ice.

Pros: Not expensive. These are some of the most affordable on Amazon.

Cons: Makes 2-inch balls, so if you're looking for the huge ones, this isn't them. On the other hand, it's a reasonable size that will fit pretty much every glass you have.

Wishes: It would be great to get a 3-pack with different sized molds.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Wine Chiller with Stopper

Wine chiller in a clear bottle.

I've been fascinated by these wine chiller things that are a metal rod that you keep in your freezer, and then you insert the rod into your wine bottle and it chills the wine.

I wondered if they worked.

I like cool or cold wine, but I don't always have a bottle in the refrigerator. That would require me to plan ahead, and sometimes I don't think about how great a glass of wine would be until I'm actually thinking about drinking it.

And then I've got a warm bottle of wine and an empty wine glass.

So, when I got a chance to review the Wine Chiller with Stopper from Kitchen Ezentials, I figured it would be fun.

I shoved the wine chiller in the freezer - the instructions say that two hours is sufficient. It's not really big, so in theory it doesn't need a lot of time to freeze. Really, though, it makes sense to toss it back into the freezer after you use it each time so it's always ready. It doesn't take a lot of space, so you can easily store it in the freezer all the time.

The idea is that you pour out just a little bit of wine to make room for the chiller, then insert it into the bottle, and your wine will be cooled really quickly. I noticed a temperature difference but afterwards I realized I should have actually measured the temperature. Oops. More wine needed.

So I tried again a few days later. The wine that I poured out was at 68 degrees, which was room temperature. I inserted the chiller and let it sit for a few minutes while I sipped my 68-degree wine.

When I poured the next little bit, it was 63 degrees. When that was consumed, the wine was down to 62 degrees - so a total drop of 6 degrees in just a few minutes.

The instructions on the box say you can drink immediately, but on Amazon it says you should wait 5 minutes, so I tried one more test. This time I started with 70-degree water in a bottle and let the frozen chiller hang around in the bottle for 5 minutes before pouring. The water was down to 64 degrees, so it was again a drop of 6 degrees from the starting point.

Side note: Do NOT use the wine chiller in a narrow-necked bottle like the one you see in the photo above. The chiller slid in just fine, but I had a heckuva time getting it out - I all but destroyed it in the process. The only thing I can figure is that there was enough shrinkage of materials that it slid in willingly, but once it warmed up a bit, it was just a hair tighter. Oops.

I have to say that the wine definitely went from warm to nicely cool and more drinkable. The instructions note that it chills a red wine or it can keep a white wine at a properly-chilled temperature for an hour, which is nice - you can set the bottle on the table at dinner and you don't need to worry about the temperature during dinner.

How cold it will ultimately get depends on what temperature the wine is when you start - and also on how cold your freezer is, but it seems like a six-degree drop was pretty consistent in my tests.

Because of the way the chiller is constructed, the wine pours slowly and it's supposed to aerate the wine at the same time, so that's an added bonus.

Who's it for: Scatterbrained wine drinkers who need a quick way to chill their wine.

Pros: It includes a pourer, and won't take much space in the freezer. You could also use this to chill other beverages.

Cons: The pouring spout is rather tall, so if you decide to put the wine in the refrigerator with the chiller in, you'll need to have a tall enough space.

Wishes: It would be nice if there was a super-chiller model that would drop the temperature even more. I'm not sure if it's possible, though.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Leaf Vodka - organic and unique

Gone are the days when vodka is a colorless, odorless and somewhat harsh substance that you mix with cheap orange juice.

Leaf Vodka is a whole new thing. It's organic. And there are currently two different option - based on the water they're made from.

Yup. Water.

One variety is made from Alaskan glacial water and the other is made from Rocky Mountain mineral water. Since there were two types, I had to taste-test them side-by-site, right?

They were distinctly different. The Alaskan was slightly sweeter, with citrus notes. The Rocky Mountain was sharper with hits of ... well, minerals. Both of them were very sippable and very very smooth.

This is the kind of vodka you'd use in a drink where the vodka is a prominent flavor - like a martini. Or in a cocktail with a mild-flavored mixer, like tonic water or club soda. Or if you're mixing it with a small amount of fresh juice or a quality prepared juice. This vodka really deserved to shine. Save the cheap orange juice for something else.

Possibly irrelevant is that the bottles look really cool. Not important if you shove them into a cabinet, but if you display your liquors, those will stand out. I tend to re-use interesting-looking bottles, so these will probably be around for a while after the vodka is gone.

Do you like quality vodka? Seek these out.

I'll have a cocktail using these over on Cookistry later. So look for it.

Who's it for: People who like quality liquor.

Pros: Tasty.

Cons: Might be hard to find in your local area.

Wishes: Hoping they'll come up with more versions, since the first two are so good.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Smirnoff Sours

The great thing about being a food blogger is that I get all sorts of things to test. And sometimes testing involves eating.

Or drinking.

I just got a chance to try one of the new liquor from Smirnoff - the fruit punch from the Sours line. The other flavors are watermelon and green apple. The fruit punch flavor reminded me of something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. But I liked it a lot.

I had planned on using the Fruit Punch Sour to make some cocktails, but I found that it was pretty darned good over ice. Just plain. Really flavorful.

A couple years ago, I went a little crazy making infused alcohols, often starting with vodka. What I ended up with was something that you'd drink all on it's own, like a liqueur. That's sort of what these sours are like. They've got a little more body than something like vodka, and they're a little sweet along with being tart.

I'm planning on working on some cocktail ideas using the Sours for my food blog, but thus far I've been pretty happy drinking it over ice. If you don't want it as a chilled shot or over ice, I think it would be pretty good with something simple like lemon-lime soda or fizzy water.

The other cool thing about these new sours is the bottles. They're kind of shiny and glittery in the light, but they're also supposed to glow in the dark.

I don't know how much of a selling point that is - I really don't go looking for glowing liquor bottles in the dark, but it could be fun for a party or for someone who's got bottles on display. Crafty people might find a use for them, too.

The Sours themselves are brightly colored, so no matter what you mix them with, you should end up with some interesting color.

So ... have you tried these yet? Will you?

I received product from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.