RIPE Cocktail Mixers - All-Natural and Tasty!

Although it is not a major focus of my blog, one of the perks is being able to try out new and different food products.  So when the folks at RIPE contacted me to try out their new cocktail mixers, I was definitely enthused.  I consider myself a social butterfly and I love entertaining with good food and just as important - good drinks.  Thus, this was a product review that I was really looking forward to.

Before getting the products, I of course did my research.  Founded in 2008, RIPE is a young company that focuses on offering all-natural pure squeezed cocktail mixers.  Unlike those other cocktail mixers that sit on shelves for months at a time, these mixers contain no preservatives and are thus sold chilled like any other fruit or vegetable juice product.  In fact, when RIPE contacted me to ship these products out, it was delivered to me in a chilled shipping cooler to keep the mixers as fresh as possible.

RIPE sent over three of their cocktail mixers: Sour Mix, Bloody Mary, and Margarita.  Each mixer comes in a one-liter recyclable bottle and I liked the simple aesthetic of the bottles.

Of course I had the "tough" job of trying out these mixers.  The best part about trying out cocktail mixers was getting some volunteers and lucky for me, my friends love cocktails just as much as I do!  Last week, when we made pumpkin pancakes for dinner, we paired it with the Bloody Mary mix.  We looked at the bottle and could actually pronounce every single ingredient, which included San Marzano tomatoes, pure squeezed celery and lemon juices, certified balsamic vinegar, fresh horseradish, grey Celtic sea salt and spices.  By using these fresh ingredients, the mixers are also low in calories for a mixer with about sixty calories per serving (before alcohol).  But forget about all of the details the most important question is, how does it taste?

When we opened the Bloody Mary bottle it smelled overwhelmingly of tomatoes.  The color and consistency was thicker than most Bloody Mary mixes.  We poured a glass of three parts mixer and one part Ketel One Vodka.  Now my friend KK and I both love a really spicy Bloody Mary and always order it "extra spicy" when we go out.  Even though we didn't smell the spiciness, this Bloody Mary mix definitely packed a powerful punch.  With such great flavors, especially the flavor of the rich San Marzano tomatoes, we didn't add any of the traditional garnishments like olives, celery or lime juice because it just wasn't necessary.  We were both very excited about this mix and I know that this will be my go-to Bloody Mary mix.  Here is a photo of the fabulous KK enjoying her Bloody Mary!

A few days later, I got to test out the Sour Mix.  The Sour Mix consists of pure squeezed lemon juice, agave nectar (which I'm obsessed with since my trip to Mexico this fall) and filtered water. 

On Saturday night, I brought this mixer over for girls' night out and it was a BIG hit.  The ladies loved the sour lemon taste and it went perfect with some Grey Goose vodka.  One of my friends is on Weight Watchers and she was especially happy when I told her the calorie count before the alcohol.  For me, I liked the Sour Mix because it had a nice lemon flavor but it didn't have that artificial lemonade-like taste.

The only one that I have yet to try is the Margarita Mix but that is mostly because I'm not the biggest fan of tequila.  But for those of you interested, the Margarita Mix's ingredients are lime and orange juices, agave nectar and filtered water.

Overall, I really enjoyed the products.  I think this would make great mixers for a social gathering.  But you couldn't have the product in your fridge for last-minute entertaining because they have an estimated fridge life of thirty dates.  However, I think this is a small price to pay to have a more fresh and all-natural mixer versus one with a lot of artificial ingredients.

If you're interested in trying out RIPE, you can order them directly from their website and they will ship them out in the same shipping cooler that I received mine in!  If you are in New England, they are available in fifty different Whole Foods Markets, including some in Massachusetts.  Whole Foods sells their mixers refrigerated in their produce section so you can easily pick some up when you're picking up your fruit and vegetable ingredients for your next party.  Also for any Bostonians interested in the product, RIPE holds in-store demonstrations of their products with another one scheduled for Monday, April 12th at the Whole Foods Market Symphony location from 5-7 PM. 

If you have any questions or would like to know more about RIPE mixers, please let me know and I can put you in contact with the folks at RIPE.