[Ad- gifted product] The weather is getting quite cold and rainy here in England. With second lockdown in full swing, finding new ways to spend your evenings is something we’ve been focused on! Aloha 65 reached out, offering a summer at home using their spirit and hot sauce – which feels refreshing like a bright, summery day despite the early darkness. We set up a little summer at home evening with the heating on, plenty of food, and of course cocktails.
Setting up a summery night in
When it comes to a night in, there are two treats that we must have; snacks and drinks. When it came to the snacks, we wanted to do a charcuterie board. Though you couldn’t really do a charcuterie board at the beach, having one at home (without the sand) is just so luxurious. Charcuterie boards can be made of anything, really. You just need to grab some crackers, cheeses, meats and pickles – then place them all around a board. Despite being made of a much of different items, the board itself is quite eye pleasing and goes well with a good drink. We received a bottle of Aloha 65 Hot Sauce, which I will go into details below, and wanted to try that too. One of the biggest parts of having a night in is not having to go out, so as this hot sauce can go on anything, we cleared out some of our freezer and went for turkey dinosaurs. They might not be the fanciest, but when you are having a night in, you can do as you please.
We made two drinks to go with our new spirit: an Aloha 65 Sunrise – a drink Dann really enjoys – and an Aloha 65 Pina Colada. That’s the thing with this spirit – you can use it in basically any existing cocktail, just changing out the spirit for this one!
Aloha 65
The Aloha 65 drink is actually quite a fruity new spirit. It’s made from fresh pineapple, lemon, ginger, chilies, herbs and spices creating a spirit that is not really a rum or a gin but is really great. As someone who enjoys fruity drinks, having that hit of pineapple with a bit of spice at the end is very lovely. Aloha 65 is vegan and is lower in alcohol content than other mainstream spirits, which is great when it comes to creating cocktails! Following the theme of sun, surf, and sand, this drink also supports Plastic Oceans UK – a cause dedicated to keeping our oceans free of trash. It’s safe to say, both Dann and I really enjoyed this spirit. It’s so refreshing and fruity, perfect for drinking over ice or using in fruity cocktails! Dann’s so good at making cocktails, that it’s really fun to see him set up and start mixing.
To make the Pina Colada into an Aloha Colada we simply substituted the White Rum measure within the recipe for Aloha 65. For us that meant that you took 1 part Aloha 65 to 1 part Coconut Rum, 3 parts pineapple, a touch of grenadine and a handful of ice cubes, before liberally shaking them until the ice had fully melted into the drink. This is what gives it the visible, foamy head. If you wish then you can pour the grenadine into the drink after the mixing and pouring, which creates more of an orange colour than the pink colour above.
For the Aloha Sunrise it’s another substitution, this time taking out the earthy, agave tasting Tequila and substituting it for the fruity, hot taste of Aloha 65. It actually substitutes quite well, although we did end up using a little bit less Aloha 65 (1 part to 4 parts orange) than with tequila as it caused the flavours of the spirit to meld with the orange better. For the grenadine (what can I say – we’re fans) the best tip is to pour it central to the glass, either off of a straw or a spoon so that the syrup falls directly to the bottom of the glass rather than distributing around.
Aloha 65 Hot Sauce
Getting a hot sauce is always an exciting time in our house. There is a lot of variety in hot sauces, from the burn your mouth, devil-themed hot sauces to more mild, everyday table hot sauces like sriracha. I didn’t know what to expect when we opened the Aloha 65 Hot Sauce, but from the smell, it was indeed fruity! The taste, much like the drink, is pineapple first, but unlike the drink, the ending is super warming, bringing that spice to the back of your throat. This hot sauce is bright in flavor, which would make it perfect for chickens, hams, and probably marinates. It’s so good – one that will make it’s way back to our table again in the future.
Despite having to be home more – and the bad weather bringing cold to the outdoors, it’s very easy to have a great night in. This night in is especially summery feeling if you add in Aloha 65 – as it’s just such a bright and fruity flavor!
You can use code JH20 to get 20% off a bottle of Aloha 65 yourself, on their website.