When a Liqueur may be a Milkshake: the Curious Case of Coffee'tini

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I sit down with Casey and a couple of his pals at a makeshift tasting room at his California Spirits Company in San Marcos. He's pouring samples of Proffenberger Lemoncello (surprisingly not too lemony), Malahat Straight Bourbon (very tasty) and a U4ik vodka  (euphoric, get it?) that I learn is made from three varietals each of red and white grapes. It comes to the distillers as a "low wine," or wine that is first distilled at the winery, to 95% alcohol.

Then we get to California Spirit's own Coffee'tini. Oh my God - hello hyperglycemia. You could say this stuff is sweet. Moreover,  I'm impressed with the creaminess of it.  And although it's made from rum (Casey's own white Innovo), milk, coffee and (duh) sugar, some strange trick of memory-association takes me back to childhood milkshakes. The dilemma with drinking a chilled shot of Coffee'tini, of course, will be familiar to anyone who has ordered a small ice cream cone. It's not nearly enough. You will want to drain this bottle. Debbie, the kind woman tending bar and also kicking off her birthday weekend, tells me of her struggles with the stuff. It's pretty much replaced her coffee creamer at home. God bless you, Debbie!

So that's the question: diabetes or not to diabetes. With a chilled glass of this brown magic in front of you, waiting, the answer is clear.


Location: San Marcos, CA, USA

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