Skip to main content

Nostalgic Beverages

Expert Picks


Andrew Facey

Growing up in the 70s and 80s was a whole lot different than what my son is currently experiencing. In addition to not having cell phones or easy access cameras, we also didn’t have a lot of extra money. This last point made small things seem a whole lot bigger and better. We Generation X kids often had to wait for special days – and one of my favourite was ice cream day! It appears that I was not alone in this as a recent trend in the Spirits world is to emulate some of these delicious treats of the past in alcoholic form. A variety of these “nostalgic” beverages are now available at your local Liquor Store!
If you were a fan of freezies, rockets or creamsicles, then you just might like my picks listed below.
As the packaging suggests the Smirnoff Ice Berry Blasts are based on the classic Popsicle treat – the rocket. Who among us never tried to head off the inevitable blue melt at the bottom of a rocket by sucking up and down the sides of this fruit flavoured treat?
The team at Smirnoff didn’t stop with a rocket flavoured vodka, they also created a similar tasting RTD (ready-to-drink). So if you like the combined flavours of cherry, citrus and blue raspberry then we have multiple options and formats available.
The next nostalgic product comes to us from Canadian producer Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Since 1996 this company has produced some of Canada’s top flavoured malt beverages. Their most recent release is the Hard Blue Freeze which provides the refreshing raspberry aromas and flavours reminiscent of a blue Mr. Freezie. It has the perfect amount of sugar to keep it from being cloyingly sweet and should be served well-chilled or over ice.
The final product that I will highlight during our stroll down memory lane is rum aficionado, Captain Morgan’s most recent release – the Orange Vanilla Twist Rum. Orange and vanilla is a classic combo that many of us tried for the first time as kids in the form of a creamsicle. Coming in at 30% ABV this rum is 5% less than Captain Morgan’s regular spiced rum and is the perfect ingredient for frozen blender drinks! Head’s up though, this creamsicle in liquid form is a limited edition for now, so get it while you can before it’s all sold out!

Bio: Andrew, NLC’s Senior Product Knowledge Consultant, joined NLC in 2008 after a successful 15 year career as a fine-dining waiter. As a certified Sommelier, Andrew has taught many NLC employees and customers the first two levels of the International Sommelier Guild (ISG) program and is qualified to teach WSET (Wine and Spirit Educational Trust) classes. While wine is his primary forte, he is also very well versed in spirits through his WSET training (Honours) and has achieved the first level of the Cicerone program, with proven experience in selecting today’s wide range of beers.

Choose an occasion to see what products Andrew suggests:

Andrew’s Picks: