I love a cocktail. I especially love quirky, off the beaten track cocktails. One night after dinner with a couple of girlfriends, we ended up at Zeta Bar at the Hilton in Sydney. Not having had dessert as we were too full, but since walking seven blocks in killer high heels (I was the one they were killing), my dinner had settled and the special spot in one’s stomach just for dessert, had opened up, this enticing cocktail/dessert caught my eye. Called La Premeiere, it was apparently “a quirky fusion (oh, they used one of my key words, “quirky”, tick) of popcorn and Coca-Cola but with a twist… We extract the popcorn flavour from popcorn by washing it through 10 Cane Rum and then mixing in a highball as a twist on the classic Cuba Libre. Served with a caramelized lime popcorn garnish and a side of popcorn.” Oh. My. Goodness. This was going to be A. Maize. Ing. (Couldn’t resist that play on words). I love coke, I love popcorn. I love anything that has been caramelised. (I prefer ‘s’ to ‘z’). I parted with nearly twenty dollars, and sat in anticipation…
It arrived. I had to take a photo as it looked so cool and retro. I sipped it. A sweet, buttery, corny infused elixir trickled down over my taste buds. It was delicious. No… wait. I sipped again. It was just rum and coke… and not even a good rum and coke. It was something more reminiscent of a drink underage kids sneak on school camp. Oh, and there was popcorn floating in it. No evidence of caramelisation or lime. Just popcorn getting soggy. I tried the side of popcorn. It was stale, like they had collected all the popcorn people spill on the floor in the cinema. Not impressed Zeta. You are certainly no Alpha in my book.
