Equivalent drinks

[charm73]

I am putting together my order from Garden Grocer and will be ordering beer for the guys, but mom and I usually drink either Grower's Cider, or drinks like Vex or Smirnoff Ice. None of these are available in the US. Anyone have any ideas of something equivalent? Or a link to a website where you can browse what they have in Florida?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I've seen and drank Smirnoff Ice in Orlando ... if I remember correctly you can even buy it at Wal-Mart there

Bonny

 

[charm73]

Good to know. Last time I was in the US was Disneyland in 2004 and no one had any idea what they were when I asked for them at restaurants.

 

[Bea]

We were at the liquor store in Orlando and asked. They had Smirnoff and Mike's hard lemonade but were all malt based . The ones at WalMart etc were the same. We ended up buying a bottle of coconut rum, and a can of pineapple juice and making drinks in the condo, using the blender.

If you find them please let me know.

 

[bookbabe626]

We were at the liquor store in Orlando and asked. They had Smirnoff and Mike's hard lemonade but were all malt based

As far as I can tell, that's all you'll find anywhere in the States. It's something to do with their different liquor production laws...all of our "vodka coolers" appear there as "malt beverages" - same name, same bottle, different contents. In my experience, you're also more likely to find them in the same locations as beer, rather than at the liquor stores.

You will find some hard ciders, not Growers but there are lots of other brands that many of the liquor stores sell. They don't seem to be as commonly found as they are here, though, and the types vary from state to state. Unfortunately, I haven't bought any in Florida, so I'm not sure what brands are there (but if you're in Pennsylvania, Woodchuck cider is quite good).

 

[MegaWoman]

Yup, Smirnoff Ice in the US is malt based. I used to work for Diageo (the company that owns Smirnoff) and to be able to sell it in supermarkets and drugstores it has to be malt based not vodka based. And it does have a different taste. (There was an idea to import the malt based version for Quebec sales in deps and grocery stores, but the other provinces' liquor boards wouldn't allow the SAQ to do so - just an FYI)

 

[charm73]

thanks for the info... interesting stuff!

 

[jtdl]

Several years ago when I was there they had Captain Morgan coolers - I loved the wild cherry

 

[laura001]

You can purchase Smirnoff Ice at a lot of the WDW resort gift shops also!