Ready-to-drink cocktail review: Crafthouse Cocktails (Part 1)

Hi there all you cocktail loving peeps - I have some exciting to share with you. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to try ALL of the Crafthouse Cocktails!! All of them! All seven. It's a rough job but I think I'm up to it. ;)

A few years ago I reviewed the Crafthouse Moscow Mule - you can read that full review here. I was drawn to Crafthouse for several reasons but the biggest one was the fact that they have wine bottle sized cocktails which makes it so easy to serve to your friends. Having a really tasty, sharable sized cocktail takes away any excuse to just serve wine out of convenience which I think a lot of people do. As a person who does not love wine, I get super disappointed when my options at a party are wine or LaCroix. It makes me sad, and more importantly, want to leave. 

But back to Crafthouse! I absolutely died for their Moscow Mule and it's one of the cocktails my friends often ask me if I have more of. So when they reached out to me about trying their brand new packaging of personal sized cocktails, I could barely contain my excitement. 

I've been waiting weeks and weeks to get to these cocktails - I try to review them in the order they are sent to me for fairness. I'm a Libra, I can't help it. But now it is finally time to try the first two cocktails so let's see what we've got!

Crafthouse Cocktails Gold Rush:

Overall score: 5 / 5

Sweetness: 
One shaker = not sweet at all // Five shakers = your teeth may curl

Booziness: 17.5% ABV
One shaker = does this have booze? Five shakers = OG Four Lokos 

I have to say I am equal parts super annoyed and totally thrilled about the Crafthouse Cocktails Gold Rush. I'm really really annoyed at myself that two years into these reviews and I'm only just now trying this. What the heck?!!? This is one of the very best ready-to-drink cocktails I've ever had. I expected it to be good because of my previous experience with Crafthouse but dang!!! This is a good cocktail.

I'm thrilled to let you know that this is one of the most legit pre-made cocktails ever. I said this about their Mule, but you could really pour this into a glass and serve it to friends and they would think you went to a fancy bartending school to learn how to make artisian cocktails. It's that good.

A Gold Rush isn't a cocktail that I typically order but I think I might from now on. This version from Crafthouse reminded me a little bit a summery version of an Old Fashioned. It has that rich bourbon flavor combined with an almost homemade lemonade taste that makes this cocktail so flavorful and so refreshing - which isn't a term you usually associate with a whiskey drink. You can individually taste the bourbon, the lemon and the honey in this cocktail which is a sign of a really well made drink.

I'm going to stop rambling now so we can move onto the next cocktail but you have to promise me you'll try the Crafthouse Cocktails Gold Rush ASAP!  

Order this Crafthouse Cocktails ready-to-drink Gold Rush online here>>

Crafthouse Cocktails Rum Old Fashioned: 

Overall score: 5/ 5

Sweetness:  
One shaker = not sweet at all // Five shakers = your teeth may curl

I tried the Gold Rush first because I wanted to save the Old Fashioned since that is my go-to cocktail these days. I was excited to try the Crafthouse version because it's made with Jamaican rum instead of the traditional bourbon. Plus the label description mentioned chocolate bitters and I can't think of anything I've been more excited about in ages.

First off, holy amazing rum flavor! I guess I usually think of rum as a background flavor in a fruity drink. Here it is the star of the show. The rum exactly replaces what you expect to be whiskey. It tastes exactly like an Old Fashioned but with aged, really nice rum. I'm mind blown. I guess I expected it to be a rum cocktail that was somehow in the category of an Old Fashioned but this is an Old Fashioned through and through - but with rum. How did that even happen? I don't know if my description makes sense, but when you try it, you'll understand what I mean. 

See what I did there, you HAVE to try this one too! I know I have five more Crafthouse Cocktails to go but I feel comfortable enough already to say you should probably just go ahead and buy one of each Crafthouse Cocktail. They are that good!

Order this Crafthouse Cocktails ready-to-drink Old Fashioned online here>>

Would I buy these again?

Yes, yes, hell yes! I thought I was safe to assume that both of this week's cocktails would be really good since I was already a fan of Crafthouse's Mule but these are next level. 

I didn't mention this in the individual reviews but these cocktail have A LOT of booze in them which is part of what makes them more like a traditional cocktail you'd be served out at a bar. They are the exact opposite of the light, sparkling vodka soda and hard seltzers that are all the rage right now. In my book, those are barely cocktails. These are cocktails! They have real booze and a lot of it.

If you, or someone you know, has been resisting the idea of a ready-to-drink cocktail, you should absolutely start here. Start with Crafthouse Cocktails. They prove without a doubt that pre-made cocktails can be just as good, sometimes even better, than cocktails from a fancy bar.

If you want to try these Crafthouse Cocktails you can order them online here:

Order Crafthouse Cocktails ready-to-drink cocktails online here >>

And I'll be back next Friday with two more Crafthouse Cocktails!

Did you notice those cocktail sticks in the photos? 

That is my patent pending Swizzly Stick™ - a brand new drink marker + cocktail stick combo. 

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