"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, bartender profiles and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
A while back, I read a review of a product called Spike Your Juice, a $10 kit that lets you ferment alcoholic fruit juice in a mere two days. It being OnMilwaukee.com Bar Month, I thought I'd take another look at this stuff -- but for some reason, I can't bring myself to give it a try.
Here's how it works. You take a 64-ounce bottle of fruit juice that contains a minimum of 20 grams of sugar per serving. It can't be a refrigerated juice (which rules out Robinade). You pour in a packet of their powder (yeast, I assume), and seal the bottle with their airlock filled with water. After 48 hours, you have booze, and if it's not strong enough for you, you can re-ferment at room temperature "until satisfied."
According to the Spike Your Juice Web site, over time, your hootch will rise up to 14 percent alcohol by volume, which isn't exactly moonshine strength. Intriguing, a little scary, but harmless, right?
I've sent the Spike Your Juice people a press inquiry, so we'll see what they can do. No promises on whether I'm willing to give this stuff a try ... would you?
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
