Fall brings new adult drink, breakfast bread
New food and beverage products this fall include a brand of barrel- aged hard lemonade and a breakfast bread that’s pretty versatile.
Merchant’s, a new line of sparkling hard lemonade and teas, was recently launched in Fairfield & New Haven as two test markets starting, a publicist said, from Heineken USA.
We tried both the Lemonade and Peach Tea flavors, advertised as having “barrel- aged flavor” and being a grown- up alternative to the super- sweet hard lemonades and teas on the market today.
The result was odd but intriguing. The lemon flavor is smoothed over by notes of oak and honey, coming off strange at first but mild and authentic as you continue. The peach tea thankfully had more up- front taste — of strong tea, suprisingly instead of strong peach notes. There’s no mention of caffeine, but black tea usually has some.
The lemon one has no actual juice in it — just water, alcohol from sugar, sucrose and honey and natural flavor with citrus acid and carbon dioxide for a light carbonation. The tea featues water, alcohol ( 4.5%), black tea extract, sugar, peach and lemon juice concentrate ( 2%) and CO2. Calories run a modest 110 for a 12- ounce can, with 6- 7 carbs and 4- 5 grams of added sugar.
The Fairfield and New Haven stretch is one of just two markets where Merchant’s is now available, sold at a variety of local supermarket and beverage retailers including BevMax and ShopRite, the publicist said.
— Another new product to Connecticut this fall is Calise Bakery’s Brioche Style Cinnamon Chip Texas Toast, which arrived at area stores in October. Familyowned Rhode Island operation Calise, begun in 1908, manufactures more than 140 varieties of baked, par- baked and frozen products and distributes a full line of bread products, bagels, breakfast pastries, pockets and wraps for food service accounts.
We sampled the Cinnamon Chip Texas Toast, the bakery’s first breakfast bread, and enjoyed its taste, bits of cinnamon ( actually a superfood) and large slices, perfect for making French toast or as an accompaniment to your morning eggs. You can also use it as base in a bread casserole.
And butter lovers will enjoy it as is or toasted.