Skittles-infused vodka is sooo 2008. This year, it’s all about the bubble gum-infused vodka! Toss a few pieces of your favorite gum into some clear alcohol, and a week or two later, you have a light pink alcoholic infusion that reminds you of your childhood (but is only for those of legal drinking age of course).

The bloggers at Taylor Takes a Taste recommend mixing bubble gum vodka with lemonade for a refreshing aperetif. They also recommend using your favorite vodka for this recipe, but being a cheapster, I would recommend using a less-expensive alcohol if you’re gonna flavor it like bubble gum. Choose your own adventure.

• How to make bubblegum infused vodka [via Craft]
• Lemonade Bubblegum cocktail recipe
• via Craft

For the longest time, my palate’s intelligence for toffee has resembled my career in high school geometry: I liked the class and got a B, but I was nowhere near as good in it as I was in English (chocolate) and Science (gummi). Toffee always seemed likable, but I never ate enough of the stuff to be an aficionado.

Toffee itself is a simple candy made by boiling sugar and mixing it with butter. Though most Americans identify toffee by the way it appears in Heath and Skor bars, it can take several forms. English toffee is a derivative that can be chewy, and honeycomb toffee is aerated, as found in Crunchie and Violet Crumble bars.

Toffee tends to be a flavor spread around by the British, resulting in it being more popular in Europe and its colonies rather than in the U.S. When I was living in New Zealand, I was exposed to a variety of toffees of all different textures and tastes, which were never readily available to me back in the States. This inundation of the sweet created my craving for toffee that still exists today.

When I was offered to write a piece on LalaBoodles’ Gourmet Toffee, I couldn’t turn down the offer. I had never sampled gourmet toffee, and the descriptions of what they produced were so enticing that I circled my mailbox for an entire week until they showed.

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When we were first offered these review samples of Tequila Caramels, nobody on the staff wanted to try them. Tequila and caramel just doesn’t sound very appetizing. Since I enjoy a good margarita and have been known to do a tequila shot or two from time to time, I figured I’d give them a go. The Borrachitos have been made in Mexico since 1946 and have only recently been introduced to the U.S. through Crown Candies.

In my review package I got the Tequila Nuggets and also a pack of Licor De Cafe Nuggets. Each pack contains 24 caramels about the size and shape of penne pasta. They are golden caramel coated in sugar crystals and each has a small bit of white marshmallowy stuff inside. They look very homemade (the box does say “Hand Crafted”) and very tasty.

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By now, you’ve probably heard of some sort of candy and alcohol combination. We have covered several takes on the idea, including chocolate wine, a candy cocktail called a Fish Bowl, the infamous Skittlebrau, and a long list of candy cocktails. If you like Skittles, and you like vodka, Jose at Extra Tasty has a recipe tailored to you.

I’m not much of a hard-liquor drinker, so I haven’t tried this recipe, but apparently the key to a tasty drink is keeping the green (lime) Skittles out of the mix. Another key is patience. If you’re in the mood for a quick party drink, the Vodka Skittles recipe is not for you. However, if you’d like to sit down on a Thursday night and get your Saturday buzz ready, here’s your chance:

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Along with the Bacon Mints I reviewed earlier this week, I also received two tins of banana-flavored Monkey Mints and two tins of grog-flavored Pirate Mints. Thankfully, the horrid smell of the Bacon Mints didn’t permeate the sealed Monkey Mints and Pirate Mints tins.

Monkey Mints: The first thing that you notice about Monkey Mints is the cool monkey-face-shaped tin. It’s almost worth the cost of the mints just for the cool green tin. Once you actually open the tin, you’ll see 100 round yellow mints. When I first popped one in my mouth, I immediately thought of a banana Runt. After a second, the mint taste came through. Banana and mint isn’t a flavor combination I had ever considered before, but it’s not bad. Neither flavor is overwhelming and they mix rather nicely actually. And seriously – who doesn’t like monkeys?

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Pirate Mints: The Pirate Mints say they are “Grog Flavored”. I had heard the word “grog” bandied about in pirate movies and always thought it meant beer. After looking at the ingredients list and Googling the word “grog”, I found out that grog is watered-down rum (the ingredients list says they contain “rum flavor”). The “mints” taste like a tropical (rum) drink and don’t have any actual mint taste to them all. I suppose they are called “mints” because they look like mints, have the texture of mints, and come in a mint tin. They taste pretty good – like a rum-flavored candy. It’s not a taste I can see myself ever craving after this tin is finished though.

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So, both the Monkey Mints and the Pirate Mints are good, but nothing special. They’re really better as a novelty candy/tin than they are great-tasting. At least they don’t taste like bacon.

• Monkey Mints at mcphee.com
• Pirate Mints at mcphee.com
• Bacon Mints Reviewed

candy, sweets, mint, mints, banana, bananas, rum, grog, pirate, pirates, monkey, monkeys, mcphee