Urb'n'lili Cosmocran Review

Among the hundreds of beer reviews on this site, there are a handful of pre-mixed cocktail reviews as well as the occasional wine and hard liquor review. I rarely get coolers and when I do, they are for guests or for my girlfriend and I usually don't bother reviewing them. This one, however, is an exception because I couldn't get over its premium price of almost $14 for a 4 pack of 300 mL plastic bottles.

Sure, it looks like a lot of thought and money went into the design of the bottle, the label and the marketing, but I just could not get over its high price. For $14 I can make my own coolers because I already have some of the ingredients. The only thing I would need is a 200 mL bottle of vodka, which retails for less than $10 and perhaps a fresh bottle of juice. If I were to get frozen one, I could save a few dollars. With that in mind, I stole a bottle from the fridge and set it aside for a later review.

The cocktails smells a lot like a spiked energy drink with some cranberries. It is non-carbonated, which makes it easy to drink and doesn't make you feel bloated or want to burp every few sips. I can see how this might appeal to a certain demographic.

The taste is sort of mellow until you feel the 7% ABV which makes it a bit harsh. There is a pleasant white grape flavour with some cranberries, but I cannot get over the vodka harshness. I think this would have tasted much better if the percentage was brought down a bit, or if other ingredients were used that could neutralize the vodka taste.

Finish is pretty smooth, until the vodka gets its turn, and a nice green tea note can be detected. Unfortunately, since one of the main ingredients is sugar, there is a build up of sweetness that tells me "don't have another one or you will regret it" half way through the first bottle.

This cocktail is OK, but it is nothing worth picking up over your regular 4 pack of coolers/cocktails for less than $10 for a few reasons - it is all marketing, it is an extra $4, it is just as sweet. If I were to remake this cocktail, I would eliminate the added sugar and lower the vodka percentage to something that would not interfere with the taste. That way, I can probably get people to drink more of these thus buy more of these. These are my $0.02.

Scores:
Cost - $13.95
Taste - 5.5/10
ABV - 7%

Overall - 5.5/10...the scores is heavily influenced by the price and the lack of something original