Alyson Lewis
Bio
beautiful woman doing beverage reviews and recipes
Stories (47/0)
clementine lemonade
Lemonade is truly one of life’s simplest pleasures. Too often, though, it comes in the form of unimaginative flavor combinations (OK strawberry lemonade, I Get It), and the drink itself ends up being imbalanced and syrupy. I love a good chain restaurant, but they have to stop just pumping strawberry syrup into plain lemonade and calling it a day. Please respect the drink.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Nilo Guanabana Review
It’s really, truly winter, and among other crushing aspects of the season, some of the best fruit is hard to find. I live in the Midwest, so if you’re in a warmer climate and have access to other seasonal options, congratulations. I envy you for that. The weather here sucks ass, and if I’m being completely honest, I would love to not experience another cold season. Realistically, there’s nothing I will do about it. I’ll bundle up in a winter coat and thick scarf every year and sigh and fantasize about other places I could be living.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Soylent Review
Borrowing its name from a product in the novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, Soylent claims to be the perfect meal replacement to solve issues of food insecurity through Silicon Valley engineering. I recently rewatched the film Soylent Green (1973), and though the official soylent website claims the drink isn’t as bleak as the meal replacements offered in the film, the association is still incredibly dystopian. Soylent Green is a film set in New York City in 2022, where the poor are packed in the streets, and real food only exists for those who can afford it—the rich. While older people can vaguely remember the taste of fruit or meat, younger generations were born under depressing circumstances, and have no idea what real food tastes like. The poor subsist on an allegedly nutritious food made of soybeans and lentils, as the Greenhouse Effect has ruined the Earth and made other food unsustainable. Fueled by a series of murders and suspicious events, Detective Thorn starts investigating what looks to be a dark secret surrounding soylent green.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Seedlip Review
Seedlip boasts being the first non-alcoholic distilled spirit, taking inspiration from an old recipe book of herbal concoctions from the 1770s. They seek to quench the thirst of people who wonder “What do I drink when I’m not drinking?” and have three flavors of distilled spirits. Grove 42, Spice 94 and Garden 108 all have unique flavors and descriptions, and I went with Garden 108 for this week’s review. Garden 108 is a floral blend and includes handpicked hay and sugar snap peas, which sounded weird as hell to me. As we all know, if it sounds weird, I need to try it.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
- Top Story - January 2020
drank review Top Story - January 2020
My sleep schedule has been all fucked up. I think it’s a combination of anticipation, a lot going on in my personal life, and a general sense of sadness about world events. Anyway, I haven’t been sleeping. I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Lack of sleep is the most jarring shock to the system. It makes the night unbearable and the following day is even worse. There’s a fuzzy haze on everything..conversations, the work day, food. Nothing sounds or flows or tastes quite right.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Dr. Priestley Seltzer Review
Dr. Joseph Priestley is allegedly responsible for creating carbonated water by accident in 1767. I say “allegedly” because I wasn’t there. But in 1772, he published a paper with possibly the horniest title of any paper ever written: Impregnating Water with Fixed Air. I don’t care what anyone says, he wanted to have sex with that water. As a longtime seltzer fan, I honestly don’t blame him. Seltzer is a water worth fucking.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Inca Kola Review
There are few beverage companies I can legitimately admire, and even fewer with a flavor as bold as Inca Kola. I’ve had champagne colas before, but I had no idea about the rich history of Inca Kola, and how the company went head to head with Coca Cola in an ongoing rivalry that lasted for decades. The drink originated in Peru, and started off as a small family-made beverage. Soon, it grew due to popular demand from its taste and its insanely unique look. In the 80s and 90s, restaurant chains in Peru were swapping out Coke products in favor of Inca Kola. Coca Cola couldn’t compete with sales of the beverage, and repeatedly sought to buy out the company. Inca Kola wouldn’t budge. Instead, Inca Kola held its ground, forcing Coca Cola to partner with them instead of buying them out. While Inca Kola was never the only Peruvian soda brand, they did become the most popular, and it’s still the #1 selling soft drink in Peru.
By Alyson Lewis4 years ago in Feast
Moonshot Review
Every beverage claims to be different. There’s some kind of hook or allure to it, and while I understand that from a marketing perspective, sometimes companies’ claims are a little too bold. Moonshot asserts themselves as an energy drink with a “different kind of buzz”. We’ll see about that.
By Alyson Lewis5 years ago in Feast
Recess CBD Review
There are some cultural moments that none of us understand. CBD has made the rounds in nearly every industry, from skincare to pet snacks. In some cases, the motives are entirely unclear. A few CBD-infused beverages have cropped up on the market over the last few years, and Recess joining the ranks with a perfectly instagrammable can and simple tagline: “calm, cool, collected”. The line currently includes three flavors: peach ginger, pomegranate hibiscus, and blackberry chai. Their website claims that they have “canned a feeling”, with dreamy cloud imagery and relatable millennial adages about how they “have too many browser tabs open”. They’ve managed to target their audience, but my main question is this: does it work?
By Alyson Lewis5 years ago in Feast
Strawberry Bounce
I didn’t used to be a morning person. I kinda forced it on myself. I had a hard time waking up before 10 AM before. I also was working retail and had no consistent schedule, so it was hard to hold myself to any kind of standard, really. So I started giving myself little things to be excited to wake up to. Usually, it’s a beverage. I have a cold brew drink on most mornings (more recipes for these coming soon), but sometimes I opt for a smoothie. This is one of my favorites. The ingredients are pretty easy to find, and if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know what I’m going to say: freeze your produce. It takes virtually no time to do, and it preps you for groggy mornings when you deserve something special but don’t want to take the extra time to make it. This is easy. You just throw everything in a blender and pulse it up. Even though this is a simple recipe, it took a few tries before I got it perfect. It was a journey. Strawberry and kiwi is an elite combination on its own, but I wanted to take it over the edge and give it some subtle enhancements. I’m extremely proud of this drink, and I’m happy to share the recipe. Also, truthfully, I don’t even like strawberries very much, so I took concocting this drink as a personal mission to make it balanced. I usually find strawberries too acidic on their own without the right balance of flavor to acid ratio. They’re too hit or miss, in my opinion, and they don’t stand alone well enough as a Good Fruit. But I’m not here to argue.
By Alyson Lewis5 years ago in Feast
Watermelon Rose Fizz
I know I said that last week was my final summery drink recipe, but this week I recreated a watermelon drink I made back in July and wanted to share it. This is another simple one, but it’s fun and good so I’m going to walk you through it. Also, watermelon juice is available from a few different brands year-round, so while this is summery in essence, it isn’t relegated to any specific seasonal enjoyment. I juiced this watermelon myself, but if you need a store-bought recommendation, Wonder Melon makes a great watermelon juice. They have a couple of flavors but I really like the watermelon-cucumber-basil one. This was a more spur of the moment recipe, so it was only prepared for one, but the measurements are so simple that you could easily make this for more people.
By Alyson Lewis5 years ago in Feast
Lester's Fixins Review
This is one of the most chaotic things I’ve done in my life. Not just as far as beverages go, but in general. I’m willing to try pretty much any food once, and that extends to beverages as well. There’s no way I can justify what I’m about to do.I’ve been curious about these drinks for years. I’ve seen them on Amazon, but would always talk myself out of trying them, for completely obvious reasons. I have some predictions about which will be the most repulsive. Ranch is topping the list. There’s literally no way it can be good. I’m not really into Ranch dressing. I prefer Caesar. That being said, I wouldn’t want to try a Caesar dressing soda either. I can’t decide if these drinks would be better or worse without carbonation. It doesn’t matter, because they ARE carbonated and I WILL try them all. The minutiae of it all is pretty irrelevant at this point. What I WILL say, before even trying them, is that I appreciate that they’re all made with cane sugar. I appreciate a nice cane sugar soda. I know people will judge me for trying these. I understand that I will be persecuted and my beliefs will be brought into question. I’m not doing this for ME, I’m doing this for YOU and I’m doing this for US. I hope you all appreciate this sacrifice I’m making, even if you yell at me for it. OK, now let’s get into tasting and reviews.
By Alyson Lewis5 years ago in Feast