By Christian May-Suzuki
When life hands you lemons, pundits say, “make lemonade.”
But when you start with hard lemonade and you’re on the eve of summer solstice, then it must be Spiked Lemonade Wednesday in Culver City.
The City’s seventh annual Spiked Lemonade Contest began June 21 and was the first of three social mixers on the third Wednesday of the summer; a celebration of summer, socializing and getting down in downtown Culver City.
More than a dozen businesses participated in the contest that was spread throughout various streets and intersections. The lure of the “next” biz with a lemonade treat led the adventurous up and down small side streets, providing a unique, comprehensive tour of the area. Three live bands added fuel to the night, creating a festive tone to a June eve of “lemonade” sampling.
While familiar restaurants like UGO and Rush Street joined the fray, other surprising businesses decided to throw their hats in this year’s contest, including Main Street Salon, Kirk Douglas Theater, and even Cold Stone Creamery.
Starting at 5 p.m., eventgoers would pick up a Third Wednesday passport at any one of the 17 participating businesses. The passport displayed the names of each biz, along with space to write your name and vote for your favorite lemonade.
Participants were tasked with visiting as few or as many participating businesses, marked by green-and-white Third Wednesday balloons, to taste each unique twist on spiked lemonade.
Hard lemonades commanded a small charge of a dime per drink.
If you bring your completed passport of all 17 businesses to the Kirk Douglas Theater by 9 p.m., you could take part in a raffle for gift cards and other prizes.
Here are a few of my “personal highlights” of the night:
Most Unique: UGO
Ugo put together a Scroppino, an Italian drink traditionally made with lemon sorbet, vodka, and prosecco. I received the first sample of a new batch, so my drink still retained some of the texture of the sorbet. It looked like sorbet in appearance, and it went down just as smooth and sweet while presenting no significant texture inconsistencies once you drank it.
Best Kick: Culver Hotel
The Culver Hotel is known for having a good bar, and it delivered on its reputation with a strong whiskey-based lemonade. This was a drink that made even the strongest of whiskey drinkers take notice on the first sip, and it was one of the only recipes on the night that seemed to make the alcoholic flavor the primary base, with lemonade added as a tangy compliment. This concoction made it one of the better drinks of the contest, IMHO.
Best Sweetness: City Tavern
Described by the server as being “on the edge” of having too much alcohol, this City Tavern lemonade was made using Bison Grass whiskey from Poland. It was hard to tell how much alcohol was in the drink, as the sour sweetness of the lemons hid the strong alcohol taste. To create this lemonade, the server said he tasted the balance until he felt there was just too much alcohol, then added more lemonade to obtain his desired lemonade to alcohol proportion.
It worked to a tee, as the intensity of the alcohol was hidden by the taste of the lemonade to the point where it was surprising to many tasters that the drink had any alcohol at all. City Tavern’s lemonade was a dangerous drink to sip on.
My Favorite: Janga By Derrick’s
Janga balanced sweetness with an alcoholic spark to provide the most balanced entry, and my personal favorite of the lemonades. Janga took a different approach than most places. Their drink primarily featured a hibiscus tea combined with white coconut rum.
That blend brought together the sweet and sour zip of lemonade from our childhood memories, combined with the more matured flavors of alcohol.
This drink brought the pair together on even footing.
The taste of the hibiscus tea leads the drink, but then you feel the kick of alcohol, and dimension that rum adds. Neither flavor is overpowered or masked by the other, instead of coming together in harmony to make a complete drink, and my personal favorite of the night.
The July Third Wednesday is titled “Summertini Time.” If you have a few hours to unwind, the Spiked Lemonade tasting and other spiked lemonade events are fun and relaxing ways to enjoy Culver City.