Cook Islands Grog Files

Flag of Cook Islands

 

Cooks Lager

Pic of Cooks Larger

Type: Beer

Rating: 3 sheets to the wind

Contact: http://www.cookslager.com/

Notes:
1) They brew the stuff on Rarotonga and give out free samples at the brewery!
2) It’s named after one of the most awesome sailor/explorers EVER!
3) It’s a really tasty, drinkable, light, warm weather beer.  Perfect for enjoying on a lazy tropical afternoon with some friends.

Koteka (white)

Wine tasting in rarotongaType: Wine (made from bananas)

Contact: http://www.punanganuiculturalmarket.co.ck/Te%20Reru%20Wine/TERERU.htm 

Rating: 3 sheets to the wind

Notes:  Drive around Rarotonga on the around the island road (yes, the one road) during the day and you too may encounter this sign.  You too may then think to yourself, “Wine?  From Bananas?  No…no… really???” and stop to investigate.  Your curiosity will be well rewarded.  As this guy had his liquor license for all of 2 days when we showed up the tastings were still being held in his back yard, which made it even more awesome.

The wine is really made from local bananas with some island yams in the mix and not a single grape is used.  Sounds kind of scary but it was surprisingly tasty!  Excellent bouquet and the wine itself was sweet and fruity in taste but not overpoweringly so.  It tasted like wine with just a hint of banana in the background of the aftertaste.  Granted, a huge selling point of this wine is the fact that it’s made from bananas on a remote island in the South Pacific but even without the novelty the wine is decent.

Koteka (rose)

Type: Wine (made from bananas)

Contact: http://www.punanganuiculturalmarket.co.ck/Te%20Reru%20Wine/TERERU.htm 

Rating: 3 sheets to the wind

Notes:  Koteka wines uses island blueberries and combines them with bananas to create a sweet rose that is great for warm weather.  The upfront fruit of the blueberry is a wonderful compliment to the hint of banana flavor.  Don’t be mistaken, this is not a normal wine.  We actually bought a bottle of it and brought it home to an old wine drinking friend of Greg’s.  Joe thought it was interesting for the novelty but it wasn’t his game as he is more of a big red drinker.  This is tropical weather wine: light, sweet, lots of fruity but gentle on the tongue.  It’s meant for drinking chilled on a 100 degree Fahrenheit, 80% humidity kind of afternoon.  If that sounds like your kind of wine than this is for you.

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