These are Great Mixers
This company contacted me recently for a collaboration, which pretty much means that I get to try their product for free and pass on a discount for you, and all for the small price of show casing their product. So, just know that I’m not getting paid for this and I’m sharing my true opinions about these two products.
First off I’m happy with the shipping, 3 days from Florida to the mid-west and nothing was broken. That’s important because I ordered a 6 gallon carboy last week and it arrived shattered with bubble wrap. These mixer bottles are glass too but they both arrived unscathed with no bubble wrap so, that’s saying something.
I received a Spicy Jalapeno Margarita Mixer and a Ruby Grapefruit Cocktail Mix. The Margarita Mixer recipe requires, of course, tequila and Lava recommends vodka or gin for the Grapefruit cocktail mix. I chose to go with gin.
The Jalapeno Margarita I thought was amazing. I salted the rim with chamoy and tajin, which gave it some more kick, and I felt like they paired very well together. Over all, I’ll definitely be adding Jalapeno to my Margarita’s in the future.
The Grapefruit cocktail was good too and probably about as good as it could get. The second time I tried it I liked it even better because I rimmed the glass with honey and sugar and I think that helped balance the sour. My wife thought it was great but we both agreed that we liked the margarita’s better.
How much do they Cost
I only have one con for these products and it is simple; I don’t like the price, and not just because I’m the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen or because I’m frugal. They’ve included a 10% off discount for purchases over $20 dollars but at $12.99 per 1 ltr bottle(33.8 oz), that still only knocks you down to $11.69, plus tax and shipping costs. Sorry Lava, I’ll stick with Mr. & Mrs. T Margarita Mix for $6.99 per 1.75 ltr (59.2 oz)and just blend in a Jalapeno. And, their Strawberry Daiquiri/Margarita mixer is even cheaper than that but tastes incredible. Plus, I can get it at any Walmart and most grocery stores.
I’m all for supporting small business’s and I love these products but LAVA has just got to be reasonable. If they want these drinks to take off, they need to drop that price down a little more, get people addicted to it, like crack/cocaine, and then hike up the price. Just my two cents.
UPDATE: LAVA has the following response to offer in regards to pricing.
“As far as product pricing goes, we definitely feel you but for online orders unfortunately the shipping company makes most of the money as it costs us anywhere from $9~$10 to ship our glass bottles which are much heavier than plastic and require better packaging. Add to that credit card processing fees, packaging, cost of goods, etc., and it doesn’t leave a whole lot. At retail stores here in California, the bottles retail for about $7.99~$9.99 since we don’t need to ship across the country. Just wanted to let you know for reference.
The good news is, we are working on a better discount structure for online orders based on bottle volume so if someone orders 2, 3, 4, bottles we can pass additional savings (that we get from the shipping company) on to the customer.”