Tank’s Premium – Bloody Mary Mix and Rimmer & Seasoning

Since the turn of the new millennium it’s become more increasingly prevalent that Thirstday (a.k.a. Thursday) is the new Friday and that it is becoming known as a premium day for meeting up at the local bar for a happy hour.  In honor of this newly found day to get in some extra party time, we’re checking out what sounds like a bloody mary mix and a seasoning/rimmer for it made for a man’s man, from Tank’s Premium.  For those that watch the Live! show, you’ll know that James and I are both Bloody Mary fanatics, with my preference being the Bloody Maria, which is essentially a Mary made with Tequila instead of Vodka.  This makes it tough for the Mary mix manufacturers out there, because not only are we enthusiasts for the drink, but we’ve tasted dozens upon dozens of different mixes and mixers.  So, now that I’ve admitted being a bit picky, I’ll say that the initial read of the ingredients has me wondering if I’ll enjoy this at all, but Tank’s has the awards on its side, showcasing labeling for winning a Scovie and a Fiery Food Challenge win in 2010 and a Scovie in 2011 as well, so who knows, maybe this is a bottle and rimmer of greatness.  Let’s break out the rimmer set and the bloody mary mix and see what we get.

Ingredients:

Rimmer/Seasoning – Salt, Spices (including chili), citric acid, sodium citrate, natural flavors, oleoresin paprika, and not more than 2% Tricalcium Phosphate (used to prevent caking).  I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone use an oleoresin of paprika before, so a bit curious to see if the flavor of paprika comes through.

Bloody Mary Mix – Water, Tomato Concentrate, High Fructose Corn Starch, molasses, anchovies, MSG, Lime Juice (from concentrate), spices, salt, onion, garlic, cloves, dried clam broth, tamarind extract, chile pepper extract, vinegar, citric acid, ascorbic acid (to maintain color), hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, sodium benzoate, and Red-40.  As the second item I’m testing out, it’s nice to see a few things that make up my list of normal additions to Mary’s that are made by hand, so I’m having better hopes for this product.

Aroma/Color/Texture:

Rimmer/Seasoning  – The texture of the rimmer is a fairly fine ground of shades of mid-tone to light brown specks that looks a bit like a well-blended mixture of paprika, salt and brown sugar.  The initial strike to the nose is the distinct sour notes of the citric acid component, followed by the salt, and then a very subtle savory component, which I will only assume is the spices, but none of that is strong enough to determine what it is over the salt and citric acid.  I let it sit out a bit and breath to see if anything changed, but it’s nearly identical, short of a little less strength to the citric acid portion, which allow the spices component to be a bit more pronounced.

Bloody Mary Mix – The Mary mixer is a thin mix that could be described as reddish orange and light brown, and has specks of dark sparingly throughout.  There is pretty minimal cling, with just a small bit of the particulate sticking to the glass.  The aroma has the right direction to it with a tomato base and hints of Worchestershire and black pepper, with minimal saltiness to it.  No hints of chili peppers to it.

Taste/Ratings:

FIRE	FLAVOR

Rimmer/Seasoning – The base flavor of this follows the aroma profile with the flavor of the citric acid being the most pronounced, then the salt, and a tiny bit of chili pepper flavor, but not enough to really get a feel for what it is.  There is pretty much no heat, and the only bite you’ll get from this is the sour acidic flavors of the citric acid.  Overall it comes across as lime flavored salt, and the paprika component doesn’t really come through at all, so I’m going with the idea that it’s there for color more than flavor.  Oh, and somewhere in there is the flavor of a chili pepper, but don’t ask which one.  Is it better than rimming you’re glass with just salt?  Yes, because it has some flavors beyond just salt, and usually Mary’s are already salt laden, so something that drops down the salty flavor and plays up something else is better.  I’ll give it a Neutral, because it’s better than just a rim of salt, but I don’t really seeing it as something I would keep around for personal use.  If you’re the type that likes salt and lime in your beer, then this is right up your alley, with an extra twist of chile-ish flavor.

FIRE	FLAVOR

Bloody Mary Mix – There’s the obvious flavors of tomato immediately with a bit of sweetness and then a few layers of savory and aromatics to it.  There are hints of black pepper, and though there isn’t a distinct chile pepper flavor, there is some noticeable heat that comes from the extract.  The heat isn’t aggressive in any respect, so this one will come in at a Mild, especially when the alcohol is added, which thins out the mix more than it was.  Not that it’s the aim of this site, but I’ll give marks on this for the clam component, which brings around a better overall taste and helps bring in some flavor without the use of salt.  It’s pretty good mixer overall.  I would like to see it a bit thicker, as adding the alcohol and ice thins out this mix a bit more than desired, but other than the thinness of the mix, I’ll have to give this a Nice.