Well, we held the Clementine Challenge on Friday night, as planned. During the course of the evening, 18 people sampled the three drinks we had prepared. Not only did they sample the drinks (on film), but they filled out questionnaires… One of the questions on the form asked the participants to rate each drink on a scale of one-to-five, with one being the worst, and five being the best… So, right now, I’m adding up the points awarded to each drink in hopes of determining a winner…
OK, here are the results…
Drink One:
Pulp of a Blood Orange, Cranberry Juice, Absolute Mandarin
56 pointsDrink Two:
Enfamil, Sprite, Triple Sec, Mashed Peaches, Zwieback Toast
58.5 pointsDrink Three
Peeled Clementines, Grenadine, Pineapple Juice, Sky Vodka
63.5
The winner is drink number three, created by Beth Abraham.
OK, I can accept that – it was a tasty drink, and I’ll be sending Ms. Abraham her prize. With that said, however, I have to tell you that drink number two, the one with the Enfamil and the mashed peaches, would have won if not for the fact that a few people rated it with a one. (Most of the other drinks received threes at worst.) Number two had the momentum. It’s fans were fanatical. It, in my opinion, and with all due respect to the other participants, should have won. Drink three, while delicious, in a tropical kind of way, didn’t confront people. It didn’t slap them in the face and say, “I’m a Clementine. I’m something completely new and different.” Number two did that. It shook people up. It challenged them. It was, for that reason, somewhat polarizing. It got ones and fives. It was either loved or hated.
As long as I’m talking about drink number two, I should mention that I tweaked the recipe a bit at the end. I not only added a wedge of a clementine on the rim, but I added a rule as to how the drink should be consumed.
1. Bite the teathing toast and chew.
2. Down the drink.
3. Bite the clementine.
It’s like doing a tequila shot with salt and a lemon.
Someday, I will make them again for another group and see if the results are the same… In the meantime, I will accept the wisdom of this first test group and announce that drink number three was the winner.