Sometimes Foodie: Birthday Cake Brand Strawberry Shortcake Wine- Wine Works: Cherry Hill, NJ

Birthday Cake Brand Strawberry Shortcake Wine- Wine Works: Cherry Hill, NJ

It's been a long time since I have reviewed anything alcoholic, which make sense since I rarely drink, but I was out buying some mead as a gift for my friend Sean's birthday and this packaging caught my eye.

Unlike most people in their 20s, I still can't stand the taste of beer. (~~Does that mean I'm lame?~~ Drinking isn't cool kids.) My liquor cabinet is almost entirely amaretto, white chocolate liqueur, and flavored vodkas, anything else I may have on hand is usually for cooking or baking. I've only ever been drunk once in my life, and that's because I rather drink things that taste good than things that'll get me wasted. Plus, with my past stomach issues, booze just wasn't a good thing for me to put in my already ulcer-ridden stomach. Now that my stomach has been doing really well for almost 2 years, I thought it would be nice to indulge in a cutely packaged, sweet, white wine. (Plus I had friends and family coming over that weekend to share it with.)

The design for this bottle is a nice mixture of novelty gimmicks and classic design. The swirly type face for the logo and dripping icing were really cute, and I like that the white background was left a stark white without any attempt at shading or texturing. While the general layout of the information is typical of most wines, the little quirky cake-like touches make this bottle really playful.

Now I'm pretty skeptical of liquors that say they taste like something else. When you open the bottle they all smell deliciously accurate, but after one sip you're left with the burning sensation of alcohol. A few of my flavored vodkas have been really impressively accurate, but so far I haven't encountered a wine I truly enjoy. This wine claims to taste, "like real Strawberry Short Cake," but we shall see...

Since the wine is white, it was basically transparent and difficult to photograph, it looked just like a glass of water, so I didn't take a poured shot like I normally do. Just imagine a wine glass filled with clear (slightly yellowed) liquid.

I took a sip, and this definitely does not taste like real strawberry short cake. This is a sweet white wine with a bizarrely refreshing aftertaste. It's hard to describe, but this gives me a very hydrated mouth-feel and the aftertaste is almost as if I drank a sip of water. (Although there is still the familiar bite of an alcoholic beverage, so there is no mistaking this for flavored water.) The overall cake-taste was just an artificial mix-in, similar to cake vodka, but that weirdly refreshing aftertaste kept me coming back for more. I had two glasses and I still can't wrap my head around it. Sorry if my description makes little to no sense, but I just can't comprehend why it has such a crisp mouth-feel.

Sadly, I seemed to be the only one who enjoyed this wine at my gathering. My mother and step dad are really into wine, so I am sure this was really beneath their tastes, and the rest of my attendees prefer Fireball and other hard liquor, but I did enjoy this a lot more than other novelty wines I have had in the past. Since I rarely drink I don't think I would buy this again, it would sit around forever, but I would happily buy this again if I were going to a party.