Quark's Qantina Wine and Spirit Tasting
February 25, 2023
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This is a private party.
We are not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Recipes and images from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 QuarksBarb.

This year's event was organized primarily to taste the latest products from Star Trek Wines, and Star Trek Spirits.

We had ten different wines (the collective), and two bottles of Romulan Ale (the 2-pack), one vodka and one rye whiskey.

Why did we do this?

BECAUSE THEY ARE FOUND ITEMS!!!

This page was created to document our tasting notes on both the spirits and the wines,
for those of you who plan to DRINK what is in the bottles, as opposed to displaying them,

to share the cocktail recipes we developed for the spirits,
(since Barb is a wuss and prefers a cocktail to straight alcohol),

and to share our suggestions for displaying the bottles (more photos to come).

REMEMBER: this is our OPINION - yours may AND PROBABLY WILL differ, which is 100% OK!

Press here to see pictures from 2023.





The SPIRITS
Because this website is primarily for collectors of found items (and not collectors of wine and spirits). . .
I must say that the bottles these spirits come in are BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, WORKS of ART!
AND, I need to emphasize that a HUGE BENEFIT FOR FOUND ITEM COLLECTORS,
is the fact that THE DECALS ARE SCREEN PRINTED ON THE GLASS
so you can refill and reuse the bottles without damaging the decal!

They are found items in their own right, having been used throughout the PICARD series.
If you don't snap them up now, while they're still available from the manufacturer,
you will pay a lot more for them later, from a reseller on eBay!



The ROMULAN VODKA (2023)

The vodka is VERRRRY smooth!
It could easily be sipped straight, if that is how you drink vodka.

We prefer to mix a cocktail, so we spent several days playing around with different combinations.
Our absolute favorite way to drink the vodka was mixed with Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic!

Shown below are all the recipes we came up with that were worth sharing.
These are all easy to prepare using readily available ingredients.

We thought the blue color would be hard to work with, but it blends beautifully!
So, we continue to play around with different flavors and colors
and will share them here as we find things we like.


ROMULAN VODKA and Fever Tree ELDERFLOWER TONIC

We poured a shot of the vodka into a Collins glass,
added a few ice cubes,
and then filled the glass with tonic.





VODKA POUSSE CAFE

We thought the blue color would make an interesting layer in a pousse cafe (layered drink),
but, while these DID look good, they were a bit too strong for our taste.
So, we will continue to experiment, now that the party is over.
We didn't want to blow through the bottle before the party!
To our taste, the vodka overwhelmed the liqueurs.
If you try this, either use less vodka, or add a third layer.
We use a tall thin (found item) glass to emphasize the layers.

ROMULAN vodka and BANANA liqueur on the left
ROMULAN vodka and MIDORI melon liqueur on the right



NEBULA: ROMULAN vodka, MIDORI, and CREAM
Adding a bit of cream made it taste better!

We thought the cream would lie on top, but it made these interesting tendrils!
We used an eye dropper to get the cream into the center of the glass.
We called this a NEBULA




NEBULA close-up.
The cream is Whole Foods brand organic heavy cream
When we tried this with a different brand, it did not create those tendrils!
(This would be interesting with Banana on the bottom, then Midori, then vodka, then cream.)



SHOOTING STARR
(Developed by Rachel STARR)

1 oz Romulan Vodka
3 oz Pineapple juice
1 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Fresh lemon juice
8 drops Grapefruit bitters
Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a martini glass.

Look at the gorgeous color!


SWEET BABY YODA

A few months ago I saw a photo of a Baby Yoda cocktail that was SO CUTE I had to attempt it
BUT. . . it was a martini-type drink with black olives for eyes, and I prefer sweet drinks.
SO, I devised my own version, a SWEET Baby Yoda, using black grapes for eyes!

The hardest part of making this cocktail is cutting the limes for the ears.
Here is a photo of the correct angle for the cut:


and here is how the glass should look before you pour the cocktail in
(you can see where this is going, right!?!):


The next hardest part is getting the color right!

The first time we made this, using the Starduster recipe, the color was perfect, sort of a muddy green
but the photos have disappeared - I cannot find them anywhere!
So, I made it again, and even when I added some pineapple juice, it was too brown
Here is a photo of that attempt:


I think the Shooting Starr makes a much better Sweet Baby Yoda,
especially if you add a tablespoon or two of additional pineapple juice.
Is this not the most adorable cocktail ever?!?



Here is the recipe for the Starduster base, which was too brown, but tasted delicious:

1oz Synergy Guava Goddess Kombucha
(OR 2oz pink grapefruit juice if this isn't available)
1oz Pink Grapefruit juice
(OR 2oz guava kombucha if you don't like grapefruit juice)
1oz Elderflower Syrup
1 oz Romulan Vodka
1 oz pineapple juice

Shake with ice and then strain into a champagne coupe
Garnish with two large black grapes on a long skewer
and two lime wedges.




Quantum Singularity developed by Brian Van Flandern.

The first time we made this, we used pear BRANDY and bottled lime juice
and it was NOT very good! The brandy was too strong, and bottled lime juice is harsh.

The second time we made it, we used St. George SPICED pear liqueur and fresh lime juice
and it was delicious! The spiced pear added an unexpected flavor and scent!
(We could not find straight unflavored pear liqueur anywhere!)



As you can see, the color is beautiful,
but it doesn't look anything like the promo photo
probably because our pear liqueur is amber, not clear
which gives the drink a slight aqua color, rather than deep blue




The ROMULAN RYE (2023)

Like the vodka, the rye whiskey is VERRRRY smooth!
You could sip it straight, or on the rocks, if that is your preferred way to imbibe.

The Whiskey tangent did a review of the Romulan Ale Rye and released it on their podcast.
It is a great review you can play on all the major podcast platforms,
but here's a direct link to the podcast on
Podbean

They loved it straight! But, again, we prefer to mix a cocktail.

We thought it would be easy to create a green drink, and we did succeed,
but the blue color is so strong it overcomes even red mixers,
which we were sure would turn the drink brown!

Most mixers give the color a slight aqua or teal tint.
The only way to preserve the dark blue is to mix it with something totally clear.
We did'nt try this, but it would probably be delicious with the Fever Tree Elderflower tonic.

So. . . you can use the rye whiskey to make a Manhattan and it will be a beautiful teal blue!

As you can see from our photos, we're getting low, but we continue to experiment
and we'll post photos as we find things we like.


MANHATTAN

As you can see, the color is a beautiful deep teal!
You can't see the cherries because we use Amarena cherries, which are very dark


RYE and BENEDICTINE

Here is a photo of the rye whiskey mixed with Benedictine
This was tasty, and as you can see, the color is still blue!



STARR DRIFTER
(Developed by Rachel STARR)

2 oz Romulan Rye
2 oz D'aristi Xtabentun liqueur
4 oz Pineapple juice
Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a rocks glass.
Garnish with a star anise.

This was actually the most complex flavor of all the recipes we tested
but we decided not to serve it at the party because it has a slight anise flavor
and so many people do not like anise. If you like anise, you'll love it!





NEUTRON STARR
(Developed by Rachel STARR)

1 oz Romulan Rye
3 oz Pineapple juice
1 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Fresh lemon juice
8 drops Grapefruit Bitters
Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a martini glass.




If you drink whiskey shots:

Another benefit to the rye whiskey is that you can use it to fill the Galliano bottle (B018 on the bottles page)
and then serve it in the Antarean brandy glass (G064 on the glasses page)
for a much more appetizing drink than straight blue curacao!



THE BOTTOM LINE!

We LOVE these spirits!

We also LOVE that they made both colors!

Both are canon-correct and play well with others.

The flavors are smooth, complex, and a pleasure to drink.

The price is on the high side, so these are special occasion treats (for us).


AS A FOUND ITEM, THE BOTTLES ARE PERFECT!

AND, SOMETHING WE NEVER, EVER THOUGHT WE WOULD HAVE!

I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO SNAP ONE (OR MORE) UP

BEFORE THEY ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE!



The WINE

TASTING NOTES

We were planning to host a formal wine tasting,
with everyone sipping the same bottle simultaneously and sharing their thoughts on it.
I had even bought Wine Tasting Score Sheets for people to record their tasting notes.
HA!

People were having so much fun VISITING and DRINKING that all formality went out the window!
Our guests drank whichever wine they wanted, in whatever order they wanted.
And that was fine with us!

Every person had a different favorite,
each wine had at least one ardent supporter,
and, at the end of the night, all the wine was gone!


Here was the general consensus at the end of the evening:

The best "white" wine was the Risan Rose (Enterprise Edition)
followed by the Federation Sauvignon Blanc
followed by the Andorian Blue Chardonnay.

The best "red" wine was the Kanar
followed by the Federation Zinfandel
followed by the Klingon Bloodwine.

The best "French/Picard" wine was the Chateau Picard 2401 with the silver label .


Unfortunately, I don't have any more detailed tasting notes,
but we do have one more bottle of each of these wines, and . . .
if I can bring myself to open them (I will then no longer have them for display),
we will open them one at a time and I will update this page with our tasting notes.

What I CAN say is that all of the wines were GOOD!
Some of them were universally deemed VERY GOOD (Kanar and Zinfandel),
And this was from people who were more interested in the wine than the bottle.



The white wines, waiting for the guests to arrive.
Before the party turned into a free-for-all!



COLLECTING NOTES


From a found-item-collector point of view:

the KANAR bottle is perfect!

As you can see below, it looks exactly like the screen-used ones.

And, because the wine is so good, it's worth stocking up on.

Given that it is a limited edition, I would not wait!


The Risan Wine bottles are slightly larger than the originals

because they had to hold 750ml (the originals only held 500ml);

but, they were sized up proportionately

and, if you don't have the original,

you will not notice a difference!
(See photo below.)

Plus, the Risan White (Picard Edition) IS A FOUND ITEM!



I need to point out that because of the unique shape of the bottles,
all but the Picard need to be shipped in magnum shipping boxes,
which increases the shipping cost considerably.
This is the price you pay for a screen-accurate bottle.


A HUGE BENEFIT FOR FOUND ITEM COLLECTORS,

is that THE LABELS ARE SCREEN PRINTED ON THE GLASS

so you can refill and reuse the bottles without damaging the label!


And, don't forget, since these were used throughout the Picard series,

THEY ARE ALL FOUND ITEMS!!!!

The Federation, Klingon Bloodwine, and Andorian Blue Chardonnay bottles
which were not used in the older series,
are found items in their own right.

I am thankful they are being made available to collectors!

The wines we tasted are shown below











Original Risan wine bottle in the center front,
New Risan wine bottles behind it.




A small detail that I noticed, as a collector, were the corks!
The Andorian blue (which is my sister's favorite) has the Andorian logo on the cork!
The Federation wines have the chevron on the corks, and the Bloodwine has a Klingon saying.



I WILL BE ADDING TO THIS PAGE AS NEW ITEMS ARE RELEASED!




Press here to see pictures from 2012.
Press here to see pictures from 2011.
Press here to see pictures from 2010.
Press here to see pictures from 2009.

Press here to contact QuarksBarb .

I am not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Recipes and images from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 QuarksBarb.
Last Revised: March 25, 2023
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