If Marvel movies are anything to go by, the consumer landscape of the 21st century has been dominated by hype-worthy crossovers. It makes perfect sense; after all, why settle for one thing you love when it could be combined with another? This burgeoning and highly profitable genre has given birth to, among other things, such innovations as Cheetos-flavored Oreos, Balenciaga Crocs and a fully-realized Polly Pocket AirBnb. Whatever form they take, these collaborations inevitably have all the panache of a star-studded Super Bowl ad. Recognizable names and faces crammed together with reckless abandon, usually inspiring a cavalcade of memes and speculation perfectly suited for the social media age.
Fast food chains are no strangers to the trend. Especially when it comes to booze. For some reason, restaurants have fallen in love with one-off liquor releases over the past few years. The fact that most don't hold a liquor license is beside the point — from Popeyes to Papa Johns to Domino's, myriad fast food chains have found ways to playfully skirt the rulebook, all while enticing consumers to take another sip.
It's a bizarre world we live in, doubly so with a bottle of Arby's Curly Fry Vodka in hand.
1. Popeyes Chicken X Don Julio Tequila
(Photo: Don Julio)
Few across-the-aisle collaborations have ignited quite as much interest — for better or for worse — than Don Julio and Popeyes earlier this year. In celebration of the Super Bowl, the brands joined forces on a trio of themed menu items that touched down at a handful of stores across the country for a single day. Customers willing to wait in line for an hour or more were treated to a tequila-marinated chicken sandwich on a Mexican pastry bun, tequila sauce-slathered wings and a spicy hibiscus lemonade mocktail.
As it so happens, we were among those customers willing to brave the line on a cold January morning. IDs were checked, bills were paid (exactly $14.14) and customers were sent on their way with commemorative tote bags. All said and done, the collaboration was exactly as tasty as Popeyes' usual fare; the chicken was crispy as ever, the wings well seasoned and the mocktail packed with a ginger-like punch of spice that crept up on the backend. Our only complaint was that tequila — ostensibly the star of the show — could barely be tasted in any of the items. Find our full review of the combo meal here.
[embed]https://youtube.com/shorts/AE8AmlNIqkk?si=5W4mXj0m3VjIL754[/embed]
2. Dunkin' Spiked
[caption id="attachment_47393" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Dunkin')[/caption]
Branded ready-to-drink beverages are everywhere these days. Inspired in no small part by the blockbuster launch of White Claw in 2016, the category has evolved into a behemoth with contenders from Coca-Cola, Topo Chico, Minute Maid, Simply, Rocket Pop, Welch's and even Sunny D. At this point, no childhood favorite drink is safe from a boozy twist in a can.
One of the latest to hit the shelf is Dunkin' Spiked. The cult-hit Massachusetts coffee chain lumbered into the category with not one but eight offerings. Customers can pick up these drinks in four 6%-ABV Iced Coffee flavors: Original, Caramel, Mocha and Vanilla, as well as four 5.0%-ABV Iced Tea Flavors: Slightly Sweet, Half & Half, Strawberry Dragonfruit and Mango Pineapple. All are made with malt-based alcohol, the same you'd find inside a standard hard seltzer.
Unfortunately, these products suffer from a severe case of quantity over quality. We'd be hard-pressed to recommend any of the coffee flavors, all of which resemble a Frankenstein mishmash between a stale beer and a Frappuccino. Not our cup of tea (or coffee, rather). As for the iced tea flavors, however, we did find plenty to like. The Mango Pineapple and Strawberry Dragonfruit were particularly surprising, acting as nice substitutes for anyone who's grown tired of other brands (cough cough, Twisted Tea) dominating the market as of late. Find our full review of the Dunkin' Spiked lineup here.
Domino's Pizza Wine
[caption id="attachment_98889" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: yellowtail)[/caption]
Perhaps you've heard about Champagne and fried chicken... but what of red wine and pepperoni pizza?
Sensing the makings of a trend, Domino's teamed up with Yellow Tail at the beginning of the year for a red blend “crafted to provide the perfect sip with every slice.” In case you're wondering; no, this is not a pizza-flavored wine. That distinction goes to Pizza Hut's tomato wine that debuted just a few months earlier, an equally perplexing product that deserves an entire article of its own.
Domino's Red Blend rolled out nationwide at just $13.47 per 1.5-liter bottle, about the same price as a large cheese pizza in most states. Those willing to pay a little more could pick up smartphone-integrated corks that expedited the pizza ordering process. The caps, dubbed "Twist.Tap.Order," lined up a pizza delivery through the Domino's app at the opening of a bottle. Everything about the collaboration was unexpected, vaguely confounding and absolutely ridiculous — the perfect fit for a brand that once rolled out a cheeseburger pizza.
Papa Johns X Aviation Gin
[caption id="attachment_91467" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Papa Johns)[/caption]
Each and every Papa Johns pizza box comes bundled with an extra serving of pepperoncini peppers. Some people hate them, others love them. If you fall into the latter category and truly can't get enough of these tangy little flavor bombs, oh boy, does Papa Johns have a treat for you.
Ryan Reynold's Aviation Gin recently teamed up with the pizza chain for its first signature cocktail, the affectionately dubbed 'Cini Tini. Each serving combines the botanical bite of gin with a healthy splash of pepper brine, amounting to a yellowish-green sip halfway between a pickleback shot and a spicy margarita. Far-fetched as it may sound, it's basically just a dirty martini with an especially salty twist. Though you won't find it served at your nearest Papa Johns anytime soon, customers can pick up cocktail kits online complete with all the fixings. Either that or just stir one up at home.
KFC X Dead Man's Fingers Rum
[caption id="attachment_47402" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: KFC and Dead Man's Fingers)[/caption]
KFC toasted National Rum Day 2023 with an 11 Herbed and Spiced Rum produced alongside Dead Man's Fingers, an English brand best known for its rainbow assortment of passion fruit-, pineapple- and vanilla-flavored spirits.
As usual, the exact breakdown of those herbs and spices is unknown to consumers. What KFC did reveal, however, is that the flavored rum purportedly balances hints of black and white pepper, treacle toffee, nutmeg and "the freshly fried goodness of our golden breading." Reviewers seemed to agree, adding that the experience lined up exactly with what was described on the bottle. Whether or not that sounds like your jam, we commend KFC for going the whole nine yards with an outlandish concept. From cold pizza margaritas to hot dog caprisun pouches, the high-end mixology world is rife with boozy renditions of savory dishes. It was high time that a brand reinterpreted the concept with a budget-friendly twist. Scratch that — bottles of KFC X Dead Man's Fingers are already reselling for upwards of $600 online.
Arby's Smoked Bourbon & French Fry Vodka
[caption id="attachment_31123" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Arby's)[/caption]
All right, maybe we don't need too many savory entrees distilled into liquor. A year before KFC forayed into rum, fast food chain Arby's debuted a 90-proof bourbon infused with the same flavors of hickory, mesquite and pecan used on its Smokehouse Sandwiches. The whiskey was produced by Brain Brew Custom Whiskey in Newtown, Ohio, by placing Arby’s smoked American oak in the bourbon and then finishing it by heating and cooling the liquid to replicate the varying temperatures of different seasons, a technique Brain Brew calls “WoodCraft.” Those especially enamored by the concept could even buy a cowboy hat-shaped smoker dubbed The Lil Smoker.
Just a year prior, Arby's had unveiled two potato-based vodkas with a sizzling twist: Curly Fry (distilled with cayenne, paprika, onion and garlic) and Crinkle Cut ("a blend of fine kosher salt and sugar"). Bizzarely enough, there isn't a single remnant of any of these products floating around the Internet. Usually, these kinds of releases inspire $100-plus markups among resellers and a dedicated, if small, cult following among collectors. But not so with any of Arby's liquors. Whatever happened to this oddball assortment of vodkas and bourbons, maybe they were best left in the past.
Hooters: Every Spirit Imaginable
[caption id="attachment_102744" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Hooters)[/caption]
Few know (or care to know) that Hooters has slowly built out a liquor catalog capable of rivaling the biggest brands on the planet. Not in terms of quality, rest assured, but certainly in terms of quantity. Since 2019, the family-unfriendly restaurant chain has rolled out Hooters-branded gin, vodka, light rum, dark rum, silver tequila, gold tequila, American whiskey, cinnamon whiskey, hot honey whiskey and lemon pepper whiskey. 1-liter bottles of all the above cost less than $25 a pop.
Who asked for this, you may ask? We have a guess. The restaurant, once popular enough to have its own airline, has charted a downward trajectory over the past decade, shuttering dozens of locations and reportedly preparing to file bankruptcy as it handles debts upwards of $300 million. And what better way to make a quick buck in a pinch than the liquor industry? Whatever the intention behind these ill-conceived spirits, they don't appear to have fundraised quite enough to revive the ailing brand.
[callout-app-promo]
(Photo: Dunkin')[/caption]
Branded ready-to-drink beverages are everywhere these days. Inspired in no small part by the blockbuster launch of White Claw in 2016, the category has evolved into a behemoth with contenders from Coca-Cola, Topo Chico, Minute Maid, Simply, Rocket Pop, Welch's and even Sunny D. At this point, no childhood favorite drink is safe from a boozy twist in a can.
One of the latest to hit the shelf is Dunkin' Spiked. The cult-hit Massachusetts coffee chain lumbered into the category with not one but eight offerings. Customers can pick up these drinks in four 6%-ABV Iced Coffee flavors: Original, Caramel, Mocha and Vanilla, as well as four 5.0%-ABV Iced Tea Flavors: Slightly Sweet, Half & Half, Strawberry Dragonfruit and Mango Pineapple. All are made with malt-based alcohol, the same you'd find inside a standard hard seltzer.
Unfortunately, these products suffer from a severe case of quantity over quality. We'd be hard-pressed to recommend any of the coffee flavors, all of which resemble a Frankenstein mishmash between a stale beer and a Frappuccino. Not our cup of tea (or coffee, rather). As for the iced tea flavors, however, we did find plenty to like. The Mango Pineapple and Strawberry Dragonfruit were particularly surprising, acting as nice substitutes for anyone who's grown tired of other brands (cough cough, Twisted Tea) dominating the market as of late. Find our full review of the Dunkin' Spiked lineup here.
(Photo: yellowtail)[/caption]
Perhaps you've heard about Champagne and fried chicken... but what of red wine and pepperoni pizza?
Sensing the makings of a trend, Domino's teamed up with Yellow Tail at the beginning of the year for a red blend “crafted to provide the perfect sip with every slice.” In case you're wondering; no, this is not a pizza-flavored wine. That distinction goes to Pizza Hut's tomato wine that debuted just a few months earlier, an equally perplexing product that deserves an entire article of its own.
Domino's Red Blend rolled out nationwide at just $13.47 per 1.5-liter bottle, about the same price as a large cheese pizza in most states. Those willing to pay a little more could pick up smartphone-integrated corks that expedited the pizza ordering process. The caps, dubbed "Twist.Tap.Order," lined up a pizza delivery through the Domino's app at the opening of a bottle. Everything about the collaboration was unexpected, vaguely confounding and absolutely ridiculous — the perfect fit for a brand that once rolled out a cheeseburger pizza.
(Photo: Papa Johns)[/caption]
Each and every Papa Johns pizza box comes bundled with an extra serving of pepperoncini peppers. Some people hate them, others love them. If you fall into the latter category and truly can't get enough of these tangy little flavor bombs, oh boy, does Papa Johns have a treat for you.
Ryan Reynold's Aviation Gin recently teamed up with the pizza chain for its first signature cocktail, the affectionately dubbed 'Cini Tini. Each serving combines the botanical bite of gin with a healthy splash of pepper brine, amounting to a yellowish-green sip halfway between a pickleback shot and a spicy margarita. Far-fetched as it may sound, it's basically just a dirty martini with an especially salty twist. Though you won't find it served at your nearest Papa Johns anytime soon, customers can pick up cocktail kits online complete with all the fixings. Either that or just stir one up at home.
(Photo: KFC and Dead Man's Fingers)[/caption]
KFC toasted National Rum Day 2023 with an 11 Herbed and Spiced Rum produced alongside Dead Man's Fingers, an English brand best known for its rainbow assortment of passion fruit-, pineapple- and vanilla-flavored spirits.
As usual, the exact breakdown of those herbs and spices is unknown to consumers. What KFC did reveal, however, is that the flavored rum purportedly balances hints of black and white pepper, treacle toffee, nutmeg and "the freshly fried goodness of our golden breading." Reviewers seemed to agree, adding that the experience lined up exactly with what was described on the bottle. Whether or not that sounds like your jam, we commend KFC for going the whole nine yards with an outlandish concept. From cold pizza margaritas to hot dog caprisun pouches, the high-end mixology world is rife with boozy renditions of savory dishes. It was high time that a brand reinterpreted the concept with a budget-friendly twist. Scratch that — bottles of KFC X Dead Man's Fingers are already reselling for upwards of $600 online.
(Photo: Arby's)[/caption]
All right, maybe we don't need too many savory entrees distilled into liquor. A year before KFC forayed into rum, fast food chain Arby's debuted a 90-proof bourbon infused with the same flavors of hickory, mesquite and pecan used on its Smokehouse Sandwiches. The whiskey was produced by Brain Brew Custom Whiskey in Newtown, Ohio, by placing Arby’s smoked American oak in the bourbon and then finishing it by heating and cooling the liquid to replicate the varying temperatures of different seasons, a technique Brain Brew calls “WoodCraft.” Those especially enamored by the concept could even buy a cowboy hat-shaped smoker dubbed The Lil Smoker.
Just a year prior, Arby's had unveiled two potato-based vodkas with a sizzling twist: Curly Fry (distilled with cayenne, paprika, onion and garlic) and Crinkle Cut ("a blend of fine kosher salt and sugar"). Bizzarely enough, there isn't a single remnant of any of these products floating around the Internet. Usually, these kinds of releases inspire $100-plus markups among resellers and a dedicated, if small, cult following among collectors. But not so with any of Arby's liquors. Whatever happened to this oddball assortment of vodkas and bourbons, maybe they were best left in the past.
(Photo: Hooters)[/caption]
Few know (or care to know) that Hooters has slowly built out a liquor catalog capable of rivaling the biggest brands on the planet. Not in terms of quality, rest assured, but certainly in terms of quantity. Since 2019, the family-unfriendly restaurant chain has rolled out Hooters-branded gin, vodka, light rum, dark rum, silver tequila, gold tequila, American whiskey, cinnamon whiskey, hot honey whiskey and lemon pepper whiskey. 1-liter bottles of all the above cost less than $25 a pop.
Who asked for this, you may ask? We have a guess. The restaurant, once popular enough to have its own airline, has charted a downward trajectory over the past decade, shuttering dozens of locations and reportedly preparing to file bankruptcy as it handles debts upwards of $300 million. And what better way to make a quick buck in a pinch than the liquor industry? Whatever the intention behind these ill-conceived spirits, they don't appear to have fundraised quite enough to revive the ailing brand.
[callout-app-promo]