Serve VERY Cold.

I had occasion this weekend to visit the city where I grew up. "City" is a bit of an overstatement, actually. It's a small community on the high plains east of Denver that originated around train tracks and a grain elevator. When I was young, there was a K-12 school, a grocery store, coupla' gas stations and a liquor store. One of our favorite treats available locally was Boone's Farm "wine" - a delicious alcoholic kool-aid made from apples and heroin. The flavors included Strawberry Hill, Apple Blossom, Country Kwencher (yes, that is the correct spelling) and my personal favorite, Tickle Me Pink. Which tasted, well, pink. The best indicator of the quality of this product, besides the ability to purchase an 8 pack with a 10 spot, was the tagline at the bottom of the label - SERVE VERY COLD.

The town has grown some and now boasts a fancy chain grocery store (with Starbucks!) and a shopping center with a brand-spankin' new liquor store. I went in simply to get some beers for the weekend, but imagine my delight when my eye was drawn to the bottom shelf of an otherwise respectable wine department...and there, in all it's screw-top glory, was my old friend Boone's Farm. I bought the Strawberry Hill flavor just to see if I'd get carded. I didn't.

When the enthusiastically mascara-ed homegrown 22-year-old rang it up and saw that it was $1.99 (Curse this damned recession!) she said, "DANG...That's a good deal!" And I said, "Y'know, I bet if you put it in the cooler, you could charge like $2.49 or something." And she agreed.

--According to the Boonesfarm Fan website:
"Regarded by most as the king of all flavors of Boone’s Farm, Strawberry Hill has a rich, vibrant strawberry flavor with a just a hint of hill."

Be sure to visit the site and read the review of Blue Hawaiian... http://www.boonesfarm.net/index_files/Page473.html