I’m a fan of any product that makes entertaining easier. But I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my cocktails. Even thought I’ve been known to use a little bit of mixes when creating my drinks, I usually don’t serve ready-made cocktails at my gatherings. I find most of them too sweet, or just not a good value for my hard earned money.

So when Canadian company Black Fly Beverages approached me to sample some of their ready-made spirit drinks, I said yes, but I wasn’t expecting them to be any different from all the other mass-produced beverages already on the market.

First thing I noticed: the bottles size.  Right off the bat, you’re getting 400ml bottles compared to the 300 – 315ml the competition offers. Ok, they got my attention.

Next up we have variety: Black Fly offers a huge variety of spirit drinks. Everything from whisky sours, rum punch, margaritas, mojitos…  I was impressed with the variety. Most companies, make a couple, maybe three variations of their product.

Of course nothing matters if the taste is not there. I started with the Rum Punch – made with pineapple, strawberry and lime juices. First impressions: not too sweet with a good boozy finish. Huge drink. Remember that each bottle makes two standard cocktails, so if you finish one bottle, basically you’re having two drinks.

During the long weekend I had some people over and we got to try other flavours. Another one that stood out was the Tequila Margarita cooler. Once again, not too sweet and boozy enough with a good lime flavour than didn’t taste overly artificial. It had a clean natural taste with a pleasant saltiness. I would definitely drink it again – and I’m a tequila snob!

Overall, I gotta say I’m a fan. Black Fly lives to the hype. But don’t take my word for it, go try them yourself!