Voyant

A friend of mine in California told me about a new liqueur called Voyant, a Chai Cream liqueur. I am a HUGE fan of the chai flavor so I started calling around. The website said the distributor for Georgia is National Distributing Company. I went to my local store to see if they had it. No luck but he said he deals with them all the time and would ask how much a bottle would be. He takes my name and number and the next day (today) I get a call. He said the bottle would be nearly $29. My friend in Cali said he paid $22 but has seen it as low as $18. I told the man "No thank you. I have found it less elsewhere." I called National myself and asked who would have it in the area. They gave me the names of 2 other stores. I called Old Milton Beverage at 4045 Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta. They had one left in stock, price $24.99. The second place I called said they could get it but it would be much more than $25. So, I called National back. APPARENTLY I was transferred to who I believe was the director of sales, Tom something or other. I told him my dilemma and asked if I could possible get a price on a case from him and was it possible to buy direct. He chuckled and said I could not buy directly from him but he would call the place that has one more on the shelf and tell them to sell it to me for $19.99. So I walked in and Eric (the guy I talked to originally) indeed sold it to me for $19.99. We also got to talking about vodka which is typically my drink of choice. He TOTALLY knew his stuff! He took me to the vodka section and pointed out some of the flavored vodkas. He said that most flavored vodkas are artificially flavored (like my wonderful Passion Fruit Smirnoff in the freezer at the moment!). He showed me the 2 vodkas that they carried that were infused vodkas. One he did not recommend to me because he said it had a very fiery bite. But he said Hangar One is fantastic. It was reasonably priced too. I will be trying that next after my other alcohols are gone. I had mentioned to him that I usually go for Grey Goose because it has a light bite. He suggested that it has a chemically aftertaste and is very pricey considering that. This will be my new bottle shop :)

As for the Voyant, I am currently having a glass with ice. It is quite good! It is very smooth and creamy. It contains milk so it needs to be refrigerated after you open it and cannot be combined with acidic mixers. It is 25 proof so very easy to drink straight. I don’t usually like anise but I believe it has a slight twinge of anise in it which blends very well with it. It is similar to a Kahlua and cream with a LOT more flavor.