If there's one thing that many adults around the world love to do, it's going out for alcoholic drinks with friends. Be it beer, ale, spirits, wine, cocktails, among other drinks, adults have their drink of choice. And one of the best places to enjoy your drink is a local pub or bar. In Japan, however, thousands of adults flock to McDonald's pub chain, The Hub, to enjoy a drink or five. But in a strange twist, The Hub has teamed up with the anime KonoSuba – God bless this wonderful world!! to bring fans a series of character-based cocktails for a limited time. But are the drinks any good? Richard Eisenbeis and I, Ken Iikura-Gross, walked to our local Center to try it out.
This article is for entertainment purposes only. Anime News Network does not condone heavy alcohol consumption and we ask that you drink responsibly.
Richard Eisenbeis's photo
The center has released a total of six KONOSUBA cocktails, of which three are alcoholic and three are non-alcoholic. It's a great combination for those who don't like alcohol and gives fans a choice of drinks based on the characters. For alcoholic drinks, there are Kazuma, Aqua and Darkness. For non-alcoholic drinks, Megumin, Yunyun and Iris.
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Acoholic drink
Kazuma
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
The Kazuma is a simple three-ingredient cocktail: peach liqueur, mikan (tangerine) juice and tonic water garnished with mint and a lime (I misspelled the spelling in the video). Although it's not specified what peach liqueur is, if you let the drink combine a bit, you'll get the signature taste of Southern Comfort. This is an interesting liqueur choice, because depending on your palette and the blend, Southern Comfort tastes great or the complete opposite.
Both Richard and I found this drink very soothing. We both had the distinct taste of mikan juice with a hint of lemon aftertaste. If you let the liqueur, juice and tonic water blend for a bit, you'll get a little more peach flavor. But leave it too long after serving and the drink will become a bit difficult to drink as the not-so-great aspects of the liqueur will dominate.
It is best to drink fresh and finish within about 20 minutes.
Aqua
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
If Kazuma is a simple drink, then Aqua is even simpler with two ingredients: lychee liqueur and tonic water with a little lemon garnish. Like Kazuma, the liqueur used in Aqua is not specified. But given the blue color, it is likely Garuda Blue Lychee.
Richard notes that the color of this cocktail is correct. The sweetness hits you first, but letting it sink into your mouth gives you a hint of lemon. However, like Kazuma, leaving Aqua too long after use will leave you with a rather unpleasant taste. This may be related to the sugar in the lychee liqueur interacting with the lemon.
It's best to drink it while it's fresh and drink it all within 20 minutes
Dark
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
Of the three KONOSUBA alcoholic cocktails, the Darkness is the most involved. The base has three ingredients: grapefruit juice, tonic water, and martini bitters with a slice of grapefruit for garnish. However, the menu notes that adding a special liqueur to the drink will give it a distinct flavor. It is not stated whether a bitter martini is a cocktail like the Angostura or whether gin and vermouth is called a Martini. However, considering this is an alcoholic beverage, it is possible that the second type is a bitter cocktail that is intended to add flavor rather than give the drink alcohol content.
Richard and I agree that the basic cocktail is nothing more than grapefruit juice with no flavor other than grapefruit. Yes, you get carbonation from energy drinks, but ultimately, it's a bland drink. However, if you're a fan of grapefruit juice, adding some Martini liqueur and tonic water or even water will give you a simple homemade cocktail.
A perfect cocktail if you like the taste of grapefruit.
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
Once you mix the mysterious element into the Darkness cocktail, the drink will take on a different flavor. After adding more footage, Richard and I noticed the Darkness went from grapefruit sour to raspberry sour. The grapefruit flavor remains, but a little impact from the shot gives the drink a fruity flavor. I think with a spoonful of simple syrup, the drink would be much more enjoyable.
The glass of wine itself could be some kind of raspberry liqueur. Chambord may be the most famous raspberry liqueur on the market, but I mentioned Jekyll & Hyde liqueur in the video. However, my memory is off about the flavor of the liqueur because Jekyll has a wild berry flavor and not raspberry. Even so, the cocktail tastes much better with it in it. However, you will need to pay attention to the alcohol concentration because drinking alcohol will increase the alcohol concentration.
A perfect cocktail if you enjoy the combination of tart and sour flavors.
Non-alcoholic beverages
Megumin
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
Megumin is a simple non-alcoholic drink with three ingredients: rose syrup, cranberry drink and cola with an orange slice, chopped strawberries and blueberries as garnishes. Although the type of cola is not specified, it is likely Coca-Cola. However, if you make this at home, you can use cola of your choice.
For my own discretion, I tried Megumin for about a week before this taste test. The first time I ate it, it had a lot of cola taste. I couldn't taste the cranberry or rose syrup. But I had already had a few drinks by then, so it's possible my taste buds weren't picking up on the complexity of the mocktail.
The second time I tasted it, I felt the wonderful combination of cola and cranberry. Unfortunately for me, those two flavors overpowered the rose flavor. Richard, on the other hand, loves mocktails. As he said in the video, he likes to add all kinds of syrups to his Coca-Cola, so this drink is perfect for him.
However, one thing this drink is missing is a little taste. Considering Megumin is a fire mage, you'd think the rose syrup would be cinnamon or some other spiced syrup. Or even adding a bit of pepper as a garnish or siracha to the drink for a kick could have brought the drink closer to Megumin's theme.
Great fruity mocktail but needs a bit of seasoning. If you want to make a drink, I recommend using about 0.25 oz (about 7 ml) of Fireball spiced rum or spiced whiskey.
Yunyun
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
Like Megumin, Yunyun is another simple non-alcoholic drink with three ingredients: cherry blossom syrup, cranberry drink, and milk with chopped strawberries and blueberries as garnishes. The milk floating on top of the cranberry drink gives Yunyun a beautiful color change. This makes it the nicest drink out of the six on offer at The Hub.
As a drink, Yunyun is very inoffensive. Depending on where you start drinking your mocktail, you will get different flavors. Richard and I started with straws and got a strong taste of cranberries, but when I took a sip from the clothesline there was nothing but milk. So, combining the drink is key to getting rich flavors out of it. Unfortunately, the Sakura syrup wasn't very good. So, if you are a fan of Sakura flavor, you should increase the syrup content a bit.
A nice afternoon or dessert drink. If you want to make it alcoholic, 0.5 oz (about 15 ml) of sweet vermouth or a dark, sweet red wine should keep the overall flavor intact.
Iris
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
The last drink on the menu is Iris. Non-alcoholic drinks can be made the most as the ingredients include pineapple juice, milk, fresh cream and garnished with mint. Although it is unclear whether whipped cream is added to the base of the mocktail, it is also used as a garnish.
Iris is a scam mocktail to say the least. As noted in the video, I was worried the pineapple juice would overpower the entire drink because the fruit tends to have a strong flavor. However, to both Richard and my surprise, Iris was delicious. Pineapple juice and milk mixed together create a cream with a texture almost like melted ice cream. I wonder, as I said above, whether whipped cream is added to the drink since milk alone usually doesn't give you that texture.
However, one thing to be sure of is not to let the ice in the drink melt too much. It upsets the balance and removes all the sweetness from the pineapple juice as well as the texture that the milk gives to the drink.
A great dessert drink. If you make it at home, skip the ice and use a chilled glass. If you want to make a tincture, 25 oz (about 7 ml) of a cream liqueur such as Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, Godiva white chocolate liqueur or perhaps Voyant Chai cream liqueur should keep the creamy texture.
Having tried all of The Hub's KONOSUBA collaboration drinks, Richard and I decided to rank them from our favorite to least favorite. What surprised both of us was that we found non-alcoholic drinks to be more to our liking than alcoholic drinks.
Photography by Richard Eisenbeis
Richard's rating
1. Yunyun
2. Megumin
3. Iris
4. Thuy
5. Kazuma
6. Darkness (with gunshots)
7. Darkness (no shooting)
Ken's rating
1. Iris
2. Megumin
3. Yunyun
4. Darkness (with gunshots)
5. Thuy
6. Kazuma
7. Darkness (no need to shoot)
The fun drink is a collaboration between KONOSUBA and The Hub. Unfortunately, the collaboration ended on May 26. So while the drinks are no longer available at the pub chain, you can still recreate them in your own home.
