El Cirkulo chef Jay Gamboa came up with appetizers tailor-made for the Kiwi Genie and Berry Fizz drinks.

If you’re shunning cocktails at a party because you want to stay sober behind the wheel, you might want to try Jelly Belly’s “mocktails,” a new mix of nonalcoholic drinks concocted by Cellar Dwellers for Candy Corner, the confectionery store that brings the world-famous jelly beans to the Philippines.

Candy Corner yesterday invited the media for a taste test of its mocktails, where Cellar Dwellers’ chief mixologist Dax Jaurigue presented four different variants using jelly beans as the main ingredient: Newton’s Orange Punch, Berry Fizz, Original Cinn, and Orange Banana Oasis.

True-to-life flavors
Each mocktail used twenty pieces of a Jelly Bean flavor. The recipe for Newton’s Orange Punch required orange beans, while Berry Fizz asked for the strawberry cheesecake variety. Despite the very seductive name, Original Cinn is actually a tame mixture of apple juice and cinnamon-flavored beans. Orange Banana Oasis mixed orange juice and top banana beans.

The nondrivers among us had the license to try out some alcoholic blends, such as the Movie House Delight, Kiwi Genie, Cape Codder, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Loop Da Loupe.

Movie House Delight and Kiwi Genie both used 0.5oz gin and pineapple juice, with the former having ten pieces each of the lemon- and buttered-popcorn jelly beans (indeed, what’s a movie without popcorn?). The latter combined kiwi and watermelon for a more distinctive taste.

Cape Codder was popular among the press, with its unique blend of cranberry juice, calamansi [Philippine lemon] concentrate, 0.75oz vodka, and red apple beans. Rum and pineapple juice were used for the Strawberry Cheesecake cocktail, which required, of course, ten pieces each of strawberry cheesecake jelly beans and, surprisingly, the top banana variety.

Loop Da Loupe had 0.75oz Absolut Citron, some cantaloupe jelly, Sprite, and calamansi juice. We capped off the meal with the Cafe au Jelly, which contained some Creme de Cafe liqeur, fresh milk, and cappuccino-flavored jelly beans.

Exciting experience
“The cocktails and mocktails were a challenge to make because of the many variants of jelly beans available,” drink mix specialist Jaurigue said.

“While Cellar Dwellers’ business is about selling alcoholic beverages, we don’t want accidents to happen. Our support for the Jelly Bean Mocktails is a way of redeeming the alcoholic beverage industry by using our talents to prevent drunk-driving-related accidents,” Jaurigue added.

With this exciting blend of beverages, Filipinos indeed now have the license to drink and drive.

Visit the Candy Corner official Website. The Jelly Belly beans are available exclusively at Candy Corner stores throughout the Philippines.

Cellar Dwellers
3F ATC Building
148 Katipunan Avenue
White Plains, Quezon City
+632 421 0994 to 98
+63 927 994 8984