Alco Olives Review
Alco Olives
Reviewed by Lynn Short
I was very excited to be given the opportunity to taste and review Alco Olives. There are so many different varieties of olive available in the shops and I thought that olives infused with alcohol was a brilliant new idea.
I received a pack of 3 jars of olives one infused with Spiced Rum, one with Gin and the other with Tequila. All 3 sample jars contained Chalkidiki olives, these Greek olives are large and firm but not hard. In order not to rely solely on my opinion I asked family members and a friend to join me in the tasting, which they were only too happy to do!
Initially we tasted the olives straight from the jar at room temperature. We started with the gin infused ones and agreed that there was a definite flavour of gin but that it was very delicate and subtle, the olives themselves also seemed to be a bit soft. Next we tasted the spiced rum – we felt that the initial flavour was just olive but then the rum “hit” and that was very tasty and gave a slightly sweeter effect to the olive. We thought the flavours were well matched. The tequila infused olives were crunchier and had a slightly nutty flavour, the alcohol seemed to be stronger with these. I also tasted the olives slightly chilled after being in the fridge and I thought that there was slightly more flavour from the gin than at room temperature but otherwise there was no significant difference. Overall most of us preferred the spiced rum infused olives.
Our intention was to taste the olives per se and not to try them with biscuits or anything else. However as well as being an appetiser on their own they would be excellent with cheese and biscuits, added to a recipe or in any circumstance when you would normally use an olive – not for under 18s though!
As I said at the beginning I thought this was a brilliant idea, and as with so many good ideas it was born, according to the website, from a simple remark: “I only like olives when they have been in the bottom of a martini”. If you like olives then you must try these – they are also available with Cognac, American Tennessee Whiskey, Vermouth and Sambuca. If you live near Chester you can find Alco Olives at Chester Town Hall Market on the 3rd Saturday of every month. You can, of course, purchase them online, check out their website www.alco-olives.co.uk.
Rating: 5/5 
Prices: £11.50 (3x Small Jars 4oz) / £16.50 (3x Large Jars 80z) including free postage.
For more information or to buy online visit www.alco-olives.co.uk.
