Pama Pomegranate Liqueur

[lancastermike]

Maggie brought a bottle of this home and I have not had much luck with it. Anybody play with it? They have some recipes on their web site here but the PAMA Caipirinha does not of much for me. I'm thinking it should work with Applejack but I tried that last night and did not think much of my effort. Out of the bottle on a spoon it is much less sweet that I though it may be. I think it will need sugar or something sweet to play nice.

[plattetude]

I've used it in a riff on a Negroni --

1 oz Beefeaters

1 oz Campari

1/2 oz Carpano Antica (or whatever sweet vermouth you've got)

1/2 oz Pama

I tried some other things too, none of which were memorable (it was a couple years ago, when I'd been given a box of mini bottles of Pama to play with).

Christopher

[mkayahara]

There are a couple of ideas from Jamie Boudreau here.

And another one here.

Edited December 17, 2009 by mkayahara (log)

[brinza]

When I first saw it, my reaction was, "Hmmm, they used to call that grenadine." Now they call it Pomegranate Liqueur and charge you $30. And yes, there are grenadines with alcohol; Jacquin's grenadine has alcohol (albeit only 2.5%). When I tasted it at a friend's house, I thought it wasn't bad, but I went home and poured some grenadine into a shot of vodka and it tasted the same. I don't see why it shouldn't work in a Jack Rose or a Scofflaw, however.

[KatieLoeb]

I have several bottles of this lying around my house due to various liquor purveyors and managers at former places of employ handing them to me. I have to say I'm just not impressed with it. To me, it adds the same flavor that a splash of cranberry juice does for a microscopic fraction of the price. I prefer to use homemade grenadine when I need a pomegranate flavor, or if I need unsweetened pomegranate flavor, then just the 100% juice. This stuff seems like a bonfire for dollar bills when other alternatives exist. I think they tried to cash in on the Pomegranate Martini trend that's now so 2006. Sorry, Mike. Wish I had better news for you...

[thirtyoneknots]

When I first saw it, my reaction was, "Hmmm, they used to call that grenadine." Now they call it Pomegranate Liqueur and charge you $30. And yes, there are grenadines with alcohol; Jacquin's grenadine has alcohol (albeit only 2.5%). When I tasted it at a friend's house, I thought it wasn't bad, but I went home and poured some grenadine into a shot of vodka and it tasted the same. I don't see why it shouldn't work in a Jack Rose or a Scofflaw, however.

Except that Pama lacks the sweetness and concentration of flavor (and color) that one gets in good grenadine. The Negroni idea is interesting, but my experiments with it left me convinced it was worthless.

[Kent Wang]

It tastes more like cranberry than pomegranate. It's not even as concentrated in flavor as pomegranate juice (like POM), much less properly made grenadine.

[Shamanjoe]

Back when I got a bottle, it was because it came with a nice champagne flute or something like that, and I had no idea that grenadine was made from pomegranates. At that point all I knew about grenadine was that it was bright red, came in a bottle like Rose's lime, and was popular in Smirnoff Ice's with all the barely legal college girls.

I have to say though, I used to pour a good portion of the Pama in the flute and top it with presecco. It was nice and light, perfect for sipping during dessert.

[EvergreenDan]

Pama makes a very good batida:

2 oz Cachaca

2 oz Pama

1/2 oz Lime (or muddled 1/2 of a lime)

It's not as sweet as some liqueurs, so you can use more, adjusting the lime as needed. At one point this was my wife's favorite drink. She also likes it with high-quality cassis, but use only 1 oz to compensate for the cassis's added sweetness.

I have experimented, but I can also imagine a good drink with Campari, Pama, Lemon and perhaps Gin.

[KatieLoeb]

Yeah maybe, but at an average cost of $1/oz. for Pama I'll stick with cranberry juice. Cassis is another story. Good Cassis de Bourgogne is well worth the cost of admission as there's nothing else that replicates that flavor.

[dr girlfriend]

I picked up a bottle of this on clearance a few years ago and have had absolutely no luck with it. In fact I think the bottle is still floating around my house somewhere...