Who remembers Zima and how do I go about making it?

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So it appears that it is illegal to put distilled spirits in a "Malt Beverage" and that all of those smirinoff drinks are made with malts and cerials not back filling with some vodka and flavorings.
Probably not true for the majority of these beverages. Back flavoring is how they get the distilled alcohol in the drink - the flavorings contain a high level of alcohol. From what I understand, little alcohol is derived from the malt fermentation. This works on two levels for the brewer - beverage classification and malt cost.
 
make the japanese beer sake and add the desired flavoring i think that would give you what your looking for
it is all rice clear malt bevrage and there are recipies for it out there
 
holy_thread_resurrection_batman.jpg
 
Wow, I read this whole thing, and that's how it ends? Did anybody actually make the stuff?
 
Thread resurrection, but at a timely point. There was just recently a thread stating that Coors announced they were going to stop production of Zima.

So who attempted this?
Was anyone successful?

I am curious about any successful processes, however I will NOT attempt to replicate them under any circumstances. To my mind the whole concept of the malt beverage is just wrong. Premixed cocktails make much more sense.

Craig
 
I know this thread has been going for a long time but nobody really answered the question. Zima is Clear malt liquor. It is beer brewed using a very light malt and adding NO hops. I have used a product called Maltose which is clear malt extract and should be available at any home brewing supply store. I get my from RJSpagnols and it is available on-line from them.

I have made this several times and it has always turned out wonderfully.

Now to answer the other question "WHY?"

A Zima like product is a girl's drink no question. But it is better than an cooler or cider for one obvious reason. it has the same ph level as beer. Ciders and coolers are too acidic and cause heartburn if drank in quantity. What good is a drunk feamle if she is sick. A person would have no ill effect by drinking a dozen Zima anymore than drinking a dozen beer.

There are people out there that do not like the taste of hops. This is proved by the huge popularity of most American beers.

I have also flavoured my Zima like products with Wildberry, Blackberry, orange, kiwi, mango and a various of other flavours. Most make me wanna gag but most of the women I know love them. We have nicknamed my product "Barbie Beer". Plain and simple it is beer made without hops and brewed for women.

thanx

Winer aka Christopher
Copper Kettle Wine & Beer
Aldergrove, British Columbia
 
A Zima like product is a girl's drink no question. But it is better than an cooler or cider for one obvious reason. it has the same ph level as beer. Ciders and coolers are too acidic and cause heartburn if drank in quantity.

This isn't true. The stomach normally has a pH of 1-2; even a highly acidic wine is only about a 3, which is still significantly less acidic than the stomach's norm.

Heartburn is caused when stomach acid rises from the stomach into the esophagus; that acid is always strong enough to cause unpleasantness. Alcohol contributes to heartburn by relaxing the lower esophageal sphincter and allowing stomach acid out of the stomach; the drink's acidity is largely irrelevant (which is why beer does in fact cause heartburn in people who are so predisposed).
 
3.2 oz. mccormick vodka Place into container
In measuring cup:
1/2 tbps lime concentrate (i used reallime brand)
3/4 tbps lemon concentrate (i used great value brand)
Add unflavored seltzer water to make 8 oz. (i used the walmart brand, but ingredients "carbonated water" do brands really matter at this point?)
Pour the mixture into the container and mix it up. It doesnt look like zima - the lime and lemon make it foggy. but to the best of my recollection, 4 years later, this is in the ball-park.
I know this isnt what the original poster was looking for at all, but i was searching google for a mixed drink to replicate Zima, and this thread was one of the top posts, failing to find any information, i expirimented and found this recipe, so for people searching what i did, you should find what you are looking for.
P.S. sorry for any bad grammar, or redundancy, i have had 2 of the final product, plus all of the failures trying to get there - were partial servings, but there were like 8 of them, so im not in the condition to write a gramatically correct post.
 
Wow, I read this whole thing, and that's how it ends? Did anybody actually make the stuff?

I stopped after page four. at this point in the future, zima has been discontinued for four years... with a quality alternative having yet to appear, i feel this thread deserves some attention. I think i made something close to it out of premade products...
 
I think this might help you. For whatever reasons, Zima is still on the market here in Japan. They sell it at the local grocery store. The comparisons to sake in this thread are not at all warranted.
 
Hard to imagine.

I want to try to make a Seagram's Italian Ice clone. SWMBO loves them. They're a real panty dropper, but they're only available in the summer.
never had it, but i imagine it's a mostly sugar water with lemon juice and peel for flavor, then back-sweetened to a sickening degree.
 
never had it, but i imagine it's a mostly sugar water with lemon juice and peel for flavor, then back-sweetened to a sickening degree.
I imagine you're pretty close.

The tricky part for me will be bottle conditioning (I don't have or want a keg system). If I have to filter this to remove color and flavor, won't that also remove all the yeast?
 
I imagine you're pretty close.

The tricky part for me will be bottle conditioning (I don't have or want a keg system). If I have to filter this to remove color and flavor, won't that also remove all the yeast?
i've never done it, as i keg, but i've read that adding gelatin with the priming sugars will help a lot to clarify.

backsweetening via bottle is a bit tricky, you either have to: cold crash and keep it cold before they've chewed through all the sugars, use sweeteners like stevia/monk fruit/splenda, or pasteurize the bottles (yikes).
 
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