Everyone who tries it seems to start out cringing and end up laughing in surprise. Just as you might have guessed, gatorwine is equal parts cheap red wine (defined as less than $12 a bottle) and Gatorade. Connoisseurs note that it has to be the light blue Glacier Freeze Gatorade, which the company reportedly describes as having berry and citrus notes.
It seems to have erupted out of nowhere, but it’s more like “GoatsNowhere,” the YouTube commenter who submitted the recipe — can you call it a recipe? — for review in a special tasting edition of Babish Culinary Universe. Cook and YouTube star Andrew Rea, much better known by the handle Binging with Babish, brought the drink into the limelight with his hilarious reaction.
“It’s not like anything I’ve ever tasted, ever,” says Rea in the video, before comparing it to sangria. “If I’m being honest, I’d rather drink this than Barefoot or Yellowtail,” he says, with an incredulous laugh and shrug, “In a very disgusting, perverse way, I like it.” Although it was served to him in a chilled glass, he suggests it might work on the rocks, and as he repeatedly uses it as a palate cleanser for other less successful entries, he raises its score from a 6 to a 7. He also gets at least two refills.
Now that it’s been broadcast to Rea’s millions of followers, there are lots of people game to try it, even if they think they might regret it, but most testers find it better than expected.
“I tried gatorwine yesterday. I was ready to hate it. I made more today. You win,” commented mattyj5751 on YouTube.
“It’s kind of calming down the wine, for people who don’t drink wine,” says Instagram’s @wendellion.
“Oh no. Oh no! It’s good,” says chagrined TikToker @wanderingmallory.
Cocktail creator-reviewer Prescott Vanmeyer III, better known as Unemployed Wine Guy, likes gatorwine well enough to suggest using the idea to stretch your red wine supply, and also tests out the admonition that it must be the light blue one. When he tries it with the Glacier Cherry and Grape flavors, his face tells you everything you need to know.
Well, I’ve put it off as long as I can. Although many testers just eyeball it, I’ve laid out my ingredients and a cocktail jigger to make sure I get it precisely 50-50.
I’ve decided on a pinot noir since we are reportedly in sangria territory, and given both the instruction to limit expenditure to $12 and the relative gravitas of this assignment, the brand Low Hanging Fruit was too good to pass up. One of the cheapest wines out there but actually not one of the worst, it’s on the tart side, heavy on the berry notes, and just astringent enough to be interesting — what professional wine tasters might charitably call “approachable.” You don’t have to fret about unwanted bits falling into the wine during uncorking, either, because the cork is plastic.
Pictured is 2.5 ounces each of red wine and Glacier Freeze Gatorade. I’m surprised that the color isn’t all wrong, purple or muddy; it’s just a nice burgundy, although a bit more translucent than a regular glass of red. Since the alcohol content is cut in half, it has about as much leg as a snake on skates.
A good red should balance acidity, astringency, fruit and alcohol in pleasing harmony. The Gatorade reduces the acidity to somewhere in the vicinity of a milkshake, and much in the way adding a pinch of salt to coffee can reduce bitterness, the electrolytes mean the tannins are missing in action. The finish falls off a cliff and it has all the complexity of a straight line. Smooth, nonthreatening, mildly patronizing — akin to drinking a Care Bear.
But Care Bears are pretty delightful! They spread joy, demanding nothing in return. Gatorwine isn’t going to do anything to upset you; in fact, it giggles a little bit when you sip it. I decided to really lean into the sangria angle and let it chill with diced fruit for a few hours, and honestly, although the fruit at the end is the best part and I don’t suggest ice since it’s already dilute, you could serve this at a dinner party. The only people who will know are the ones who have tried it before, and they’re not going to want to admit it by way of revealing your secrets.
Surely by this point, you have questions. I still have some myself. But as a registered dietitian, I’ll take a crack at some of the ones that show up in the comments most.
First, is there any benefit to drinking this? Well, on the one hand, I’ve never said to a client, “You know, as your dietitian, I really think you should start drinking.” There is nothing in this experience that you can’t get from a great mocktail, and any alleged health benefits are vastly overstated. But, on the other hand, it has half the alcohol by volume of wine by itself, so if you’ve already decided to have a glass, that’s a good thing in relative terms.
Second, will the electrolytes help ameliorate the risk of hangovers? Maybe just a little, in that it could reduce the dehydrating effects of alcohol, but if you’re drinking enough gatorwine to need hangover amelioration, maybe you should reevaluate your life choices.
Lastly, is it worth the shame of going through the grocery checkout with these ingredients just to try a guilty glass with your next frozen pizza night?
Yeah … it kind of is.
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