Review: Shimmering Sips Epcot Food and Wine Festival

We continue from Noodle Collection to Shimmering Sips, since The Shimmering Collection sounds like a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique upcharge. Give them a couple months and we’ll be reviewing it if I can get into one of those tutus. 

The Marketplace Formerly Known as “The Almond Orchard Hosted By Blue Diamond Almonds Almond Breeze Almondmilk” (seriously) is called “Shimmering Sips hosted by Corkcicle” for the first time this year.

Corkcicle offers a variety of items intended to keep your beverage cold. It looks like they’re going after the Tumbler/Wine Flute crowd this year.

I have a pair of what are apparently called Chillsners that were a gift given years ago, potentially because the poor girl’s mom thought I would be sent to prison in the near future and this is the sort of shiv that might come in handy down the line, probably with a little sharpening and some toothpaste. That’s one thing you learn in prison. Everything requires toothpaste. Anyway, the Chillsner is a rather silly product as they are likely geared towards men who won’t remember to put them in the freezer. So you have a fairly useless HouseTemperaturener instead. Second, anyone who takes so long to finish a beer that it becomes unbearably warm isn’t welcome anywhere near me. Third, you can really only use it once or twice before it gets warm even if you are a maniac on the Heineken bottles. And fourth, your lips go on the top of the Chillsner. This may not seem like a big deal, but usually a man likes to feel the bottle around his mouth instead of suctioning it to the same piece of steel every sip. But anyway, they’re a sponsor this year. And I have two Chillsners available. You just have to beat me with my sharpened ends and bottle of toothpaste.

I am the final boss.

Food:

• Shimmering Strawberry Soft-Serve in a Waffle Cone – $5.25
• Banana Bread with Mixed Berry Compote (Plant-Based) – $4.50

Beverages:

• Tropical Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava Juices – $6.25
• Key Lime Mimosa with Key Lime Sparkling Wine and Cranberry Juice – $6.25
• Blood Orange Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Blood Orange Juice – $6.25
• Mimosa Flight – $13
• CORKCICLE Stemless Flute – $21.00

Unfortunately, the banana soft serve wasn’t quite shimmery enough at the Soft Serve Olympics again this year, so Strawberry it is again. The elimination of the banana soft serve, Erin’s favorite, probably also has something to with that 42-word Almond Milk sponsor that left the same year. Please come back 42-word Almond Milk overlords. There’s something I never thought I would type.

Shimmering Strawberry Soft-serve in a Waffle Cone – $5.25

After figuring out that you don’t have a lot of time to down this overflowing ice cream cone filled with deliciously-sweet Strawberry Soft Serve before it melts, Disney now plops it in a plastic cup for more of a sundae situation. The Waffle Cone is sizable with a lot of jimmies clinging to the top of it via a layer of chocolate and then even more pink shimmering sprinkles on top. The soft serve is light and refreshing, but also very sweet and artificial-tasting. On the plus side, there is quite a bit of it, and it’s now easier to eat with a spoon. But we can probably do better than soft serve here.

Taste: 5/10

Value: 4/10

Plant-based Banana Bread with Mixed Berry Compote – $4.50

While I typically pretend to know what I’m talking about, under some amount of duress, I would admit that my experience with plant-based bread is limited. Ordinarily, my eyes would gloss over anything vegan that wasn’t intended to be a vegetable, but it’s not uncommon for some of the best dishes at Walt Disney World to be vegan/vegetarian/plant-based. My estimation is that this is because it takes a lot more to prove plant-based items than it does something like beef stew. If I was hosting a food festival, I would probably have steak on the menu, even if it was bad. You’d have to convince me on the vegan bread front. Thus, the vegan items are typically tastier than you might expect.

The song remains the same here with the banana working to bind the ingredients together without the need for eggs. The bread ends up being surprisingly airy with a natural, sweet banana flavor that works as a trusty base for the freshly-sliced fruit and dollop of whipped coconut topping. I liked the crispiness of the top of the bread, which contrasted nicely with the creaminess of the non-cream and firm berries. The price and portion are fair for the money.

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10

The Mimosas – $6 Each or $13 for a Flight

From left to right at the top, your choice of a a Key Lime Mimosa with Key Lime Sparkling Wine and Cranberry Juice; a Tropical Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava Juices; and a Blood Orange Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Blood Orange Juice.

The Mimosas are on the inexpensive side, but they’re typically pre-made and at least half juice, if not more, making for an overwhelmingly cloying, thick, juicy mouthfeel with just a hint of sparkling wine present. The Lime version is easily the least sweet, so go in that direction if you’re in the mood for something more tart. I’d only recommend the other two if you’re after juice more than wine. But I’ve paid more for juice than I have for wine. So who’s to say.

Australia is up next.