If you’ve been to Applebee’s recently, chances are you’ve encountered their new(-ish) Boozy Bacardi Rum Buckets—and if they weren’t everything you imagined, you aren’t alone.
In a viral video with over 335,000 views, TikTok user Pau (@paulinaa103) and her friends voiced their complaints about the Applebee’s rum buckets. Namely, that the buckets were way smaller than they expected.
The video opens with Paulina behind the camera, recording a friend across the booth from her at an Applebee’s. The on-screen texts reads “Applebees count your days,” followed by a whiny emoji and a laughing-crying emoji.
“Where are they?” Paulina’s friend says, glancing around.
“Over there,” Paulina responds, gesturing with the camera and zooming in on the bar across from their table. Her friend glances over and then shakes his head in disappointment.
“Bruh,” another friend comments from off-camera.
“I thought they were gonna be big as f*ck—when I thought buckets, I thought Home Depot buckets!” he says. “Like, damn—” the video cuts off as Paulina laughs behind the camera.
“Nah cuz why do they look soo big in the picture lmaoo,” Paulina asks in the caption.
According to an Applebee’s Oct. 1 press release, “Applebee’s Boo-zy Buckets are made with premium spirits and served in a 32 oz. bucket.”
Opinions by the bucketful
Commenters agreed with Paulina, and many shared stories of their own disappointment with the Applebee’s Rum Buckets.
“Lmaoo for me I genuinely thought I could take the bucket home lmaoo for my dad because all the sports teams logos on it,” said one user. “But the lady called me out hella loud as I was leaving hella embarrassing.”
“Lmao my exact reaction,” someone else said. “And for it to barely taste like alcohol.”
“I didn’t even catch a slight buzz off it,” a commenter confessed. “It was 95 percent ice and didn’t even taste that good,” they pause to add a crying emoji. “Learned my lesson fr lmao.”
Other users agreed that the buckets “barely taste like alcohol,” and some commenters wondered how much booze is actually in the bucket.
“And they only have like two shots max in them,” one person commented. “Most of its juice.”
“That bucket is like two cups of the one dollar zombie drink,” another user speculated. “I’m like shit might as well stick to those instead of the $10 bucket.”
@paulinaa103 Nah cuz why do they look soo big in the picture lmaoo 😩😭 #applebees#spookyseason#buckets#drinks#fail#fypシ#fyp#homedepot #friends ♬ original sound – Pau 🍒
What’s up with the Applebee’s booze buckets?
In March, Applebees announced a series of Bacardi rum buckets, available in their restaurants for $10 each. The original flavors were “Tropical Mama,” “Rum Breeze,” and “Party on the Beach.”
After that initial announcement, Applebees released several seasonally themed versions of the buckets. This past September, they released a collaboration with the NFL, then a Halloween-themed series of buckets in October. (The aforementioned “Dollar Zombie” was another rum-based Halloween cocktail Applebee’s released this month, though it did not come in the form of a bucket.)
Both press releases for these themed buckets explicitly stated the size to be 32 ounces, though they didn’t specify exactly what the alcohol percentage is.
The general consensus on TikTok seems to be that whatever alcohol is in the buckets, it isn’t enough. One woman even brought her own rum to add to the Halloween buckets, calling it the “right way to do Boozy Buckets.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Paulina via TikTok and Instagram direct message, and Applebee’s via email.
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