Forget Pappy, an upcoming aged release from Japanese whisky house Suntory looks set to become this year’s unicorn bottle. According to the Japan Times, Suntory will release a limited-edition, 55-Year Yamazaki Single Malt this summer — the oldest expression ever released by the Japanese Whisky pioneer. How limited is the release? Only 100 were made, and to get one, customers have from February 5-14 to enter a lottery in Japan. And this is not to win a bottle outright, merely the privilege of dropping ¥3.3 Million (just over $30 thousand, after tax) on the limited-edition whisky. If that seems like an eye-popping price, it’s a relative bargain compared to the 50-year Yamazaki that auctioned for $343,000 in 2018. As worldwide demand for Japanese Whisky has skyrocketed, some of the best bottles have become increasingly scarce in stores around the world. In 2018, Suntory halted sales of its beloved Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 altogether. But this shortfall in availability may have actually been part of the inspiration for this new release. Concerned that it hadn’t put out a new Yamazaki in some time, Suntory saw an opportunity to tap into its oldest whisky stock, according to Kengo Torii, Suntory’s Head of Whisky. Torii also noted to the Japan Times that he was younger than the whisky in this release. Despite its age, “The flavor profile is still mellowing,” Suntory’s chief blender, Shinji Fukuyo, added. For die-hard Japanese whisky lovers with five figures to spare, the clock is ticking to book your flights. Winners will be contacted at the end of February, and the ultra-rare bottles will ship to Japanese addresses by July — just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. The article Enter a Lottery to Buy (Yes, Buy) This $30K Ultra-Rare Japanese Whisky appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/booze-news/yamazaki-japanese-whisky-lottery/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/enter-a-lottery-to-buy-yes-buy-this-30k-ultra-rare-japanese-whisky
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For aspiring home bartenders, coaxing value out of a fledgling liquor collection means finding bottles that offer versatility. A few “all-rounders” — spirits that work well in a range of cocktails but can also be sipped neat — go a long way. When considering aged spirits that meet these criteria, peated Scotch is not an obvious option. The complex, smoky notes that typify the category are polarizing on their own, and can easily overpower other spirits and modifiers when mixed in cocktails. But with a delicate touch and careful consideration of the whisky in hand, this powerful style of Scotch can be tamed to add smoky swagger to any home bartender’s cocktail repertoire. Better yet, when matched with the right foods, peated whiskies offer some of the most wonderful food pairings imaginable and can even be incorporated into dishes themselves. Where Peated Scotch Gets Its FlavorPeated Scotch whiskies gain their intense earthy, smoky profile during the drying of malted barley, which occurs prior to distillation. Certain distilleries, most notably on the isle of Islay, burn decomposed organic matter (peat) to dry out the grain so that it can be fermented and distilled. When it burns, peat emits an odorous smoke that soaks into the malted barley and carries through to the distilled spirit. Islay distilleries such as Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Laphroaig, and Lagavulin provide some of the most well-known examples of peated Scotch. Though rarer, similarly smoky styles can also be found in other regions of Scotland, and from a handful of whiskey-producing nations around the world, including Japan, Ireland, India, America, and even Sweden, the original is a good place to start your exploration. (Most of the aforementioned regions outside Scotland don’t have the correct environmental conditions to produce peat, so distilleries have to either import peat or peated malted barley to produce the smoky style. Nevertheless, their whiskeys share similar flavor and aroma profiles to peated Scotch, and can substitute for all the Scotch suggestions listed below.) How to Use Peated Scotch in CocktailsAt San Francisco’s Elixir, a cocktail bar with a mightily impressive whisky list and a history that stretches back over 150 years, Dan Burns crafts peated cocktails to satisfy all smoke tolerances. If you enjoy an intense, peated dram, he’ll serve you a classic whiskey-based cocktail made using an Islay whisky. “Obviously you’re going to get a lot more of the peat than the other ingredients,” he says, “but something like an Old Fashioned — that’s a cocktail that’s supposed to celebrate the principal spirit anyway.” For those who prefer peat to play a supporting role, Burns incorporates much smaller amounts into his cocktails, using it as a seasoning rather than the base for the drink. Elixir’s Wild Pony cocktail, for example, blends (unpeated) Toki Japanese Whisky with Cardamaro, a wine-based aperitif, and pear brandy. A “mist” of Laphroaig sprayed from an atomizer adds the finishing touch, much like the peated single-malt float served over a Penicillin. “It gives this beautiful bouquet on the nose, but without the overly heavy peat flavor,” Burns says. Simon Brooking, a Scotch whisky ambassador for Beam Suntory (Laphroaig’s parent company), recommends a similar approach. “I would suggest swirling a few drops of Laphroaig in your glass as a rinse,” he tells VinePair. “It can be the perfect smoky addition to your vodka or gin Martini.” To match the powerful profile of peat, Ewan Gunn, Diageo’s global master of whisky, turns to the sweet notes of cola. Its vanilla sweetness counters the whisky’s smoky intensity, and the combination comes with the added bonus of “gleefully outraging some die-hard (and often closed-minded) whisky snobs,” he says. How to Pair Peated Scotch With FoodFor food pairings, Gunn chooses game meats like venison, grouse, and pheasant, whose intense flavors match those of peated Scotch. As an alternative, he says the sharpness of blue cheese cuts through the “smoky earthiness” of whiskies such as Lagavulin. Burns and Brooking highlight seafood as a worthy partner to help bring out the mineral, saline notes of the whisky. Best of all, they say, is peated whisky and oysters. Known by many in the whisky business as an “oyster luge,” there are a few different schools of thought on how to properly execute the pairing. Some choose simply to follow the oyster with a shot of the whisky, while others add a dram of peated Scotch into the oyster shell along with the brine and mollusk, and consume all three together. Others go even further and follow a careful ritual that involves first sipping the oyster brine from the shell, washing it down with a splash of Scotch, eating the juicy oyster, and finally refilling the shell with one final generous dram. For an island whisky made by the sea, there’s simply no better send-off. (As a former chef and current drinks writer, I’m wary of placing too much importance on food and drinks pairings; they should be viewed as suggestions and not rules. But then there are combinations so singularly exquisite, I believe everyone should try them at least once in their life: Peated whisky and oysters is one such pairing.) How to Cook with Peated ScotchAnother delicious interaction between seafood and peated Scotch sees it used as a seasoning when curing salmon. Riffing on Scandinavian gravlax, in his book “Hacking Whiskey,” VinePair contributor Aaron Goldfarb suggests using an Islay Scotch to create “Single-Malt Lox.” “I’ve always liked lox on my bagels,” he writes, “but, hmmm, they’re never quite Scotchy enough now, are they?” VinePair’s very own recipe for gravlax can be adapted as such, simply by swapping out the aquavit for peated Scotch, and omitting the caraway seeds, juniper berries, and dill. Home cooks can also utilize the smoky notes of peated whisky as a substitute for a smoker when preparing and cooking meats. “Laphroaig 10 Year Old is a great addition to a basting sauce for your brisket,” Brooking says, while Burns recommends whipping up a glaze by reducing an Islay whisky with honey and lemon. In the end, it’s all about personal — and admittedly, expensive — experimentation. Whether you’re mixing a peated Scotch cocktail, searching for the ideal food pairing, or experimenting in the kitchen, a little splash of peat goes a long way. The article How to Get the Most Out of Peated Scotch, From Cocktails to Cooking appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/articles/peated-scotch-cocktails-food-pairing-guide/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-peated-scotch-from-cocktails-to-cooking Even if you’re not a vodka fan, you might already know the name Svedka. This could be because of the aggressive marketing campaign the brand launched in the mid-aughts featuring a provocative human-like female robot. Or, it could be because the Swedish brand has been on the market for more than 20 years. Although the robot was eventually dropped as a “spokesperson,” Svedka remains a top-selling vodka today. Before you buy your next bottle, read on for nine more things you should know about Svedka. Svedka is super-Swedish.Vodka can be Russian, Polish, French, Diddy-esque, and Texan, but Svedka is famously Swedish. Although it isn’t the only vodka from Sweden (there’s that other iconic brand, and a few more), Svedka is a combination of the words Svenska, which means Swedish, and vodka. The brand was founded in an idyllic 580-ish-year-old town called Lidköping in the southern part of the country. Svedka is 22 years old, with centuries of tradition.The origins of vodka may be disputed (Russia, Poland, Sweden, etc.), but regardless of where the spirit was first distilled, it’s an old invention. Sweden has been making vodka for hundreds of years, since as early as the 15th century (though Swedish distillers didn’t really get the process down until the 17th and 18th centuries, as drinking spirits became more popular). Svedka was founded in 1998 by Guillaume Cuvelier, who later sold the business to Constellation Brands in 2007. (He then opened his own spirits company, Davos.) Svedka is distilled from Swedish winter wheat, which is nice, but doesn’t really matter.If you recall from all your Vodka 101 learnings, vodka is made by repeatedly distilling a base mash until all other compounds are stripped from the ethanol, leaving behind an (arguably) flavor-free liquid. That’s why you’ll hear terms like “smooth” and “clean” when vodka is being described, and almost nobody broods over a snifter of it fireside. Svedka is proudly made with Swedish winter wheat from beautiful fields like this. The simple fact is, however, after distillation, most characteristics of the original starch source — in this case, Swedish winter wheat — are gone. Svedka is distilled five times. For vodka, that’s not a lot.Vodka’s distillation process strips out most everything but ethanol. The basic idea is that repeated distillations can help create a purer, cleaner-tasting spirit. Svedka is distilled five times, which might seem like a lot, until you hear that Tito’s is distilled six times, L’Chaim is distilled 18 times, and the original vodka from Purity — another Swedish vodka — is distilled a whopping 34 times (Purity also has a reserve vodka that’s distilled 51 times). There are rationales on all sides as to why an amount of distillations is chosen, so there’s no “right” number, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pretend it’s all very sophisticated as you describe your Svedka and soda at the bar. It’s made with wheat; it’s also gluten-free.According to science (and Beyond Celiac, a patient advocacy group for people living with Celiac disease, agrees), “pure, distilled vodka, even if made with wheat, barley, or rye, is considered gluten-free.” Again, that’s because any gluten from the base grains gets distilled out. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that people with a sensitivity to gluten should start mixing Screwdrivers. Tipplers with Celiac disease report mixed reactions to vodka, plus gluten can show up in vodka in the form of flavorings and other ingredients added after distillation. So, as with any beverage, choose your vodka wisely. The rainbow of Svedka vodka flavors is downright Willy Wonka.Svedka loves fruit flavors. Like, a lot. Among the Skittles-defying rainbow of flavors currently available from Svedka are: Raspberry, Blue Raspberry, Strawberry Lemonade, Cucumber Lime, Mango Pineapple, Orange Cream Pop, Citron, Peach, Strawberry Colada, Cherry, Grapefruit Jalapeño, and Grape. There is a Svedka Rosé.Svedka continues to innovate with its blends and flavors, and recently jumped on the rosé-all-day trend by blending 5 percent rosé wine into its rosé-flavored vodka, giving the spirit a faint hint of those light berry and floral flavors we love in actual rosé. According to the press release from Constellation, Svedka Rosé “targets palate thrill-seekers and experientialists who crave new ways to enjoy their favorite spirit.” And here I thought adding wine to your vodka was just the quickest way to make “Bad Decision Juice.” Svedka also makes hard seltzer.Svedka also has its own mini-line of spiked seltzers, including Strawberry Elderflower and Tangerine Hibiscus flavors. Basically, no fruit is safe from Svedka — but then again, with flavored vodkas and faux-vodka-sodas, you won’t need to buy as many mixers. You can be the Svedka Robot Girl.Remember that weirdly sexy robot? Svedka nixed the concept in 2013, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be revived. Svedka created a Svedka Robot Girl costume for Halloween in 2011. In its heyday, the costume sold online for anywhere from $25 to $40 (meaning, yes, wearers were paying the brand to advertise it). Considering the slim-tight sex appeal of the costume, it’s perhaps no shock that it took off, with reality-show celebrities JWoww and Kim Zolciak briefly — and gloriously — stepping out as buxom humanoid booze machines. Svedka ran a very creepy Halloween ad campaign.Speaking of Halloween, Svedka ran a boldly creepy Halloween marketing campaign that basically reminded us that we’re all being followed and tracked — all the time. The campaign itself was pretty simple: Banner ads would “follow you” around the internet as you scrolled, ‘grammed, GrubHubbed, and what have you. Apparently you initiate the “Banner Ad Curse” by watching a “forced-view, pre-roll video,” exactly like “The Ring,” except instead of dealing with things like landlines and VHS tapes, you just share clickbait Svedka ads via social media, and apologize — or not — to people later. The article 10 Things You Should Know About Svedka Vodka appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/articles/svedka-vodka-flavors-guide/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/10-things-you-should-know-about-svedka-vodka On Wednesday, trade publication Drinks International published its annual report on the world’s most popular Champagnes. To compile the list, DI surveyed 106 “cherry-picked” bars from around the world, asking them to share their best-selling bottles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a solid half on the list are owned by luxury giant LVMH. Still, several (relatively) smaller, family-run producers were represented as well. Counting down, here are the 10 most popular Champagnes at the world’s top bars. 10. DeutzA newcomer to the list, replacing Taittinger, Deutz is by no means a newcomer to the world of Champagne. Founded in 1838, Deutz is known for releasing elegant, sometimes romantic vintages. 9. KrugKrug has been run by the same family for six generations. Made by wine geeks for wine geeks, each bottle comes with a code on the back that can be used to learn everything about its provenance, from which grape varieties and vintages make up the blend to the specific vineyard plots on which they were grown. 8. Billecart-SalmonA mid-size, family-run producer, Billecart-Salmon is well-regarded by sommeliers and drinks writers alike, claiming fourth place on VinePair’s 2019 list of the Best Champagnes to Buy Right Now. 7. Laurent-PerrierFamily comes first at Laurent-Perrier, the largest family-owned Champagne house in the world. It’s also the largest female-owned: sisters Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt and Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt have run the business since 1999. 6. RuinartThe oldest Champagne house on the list, Ruinart was also among the first to experiment with rosé Champagne; albeit by adding elderberry juice to the base wine, rather than the modern-day practice of blending red and white wines prior to the bubble-giving secondary fermentation. 5. BollingerA Champagne house with an anglo accent, Bollinger’s English connection stretches back to 1884, when it received a Royal Warrant. It is, reportedly, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s favorites. Further adding to its deep-rooted British credentials, Bollinger is releasing a special edition bottle in connection with April’s upcoming James Bond film, “No Time to Die.” 4. Dom PerrignonLong synonymous with luxury, Dom Perignon is the prestige cuvée of Moët & Chandon. But just because these pricey bottles are only released six times a decade (on average), it doesn’t mean you have to be precious with them — Dom pairs just as well with fried chicken as caviar. 3. Veuve ClicquotThe namesake of Veuve Clicquot, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, was the first woman to run a Champagne house, inheriting it from her late husband. After turning the failing business around, Madame Clicquot pioneered a number of techniques and innovations still used in Champagne production today. 2. Perrier-JouëtDespite only producing a tenth as many bottles annually as Moët & Chandon, this Pernod-Ricard owned producer was the most common “house Champagne” in the bars surveyed. Its attractive, hand-painted bottles are some of the most visually appealing on the market. 1. Moët & ChandonWas there any doubt? Moët & Chandon is the world’s largest Champagne producer, putting over 30 million bottles per year. With that level of volume, it’s no wonder the brand has earned a broad fanbase and the number one spot on this year’s list. The article The Most Popular Champagnes at The World’s Top Bars appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/booze-news/10-best-selling-champagne-brands-world-2020/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/the-most-popular-champagnes-at-the-worlds-top-bars Alongside a lupine silhouette on a plain wooden box, which, I would later learn had been made from eight-foot-long pieces of solid Douglas fir, the following words had been hot-iron engraved: “The price of being a sheep is boredom. The price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care.” Inside the box was a bulky bottle with a label made of a strange, soft, kid glove-like material. The accompanying press materials read like an Onion spoof of some hipster whiskey company, explaining that each bottle of Wolves is wrapped in Italian sheepskin leather, “which is hand cut, embossed, printed with UV light, and laid flush to the glass by hand. The bottle is heavy, French-cut glass, and the cork top is made of maple wood.” As a booze writer, I get sent flashy bottles like these all the time. Ones shaped like skulls, cologne bottles, and oil drums. Once, I got a bottle that looked like a solid gold bar, and another time, a three-liter bottle of Belvedere with an LED light switch in the base that could be clicked on to illuminate the whole thing. I’d seen it all before, and I knew that with such baroque packaging and hyperbolic marketing antics, there was no way this Wolves whiskey could possibly be any good. Nevertheless, I did my professional duty and took a sip. It was incredible. “God forbid you open that bottle and it’s garbage,” says Jon Buscemi, the co-founder of Wolves along with his buddy James Bond (the press materials identify them as the brand’s “creatives.”) “Even if the people aren’t into packaging and think it’s a gag, they’ll find great juice inside.” It used to be that vodka was the spirit that elicited the biggest marketing hype, which makes sense, since it’s inherently odorless and flavorless — and often drawn from the same few mass-produced grain neutral spirit sources that everyone uses. The only way to differentiate it is through the marketing and packaging — and bullsh*t claims that might help make a brand stand out. Whiskey has never really needed to do that. Sure, whiskey has similarly been a category with its own issues of puffery (no, that craft whiskey isn’t the same as the one once bootlegged by Al Capone), but when it comes to the packaging, it’s always been fairly humble and quotidian. That’s why you still see so many bourbon brands in the no-frills packaging they’ve used since their inception. Jack Daniel’s is still packaged in its squared-off bottle with the black “Old No. 7” label. Jim Beam has a label so bland I bet you can barely picture it. Old Grand-Dad has some old grand-dad adorning the bottle. Even Pappy Van Winkle simply has a black-and-white side view of Pappy smoking a stogie. In general, if a whiskey tastes good, it typically markets itself. But as the whiskey marketplace grows and new customers are courted, that may all be changing. Wolves whiskey is banking on it. The CatalystWolves represents Buscemi and Bond’s first foray into the alcohol industry, which is yet another reason I expected their whiskey to suck. Both men hail from the fashion and designer sneaker industries. Buscemi is best known for his eponymous sneaker brand. Bond founded Undefeated, a designer footwear and apparel chain, which has locations in the U.S., Japan, and China. It wasn’t even until about seven or eight years ago that the 44-year-old Buscemi became interested in whiskey. Like many men his age, he was into vodka when he was younger. Growing up in the New York City area, he had access to quality wines and spirits, plenty of which he gladly tried at dinner or in bars, but he was no connoisseur. It was when a friend introduced him to the whiskey-geek-beloved Willett that he got swept up by the emerging bourbon craze. “Drinking 110 proof, 16- or 17-year-old Willett Family Estate,” says Buscemi, “it changes your whole life.” Still, Buscemi never had much desire to get into the industry himself. He was already a successful fashion entrepreneur. But one day, a friend brought over a bottle of California Gold (a famed underground blend I once broke the story on back in 2017). Buscemi couldn’t believe that some average Joe — an amateur! — had put together a whiskey this remarkable without the aid of a distillery or even industry know-how. “It was kind of the catalyst — a lightbulb moment,” explains Buscemi, who is now based in Los Angeles. “I thought, we should put together a blend if we want to do something cool. We don’t have time to lay barrels down [to age] and all these other cool blends are hitting the scene as age statements take a back seat.” The obvious first step would be to go to MGP, the massive bulk spirit factory that operates in Kansas and Indiana, and buy the same whiskey so many other startup brands buy, and then package it in their own slick bottles. And that was the initial plan. “We thought we could f*ck with it,” says Buscemi, “do it on our own and ‘hack’ it.” While Buscemi and Bond were in the process of sourcing the whiskey for Wolves, however, they were introduced to a master distiller making some pretty extraordinary whiskey north of them in California wine country. That man was Marko Karakasevic, a 13th-generation family distiller who’s made a reputation for himself distilling local craft beer into whiskey. “He’s into wacky sh*t,” says Buscemi, who during our conversation referred to Karakasevic as a both a hippie and a mad scientist. “He’s into just doing cool stuff. So why don’t we f*ck around and make a blend — start the brand this way?” After several trials, the ultimate result was First Run, a blend made with whiskey distilled from stout beer and aged for eight years in French oak, whiskey distilled from pilsner and aged for five years in new American oak, and a rye whiskey (sourced from MGP) to round things out. The full blend is “lightly filtered with the mineral-rich water of Sonoma county,” according to the press release, to get it down to 106 proof. I instantly recognized the one-of-a-kind hoppy yet underlying chocolate malt flavor profile when I tasted First Run. I was certain it was the result of distillate from Charbay Distillery in Ukiah, California — a cult favorite among whiskey geeks, though it’s never really broken out into the mainstream. Buscemi and Bond don’t cover up the fact that they source from Charbay — Karakasevic, whose father founded the distillery in 1983, is mentioned in the Wolves press materials — but they don’t completely own that fact, either. But then again, the Wolves website doesn’t even refer to Buscemi and Bond as distillers or producers. Instead, they label themselves as a “unique creative group.” As they see it, their ideal customer has no idea who Karakasevic or Charbay are. In fact, their ideal customer might not even know Pappy Van Winkle. “I think the 1 percenters like you deserve the [sourcing] information,” Buscemi tells me. “But the 99 percent [of our customers] don’t really care about the story.” Understanding Wolves’ Target MarketThe New York launch party for Wolves was held in the Lincoln Room at Keens Steakhouse. I was invited, but unable to attend. Only one other journalist was invited — and not even a spirits writer: Jonathan Evans, the style director of Esquire magazine. Judging by the Instagrams from the night, it seems like the rest of the attendees were equally cool scenesters: men in gold double-breasted jackets and wide-brimmed hats; women in statement glasses and fur-lined coats, lots of flashy watches, dangling chains and neck tattoos. (Buscemi insists there were a couple dozen whiskey geeks in attendance, too, but that they just aren’t perhaps as… photogenic.) Still, despite the fashion-forward crowd, Buscemi isn’t even sure who is ultimately going to be a fan of Wolves whiskey. “We’re slowly finding out,” he says. “We’re learning as we go. We don’t even know who our customer is yet.” But Buscemi suspects that if he produces great whiskey and puts as much effort into the packaging, he and Bond will start attracting the same type of customers who’ve bought their other non-whiskey products in the past. Those people, or the 270,000 Instagram followers of the Buscemi brand, or the 1.8 million followers of Bond’s Undefeated, don’t need to know what Charbay is or who Pappy is; they just have to know what luxury looks like and what quality tastes like. Though it veers far from just about every other American whiskey brand’s marketing strategy, that’s the Wolves game plan. “There’s a certain discerning customer that likes quality, digs New York street culture [and] East Coast late-’80/’90s [style] — that’s the overall umbrella,” explains Buscemi. “It could be a burger place, a hat, a sneaker, a hot sauce, a car, a whiskey. It’s a certain customer who likes a certain look. That’s always been our customer base, no matter what category we’re going after. No matter what industry.” And yet, Buscemi also wants to intrigue the whiskey geek. Remember, he’s one himself. He recognizes that this luxury placement, this image-is-everything marketing and the fanciful bottle, might immediately turn off the connoisseurs he’s trying to court. “The packaging,” he concedes, “almost might be too thoughtful for the bourbon community.” But again, us whiskey geeks make up only a tiny fraction of Buscemi’s perceived target market — it’s the quality of the product itself that Buscemi and Bond are hoping will lure us. A Fashion Strategy That Works for WhiskeyWolves only had enough whiskey to produce 898 bottles of First Run, but that was fine because its sales model is also fairly unique. The brand doesn’t have any typical distribution or points of sale, such as liquor stores. All of Wolves’ whiskey is released online at the same time, exclusively available at Reservebar.com and Flaviar.com, which serve different states (though not all 50 states). Customers can find out about each new release by signing up (for free) for the allocation list, which currently has 4,500 names on it, though Buscemi admits a good 1,000 are family and friends. In his article for Esquire, Evans described Wolves’ marketing strategy, referring to it as the “sneaker drop” model of releasing whiskey. “A limited-time-only release with just a handful (or fewer) points of distribution, scarce enough that you might miss it, even if you want it? That’s a sneaker thing,” he wrote. “A fashion thing.” But the “drop” is not a term Buscemi or Bond have ever used in Wolves’ marketing. They believe it’s simply the parlance of what their fashion-knowledgeable customers are most familiar with, so why not let the fashionmongers make that connection and believe Wolves whiskey is following this “sneaker drop” idea? The second release, Winter Run, which (ahem) “dropped” in November, featured the same hyperbolic press-release language as First Run’s release. At that point, I just drank it up, poured myself a dram, and leaned back in my easy chair as I read it:
Even if I couldn’t help but laugh again at how absurd this all was, I was pretty sure the whiskey inside was going to be great. Indeed, I liked it even better than the First Run. Wolves has four more releases planned in 2020 — and I’m sure four more hilarious press releases will accompany them, which I will copy and paste lines from and text to my whiskey geek friends so we can all share a good laugh. (Though, after laughing about it, I always tell them they should really try the whiskey as it’s, I-sh*t-you-not, actually great.) There will be a Spring Run blend at the end of March, a second release of First Run in the fall (hopefully with a larger quantity this time). Wolves is also doing an upcoming collaboration with Neighborhood — Japan’s popular streetwear brand — that will be a bourbon finished in sake casks. The biggest and surely most ballyhooed release will occur late in the year, when Wolves sources whiskey from a distiller that isn’t Charbay (and that I agreed to keep off the record for now). “I strive to create products that are obnoxiously high quality,” says Buscemi. “Wolves is a luxury and lifestyle fashion brand.” To market Wolves, he and Bond are applying their learnings and resources in luxury marketing to the spirits industry. “We see California whiskey as the vehicle.” Back to Those BottlesWhen they were planning the bottle design, Buscemi and Bond started by playing around with different materials for labels. “James and I are in charge of the forward-facing part of the brand, the marketing, the feel, the look,” Buscemi explains. “For the bottle we wanted something that incorporated both of our careers.” Buscemi’s experience using leather goods from Italy for his designer sneakers and accessories seemed like a clever idea, especially when they found someone who could make and apply the sui generis labels. Since Bond is known for the utilitarian, military-inspired branding he used for Undefeated, they chose to go with similarly clean and simple typeface copy for the bottle, “like a BDU jacket,” Buscemi says. The production of the Wolves bottles also costs some six to seven times what, say, Jim Beam pays for its packaging. Buscemi readily admits they spent as much time designing the bottles as they did the whiskey blend. His and Bond’s backgrounds have taught them that all the tiny details matter. As far as they’re concerned, that’s how you want to launch a brand. Maybe more American whiskey companies should follow suit. “The thing is,” says Buscemi, “if you saw the Kentucky distilleries step out and do it, everyone would think it was corny, so it somewhat makes sense for them to stay in their lane. But, I’d love to see some kids down in Bardstown, [Kentucky, doing it]. I’d love to see a little more irreverence. I’d love to see some young, punk motherf*ckers making some great juice and putting it in sexy bottles.” And, though Wolves may also move to simpler bottles with simpler paper labels one day, like everyone else in Kentucky and most of the whiskey-making world, for now the Italian sheepskin leather-wrapped French-cut glass bottle with the heavy maple wood cork inside the Douglas fir-bored box is how they’re going to continue trying to sell the country’s next great whiskey. As Buscemi points out, “It’s kind of like getting an entire elevator pitch immediately when you just touch the bottle.” The article Wolves Is Dropping Whiskey Like Sneakers. Are They Selling Liquid Gold? appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/articles/wolves-whiskey-liquid-gold/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/wolves-is-dropping-whiskey-like-sneakers-are-they-selling-liquid-gold Sports and drinking have long gone hand in hand, but as of late, that hand has been holding more than America’s typical choice of beer. As the audience for sporting events expands beyond the traditional straight male demographic, and as even that demographic reconsiders its beverage choices, the opportunities for drinking at sporting events have expanded in interesting and exciting ways. Those developments are the topic for this week’s VinePair podcast, as Adam and Zach discuss the new range of drinks you can find at sporting events, plus the Greatest Show on Grass and other remarkable combinations of sport and drink. The article At Sporting Events, There’s More to Drink Than Beer appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/articles/sports-and-drinking-podcast/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/at-sporting-events-theres-more-to-drink-than-beer According to the Beer Institute, U.S. beer companies shipped close to 165.5 million barrels of beer in 2019, a decline of nearly 1.4 million barrels from 2018. This marks a 0.8 percent decrease in beer shipments from 2018 to 2019, Brewbound reports. Other beer industry metrics tell different stories, though. For example, as we reported last week, IRI and Nielsen showed off-premise beer sales increased in 2019, and craft beer sales grew 2.8 percent in terms of dollar sales. The point is, the beer industry’s wins and losses look different depending on how or what you’re counting. In this case, we can see fewer barrels left breweries; but simultaneously, our spend on these barrels of beer increased. This means we’re drinking less, but spending more on the beer we’re buying. If that sounds like you, you’re helping move the industry forward — as long as you’re making purchases consistently, and not doing something silly like testing your willpower to stop drinking beer for a month. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Dry January participants. Bud Light Hard Seltzer Is Spending More Than Any Other Beer Brand on TV AdsAnheuser-Busch has reportedly spent more than $24 million on television ads for its recently launched Bud Light Hard Seltzer. The ad blitz kicked off during the National Football League wildcard playoff games on Jan. 4, more than a week before the product’s launch on Jan. 13. Almost all of the ad spend – $23 million – went to NFL playoffs broadcasts in the two-week span starting Jan. 4. The big spend ate up more than a third of the entire beer industry’s TV ad buys between Jan. 1 and Jan. 19, according to tvrev.com. This is a sparkling drop in the bucket compared to what we’re likely to face in the coming weeks and the Super Bowl. I just hope whatever the ad team came up with this year is better than mermaids in polo shirts. San Diego Brewers Guild Sets Sights on InclusionIn January, the San Diego Brewers Guild launched an Inclusion Committee led by Virginia Morrison, committee chair and CEO and co-founder of Second Chance Beer Company. As Beth Demmon writes in San Diego Magazine, “conversation without follow-through” is a common pitfall of progressive efforts. In other words, talking about diversity and inclusion (or writing about it) is not the same as doing something about it – which is what the Inclusion Committee plans to remediate. On the docket so far are “creating a countywide survey to advocate for employee salary transparency, identifying ways to promote inclusion in neighborhoods with few to no breweries, possibly developing an official diversity and inclusion ambassador role within the Guild in the future, and establishing guidelines to provide to breweries who wish to promote diversity in their hiring practices,” Demmon writes. (Disclosure: Demmon is a VinePair contributor and a member of the San Diego Brewers Guild Inclusion Committee.) In the beer industry and any other, thinking and talking about necessary changes only gets us so far. Action leads to progress, and with a leading craft beer community like San Diego’s initiating that change, I’m hopeful we can start to see the reshaping of the beer community happening in real time, one inclusive initiative at a time. This is not only something San Diego has to do; as a committee and community, these individuals are setting an example for other beer industry groups, brands, spaces, and cities to follow. So, who’s next? The article Hop Take: We Paid More for Less Beer in 2019 appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/articles/beer-industry-report-2019/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/hop-take-we-paid-more-for-less-beer-in-2019 Wines made from grapes grown in southern Italy’s volcanic soils are having their moment, whether from Sicily’s Mount Etna, Campania’s Mount Vesuvius, or from the extinct Mount Vulture in Basilicata. These wines often benefit from two factors: grapes that are grown in cooler, higher elevations, and soils that are rich in volcanic minerals that can create greater complexity in the wines. One that stands out is the 2015 Aglianico del Vulture from Re Manfredi in Basilicata. Aglianico del Vulture is the region’s main appellation and, as the name suggests, the wine is from the red Aglianico grape grown at the foot of Mount Vulture. Aglianico is the most important red variety in this part of Italy and can produce wines that achieve power and depth and have significant aging potential. The Re Manfredi $34 Aglianico is on the slightly lighter side and is drinking beautifully right now. This is not a wine that shows off but is alluring and memorable in a more subtle and understated way. We enjoyed it with our own version of spaghetti Bolognese with a classic combination of tomatoes, several meats, and herbs. The wine’s ample acidity and its savory character framed its delicious fruit and provided a refreshing lift to the robust pasta. Spicy blueberry and plum notes were accented by herbs, earth, a touch of vanilla, and a slight bitterness — a sophisticated and memorable combination. The wine is a textbook example of why many Italian reds, with their refreshingly high acidity and moderate levels of alcohol (this one is 13.5 percent ABV), are made for dishes like this. Although it is widely grown in Basilicata, neighboring Campania, and other parts of southern Italy, Aglianico still is not as familiar as it should be to American wine lovers. In fact, it is right up there with Sangiovese and Nebbiolo as one of Italy’s greatest reds. Find This Wine Near YouThe article Re Manfredi Aglianico del Vulture 2015, Basilicata, Italy appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/good-wine-reviews/re-manfredi-aglianico-del-vulture-2015-basilicata-italy/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/re-manfredi-aglianico-del-vulture-2015-basilicata-italy Visitors to Disney World’s Port Orleans French Quarter resort can now indulge in a boozy breakfast beignet that serves a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. Well, maybe “healthy” is pushing it, but laissez les bon temps rouler! They may not be as traditional as the beignets at Café du Monde, but you can’t deny these treats look dazzling, with a crunchy coating of crushed Hot Tamales candies and a drizzle of cinnamon syrup. And then, of course, there’s the Fireball, the love-it-or-hate-it cinnamon spirit that ties the whole confection together. Each beignet comes with a pipette of Fireball that can either be soaked into the crispy fried dough, or drank on its own, straight or in a cocktail. As the Disney Food Blog notes, a pair of the sure-to-go-viral beignets costs $9.99, while a single non-alcoholic version, shaped like Mickey Mouse, goes for $2.99. The spicy treats are available at Scat Cat’s Club for a limited time only; which is just as well, as Fireball doesn’t necessarily improve with age. The article Disney World is Selling Fireball Whisky-Filled Beignets Just in Time for Mardi Gras appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/booze-news/disney-fireball-whisky-beignets/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/disney-world-is-selling-fireball-whisky-filled-beignets-just-in-time-for-mardi-gras This Sunday, football fans will witness feats of strength and endurance as the Kansas City Chiefs battle the San Francisco 49ers to become Super Bowl champions. On Monday, Truly Hard Seltzer will reward viewers for their own feat of endurance: showing up to work. Earlier this week, Truly announced on its Twitter feed that it will pay $10,000 to one lucky fan who decides to “rally” on through to Monday and show up to work. To qualify, fans need to have spent the night before watching football (and, hopefully, drinking hard seltzer), and document their evening and the morning after on Twitter, using the hashtag #TrulyandRally. Super Bowl Monday, also known as “Super Sick Monday” or just “Smunday,” is the number-one sick day of the year in the U.S., with over 17.5 million workers expected to miss work this year, according to a new poll conducted by the Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated. Truly’s contest aims to buck that trend. And while Truly isn’t officially tied to the NFL (that would be rival Bon & Viv), the contest is a clear offensive play by one of America’s leading hard seltzer brands. The article Truly Will Pay You $10K to Go to Work After the Super Bowl appeared first on VinePair. Via https://vinepair.com/booze-news/truly-super-bowl-contest/ Via https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/truly-will-pay-you-10k-to-go-to-work-after-the-super-bowl |
John BoothHi I am John Booth,36 years old from California,CA,USA,working in Whole Seller market,we supply different types of Beverages to the market.Here I am sharing some special tips about it. Archives
August 2021
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