Alcademics.com

Stuff It

Hey professional bartenders (and chefs)- here's a contest I haven't heard getting much publicity. (But then again, I haven't been reading much lately.)

Chopin vodka is having an olive stuffing contest (as in, create a stuffing, not a speed of pimento insertion contest) with a big fat prize of nothing but publicity for you and your bar. Still, I've had plenty of tasty olives in my cocktails with interesting stuffing and brine, so you may as well get some recognition for your effort. Winners get into Chopin's CEO Recipe Book, Wine Spectator Magazine, and Food Arts.

Labels: contests

Boozin' Confusion

Sometimes finding the right person to contact to ask questions about a booze brand is harder than it seems. You see who owns it and ask then call them up, right?

Of course not. There is a weird distribution system in this country (and, it seems, in others) that I still don't understand. Sometimes the correct contact is from the distributor. Sometimes it's the owner. Often it's a PR firm working for one or the other.

Recently I tried to find the brand history of Cynar, which is owned by Grupo Campari (Campari, Skyy vodka), but distributed by importing company Premium Imports, which is owned by Heaven Hill (Elijah Craig, Evan Williams). So that took a while.

This week I wanted to fact check a sentence about Amer Picon, which is owned by Diageo. Because PR people move around so much, I have no reliable contacts at Diageo anymore, (note to Diageo: check your email), which makes them really hard to contact in the first place. So I called a contact from their wine division, who was very nice and talked to a spirits person for me, who told him they didn't own the brand. (Note to person: check your website.)

Not true, of course, but this took some extra unraveling and contacts and people. They do own it but it's not distributed in the U.S., and where it is distributed (France, Belgium), it's distributed by Moet Hennessey. So then I could use my contacts at MH to call their contacts in Europe to find that my fact was basically correct.

That was a lot of work to verify a piece of information that's readily available on Wikipedia.

I've found in both cases, the people who own the brand know little about the brand and the distributors, who may be competitive companies to the brand but are selling it, know all about it.
When I get this all figured out (estimation: another year) I'll let you know.

Labels: writing_life

Around the world in 80 press trips

It may sound like I'm complaining about this schedule and the resulting jet-lag, but really I'm just bragging and explaining my lack of posts.

October 8-14 Paris and Warsaw (vodka)
October 18-21 Barbados (rum)
October 22-23 San Francisco (WhiskyFest and related events)
October 24-27 Mexico (tequila)
November 7ish New York (scotch)
November 11-17 Mexico (tequila again)
November 18-December 31 (sleeping)

Labels: travel

Where's the after-hours at?

I just got word that Swig and Bourbon & Branch will be holding discounted after-parties for WhiskyFest San Francisco Oct 23. You know, just in case you haven't had enough with the 200+ at the tasting.

Bourbon & Branch After Party

501 Jones St.

San Francisco,

415-673-1921

20% discount on all whiskies in our 150 bottle (mostly Bourbon) list. Just show your WhiskyFest ticket stub to receive the discount. The event would be held in the Library room and a secret password is required for entry at the front door. To get the password, send an email to RSVP to dahi (put at sign here) bourbonandbranch.com. Admittance will be limited. Try their new Buffalo Trace cask; they will also be making new whisky cocktails such as the Revolver (Bulleit, Tia Maria, Orange Bitters), Black Manhattan (Buffalo Trace, Averna, Cherry Coffee bitters), as well as classics such as Blood & Sand, Manhattan and Old Fashioned.

Swig After Party

561 Geary St. (between Taylor and Jones)

San Francisco

415- 931-7292

20% discount on 175 (mostly Scotch) whisky list.

Labels: events, SanFrancisco, whisky

Back from Poland

I'm back from Poland and jet lagged as all get-out. I was there and in Paris on a press trip for Chopin vodka. While I'll save many of the details for a later exposition on the trip and for stories I need to write, I'll hit the highlights of the distillery tour.

We were there during the potato harvest, which happens just once each year. Unlike grain distilleries and other potato vodkas like Blue Ice from Idaho, Chopin distills all their potatoes into vodka (and other alcohol products) over a two-month period at harvest time, kicked off with a VIP party at the distillery. I'm not sure yet why they need to process everything all at once whereas other distilleries can spread this throughout the year (the pesticide-free potatoes spoil fast, they say, but do American potatoes last that much longer? Is it the type of potatoes or the pesticides?) (update: see answer in comments). They process 10 million pounds of potatoes during this period, running the distillery 24 hours a day.

It's rare on visits like this to see actual product coming into the distillery, so I was thrilled to see the potatoes move from the yard, into the distillery, and down the wash chute into the boiler. We had little time to see everything, so I was running behind Tad Dorda, president of Chopin, asking three questions for every sentence he spit out. I am a drink nerd, after all.

The potatoes are a special variety unlike what we get at the grocery store, of high starch content that turns to liquid mush quickly. They're then cooled and fermented for three days before hitting the still to turn them from potato beer into potato vodka. Of the four column still, the first one is made of copper and the other three of steel. As is usually the case, the first column separates out the solids, which are then sold as animal feed afterwards. (I think, but am not sure, that it's unusual for them to be placed into the top of the column and making their way to the bottom of it, rather than bottom-up.)

They're particularly proud of the first-distillation vodka produced, and we were supposed to do a taste test of others one-time distilled but didn't have time. That was a bummer. They store some of this distillate for future scientific study at the nearby potato institute to see how the makeup of each year's potato crops effects the outcome of the vodka.

Then it's shipped to the bottling facility where it's diluted with demineralized well water and we get to drink it. Na Zdrowie!

Labels: travel, vodka

Islay and Oysters at Absinthe

I don't even eat seafood but this sounds like a great pairing. Islay single malts can take on much of the character of the sea due to the wind-swept island locations: salt, seaweed/iodine, and the smokiness I bet will work just great with how (I think I remember) oysters taste.

Thursday, October 11 6:00 pm, $50 per person

Join us in our Private Dining Room as we sample up 20 different Islay drams.

In addition, we'll consume countless oysters, celebrating an age-old Islay pairing. This event is our warm up for Malt Advocate's first annual Whisk(e)y Fest in San Francisco on October 23, at the Hyatt Regencey Hotel. To purchase tickets for Absinthe's 'Little Feis Ile', go here.

Labels: events, SanFrancisco

American Gin

Rick Lyke has a short tasting of four American gins from Philadelphia, Oregon, Michigan, and Colorado. I forget how many boutique gins there are in the US these days- lots of them. Off the top of my head I can also think of Spruce, Aviation, 209, Junipero, Sarticious, and I'm sure there are many others. Sounds like a fun idea for a tasting party...

Labels: gin

One night in NYC

I'm going to be in New York for one evening. What bars do you think I should visit?

Pegu? Little Branch? PDT?

Labels: NewYork, travel