Alcademics.com

Eggsactly the Right Glasses for Easter Shots

Well, maybe not eggsactly. As you can see these have holes. I taped the bottoms but the one on the right still leaked.

These are fancy new high-tech "hinged" eggs. The old boring ones without holes would be better at holding liquids.

Here is that Drink I was Talking About

You know how I was blogging about that great new drink that's unavailable because there wasn't enough Hangar One chipotle vodka to put it on the menu?

Well, they heard the outcry, they delivered more chipotle, and now the Escondido Romano is on the menu at Nopa for all to enjoy as of yesterday. Hooray! Now go order 70 of them so I don't look like a jerk.

Alcademics: Bringing positive change to drink menus since 2009.

Easter Drinks For My Peeps

I made these marshmallow peep straws by poking a skewer through the peep, then sliding a straw down the skewer. Fun.

Winners of the SF World Spirits Comp

The winners of the SF World Spirits Competition were announced. Big surprises all around!

Best in Show-White- Linie Aquavit, Norway

Best in Show-Brown- Parker’s Heritage Collection Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Kentucky

Best in Show-Brandy- Père Magloire Calvados XO, Normandy, France

Best in Show-Liqueur Coole Swan Cream Liqueur, Ireland

More winners:
Best Vodka, Double Gold Medal, Dry Fly Vodka, Washington, USA
Best Flavored Vodka, Double Gold Medal, Binboa Satsuma Vodka, Turkey
Best in Show - White, Double Gold Medal, Linie Aquavit, Norway
Best Gin, Double Gold Medal, Bluecoat Gin, Pennsylvania, USA
Best Rum, Double Gold Medal, Angostura Rum, 1824, Tobago, Trinidad
Best Cachaça, Double Gold Medal, Weber Haus Silver Cachaça, Brazil
Best Tequila, Double Gold Medal, El Tesoro Platinum Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
Best Reposado Tequila, Double Gold Medal, Blue Head Tequila Reposado Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
Best Añejo Tequila, Double Gold Medal, Sol de Mexico Añejo Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
Best Extra-Añejo Tequila, Double Gold Medal, Casa Noble Añejo Tequila, Single Barrel, Jalisco, Mexico
Best Mescal, Double Gold Medal, Los Osuna Reposado Mescal, Mexico
Best in Show - Brown, Double Gold Medal, Parker's Heritage Collection Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Best Rye, Double Gold Medal, Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve Rye, Kentucky, USA
Best Irish Whiskey, Double Gold Medal, Bushmills 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey, Ireland
Best Blended Scotch, Double Gold Medal, Buchanan's Special Reserve 18 Year Old Scotch, Scotland
Best Cognac (tie), Double Gold Medal, Hardy Cognac Noces D'Or, D'Albatre, Rosebud, Cognac, France
Best Cognac (tie), Double Gold Medal, Courvoisier Cognac, Exclusif, Jarnac, France
Best Armagnac, Double Gold Medal, Marquis de Montesquiou Cuvée Louis I Vintage Armagnac, Eauze, France
Best in Show - Brandy, Double Gold Medal, Père Magloire Calvados XO, Normandy, France
Best Pisco, Double Gold Medal, Estirpe Pervana Pisco, Gran Amauta de Acholado, Ica, Peru
Best Fruit Liqueur, Double Gold Medal, Leopold Bros. New England Cranberry Liqueur, USA

All the results are here.

Easter Ice

You know how I made those cool ice balls before? Well, they really come out looking more like eggs, which inspired me to make some ice eggs for Easter cocktails. Again I just used water balloons filled at the sink.

Note: I experimented with water to see if the powder inside the balloons was changing the taste of the drinks. It does a little, but this can be softened. Since I have to fill these from the tap, the influence of tap (versus filtered) water is present. But I noticed a big improvement when I rinsed these balloons after freezing to remove a slight plasticy taste. So: rinse before filling, then rinse the outside of the ice after freezing.

Then I got to thinking: clear eggs are boring. This is Easter, after all, and the only thing good about Easter is decorating Easter eggs. (Revision: the brunch drinks are another good thing.)

So after filling my balloons with water but before tying them, I added a drop of food coloring to the balloon stem then tied them up. The results are awesome!

 

Depression Drinking

About a month ago I wrote a story for The Drinks Business, a UK beverage industry magazine, about vodka sales in the US. Some conclusions of that story were:

• Vodka sales are still up according to numbers released in January, but not up as much as in previous years that have seen big annual increases.
• Sales of the Super Premium (the most expensive) vodkas fell a bit in 2008, but sales of Premium brands like Smirnoff and Svedka increased. It appears people are trading down or discovering new vodkas in the premium category they like. (The categories are Value, Premium, High-end Premium, and Super Premium.)
• On-trade sales fell and off-trade increased, showing that people are drinking less at bars and more at home.

In the process of writing the story I spoke with Jacob Briars of 42Below vodka. His quotes were great and I didn't get a chance to use them all in my story, so I thought I'd add them here.

Have you seen consumers drinking vodka/your brand differently? How do most people consume it now? Any new drink trends?

The Caipiroska is becoming huge for us, around NZ, Australia and now in the US, building on moves towards 'fresher' cocktail trends and use of better ingredients in cocktails, as consumers look for alternative sweeteners and products like Sour Mix start to fall out of favour with drinkers. At last...

In an age of economic uncertainty 'communal drinking' is becoming more popular - drinks served in multiple serves such as teapots, punch bowls, or even 'bottles for two' - prebatched cocktails that can be sent out to a table as a cheaper, more interesting alternative to the purchase of a
straight bottle of spirits. Likewise we field lots of requests globally for proper punches using 42BELOW, this trend is growing in bars and across homes.

Finally we are starting to see a bit of a retro movement where cocktails go back to a simpler, gentler time. For gin this means the Martini and the Southside - back to the 20s. For vodka, this means back to the 50s and early 60s, so we are starting to see the return of comfort vodka cocktails- the Bloody Mary as an entertaining ritual, the Black and White Russians
(made properly) the Moscow Mule and even the beatnik special, vodka on the rocks. Could we even see the return of the Harvey Wallbanger now that Galliano is re-releasing the 'original' formula?

Finally drinks served with a bit of humour lighten a dark mood - all over the world late last year I encountered 42BELOW cocktails served in brown paper bags, in jars, in (clean) paint cans etc. Also our biggest cocktail success anywhere in a single bar in January was the 'Ale of Two Cities' at
Callooh Callay in Shoreditch, London - 42BELOW Feijoa with apple juice, lime and Punt e Mes shake very very hard and served in foaming beer tankards with chips (fries) on the side. It has been a smash hit, guests love a cocktail, and a bar, that can have a laugh with them.

Hello, Wall Street!

Hey, did y'all see Alcademics quoted in the Wall Street Journal this weekend? Wahoo!

Why Do Mocktails Fall Flat?
By Eric Felten

Last year the Dry Soda brand of very lightly sweetened fizzy drinks came out with a new flavor, "juniper berry," which it advertised as "the perfect 'non-alcoholic gin and tonic.'" Juniper, of course, is the distinctive, piney flavoring that distinguishes gin. And so might a juniper soda appeal to gin lovers? The definitive response came from drinks blogger Camper English: "The problem with non-alcoholic drinks is their complete lack of alcohol," he wrote at his site, Alcademics.com. "To me, this product sounds like it will pair magnificently with leftover vodka to make a gin-free G&T." In other words, what's the point?

Read it here.

New Beer and Tickets to Drink It

I'm giving away two pairs of tickets to the VIP Tasting event with the winners of Samuel Adams Longshot homebrewers. The event is April 16th at 6PM at Tiernan's on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

To be eligible to win, sign up for Alcademics A-Plus then send me an email that says "beer me" or something to that effect. You must be on the A-Plus list to win, and be 21 or over, of course. I'll give out the tickets Monday April 13th. (The event is not open to the public, unfortunately.)

The Longshot six-pack is made up of beers developed by homebrewers. They submit their entries- and there were over 1300 this year- to be tasted, and the best are included in the winning six-pack. More info from the press release:

Samuel Adams is proud to announce that California-resident Alex Drobshoff’s Traditional Bock bested more than 1,300 consumer entries to be chosen as the winning consumer brew in the 2008 contest.   Alex’s beer will be joined in the LongShot six-pack by California-resident Mike McDole’s Double IPA and Samuel Adams Employee Carissa Sweigart’s Cranberry Wit.  Mike’s Double IPA won acclaim from the judges in 2007, but due to the worldwide hops shortage and a desire to preserve the integrity of the beer's recipe, calling for seven hop varieties, Mike elected to delay the brewing of his beer for the 2009 LongShot package. All three winning homebrewers will have the opportunity to brew alongside the Samuel Adams brewers in Boston. Their bragging rights will also include having their recipes bottled and available nationally in the 2009 Samuel Adams LongShot Variety Package, hitting shelves in April.

The 2009 Samuel Adams LongShot variety six-pack will be available nationwide in select retail stores beginning April 2009 for a suggested retail price of $9.99.  The variety pack will include two bottles each of Alex Drobshoff's Traditional Bock, Mike McDole's Double IPA and Carissa Sweigart’s Cranberry Wit.