Alcademics.com: sake

Here are some new booze launches of late:

Peligroso Cinnamon

The world’s first 84 proof cinnamon-flavored tequila is infused with 100% pure cinnamon and a blend of secret ingredients.

Peligroso Cinnamon launches March 2013, to key markets across the country including California and Nevada. The suggested retail price will be $29.99.

SakéMoto, imported by SakeOne

SakéMoto is brewed with rice from the Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan and created with mountain-sourced water from the Nada region. It is the result of over two years in development working with a Japanese brew master to craft the perfect Japanese style saké for the American marketplace. SakéMoto's brewer has 41 years of saké brewing experience and the brewery has been crafting saké since 1743.

SakéMoto is a Junmai saké – meaning, it is made purely from rice, water, yeast and koji (the natural mold that converts rice starches into sugars), and given that it is junmai grade, the rice is polished to 70%. SakéMoto is distributed nationally at a suggested retail price of $11. For more information, please visit sakeone.com.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

The limited edition release Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Small Batch will begin shipping in mid-March with a national average retail price of $39.99. It is a 12 year old, barrel proof bourbon without chill-filtering.

It will have a hand written proof/alcohol by volume information, which will vary from one dump to the next. The proof of the initial release will be 134.2, or 67.1% alcohol/volume.

Michter's Original Sour Mash Whiskey

During the 1970s and 1980s, Michter’s Original Sour Mash was the brand's best selling whiskey type. Despite its popularity it disappeared from the marketplace in 1989 when the distillery, which dated back to 1753, went bankrupt.

Since its rescue in the 1990s, Michter’s has focused on producing single-barrel rye, single-barrel bourbon, very small batch bourbon, and unblended American whiskey.

Twenty-three years passed before Michter’s resurrected its Original Sour Mash Whiskey. It will sell for a suggested retail of $44 for a 750ml bottle.

Jefferson’s Presidential Select 21 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey

This new product joins the Presidential Suite (Jefferson’s Bourbon, Jefferson’s Reserve, Jefferson’s Presidential Select and Jefferson’s Rye). Jefferson’s Presidential Select 21-Year-Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey is aged in new oak barrels for 21 to 24 years and bottled at 94 proof (47% ABV). It will be released nationally on April 1, 2013.

Jefferson’s Presidential Select 21-Year-Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey consists of 15 lots of bourbon aged from 21 to 24 years. Because of the evaporation that occurred over the aging period, Jefferson’s will have just 2,000 cases to release of this spirit.

Jefferson’s Presidential Select 21 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey is priced at $119.99 for a 750ml bottle and is available for purchase at fine spirits retailers across the country.

Mount Gay Black Barrel

This is a new marque was released in celebration of the brand’s 310th anniversary of Mount Gay with select availability nationwide beginning in April. Mount Gay Black Barrel boasts double pot distillation and maturing in bourbon oak barrels which are combined with the harmonious blending orchestrated by the Master Blender to create an outstanding rum.

All Mount Gay rums are made from a blend of single column and double copper pot distillates and matured in toasted oak barrels. Black Barrel has a higher proportion of double distillates and, after hand selection by Master Blender Allen Smith, Black Barrel is the only marque finished in charred bourbon oak barrels.

Black Barrel will retail for $29.99.

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

This bottling is 110 proof and non-chill filtered. Chill-filtration is a common process whereby the whiskey is chilled at temperatures below freezing and is passed through an absorption filter thus removing fatty acids and other flavor contributors such as esters and proteins. By avoiding the chill-filtration process, the whiskey is bottled with more flavor compounds and a deeper color which is denoted by an impressive haze when ice or chilled water is added.

Every expression of Russell’s Reserve – both the Bourbon and rye Whiskey - is matured in only the deepest number 4 or “alligator” charred American white oak. The aged whiskey barrels are hand selected only from the center cut of the rick house – since that's where the optimal maturation occurs.

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel (750ml) will be available nationwide at specialist liquor stores priced at $49.99.

EPIC Vodka

EPIC is made with hand-selected wheat harvested from the Champagne region in France and is distilled in the Cognac region.

EPIC vodka will be available in a classic unflavored vodka at 80 proof plus six different flavors in 70 proof each; Peach, Whipped Cream, Kiwi Strawberry, Cherry, Cake and Coconut. More flavors will be added at later dates. EPIC will start shipping to about 30 states in February and will be available nationwide as the year progresses. It is available in 1.75 ml, Liter, 750 ml and 50 ml. Suggested retail pricing for EPIC 750 ml is $12.99.

Knappogue Castle 14 Year Old Twin Wood Irish Whiskey

Following in the tradition of sherry cask-aged Knappogue Castle 1951, the oldest known Irish whiskey, this single malt derives its Twin Wood name from the fact that it combines whiskey aged in two types of wood: Oloroso Sherry casks and bourbon barrels. Single malt Irish whiskey spends a minimum of 14 years in bourbon barrels; it’s then combined with more Irish single malt aged in casks infused for Knappogue Castle with Oloroso Sherry.

The Andrews family began bottling single malt Irish whiskey when most other producers were still making blends. Knappogue Castle is named after the 15th century castle in western Irelandbought by Mark Edwin Andrews II, who restored the castle in the 1960s. He amassed an impressive and rare collection of pure pot still whiskey; when the whiskey reached its peak age, it was bottled and named after his beloved Knappogue. The last of Mr. Andrews’s whiskey, Knappogue Castle 1951, is the oldest and rarest Irish whiskey in the world, and it is still available for purchase by special order. Many years later, Mark Andrews III continues his father’s legacy by with a line of premium vintage Knappogue Castle Irish whiskies and Castle Brands.

Knappogue Castle Twin Wood 14 Year was bottled in October of 2012. It is non-chill filtered and bottled at 92 proof, distinguishing it from the 80 proof 12 Year Old and 16 Year Old Knappogue Castle whiskies. The suggested retail price is $59.99.

Glenmorangie Ealanta

Glenmorangie Ealanta is the latest addition to its Private Edition range. Scots Gaelic for "skilled and ingenious," Ealanta is a 19 Years Old Glenmorangie, matured exclusively in virgin American white oak casks from the Mark Twain National Forest in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.The casks selected from oaks of the Mark Twain National Forest were absolutely top quality and were unusual in that they had not previously held any liquor, such as bourbon.

Glenmorangie Ealanta is bottled at a strength of 46% and is non chill-filtered for extra texture and mouth feel. It will be available in limited quantities as only 1,500 9l cases have been made available for the US market.

Glenmorangie Ealanta is the 2013 addition to the ongoing Private Edition range, comprising so far of the Sonnalta PX, Finealta and Artein.

Phraya Rum

Phraya is a rum distilled, matured, blended and bottled in the Kingdom of Thailand. Phraya is aged in oak barrels using a maturation technique developed to suit the tropical climate of south-east Asia. The warehouses are sited over cool lagoons which is fundamental the deep maturation process. The tropical climate cycle effectively slows down the ageing process and thus imparts a depth to the rum- Upon its coming of age between seven and twelve years old, barrels are selected for blending. The oak barrels are ‘fired’ to invigorate the wood within the cask. Phraya is distilled using the waters of the Ta Chin River. Phraya is sourced from an abundance of specially-grown sugar cane, nourished by the soil of Nakhon Pathom.

Phraya will have initial distribution in CA, IL, WA and NY and will be in stores in February for a suggested retail price of $39.99 - $49.99.

Westward Oregon Straight Malt Whiskey

House Spirits Distillery, the Portland-based craft distillery known for Aviation American Gin, has announced the launch of Westward Oregon Straight Malt Whiskey.

Westward is an original malt whiskey that is inspired by the Irish tradition, but crafted in a distinctively American style. Every numbered bottle begins with a wash of 100 percent locally-sourced Northwest two-row barley, which is then fermented with Scottish and American ale yeasts and double pot distilled. This spirit matures in full-size, two-char new American oak barrels for at least two years, allowing Oregon’s dry, hot summers and wet, cold winters to contribute to its flavor.

Available immediately in California and Oregon, Westward whiskey will be available in New York and DC in April, and it will roll out to other markets over the next few months. The anticipated retail price for a 375ml bottle is $49.99.

Pike Creek Whisky

Pernod Ricard USA announces the addition of Pike Creek Whisky to its portfolio of global whisky brands. Pike Creek is a small batch whisky, aged in American oak Bourbon barrels and finished in vintage Port barrels. Matured in warehouses in Pike Creek, Ontario, Canada. Making its debut in April 2013, Pike Creek will initially be launched at retail in WA, OR, ID, CO, TX, LA, GA, NC, NY and NH.

Pike Creek (40% abv/80 proof) will be available in 750ml for a SRP of $31.99.

Gin and Tonic cupcakes.

An LA bar goes with big ice.

This AP story on sake does a great job of explaining the surge in sake sales over the past decade. Here's the meat:

"Distribution of sake was limited to Japanese trading companies. They sell you the food, the plates, the sake. It's one-stop shopping for sushi restaurants. In that environment, sake wasn't getting its due. And the majority of the sake exported was table sake, which isn't very good."

But about 10 years ago, two things changed that.

In the U.S., Asian food trends boomed. Asian and Asian-fusion restaurants flourished, non-Asian restaurants served dishes with ingredients such as miso, wasabi and edamame, and grocers offered more ethnic fare.

At the same time, the Japanese began turning their noses up at sake. In Japan, young drinkers view sake as old fashioned, favoring beer and wine instead. As a result, sake consumption has fallen sharply since 1995.

To survive, premium sake (pronounced SAH-kay) brewers in Japan turned to Americans and began working with importers, who introduced sake to the fine wine market.

Cheryl Charming lists all the drinks mentioned by name in the horrid movie Cocktail.

Combing through my old links, I found this one I don't think I linked to before: Toby Cecchini wrote one of the best and most practical stories about shrubs (VINEGARWATCH CONTINUES) and includes a recipe.