A Tale of Two Liqueurs
March 02, 2009
While it's generally known in the industry that John Cooper of Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur and his brother Robert Cooper of St-Germain elderflower liqueur don't get along, Eric Felten of the Wall Street Journal shares this with the world. Hot Gossip!
Felten's article not only tells the story of the siblings but some of the production notes about the products that I didn't know, as each product is coated in a seemingly impenetrable layer of marketing.
On a side note, have you noticed that St-Germain is the most commonly misspelled word on cocktail menus? I see "St. Germaine" far too often.
That is too wild. I was totally ignorant of this when I wrote a post about how these two liqueurs were so entwined.
I guess the graphic I made up was spot on, instead of slightly mis-leading, as I thought it was at the time!
Posted by: Doug Winship | March 02, 2009 at 09:18 AM
Hah- you're right, perfect graphic. I'm a month behind on reading blogs or I would have asked to steal it. Maybe you can post it in the comments?
Posted by: Camper English | March 02, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Ohhhh, really good gossip!!
Glad you're back in town Camper, and thanks for the hilarious post on my blog. Drinks soon? We had a list of places to check out, right? Pick a date this week or next and let's get to it!! :)
Posted by: Jamie | March 02, 2009 at 10:57 AM
I knew that the brothers didn't run the brands jointly but i never knew the level of animosity between them. That being said, both of the products are some of my favorites to turn to behind the bar.
Posted by: napplegate | March 02, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Too bad no mention of this development which Jamie Boudreau tantalized us with a couple of months ago:
http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/its-coming/
I wonder how that's going...?
Posted by: Mr Manhattan | March 02, 2009 at 03:57 PM
I love sibling rivalry in the wine/spirits industries. I once did a whole piece on how the personalities of Italian vintners (gregarious, cantankerous) comes through in their wines, and included a sibling rivalry where the brothers hadn’t spoken to each other in, like, 50 years, despite having adjacent plots of land.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Robert Haynes-Peterson | March 03, 2009 at 07:43 AM
Yeah, saw that article through an Industry News Update that a friend in Boston sent over. The framed picture in the photo is my favorite part...
Posted by: D.Ronen | March 06, 2009 at 04:04 PM