Love it or love to hate it, everyone knows Caymus. The iconic Napa Valley winery, founded by the Wagner family in 1972, recently celebrated its commendable 50 years of operation. Despite its contentious reputation among sommeliers and wine nerds, the continued success of the family-owned brand is irrefutably impressive. From its signature Cabernet Sauvignon to its esteemed Special Selection bottling and even its second label Bonanza (affectionately referred to as “baby Caymus”), the brand and its wines are wildly popular across the U.S.

To commemorate its half-century of winemaking, the Wagner family added another bottle to the Caymus portfolio: the 50th Anniversary Caymus Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2022 vintage. It’s unclear if there’s anything concrete that differentiates this wine from a typical bottle of Caymus Cab, aside from the family photo and sentimenal message from Caymus owner and winemaker Chuck Wagner printed on its label. To see how it stacks up against the rest of the line, we tasted the special release. Here’s what we thought.

Caymus is known for its bold wines, and as expected, this liquid appears dark in the glass. The nose is jammy with dark plum and blackberry notes coated in a layer of vanilla. Together, the aromas are reminiscent of stewed plums, or a somewhat nostalgic throwback to puréed, fruit-based baby food.

The palate is plush and fruit-forward (and yes, maybe a little saccharine) with more dark fruit notes accented by a touch of oak. The website states that the tasting notes show “evidence of French oak,” but doesn’t divulge whether or not the wine is actually aged in French oak. Even though the hefty fruit flavors and 14.6-percent ABV suggest the wine would be powerful on the palate, it lands surprisingly soft. Grippy tannins crowd the tongue on first contact, but quickly dissipate.

One thing’s for sure: this wine stays true to the brand’s signature style, which has kept the winery going for 50 years.

The article Caymus Just Released a 50-Year Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon, and We Tried It appeared first on VinePair.

Pumpkin creep is starting to feel more like a sprint. On Wednesday, coffee giant Starbucks announced that it would bring back its fall menu items (including its coveted Pumpkin Spice Latte, a.k.a. the PSL) on August 22 — the earliest the company has ever done so. In addition to introducing a few new autumnal offerings, Starbucks has teamed up with drinkware company Stanley to launch a limited-edition coffee cup.

According to Starbucks, the fall 2024 menu will feature fan-favorites like the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, and Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato. Menu newcomers include an Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai as well as two Starbucks app-exclusives: the Iced Caramel Apple Cream Latte and the Iced Honey Apple Almondmilk Flat White. The seasonal food menu will feature the returning Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, Baked Apple Croissant, and Pumpkin & Pepita Loaf in addition to a new Raccoon Cake Pop.

The same day the new menus drop, Starbucks will begin offering a line of fall merch in stores, including an olive-green mug in collaboration with Stanley. The line includes eight different reusable water bottles, mugs, tumblers, and cold cups in a range of autumnal colors. Prices range from $20 to $55.

This announcement comes after the coffee chain’s stock price plummeted by over 15 percent in May. Since the beginning of 2024, the company has cut its sales outlook for the year twice, citing long wait times in the morning coffee rush as a major deterrent for would-be customers. The coffee giant is likely banking on its fall lineup to help rebound from slowing sales, as in the past, ten percent of the company’s annual sales have been attributed to PSLs. According to a press release, Starbucks also recently appointed former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as its chairman and CEO. Niccol is expected to begin his new role in early September.

The article Starbucks to Drop Pumpkin Spice Latte Earlier Than Ever with Stanley Collab appeared first on VinePair.

“I have quite literally gotten more calls this year asking about it than Blanton’s.”

What could be this whiskey unicorn that’s causing retailers’ iPhones to vibrate non-stop? The latest tater-ific Weller variant, perhaps? The new Russell’s Reserve 15 Year Old? Some single barrel picks from cult bottler Rare Character?

“The answer to your question isn’t going to be one you’re looking for,” a liquor store worker recently wrote on Reddit, responding to a user’s request for the “most trending” whiskey of 2024. “But the most trendy or hyped bottle this year has been Crown Royal Blackberry.”

Intentional and Typical

Though Crown Royal Blackberry was announced and released on March 13 of this year, Scott Pascoe says he had customers coming into his South Carolina liquor store looking for it a good two months before then.

“Totally intentional and typical of Diageo, honestly,” he says, referring to the conglomerate that owns the brand and that he believes is able to astroturf hype for certain products by sending bottles to, and sometimes even paying, influencers to post about them on social media before they’re available in stores.

Indeed, if you search TikTok you can find countless, mostly positive reviews of Crown Royal Blackberry posted well before that official release date. Some of these videos are simple tastings, while others include more advanced cocktails created with the product. And then there is general zaniness, like user izzydrinks’ February review in which he mixes the flavored Canadian whisky with Sprite and then stirs it with the foot of a chair. The latter video garnered some 1.1 million views.

Another TikToker went so far as to post 15 different videos featuring Crown Royal Blackberry paired with such offbeat partners as Squirt, Hypnotiq, and Skrewball, leading up to the release day.

“Crown Royal Blackberry is the drink of the SUMMER 🥃☀,” wrote one enthusiastic creator in February, netting 2.4 million views.

In its initial March 13 press release, Diageo even mentioned all this TikTok love, noting, in classic corporate speak, that Crown Royal Blackberry “has already taken social media by storm with consumers +21 sharing their love for the new flavor and exploring their own cocktail innovations.”

(To be clear, it’s not uncommon or even unethical for brands to send new product samples out to both writers and influencers before an official release.)

“Neat, it tastes heavily artificial and even medicinal like cough syrup. Mixed it’s great — I mean it’s low proof and sweet; you can’t really go wrong.”

Whatever the case, and however you want to look at it, just as Diageo had done with Crown Royal Peach — the whiskey unicorn of the year in 2021, of which I was the first to cover — this online tactic has likewise worked extremely well with Crown Royal Blackberry.

“I certainly am getting more calls about Crown Blackberry than other allocations now,” says A.J. (last name withheld for professional reasons), who works at a liquor store in a large college town in Missouri. He notes that it was allocated from the get-go, with his particular store only getting five cases upon release. “I think Diageo is certainly part of the hype,” he adds.

Today, some five months after it was released, Pascoe says he still gets at least five calls a day for Crown Royal Blackberry and it still sells out the second it’s put on shelves. He mostly sees older zoomers and younger millennials buying it, though not of the typical whiskey tater type, he’s quick to note.

For Pascoe’s part, he doesn’t think the liquid lives up to the hype. “If you were ever given Dimetapp as a kid for allergies, you have tasted this foul stuff,” he says.

Low Proof and Sweet — Can’t Go Wrong

Indeed, Crown Royal Blackberry isn’t exciting snobby whiskey fans, nor appearing on online secondary markets where Pappy and bottles from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection are wheeled and dealed (though it is sold illegally on Craigslist). Neither is it making appearances on the menus at elite cocktail bars across our fair nation.

Nevertheless, it has its diehard fans, as did Crown Royal Peach. “Are you drinking it straight?,” wrote one fan on Reddit, in response to a hater. “If so that’s your problem. It slaps as a mixer hence the popularity.”

“I think all the flavors trend, they’re just seasonal.”

Even whiskey connoisseurs like A.J. see its certain charms. “Neat, it tastes heavily artificial and even medicinal like cough syrup. Mixed it’s great — I mean it’s low proof and sweet; you can’t really go wrong,” he says. “Almost everyone I have sold it to raves about it mixed with lemonade, as per the recipe on the box, which recommends 6 ounces of lemonade to 1 and a half ounces of whiskey.”

Not coincidentally, that’s the same way most of the TikToker influencers chose to drink in their pre-release videos. (Mixed with Sprite is probably the second most common usage on the platform.)

Meanwhile, people clamor for it on forums, message boards, and Reddit. Stores boast about their supply. Residents living in control states like North Carolina and Ohio offer tips for what stores have bottles in stock. It even makes appearances on NSFW corners of the internet.

What else can be said? It’s yet another flavored whiskey hit from Crown Royal and Diageo. Should we be surprised any more?

All the Rage, All the Hype

As I wrote back in 2021, the fervor around Crown Royal Peach “made me explicitly aware that people who write about whiskey and read about whiskey and collect whiskey … are in a serious snob bubble and sometimes not aware what regular people are really drinking these days.”

“We found there was a huge, untapped market for people who aren’t what I like to call ‘flavor snobs,’” Nicky Heckles, former vice president of Crown Royal, told me at the time. (I was unable to speak to her or any one at Diageo for this story.)

A similar, but slightly less viral, example is Buchanan’s Pineapple, another flavored whiskey, this time of the Scotch variety, but also owned by Diageo. Though it goes through spurts of solid sales, it doesn’t touch Crown Royal Blackberry at the moment, according to retailers I spoke to. Still, the mere fact Diageo can turn something as unlikely as a Latin-inspired, pineapple-flavored blended Scotch into a hit speaks to how good the global conglomerate is at crafting flavors, or hype. Or perhaps both.

“I think all the flavors trend, they’re just seasonal,” says A.J., who notes that while Crown Royal Blackberry is ideal for summer, Crown Royal Vanilla and Crown Royal Salted Caramel always pick up in sales once winter comes.

But true unicorns don’t live on seasonal sales alone, and as Pascoe tells me, unlike, say, Pappy Van Winkle or Weller or Blanton’s, Crown Royal Blackberry will lose its hype fairly soon, whether summer ends or not.

“When I first came to work for [the liquor store] a couple of years ago, [Crown Royal] Peach was still all the rage,” he explains. “We would get a case and it was a ‘one bottle per customer’ type of thing. Then one Saturday I get to work, and we had 20 cases of Peach. Ever since then, it barely sells.”

The article How Crown Royal Blackberry Became the Hottest Whiskey of 2024 appeared first on VinePair.

In the current era of craft beer, it’s safe to say that drinkers can expect the unexpected. Shop shelves are lined with cans that boast wild graphics, clever names, and strange ingredients. It takes a lot to stand out in the sea of brightly colored 6-packs and hyped-up collab brews, but there’s one add-in that still has some shock value: Anchovy hops.

To uncover the story behind this somewhat unsettling ingredient, VinePair tapped Matt Storm, co-founder of Fast Fashion Brewing, the Washington brewery that originally gave the hop its provocative name.

The origins of this controversial ingredient can be traced back to lower Yakima Valley’s Segal Ranch, a third-generation family farm that produces popular hop varieties, as well as some more experimental plantings. In September 2020, one of Segal’s more out-there strains, then dubbed 24B-05, grabbed the attention of two up-and-coming brewers visiting the farm: Fast Fashion Brewing’s owners Storm and Brian Strumke. The pair examined and sampled six or seven hop examples to potentially brew with, and landed on the experimental 24B-05 due to its intriguing aromas. The farm offered a program where brewers could pay up front to grow the hops to later use them, and with Fast Fashion Brewing’s investment, the variety was scaled up from one row of hop vines to a full acre.

Though some brewers stick with the numerical name of experimental hops once they’ve purchased them, when Storm and Strumke finally got their hands on the first harvest of 24B-05, they wanted to put their own stamp on it.

“The first beer we made with it was called Hot Pizza,” Storm says. “Brian thought to call the new hop ‘Anchovy’ since it would be like hot pizza with anchovies — the most ridiculous topping.”

So, to answer the burning question in everyone’s brains: No, the hop and the beer don’t taste like anchovies. Instead, they have an appealing, fruit-forward profile.

“It’s like a big punch of watermelon Jolly Rancher,” Storm says. “It has some of those classic Pacific Northwest flavors like citrus and pine, too, almost like cascade or centennial. But the thing that really jumps out is the watermelon.”

In fact, the pair originally planned to change out the hops as different “toppings” for the brew each year, but the Anchovy brew turned out so well, it became a staple in their frequently-rotating portfolio of beers. They even shared the hops with a few like-minded brewers to make their own limited-edition Anchovy brews, stirring up even more excitement for the new variety.

While the beer was a success, according to a report from DC Beer, Segal Ranch owner John Segal wasn’t too pleased with the naming decision. “Why don’t you just call the hop Sh*t?” Segal told DC Beer. “Because, as far as I’m concerned, there’s sh*t and then the next smelliest thing is an anchovy.”

The Fast Fashion Brewery owners admit the name does cause some occasional hesitation among guests, but overall, it’s just increased interest in the beer. “It’s so brash that people want to ask questions about it,” Storm says. “You have more people ask about hops than ever. In that regard, it’s a success.”

Despite the strange name, the nation’s new batch of Anchovy beers were so compelling that more U.S. breweries and international producers now seek out the hop. Some are even leaning into its fishy title with anchovy-themed beer labels. As a result, Segal Ranch has significantly increased its plantings of Anchovy to try to meet the growing demand.

Those interested in tasting the hop for themselves should venture to Fast Fashion Brewing’s annual Anchovy Hop Festival. The event celebrates beers that boast the unconventional hop with brews from across the country and, of course, some hot pizza with anchovies.

The article Do Anchovy Hops Actually Taste Like Anchovies? appeared first on VinePair.

In some ways, Rioja is the Bordeaux of Spain. It’s the country’s most celebrated wine region, known primarily for the red Tempranillo grape, which, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in Bordeaux, produces elegant, medium-bodied wines that lend themselves to lengthy barrel aging.

In fact, there’s a strong connection between Bordeaux and Rioja. The idea of barrel aging, as practiced in Bordeaux, was introduced to Rioja in the late 1700s but really took off in the mid- to late 1800s and is standard today.

Beyond that, when phylloxera swept through Bordeaux in the mid-1800s, the Bordelais turned to Rioja as a source of wine and brought their winemaking practices with them. Others had learned from Bordeaux winemakers, among them Don Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, who founded the Marqués de Riscal winery in 1860; and Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a Chilean by birth who would become the founder of R. López de Heredia in 1877.

López de Heredia, in Haro in the Rioja Alta subregion, is arguably the most famous domaine in Rioja. It’s known for its traditional winemaking and long aging of its wines — well beyond the time required for the various levels of Rioja, not only for the reds, but the whites and the rosés as well.

You’ll find the classification of the wines on their labels: All will list the “cosecha,” or vintage date. Beyond that, the wines are categorized simply as “Rioja,” with no aging requirements, or as “Crianza,” “Reserva,” or “Gran Reserva,” which denote the minimum aging required in barrel and bottle, with Gran Reservas aged the most.

Rioja, which lies in north-central Spain, is divided into three regions: the higher-elevation, cooler-climate Rioja Alta in the west, where many of the most storied wineries are found; the more moderate Rioja Alavesa in the center, and Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja) in the southeast, the warmest area of the three.

The Ebro River and its tributaries course through Rioja and form the valleys of the region, whose soils include limestone, calcareous, and iron-rich clays as well as alluvial soils, resulting in bright acidity and good structure in many of the wines.

In terms of grape varieties, Tempranillo accounts for more than three-quarters of the vines planted in Rioja, with Garnacha (Grenache), Graciano, and Manzuelo as supporting players that often appear in Rioja blends. While long barrel aging is the classic method (in American and increasingly French oak), some winemakers have turned to a more “modern” style, with longer grape maceration and less oak, resulting in darker, fruitier wines. Examples of both styles are in the list below.

Here are eight of the best Rioja red wines:

Muriel Rioja Crianza 2019

Plum and sweet dark berries are the dominant aromas and flavors of this delicious Crianza from Rioja Alavesa. The wine was aged for 12 months in new and used American and French oak barrels, lending hints of cinnamon and powdered cocoa with medium, chalky tannins.

Price: $18
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Ramón Bilbao Rioja ‘Edición Limitada’ 2019

This “limited edition,” 100 percent Tempranillo is fruit- and mineral-driven, with black plum and blackberry flavors, a hint of balsamic, and vibrant acidity. The wine is purplish and the oak influence is muted, so even though it’s from 2019, the wine still tastes fresh and young. A good example of how Rioja, with its acidity, can hold its own with tomato-sauce pastas and other Italian-inspired dishes.

Price: $21
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Familia Torres Altos Ibéricos Rioja Crianza 2019

From the Torres family, this wine from Rioja Alavesa is marked by red fruit and dark cherry flavors with touches of vanilla and leather on the long finish. With air, darker fruits begin to emerge. It was aged for 12 months in mostly used French and American oak barrels. An excellent, under-$20 value.

Price: $15
By This Wine

R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Cubillo Crianza 2016

This stellar wine — a blend of 65 percent Tempranillo and 35 percent Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo — is from the winery’s Viña Cubillas vineyard, one of the original parcels purchased by its founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta. The winery describes it as “a vineyard that produces exceptional wines sold as Crianza,” adding that “these wines could easily be marketed as Gran Reservas due to the exceptional combination of soil, aspect and vines.” The 2016 bears that out, with enticing aromas of cedar, meat, leather, earth, blueberry compote, and overripe strawberry. On the palate it’s softly tannic with a streak of acidity cutting through. This is a chance to experience the greatness of López de Heredia at a reasonable price.

Price: $30
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La Rioja Alta Viña Alberdi Rioja Reserva 2019

From another Rioja Alta producer that goes back well over a century, this wine is soft, subtle, and delicious. Aromas and flavors include blueberry, vanilla, caramel, green olive, and black licorice. There’s an herbal note on the finish. The wine grew on me as it opened up.

Price: $23
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Compañón Arrieta Rioja ‘Herrigoia’ 2022

This is a different take on Rioja — a young wine from old vines made without oak and fermented with the carbonic maceration technique common in Rioja Alavesa (and, of course, in France’s Beaujolais). The result is a delicious, “grapey” wine that almost demands a chill. Dark berry fruit flavors like just-picked blackberry, earth, and chewy tannins are its signature. It’s also an under-$15 bargain.

Price: $13
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Bodegas Ollauri Conde de los Andes Rioja 2016

From Rioja Alta, this is a more fruit-driven expression that maintains its freshness despite its age. It shows mainly red fruit notes, including spicy red plum and cherry with hints of cinnamon and chocolate. Aged in French oak barrels for 14 months, the oak is nicely integrated and doesn’t call attention to itself.

Price: $50
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Montecillo Rioja Gran Reserva 2015

From another century-plus-old Rioja winery, this is a stunning wine, quite Bordeaux-like in character and marked by balance and a fine tannin structure. Blueberry and redcurrant aromas are accented by cedar and a hint of tomato leaf. It’s sheer elegance on the palate with bright acidity. (Don’t confuse this with Montecillo’s stunning, black-labeled “22 Barricas” Gran Reserva, which will set you back $150.)

Price: $36
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Next up: the white wines of Spain’s Rueda.

The article 8 of the Best Red Wines From Rioja appeared first on VinePair.

On Tuesday, Diageo announced this year’s release of Talisker 30 Year Old, a limited-edition single malt Scotch. The expression was first launched by the Isle of Skye distillery in 2006 as part of Diageo’s Special Releases collection, though it has since become a highly sought-after annual release.

According to The Drinks Business, the whisky “captures three decades of maturation” and offers flavors like red apple, stone fruit, and pecan fudge that fade into wood spice and vanilla pod notes. The three-decades-old expression was described by Diageo as the “pinnacle of Talisker’s range of whiskies.”

“This new release of Talisker 30-Year-Old holds all the classic characteristics of the single malt, yet elevated to new heights,” Ewan Gunn, senior ambassador for Diageo’s single malt Scotch whiskies, told The Spirits Business. “Soaring with sweet smoke and pointy notes of pepper, this latest release is an elegant and complex expression. The 30-year-old is a consistently exceptional release.”

Bottled at 49.8 percent ABV, only 2,610 bottles of Talisker 30 Year Old are in circulation, making this year’s release the most limited expression in the collection to date. The whisky is currently available at select retailers and online at Malts.com and ReserveBar.com for €1,300 ($1,690). Interested buyers can also reach out to the private client team at Justerini & Brooks, according to Diageo.

“Talisker 30 Year Old is always eagerly anticipated and consistently adored by whisky fans and collectors,” Gunn said in an interview with The Drinks Business. “Talisker always embeds such a palpable sense of place in the hearts and minds of those who taste it, and this 30-Year-Old release delivers that with aplomb — with each nose and every taste you are pulled closer and closer to the mountain views of Skye.”

The article Talisker Releases Limited Edition 30-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch appeared first on VinePair.

The world of celebrity spirits just got a little bigger. And the name doesn’t get much bigger than Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Beyoncé — she of 32 Grammy wins, the most of any musician in history — has founded SirDavis Whisky in partnership with LVMH-owned Moët Hennessy. The brand’s inaugural release is an American rye finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.

We got an early taste of the whisky and already published a full, in-depth review of SirDavis. (Spoiler: We liked it!)

It’s the first time Beyoncé has officially dipped into the spirits world, though the superstar has long been known for a love of Japanese whisky, according to the brand.

SirDavis is named for Knowles-Carter’s paternal great-grandfather Davis Hogue, a farmer and Prohibition-era moonshiner. During that time, Davis Hogue hid bottles in the crevices of cedar trees to avoid detection.

“I’ve always been drawn to the power and confidence I feel when drinking quality whisky and wanted to invite more people to experience that feeling,” Knowles-Carter said in a press release. “When I discovered that my great-grandfather had been a moonshine man, it felt like my love for whisky was fated. SirDavis is a way for me to pay homage to him, uniting us through a new shared legacy.”

This is the first spirits brand developed entirely in the United States by Moët Hennessy, and was built with Dr. Bill Lumsden overseeing liquid development. Lumsden is perhaps best known for his work with Moët Hennessy portfolio companies Glenmorangie and Ardbeg.

For the first SirDavis expression, Lumsden, Knowles-Carter, and the team settled on an Indiana-distilled mash bill of 51 percent rye and 49 percent malted barley. After an undisclosed period of aging (brand reps confirm it’s well over the minimum 2 year threshold for straight rye), the liquid was transferred to Knowles-Carter’s home state of Texas, where it underwent additional aging in sherry casks.

Blending and bottling both take place in Texas, and the final product is available at 44 percent ABV. Bottles carry a suggested retail price of $89, and are available online and in several major U.S. markets, as well as select retail in London, Paris, and Tokyo.

The article Beyoncé and Moët Hennessy Launch SirDavis Rye Whisky appeared first on VinePair.

There’s a new steakhouse in New York. It’s called — in rather too-on-the-nose fashion — Bourbon Steak, and it’s part of a chain of seven such restaurants from noted San Francisco chef Michael Mina. Bourbon Steak is one example of a new breed of restaurant. Some call them modern steakhouses and others term them contemporary steakhouses. The general idea is that they all take the classic steakhouse model and give it an upgrade in terms of style and culinary touches.

That said, any customer who takes a single glance at the Bourbon Steak menu would make no mistake as to the kind of eating establishment they were in. There are the oysters and the shrimp cocktail; the Caesar and wedge salads; and the various cuts of steak, from ribeye to porterhouse to New York strip.

However, if that menu-browsing patron began with the cocktail list, there might be some confusion. The one at Bourbon Steak begins with a Bee’s Knees and continues with a Pisco Punch and Sherry Cobbler. There’s an original mezcal concoction named Fire Walk With Me, after the David Lynch film. There is the expected Martini, but it’s made with sherry; and the predictable Old Fashioned, but its base is Rare Character Single Barrel Bourbon, an expensive sourced whiskey.

Other new and newish steakhouses that have similarly ambitious cocktail programs include Hawksmoor, a chain born in London in 2006 that opened a New York branch in 2021 and a Chicago location this year; Cote, the Korean steakhouse group first opened by Simon Kim in Manhattan in 2017; the reimagined Brooklyn landmark Gage & Tollner; Quality Meats, part of Alan and Michael Stillman’s empires of restaurants; and The Press Club Grill, which opened in Herald Square last year.

Incubators of Cocktail Culture

From the repeal of Prohibition until the turn of the 21st century, old-school steakhouses were dependable incubators of cocktail culture, even as other types of restaurants gave up on mixed drinks. But the array of adult refreshments you could get at a steakhouse was limited, usually including Martinis, Manhattans, Old Fashioneds, and a handful of other classics.

In the last decade or so, however, the trajectories of the modern cocktail revival and the modern steakhouse movement have aligned. The result is perhaps the first new American steakhouses in a century and a half to serve the kind of drinks that steak eaters of pre-Prohibition times tossed back.

“There’d never been anyone in my role before,” says Michael Lay, who was brought in as the Mina Group’s beverage director five years ago. “No one was overseeing the beverages in the company as a whole. Many of the cocktail menus were left to run themselves. I’ve spent five years trying to create harmony and synergy for the restaurants,” he adds.

It was a role Lay happily took on. That’s because — and this is the case with most modern cocktail bartenders — he didn’t need to be coaxed into a false affection for classic steakhouses. “I absolutely love old-school steakhouses,” he says. “That is my favorite dining experience.”

“We stay true to the classic steakhouse aesthetic, but with a slightly modernized version of the drinks.”

Like Lay, the beverage directors at modern steakhouses approach their assignment with a healthy respect for the genre’s history. They start by tackling the key steakhouse cocktails and elevating them slightly.

“I wanted to harken to the steakhouse classics — Martinis, Manhattans, Old Fashioneds — all those things that you want to start your meal with,” says Max Green, spirits and bar director of the Hospitality Department, a restaurant group that includes The Press Club Grill. “The first menu was classics.” The question that followed that decision, according to Green, was, “How do we make the drinks our own?”

The answer came in small touches. The Press Club Grill’s Gibson, called Page Turner, has house-made onions and a house-made honey tincture. The punched-up Old Fashioned, called City Desk, is made with a mix of Scotch and brandy.

The same philosophy prevails at Quality Meats, where creative director (formerly bar director) Bryan Schneider, supervises the drinks menu. The list is only seven drinks long, each cocktail a recognizable classic. But every item bears a twist that draws on modern mixology techniques. The Nitro Negroni is on tap and the Cherry Cola Manhattan is made with bourbon, sherry, and a cola bitters blend.

“We stay true to the classic steakhouse aesthetic, but with a slightly modernized version of the drinks,” says Schneider.

A big part of the modern cocktail makeover at new steakhouses is batched drinks. At old-school joints, every Martini is made to order. At the newer places, the house Martini is, more likely than not, batched, pre-chilled, and ready to pour.

“Freezer Martinis are more acceptable now,” says Green, who has four or five freezer cocktails at The Press Club Grill. “You can really build cocktails that have small measures. With that, there’s a lot more depth of flavor. That’s the cocktail-bar influence.”

Ask the bar directors at these restaurants how the steakhouse bar reached this point of maturity and the first name that comes up is Hawksmoor. The London restaurant had a fully formed cocktail program at its inception, when Nick Strangeway, one of the biggest names in the London cocktail revival, was in charge. It’s been that way ever since.

“I thought that was a great example of what a modern steakhouse could be,” says Lay.

There’s a certain irony to that admiration, however, since, according to Liam Davy, Hawksmoor’s head of bars, the original London locations took most of their signals from American steakhouses.

“We were doing it in London, which had zero experience of quality drinks in restaurants or steakhouses until the 2010s,” says Davy. “We took a lot of inspiration from the U.S. when we started in the U.K.”

“Walking into a steakhouse, I always want a Martini to start. I think it’s important to honor those traditions.”

Davy says that opening Hawksmoor’s first U.S. location, in Manhattan, presented a particular challenge when it came to the bar. Unlike London patrons, who required some guidance through the cocktail list, American diners tend to belly up to the bar with an order already on their lips.

“Day one, people came in and knew exactly what they wanted,” says Davy. “New Yorkers know what they like and we need to deliver it.” Davy’s job, as he sees it, is to augment those existing preferences with a solid list of unusual and original cocktails. “We get a lot of people from column A and some from column B — people who want new cocktails and people who just want a dry Martini.”

Modern steakhouse bar directors share a lot with both types of customer. They are, of course, schooled in modern mixology and are advocates of original drinks. But when they visit a steakhouse they don’t work at, they most resemble the sort of hidebound traditionalists who have been frequenting American red-meat joints for decades.

“Walking into a steakhouse, I always want a Martini to start,” says Sondre Kasin, director of bars at Cote. “I think it’s important to honor those traditions.”

The article In NYC, a New Breed of Steakhouse Ups the Cocktail Ante appeared first on VinePair.

In the region of Tuscany, between the two medieval cities of Florence and Siena, lie 100 square miles of rolling hills. Called the Clante by the Etruscans, what’s now known as Chianti was Italy’s first modern fine-wine region, and the vineyards here continue to produce some of the most famous wines in the world.

The Sangiovese grape thrives here, in well-draining clay soil called galestro. The resulting wine can achieve true Italian elegance: refined and balanced, with well-crafted rustic edges.

Chianti wines can be juicy and bright or dark and brooding, but they’re always lifted by buoyant natural acidity that make them wonderfully food-friendly. Chianti is typically paired with lean meats such as skirt steaks but can also be effortlessly sipped alongside pasta dishes covered in all sorts of sauces.

The categories can be dizzying with different names and various aging requirements, from Chianti DOCG to Chianti Classico DOCG delimitations to the Riserva and Gran Selezione categories, as well as multiple communes boasting individual terroir expressions. We tasted through the full range of wines to narrow it down to the very best. Here are the 14 top Chianti wines for 2024.

Best Chiantis Under $25

Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2020

There are a lot of very affordable Chianti bottles out there and it can be difficult to find the one that hits. Look no further — this one hits and it’s under 20 bucks. It has tart cherries on the nose with a dollop of fresh earth. It has a bright, grippy, and tart palate with good medium fruit and blousy acidity that’s matched by the depth.

Average price: $14
Rating: 90

Best Chiantis Under $50

Gagliole ‘Rubiolo’ Chianti Classico DOCG 2022

Here’s another one for ya. Also delicious and affordable, but with a little more edge. Coming from two high-quality areas for production in Chianti, Castellina and Panzano, it has bright pops of cherry fruit on the nose and the palate, but is framed by a prominent tannin structure. This is weeknight steak dinner vibes.

Average price: $26
Rating: 90

Ricasoli 1141 ‘Brolio’ Chianti Classico DOCG 2021

The Ricasoli family is known to some as the first family of Chianti. The family’s role in the region was essential to what we enjoy from the hills between Florence and Siena today. Located in Gaiole in Chianti, this wine shows the brightness of Sangiovese while being grounded by a small dose of the local variety Colorino. It has dense yet bright sour cherry aromas on the nose. The palate is balanced, with tart fruit and good active acidity. This is a great Chianti for everyday enjoyment.

Average price: $26
Rating: 90

Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2021

This wine comes from the southernmost Chianti Classico zone, where the vines receive ample sunshine. That comes through in this wine’s dense, fleshy fruit notes and weighty palate. It has a rich, earthy nose with sour cherry and cranberry aromas and hints of tobacco and leather. The palate has depth and balance with an elegant fruit core framed by a prominent yet supportive tannin structure. The beauty of Siena is in this bottle.

Average price: $28
Rating: 93

Arillo in Terrabianca ‘Sacello’ Chianti Classico DOCG 2021

This wine comes from the commune of Radda, which is known for having some of the highest-elevation vineyards in Chianti. All that air and sun makes for some elegant wines, especially when they’re 100 percent Sangiovese. This bottle offers bright pops of cherry and cola with some soil to boot. The palate is light yet concentrated with wonderful acidity lifting the wine from its slightly tannic edge.

Average price: $30
Rating: 93

San Felice ‘Il Grigio’ Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020

Here’s another example of delicious Chianti from the southern part of the Classico zone, Castelnuovo Berardenga. Here the tannins are more prominent, framing the depth of fruit. The nose is filled with deep cherry, tart cranberry, and earth. The palate is ripe and grippy with a good balance between fruit and acidity.

Average price: $33
Rating: 92

Tenuta San Vito ‘Madiere’ Chianti Colli Fiorentini Riserva 2020

We’re jumping out of the Chianti Classico zone for a sec to enjoy a wine region in the hilly outskirts of Florence called Colli Fiorentini (Florentine hills). Chianti Classico makes some epic wine, but this Tenuta San Vito is like, “Hold my stemware.” This wine is lovely. It’s earthy and herby with some rhubarb and white pepper on the nose. The palate delivers slight woody notes along with a delicious fleshy mouthfeel balanced by lithe tannins and almost perfect acidity.

Average price: $35
Rating: 94

Melini Vigneti La Selvanella Riserva Chianti Classico DOCG 2019

We’re back in the elegant high-elevation site of Radda, with all of the fruit for this wine coming from one site, the La Selvanella vineyard. When a winemaker knows how special one place is they will often single it out. Here, all 123 acres of the vineyard have something to say. The nose brings notes of bright cherries and rhubarb with an underlying herbaceousness. It has an amazing palate with soft yet present tannins and beautifully balanced fruit depth. Right in line with the terroir-driven style of Radda.

Average price: $35
Rating: 94

Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019

Coming from an 11th-century abbey in Gaiole — the same commune as the prominent Ricasoli winery — this wine shows how a little bit of age softens those tannins and shows off the fruit. This bottle offers notes of tart cherries and cranberries on the nose with some earth. The palate is soft and round with blousy fruit lifted by generous acidity.

Average price: $40
Rating: 92

Carobbio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

OK, let’s talk about age. The wines coming out of the Panzano hamlet tucked into the Greve in Chianti commune tend to be full-bodied. They’re always approachable, but after almost a decade in bottle things start to get magical. And Carobbio has harnessed that magic. This wine is almost, if not at, its peak. The nose is earthy with unctuous leathery cherry vibes. Palate is grippy but lithe from dissolving tannins.

Average price: $48
Rating: 94

Best Chiantis Under $100

Selvapiana ‘Vigneto Erchi’ Chianti Rufina Riserva DOCG 2018

Chianti Rufina, in the hills to the east of Florence, is not in the Classico zone but it might as well be. This is the most celebrated region of the Chianti DOCG designation and some say it has all the aspects of the Classico style. Here’s a single-vineyard wine with some age on it to show just how wonderful they can be. It has bright leathery fruit on the nose and the palate offers a fleshy, balanced mouthfeel.

Average price: $50
Rating: 93

Istine ‘Le Vigne’ Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020

Just because wines come from the same zone doesn’t mean they’re all the same. It’s amazing to see how each winemaker has an individual style even in the same commune. This is another wine from Radda, but its expression is unique while still showing a sense of place. The nose pops with bright cherry, rhubarb, and truffle aromas. The palate is dry around the edges with plenty of vibrant fruit at its core. The acidity does an amazing job holding all of these characteristics in place.

Average price: $65
Rating: 92

Best Chiantis Over $100

Riecine ‘Vigna Gittori’ Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2019

In 2010 Chianti Classico took it to the next level by creating the Gran Selezione category. To hold that title, wines need to be made from estate fruit and aged six months more than the previous highest tier, Chianti Classico Riserva (24 months). These wines are powerful, which comes through in this bottle. The nose has earthy cherry notes and a mineral channel running through. On the palate, fine tannins frame the core of fruit beautifully. We also love their more widely available Classico bottling.

Average price: $113
Rating: 95

Isole e Olena Cepparello Toscana IGT 2021

This Chianti shows the power of Sangiovese. It’s a wine that tells us something — and we’re listening. The winery eschewed any Classico designation on the label even though the estate is technically in the Chianti Classico zone, because it’s so dedicated to Sangiovese that it wants to celebrate the grape variety itself, rather than the region. Respect. The palate is classic to the region, with bright cherry fruit and a hint of leather and earth. It has the slightest grip around the edges framing the core of fruit. The acidity is just right, forming a lifted base not allowing any aspect of the wine to take center stage. Just wonderful.

Average price: $160
Rating: 96

FAQs

What grape variety is Chianti made from?

Chianti is mostly made from Sangiovese grapes. However, it is frequently blended with small percentages of either other native grapes or international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah.

What does Chianti taste like?

Chianti typically has fresh red fruit flavors and a touch of dried herbs. Earthy and savory notes come to the fore in wines that have been aged in barrel and bottle.

Is Chianti a light or heavy wine?

Chianti is a medium-bodied wine that is high in both tannins and acidity.

VinePair’s Tasting Methodology

Throughout the year, VinePair conducts numerous tastings for our popular Buy This Booze column, and wine and spirits reviews. Our mission is to provide a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking.

Tastings are not typically conducted blind. In alignment with our reviews mission, we believe in purposefully tasting all products as our readers typically would, with full knowledge of the producer, the region, and — importantly — the price.

For Buy This Booze roundups, we typically include a maximum of one expression per brand, though we do allow multiple products from the same production facility (i.e., released under different labels).

The article The 14 Best Chiantis for 2024 appeared first on VinePair.

While the light beer wars may be a thing of the past, the numbers suggest that light beer continues to win battles. In 2023, light beer hit a global market valuation of $312.9 billion, and the market’s projected to reach $401.3 billion in 2033. There’s nothing odd or remarkable about the style compared to what exists in the craft beer space, and that’s likely why they’re so popular. While IPAs, sours, and stouts have their dedicated followers, light beer’s mild flavor profile is made for the masses.

It’s also a style that brewers, bartenders, and other folks in the drinks industry can appreciate for various reasons, from feelings of nostalgia to the ease of reaching for something unfussy. But which macro light beer do they tend to reach for after a day of being surrounded by hops and fermentation tanks? We asked 10 professionals to find out. Here’s what they had to say.

The best macro light beer, according to drinks pros:

• Pabst Blue Ribbon Easy
• Michelob Ultra
• Coors Light
• Miller Lite
• Suntory All Free
• Iron City Lite
• Corona Light
• Bud Light Lime
• Yuengling Light Lager

“My favorite macro light beer has to be Pabst Blue Ribbon Easy. Pabst separates itself from other macro light lagers in that it’s a bit sweeter, but remains super drinkable while still having some flavor behind it. There’s also just something about their timeless can design that makes it stand out when you’re running into the grocery store for beer.” —Michael Bracco, brewer, FlyteCo. Brewing, Denver

“For macro light beers, Michelob Ultra is hard to beat. It only has 2.5 carbs per can, so it’s very drinkable without making you feel bloated.” —Alex Barbatsis, cocktail consultant, Bees & Bats Beverage, Chicago

“I think the proximity of a brewery to where you grew up, nostalgia, and marketing play a huge role in most people’s choice of macro light beer. Coors Light is an all-of-the-above choice for me. Coors Light has always been the unofficial macro lager of the West Coast, because prior to 1981, you could only get Coors beer west of the Mississippi. I also grew up stealing Coors Light out of my dad’s refrigerator when I was in high school, and it’s still my go-to when I plan on putting back more than six beers in a sitting. And there’s something about that frontier, Western-style marketing with the flowing rivers and scenes of the Rockies that’s just so wholesomely American.” —Trevor Walls, chief brewing officer, Brewery X, Anaheim, Calif.

“My go-to has always been and will always be Miller Lite. I grew up seeing that iconic white can with its navy blue writing, and no fishing trip was complete without a cooler full of them nice and ice-cold. I drink it now because it’s nostalgic. Let’s be honest, light beers don’t bring much to the table flavor-wise, so [that preference] is usually inherited, not chosen.” —Dalton Cousar, bartender, White Limozeen, Nashville

“While not saying light on the can, Suntory All Free takes the idea of an NA light to its absolute pinnacle. It has all the flavor you want in a crisp light beer, but it has no carbs, alcohol, or calories. Drinking culture is super strong in Japan, and that means they have also gone to lengths to make sure people who don’t drink can be included. All Free is an amazing example of this. While many great light-style NA beers are on the market, All Free is my go-to for those times when I would have reached for a cold one [before going sober]. For those who want a beer that isn’t a beer, try it; you won’t be disappointed.” —Karl Goranowski, beverage director, BATA, Tucson, Ariz.

“My personal favorite is Michelob Ultra for meeting this single criteria: It tastes the most like water. Or, in other words, it’s crisp and has the least flavor. Regardless of one’s choice, the most crucial element to enjoying any light beer is the temperature; it’s best served ice-cold.” —Aiyana Knauer, operations and distribution coordinator, Grimm Artisanal Ales, Brooklyn

“I have to shout out IC Lite, a legendary Pittsburgh staple. Pittsburgh Brewing Company has a lot of history, and the beer they crank out is unpretentious. IC Lite keeps things balanced; it’s not just thin sugar flavors, which is what puts me off from many light brews. Much love. Can somebody bring me a case?” —Nic Anselmo, head bartender, Bar Meridian, Brooklyn

“I’d go with a very cold Corona Light with lime. I grew up in Brazil, and I’m very used to the adjunct light lagers that we have there. The American beers don’t appeal to me as much as a light, refreshing, and fizzy Corona light.” —Maria Shirts, head brewer, Tin Roof Brewing Co., Baton Rouge, La.

“Truth is, I’m not much of a light beer guy when it comes to the macros. But you know what? I can really get down on some ice-cold Bud Light Lime — in a glass bottle, of course. (Don’t ask, it just hits different!) That bit of acidity really lifts the beer up, and makes it fun to drink. And fun is what I’m after when drinking light beer.” —Jake Guidry, brand director, Hopewell Brewing Co., Chicago

“Yuengling Light Lager is my go-to. Like Yuengling, I was born in Pennsylvania, where my mother’s family has been in the hospitality and hotel business for generations. While hardline regional beer, cocktail, and spirit loyalties may have softened, the loyalty to this beer remains strong in my family. Traveling to a state that didn’t carry it for a gathering? We’d bring it. Back East and catching up with friends and loved ones? We’re drinking Yuengling. It has become as much a symbol of East Coast-ness as it is a subtle but poignant way to remember those who might no longer be physically present, but are always there in spirit when we offer up a toast.” —Paul Masterson, Southern California bar operations spirits specialists, Samson & Surrey, Miami

“If I’m reaching for a light lager, my choice is always Miller Lite. It’s dry and crisp. It has lower residual sugar than most of the other macro light beers. It also tastes neutral and clean to me, while its competitors taste unpleasant in a way that I associate with cheap beer as a whole. It also doesn’t hurt that it is quite similar to the Champagne of beers, Miller High Life, which is my all-time favorite macro lager!” —Daniel Galada-Maria, head brewer, Finback Brewery, Glendale, NY

The article We Asked 11 Drinks Pros: What’s the Best Macro Light Beer? (2024) appeared first on VinePair.

“VinePair Podcast” host Adam Teeter came across recent survey results revealing that very few people in the industry are familiar with the movers and shakers of the modern cocktail renaissance. This prompted the pod team to question how crucial such historical knowledge is for the new school of somms and bartenders to succeed. Does knowing how classic (and modern classic) cocktails came to fruition actually give bartenders an upper hand when they go to make drinks of their own? Or is knowing why certain cocktails work flavor-wise enough? After all, if someone can make a good Division Bell, does it matter whether or not they know who invented it?

On this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” Adam, Joanna, and Zach discuss whether the current crop of bartenders and sommeliers should know the names and stories of some of their more famous predecessors, or if the only thing that really matters is being able to make the drinks and serve the wine. Tune in for more.

Zach is drinking: 2001 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Blanc
Joanna is drinking: Tito’s Moscow Mule at Bar Raval
Adam is drinking: 2005 Monemvasia “300” White

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The article The VinePair Podcast: Do Bartenders Need to Know Bar History? appeared first on VinePair.

If there’s one spirit synonymous with American drinking culture, it’s bourbon — and that’s written into law. America’s native spirit must be produced in the States to officially qualify as bourbon, and while it doesn’t have to be produced in Kentucky by law, 95 percent of it is.

Bourbon is available at a range of price points, but the rarest and oldest bottles of the spirit could set you back by about $55,000. From near impossible-to-find grails like Old Rip Van Winkle to coveted bottles that just hit the market a few months ago, these are currently the most expensive bourbons according to Wine Searcher.

25. John E. Fitzgerald Very Special Reserve 20 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $6,493
• ABV: 45%
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, dusty cocoa, clove, red fruit, figs

24. A.H. Hirsch Reserve 16 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $7,145
• ABV: 45.8%
• Tasting Notes: Creamy vanilla, toffee, oak, baking spices

23. Black Maple Hill 16 Year Old Premium Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $7,690
• ABV: 47.5%
• Tasting Notes: Nougat, honey, brown sugar, marzipan

22. Martin Mills 24 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $7,725
• ABV: 53.5
• Tasting Notes: Dark fruit, wood, leather, honey, cinnamon, butterscotch, spice

21. W.L. Weller 19 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $8,457
• ABV: 45%
• Tasting Notes: Oak, caramel, spice

20. Willett Family Estate Bottled Single-Barrel 18 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $8,748
• ABV: 55.1%
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, vanilla, oak, spice, dark chocolate

19. W.L. Weller Millennium Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $9,060
• ABV: 49.5%
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, vanilla, toasted oak, dried fruit

18. Colonel E.H. Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $9,731
• ABV: 50%
• Tasting Notes: Jam-like fruit, vanilla, touches of smoke, tobacco

17. Buffalo Trace Distillery The Sixth Millionth Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $9,873
• ABV: 45%
• Tasting Notes: Vanilla, toasted oak, cinnamon

16. Elmer T. Lee 90th Birthday Edition Single Barrel Sour Mash Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $9,858
• ABV: $45
• Tasting Notes: Rye spice, vanilla, fruit undertones

15. Michter’s 25 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey, USA

• Average price: $10,126
• ABV: 58.1%
• Tasting Notes: Molasses, holiday spice, chocolate, smoke roasted nuts, dried fruit, melted butter, vanilla

14. A.H. Hirsch Finest Reserve 20 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $10,166
• ABV: 45.8%
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, orange peel, leather, slight pepper

13. Willett Family Estate Bottled Single-Barrel 16 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $10,193
• ABV: 50.6%
• Tasting Notes: Pine, eucalyptus, toffee apple

12. Eagle Rare Double Eagle Very Rare 20 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $10,564
• ABV: 45%
• Tasting Notes: Vanilla, toasted oak, caramel

11. Brown Forman’s King of Kentucky Single Barrel 18 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

• Average price: $11,143
• ABV: 65.55%
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, dark chocolate, honey, cinnamon, tobacco

10. Weller’s Antique Reserve 10 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

For the most part, any existing bottles of Weller’s Antique Reserve were produced in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery under the direction of Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle I. Any such bottle from that time is a true relic of bourbon history. 

• Average price: $12,358
• ABV: 55%
• Parent Company: The Sazerac Company

9. Hirsch Reserve 15 Year Pot Still, Kentucky, USA

In 1974, a bounty of whiskey from a small distillery in Pennsylvania was sold off after it was decommissioned, and a large portion of the barrels were sent to Kentucky for further aging. 15 years later, Adolph Hirsch discovered the batch, and after realizing its incredible quality, he purchased roughly 400 barrels and bottled them under his own name. And so, the world got Hirsch Reserve 15 Year Pot Still, which is technically a Pennsylvania bourbon despite being aged and bottled in Kentucky.

• Average price: $16,024
• ABV: 47.8%
• Tasting Notes: Toffee, oak, plum, vanilla

8. The Last Drop 1980 Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, Kentucky, USA

Hailing from the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., The Last Drop 1980 was distilled in — you guessed it — 1980 by then master distiller, Gary Gayheart. Years later, the recipe was uncovered by current master distiller Harlan Wheatley who then aged the spirit for about 20 years before releasing just 240 bottles for sale.

• Average price: $16,209
• ABV: 45%
• Tasting Notes: Figs, dates, maraschino cherries, wood, leather, tobacco, toffee, gentle warming spice

7. Colonel E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

Colonel E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash was distilled in 2002 as an homage to Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr., who was widely known to have used the sour mash process in the 1800s when he was distilling. Meant to be a new aged bourbon serving as a replication of the historic technique, the grains used in each bottle were set aside to sour naturally to lower the pH prior to distilling.

• Average price: $19,578
• ABV: 50%
• Tasting Notes: Fresh honey, leather

6. Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Family Reserve 16 Year Old, Kentucky, USA

Originally casked in 1974, this whiskey is rumored to have originated at the Boone Distillery in Boone County, Ky. Two versions of it exist today: this expression that was bottled in 1990 at 16 years, and another bottled in 1991 at 17 years. Both iterations actually replicated Maker’s Mark iconic melted-wax stopper, which Van Winkle claims he got away with using due to the trademark only being registered in the U.S.

• Average price: $19,986
• ABV: 50.5%
• Tasting Notes: Toffee, caramel, nutmeg, vanilla

5. Old Rip Van Winkle Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 17 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

This is the aforementioned 1991 release of Boone-distilled Van Winkle Reserve whiskey. Both releases were initially intended for the Japanese market, as Americans weren’t as keen on paying premium prices for aged bourbon at the time.

• Average price: $22,664
• ABV: 50.5%
• Parent Company: Buffalo Trace

4. Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

In the 1970s and 1980s, Sour Mash Whiskey was Michter’s top selling product. After being discontinued in 1989, the brand relaunched the product in 2012 as Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash. The whiskey was produced by Micher’s master distiller, Willie Pratt, who blended all of Michter’s best bourbon and ryes aged from young to 30 years old to create just 273 bottles of Michter’s Celebration. Every gold-etched bottle is waxed and sealed, and includes a hand-signed letter from Willie Pratt himself.

• Average price: $22,950
• ABV: 43%
• Tasting Notes: Toasted brown sugar, spiced smoky fruit, candied cherries, honeyed vanilla

3. Old Rip Van Winkle Twisted Spoke 16 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

The label design on this bottle is admittedly a far cry from most Old Rip Van Winkle releases, but the quality of the liquid has cemented this bourbon’s status as one of the most sought-after bottles in the bourbon space. Released as a one-off in partnership with Chicago bar Twisted Spoke, this bottle contains 16-year-old Stitzel-Weller bourbon. 

• Average price: $29,634
• ABV: 52.5%
• Tasting Notes: Oak, cinnamon, cherry, vanilla

2. Old Rip Van Winkle Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Selection 23 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey with Glasses and Decanter, Kentucky, USA

Distilled from a wheated bourbon recipe, Old Rip Van Winkle’s ‘Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Selection’ 23 Year Old set a record in December 2022 as the most expensive bottle ever sold at New York’s Sotheby’s auction house. The bottle, which sold for 17 times the presale estimate of $3,000 to $4,000, fetched an impressive $52,000. Originally released in 2008, each bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Selection 23 Year Old was sold encased in a luxe black velvet bag.

• Average price: $34,358
• ABV: 47.8%
• Tasting Notes: Candy corn, vanilla, cherry, walnut, dark raspberry, oak

1. Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky, USA

Launched in 2017, Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old is one of the most sought-after whiskies in the world and was distilled in 1989 at the now closed Van Winkle family distillery in Shively, Ky. There, it was aged from 1989 until 2002 when it was relocated to the Buffalo Trace Distillery after they acquired the label. At Buffalo Trace, it rested in its original casks until 2014 before it was moved into stainless steel tanks to prevent further aging. Just 11 barrels were distilled — amounting to 710 bottles — all of which are packaged in handmade glass decanters packaged in wood from the original oak barrels.

• Average price: $52,888
• ABV: 50%
• Tasting Notes: Predominant oak, sugar, caramel, vanilla

The article The 25 Most Expensive Bourbons in the World (2024) appeared first on VinePair.

Fine wine-lovers, look away. In a video posted to its Instagram account on Saturday, Spanish nightclub Chingon Nights showed off its alleged €120,000 sangria made with about 10 bottles of Petrus. Yes, that Petrus, the 100-point Bordeaux that regularly sells for over $5,000 a bottle and can reach $20,000 or more depending on the vintage.

The video, captioned “La Sangria Mas Cara del Mundo” (“The Most Expensive Sangria in the World”) could make any seasoned wine collector weep. While some enthusiasts might wait their whole lives to try a sip of this coveted liquid, the nightclub powers through what seems to be 10 full bottles of Petrus, adding them to a giant punch bowl with fruit slices and orange juice.

 

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A post shared by Chingon Nights🍾 (@chingonights)

It looks like Chignon Nights, which according to its Instagram page has locations in Madrid, Ibiza, Marbella, and Barcelona, is no stranger to blowing through luxury wines and spirits in the name of a good time. Other videos on its page showcase guests spraying or even dumping bottles of Champagne on the dance floor. But while we might be used to seeing Champagne get thrown around in celebrations, the total disregard for Petrus just hits harder.

Commenters on the video agreed, with some users dropping an earnest: “Oh, no you didn’t really do that.” Others criticized the debauchery, with posts like “Stupidity at its finest, if you got the money for that, please enjoy the wine correctly and enjoy every rare wine you can get.” Others insisted that the Petrus bottles were fakes, and we’re really hoping that’s the case.

All we can wish is that no real Petrus was harmed in the making of this film.

The article Watch a Spanish Nightclub Blow €120,000 of Petrus on Sangria appeared first on VinePair.

House-made tinctures don’t really matter to that many people. They might matter to me, but I’m a certified geek when it comes to this stuff. For most guests at a bar, the vibes are more important than the drinks, and sipping on something tasty with a funny name while not sparing a thought about what it was or wasn’t fat-washed with is more than enough to satiate that cocktail craving.

While the majority of bars in the first wave of the modern craft era cocooned themselves within a formal, hushed setting — these were serious places of education and instruction, admiration and introspection, more so than they were mere watering holes — a growing lineup of today’s best cocktail bars are leaning hard in the other direction.

It’s the era of controlled chaos, and the bars and bartenders doing it best are the ones having all the fun.

Serving Vibes With a Side of Controlled Chaos

Bubble guns, frozen drinks, and disco balls are more common at these bars than printed lists of house rules, garnish tweezers, and old-timey mustaches. “Chaos is that thing you’re allowed to play with once you’ve become really good and really comfortable with what you’re doing and who you are as a professional,” says Kristine Gutierrez, general manager of New York’s Mister Paradise.

Mister Paradise is the type of place where a bartender might pour a customer’s drink into a sippy cup if they’ve spilled, because why shouldn’t everyone be having a good time? And they can get away with that because the banter and jokes are underpinned by veritable hospitality chops. “Together, we know enough rules to finally allow ourselves to break a few of them, if not all of them; chaos without a foundation of trust, organization, and safety is just a mess,” Gutierrez says.

New York’s controlled cocktail chaos era was perhaps ushered in by Katana Kitten‘s opening in 2018. Masahiro Urushido’s lighthearted, giddy approach to service heralded the city’s entrance into a sillier and more casual stage. There are any number of examples in town these days but consider a six-block corridor of chaos down First Avenue in which Mister Paradise can be found alongside partners in chaotic cocktail crime Superbueno, as well as the forthcoming Schmuck.

“There’s a movement happening, as the industry has evolved from the days of buttoned-up, ultra-refined cocktail bars where you felt like you were in a library,” says Schmuck’s Moe Aljaff. “People want to drink top-tier cocktails in a space where they can laugh out loud, move around, and just enjoy themselves without feeling like they’re breaking any rules.”

At Service Bar in Washington, D.C., co-owner Chad Spangler refers to an in-house ethos of “RAH,” or random acts of hospitality, even from within the belly of a bustling and chaotic beast. “Our music is loud, our service is casual, we encourage our staff to joke around with guests, and approachability is always at the forefront — that’s where the controlled chaos comes in,” he says. “We just don’t take ourselves too seriously, and remember that hospitality is really what we are here for.”

Elsewhere around the world, the reigning queen of controlled bar chaos is no doubt Tokyo Confidential’s Holly Graham. “Of course, Holly Graham is the party,” Gutierrez says. “You never know what may happen when you’re with her, whether at her bar or in her company, but you know it’ll always be a good time.” But there are shining examples in almost every market, such as Maybe Sammy in Sydney, Sweet Liberty in Miami, Creps Al Born in Barcelona, and the Bar In Front of the Bar in Athens, to name a few.

“All these places understand that it’s not just about what’s in the glass, but how people feel when they’re drinking it — just an unbearable force of strong hospitality mixed with care and affection,” Aljaff says. Yes, high-end cocktails can come with a low-key vibe, amid an approachable and even irreverent setting. “We train our team to be super approachable, friendly, and maybe even a bit cheeky, but always with that foundation of strong hospitality,” Aljaff says.

The Bar as Entertainment Venue

A vibe doesn’t just exist on its own, of course, and what many of these bars do best is adjusting and tweaking the chaos as the night moves along, with bartenders and managers rejigging conditions like theater stagehands working behind the scenes to deliver a seamless performance.

“There is no set recipe for this; we adapt to the room each day for every service.”

Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez takes on the role of master of ceremonies at Superbueno, interacting with guests and orchestrating different lighting and music to steer the collective whole of the bar in the right direction. “There is no set recipe for this; we adapt to the room each day for every service,” Jimenez says. “We constantly listen to our customers and tailor the experience accordingly. My staff and I are always present, ensuring each day provides a unique opportunity to take guests on a journey.”

At The Odd Couple in Shanghai, named for the duo of Shingo Gokan and Steve Schneider, the bar is draped in neon lights, and a giant, wall-sized digital screen displays a customized Pac-Man game that guests can play. “The focus is not only on cocktails here,” says bar manager Roger Yamagishi. “It’s the vibe.” He’ll adjust the bar’s lighting and 1980s soundtrack as the night progresses to ensure the vibe stays on point.

At REM in Rome, the bar’s entire concept is centered on shifting its environment as the hours tick away until the early morning. The bar shifts between four moods mimicking stages of sleep, from awake to light sleep, deep sleep, and the namesake REM, or rapid eye movement. The bar’s lighting, music, and even the drinks being served evolve as the night progresses.

This type of orchestration creates an experiential environment in which the drinks are only one component. “The cocktails are definitely important, but it’s the experience we build around them that really brings the magic,” Aljaff says. “We play around with music, lighting, and even the way we design our menus to make sure there’s an element of surprise and spontaneity in every visit. It’s that mix of take your work serious, don’t take yourself serious, that does it for us.”

Toronto’s Bar Mordecai has a main floor bedecked in Wes Anderson pink and kitschy animal statues, and a basement consisting of four thematic karaoke rooms. Yeah, it’s a bit chaotic over there. “We’re the definition of that, we might have four or five different concepts raging at one time,” says manager Dylan Maloney. Romantic dinners give way to dance floor parties, with karaoke revelers singing away in the basement and cocktail lovers sipping slowly at the bar.

Drinks have names such as Girl Math and New Rizz; there are house-canned cocktails and boozy soft-serve ice cream; and when in doubt, the trusty bubble gun is ready to be deployed. “How do we make ourselves seem not lame? Bubble gun, boom,” Maloney says. “If the mood matches, it happens.”

Inclusiveness at the Forefront of Chaos

Just as chaos is best backed up by hospitality, irreverence is best matched with inclusiveness, and it’s a near-universal ideal that these vibe servers adhere to. “At Superbueno, everyone is welcome,” Jimenez says. “Our dedicated staff, vibrant music, and inviting atmosphere are integral to the community’s fabric.”

At Milady’s, jello shots and grownup Appletinis are served under strings of pink Christmas lights and bartenders may wield — what else? — a bubble gun while pouring a batched drink. It’s a beloved aspect of the schtick, but owner Julie Reiner cares first and foremost about fostering a community. “Our goal was to create a space that offers a complete experience: somewhere with excellent cocktails and food and hospitality, but also somewhere everyone is welcome and can just have fun,” she says. “Milady’s is a neighborhood bar at its core; a place where folks feel at home. Anyone and everyone is welcome.”

The fact that there happen to be excellent cocktails might be what attracts a first-time visitor to any of these spots. But it’s likely the bar itself — the hospitality, the service, the vibe, the chaos — that turns first-timers into regulars.

“Our concept is, simply said, a party: a really good party, with great drinks, attentive service, and constant refills of water. It is wild, safe, and inclusive.”

“Service Bar’s mission statement is to be a neighborhood bar first and a cocktail bar second,” Spangler says. “In a way, we do the cocktails because it is what we love and find interesting, but that doesn’t mean our bar exists solely for those that agree. We focus on creating hospitality and inclusion as much as we preach about education surrounding cocktails and spirits.”

Throwing Out the Rule Book

There’s no cocktail industry manual that dictates serious drinks must be served in serious settings, and on a daily basis, more people are looking to relax and unwind than anything else. “I feel like the general desires of the drinking public tend to be more casual; most people don’t want to sit in what feels like a museum for their weekly tipple,” Gutierrez says. “Our concept is, simply said, a party: a really good party, with great drinks, attentive service, and constant refills of water. It is wild, safe, and inclusive.”

The formal bars that ruled the prior decade — of which many still exist, and of which many remain excellent — paved the way for their more freewheeling descendants. Guests don’t need a Cocktails 101 lecture because they’re familiar with the idea and are able to sit back and enjoy the ride in a way they may not have been before. “As craft cocktails become more prevalent on menus, they are shedding the image of stuffy, overwrought cocktail dens and are instead focusing on creativity, innovation, and fun,” Jimenez says. “This shift appeals to consumers who appreciate a more relaxed and engaging experience.”

Chaos, cocktails, and community can go hand-in-hand, it seems. “I think the world is craving comforting and warm experiences across the board, which includes where to eat and drink,” Reiner says. “With everything happening in the world, people want to feel safe and taken care of.”

These bars become community staples, authentic places where everyone — and their bubble guns — is welcome. “At Paradise, we’re exactly who we all wanted to be when we found a home in the industry,” Gutierrez says.

“We’re weird, wild, and after all, we’re the people who rejected a normal life and schedule. By being ourselves, we invite you to let go, too,” she continues. “That’s some good chaos. That’s who we are at Paradise.”

The article Welcome to the Chaotic Cocktail Bar Era appeared first on VinePair.

Luscious and foamy, egg white cocktails are beloved for their creamy texture. Traditionally shaken into cocktails in the sour family, egg whites can soften a build’s more acidic ingredients and imbue a more velvety mouthfeel. But tastiness aside, egg white cocktails also have the potential to up your macros for the day. To learn more about the protein levels in egg white cocktails, VinePair spoke with Dr. Dervan Bryan, assistant professor of poultry science at Penn State.

Dr. Bryan explains that egg white cocktails do contain more protein than non-egg white builds, as long as the latter doesn’t contain another functional protein. When juxtaposed with classics like the Old Fashioned and the Margarita, an egg white cocktail will likely have an additional 3.6 grams of protein. Builds that contain a whole egg, like the Death Flip or a Strawberry Mezcal Flip, will contain even more.

It turns out that technique plays an important role in reaping the benefits of these whites. While alcohol stabilizes the egg white and kills any harmful bacteria during the shaking process — thus making it safe to consume — it doesn’t kill any of the protein. Instead, the booze and rigorous shaking alter the complex molecule, allowing the drink to take on that eye-grabbing, puffed-up head.

“The egg albumen protein forms a very stable foam with the air inside the container during shaking,” Dr. Bryan explains. “When air is incorporated into the protein molecules in egg whites, the proteins stretch and unwind to form an elastic web encasing air bubbles.” He says that egg whites can actually expand up to eight times their volume, which is what gives these cocktails their signature foaminess. It’s within this foam layer where the majority of the protein resides, which will leech into the cocktail itself the longer the drink sits.

“Egg is the only natural food which has such powder foaming functional properties,” he says. “This foam can outlast any cocktail conversation, has a density that’s easily controlled, and will maintain its functionality in both hot and cold environments.”

While swapping post-run smoothies for Clover Clubs might not be in our future, a little extra sustenance on a night out certainly doesn’t hurt.

*Image retrieved from MONIUK ANDRII – stock.adobe.com

The article Is There More Protein in Egg White Cocktails? appeared first on VinePair.

If you’ve ever seen “The Social Network,” you probably remember the scene where Sean Parker tells Mark Zuckerberg and co. to tweak the name of their rising social media platform. “Drop the ‘the.’ Just Facebook. It’s cleaner,” he declares. And as insufferable as the character was on screen, there’s no denying he was right.

But in the wild world of Scotch, “the” appears to be a non-negotiable for brands’ and distilleries’ names, brevity be damned. There’s The Glen Grant, The Macallan, The Dalmore, The Glendronach, and The Balvenie, and those are just a few examples. Many have pondered why so many Scotch producers have “glen” in their names, but the pervasive “the” has remained a mystery. Well, that’s where we come in.

The Name Game

To understand where the “the” came from, we need to roll back the clock to the 1860s. Speyside’s The Glenlivet Distillery was enjoying skyrocketing popularity, so other distilleries began crudely adopting the same name, despite not operating near the glen (a deep, narrow valley surrounded by mountains) the brand was named for. Unsurprisingly, the owners of The Glenlivet Distillery weren’t thrilled about this. In November 1865, they issued a statement aimed at their competitors from their landlord, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon: “The District of Glenlivet, a part of the Gordon property in Scotland, belongs to me. My tenants George and John Gordon Smith, whose distillery of malt whisky is called ‘The Glenlivet’ – are the only distillers in the Glenlivet district. Richmond.”

This letter didn’t stop more distilleries from snatching up the Glenlivet name. After George Smith passed away in 1871, his son John Gordon inherited The Glenlivet Distillery and attempted to put the legal kibosh on the faux-Glenlivets. In 1881, he wrote a statement to the court claiming that “dealers were beginning to sell as Glenlivet Whisky lower priced Whiskies of a different character … by tacking on the word Glenlivet to the name of a particular distillery.”

Still, the competition wasn’t having it. According to author and Scotch whisky expert Charles MacLean, Smith’s competitors claimed that “Glenlivet” had become a generic term during the illicit era and could now be used in the same way as “Islay” to define a style of whisky. Nonetheless, Smith and the Glenlivet Distillery’s blender, Andrew Usher, hammered away at gaining total ownership of the name, racking up a 30,000-pound legal bill and filing 400 affidavits in the process.

By May 1884, the court arrived at a half-baked settlement. It ruled that only Smith and Usher’s whisky could call itself The Glenlivet, but it allowed 10 other distilleries — including Macallan, Glenfarclas, and Glen Grant — to use “Glenlivet” as a hyphenated suffix. To make matters worse for the original Glenlivet Distillery, according to MacLean, many distilleries beyond the designated 10 started doing the same, too, presumably because although the agreement was legal, doing so technically didn’t infringe on Smith’s trademark.

Come the 1950s, a whopping 27 distilleries had “Glenlivet” either tacked on to their registered names or somewhere on their bottle labels. But eventually, many of these distilleries ended up dropping the suffix, likely to avoid consumer confusion and to tighten up their labels.

Here Comes the The

Even though most of the wannabes had dropped “Glenlivet” from their names, they weren’t entirely done jacking the distillery’s nomenclature. Beginning in the 1970s, many of the former “X-Glenlivet” brands adopted the original distillery’s definitive article: The. The trend caught on like wildfire: Macallan became The Macallan in 1975, and Glendronach renamed itself The Glendronach around the same time. Glenturret joined in 1988, and Glen Grant followed suit in the early aughts. Nowadays, there’s a whole laundry list of ‘em. But as MacLean tells us, “There is only one true ‘the’ distillery: The Glenlivet.”

There is one exception to the the-fication craze of the late 1900s: Balvenie adopted “the” back in 1883. But when it comes to Scotch marketing, it’s safe to say that “the” belongs to everyone.

The article Why Do So Many Scotch Brands Start With ‘The’? appeared first on VinePair.

From Mercury retrograde to solar eclipses, it’s not uncommon for people to look to the cosmos in an attempt to explain unusual behavior. But historically, no astrological event has been blamed for abnormal events more often than a full moon. In fact, blaming the plenilune is such a common practice that it‘s got its own term: the Transylvania Effect, or the idea that the lunar cycle can influence human behavior. The theory has been propagated in more than one field: Medical practitioners have sworn the ER is crazier when the full moon emerges, law enforcement officers have claimed to make more arrests, and even hospitality workers have said guests are just flat-out rude. (Well, more so than usual.)

In the r/bartenders subReddit, bar professionals constantly lament the “horrors” of the full moon, with complaints ranging from attitudinal customers and stiffed tips to lengthy kitchen ticket times and even an uptick in physical fights. One user simply titled their post “F*CK FULL MOONS.” It’s not much better over on the r/ServerLife subreddit, where restaurant workers often discuss the “unhinged guests” they tend to and question how their fellow servers survived the night.

“Whenever there’s a large group of guests acting out of the ordinary, our front of house staff always ask each other, ‘Is it a full moon?’” said Kara Graves, senior partner and director of marketing for Charleston’s Uptown Hospitality Group. “[Guests will] ask for things like Tito’s and vodka instead of a Tito’s and soda, or ask to put something on a tab and not clarify the name on the tab.”

So, why might the moon bring out the weirdest in people? Theories trace back to the first century A.D. when Roman naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus (a.k.a. Pliny the Elder, just like the beer) posited that the full moon causes more dew to form in the air, leading to more moisture in the brain, and thus, madness. This idea persisted for so long that it forged the word lunatic, with its Latin root, luna, translating to “moon” and its suffix -atic meaning “of the kind of.” When the term rose to prominence in the Middle English period, it was used to describe an individual with alleged “moon-induced insanity.”

Theoretically, it’s not necessarily a reach to suggest that the full moon could have some impact on mood. If the moon is a factor in swaying Earth’s tides — which affect 352 quintillion gallons of water — might it be capable of influencing the water in humans’ brains and bodies? But in reality, there’s no concrete scientific evidence that suggests it’s possible. Emory University psychology professor Scott Lilienfeld told Astronomy.com that he’s “not aware of a single replicated finding in the literature that there’s a link between the full moon and odd behavior.”

The belief that the moon’s pull influences behavior was further debunked in a 2005 paper by Alina Iosif and Bruce Ballon in the Canadian Medical Association Journal titled “Bad Moon Rising: the persistent belief in lunar connections to madness.” In the paper, the two psychiatrists explain that rather than the moon solely controlling tides depending on its cycle, it’s actually the rock’s gravitational forces that do a lot of the work. They state that the only reason tides occur is because the moon’s gravitational pull acts on the 7,917.5-mile diameter of Earth, which reacts with comparable force. The human body clearly doesn’t have enough power to respond to the moon’s pull with comparable force, and therefore can’t be influenced in the same way.

As for why bar patrons may act a little stranger when the full moon comes out, Loren J. and Jean Chapman point to a psychological occurrence called illusory correlation. The term refers to the mind’s tendency to connect two unrelated events simply because they happen at the same time. When you’re aware of the astrological event and you notice something off-kilter, you’re more likely to take notice and attribute the goings-on to la lune because it fits in with your previous assumptions.

While it’s easy to look to the heavens when guests appear to be howling at the moon, they’d probably be acting the same way at most points in the moon’s cycle. But it’s no fun blaming the waxing gibbous, is it?

The article Do Bar Guests Act Crazier During a Full Moon? appeared first on VinePair.

There were eight weeks of my life when I hated making Martinis.

It was the only time I ever worked at a nice cocktail bar. Not to be confused with the many, many places I’ve worked that had killer vibes and amazing drinks menus, this specific cocktail bar seemingly existed solely so people with more money than me could go on dates. It was attached to a swanky hotel in midtown Manhattan. Our uniforms were white. My boss had health insurance. Y’know, a nice bar. And anytime someone asked me for a Martini, I would cringe.

Unlike every other drink we served — which at worst engendered a simple binary question like “Would you like your Manhattan with bourbon or rye?” — the Martini usually set off a whole convoluted decision tree involving vermouth, olive brine, shaking versus stirring, and what exactly “dry” meant to the particular patron standing in front of me. My slew of follow-up questions almost always proved fruitless because the customer, through no fault of their own, often didn’t have the vocabulary to describe the very specific beverage they were after. This meant that whatever I put in front of them next was almost inevitably disappointing.

Those two months are my villain origin story, the genesis point for the profoundly twisted way I began to drink (and now prefer) my Martinis: with plenty of vermouth, orange bitters and a lemon twist, served in a rocks glass on a big, fat ice cube.

A Rock Solid Case

I can already hear the pitchforks being sharpened, so let me explain. I’ve enjoyed the living hell out of a great many Martinis that were served up. But there are times of year — particularly in late summer when it’s still hot but possible, finally, to enjoy a heartier beverage — when I’ll take a Martini on the rocks over its typical preparation 10 times out of 10.

A straight-up Martini is a slap in the face — which can be a feature, not a flaw — but I don’t always want my cocktail smacking me around. And it’s the days where the vibe is more Netflix-and-chill that the on-the-rocks Martini comes in. The ice obviously does a good job of reducing this boozy bruiser from a punch to a gentle cuddle, and that’s before I lengthen it further with a 50/50 ratio of gin to dry and white vermouths. The bitters come in next for a nice citrusy pop before the lemon twist finally settles on top, making the whole thing smell like summertime. Snappy, friendly, delightful.

There’s also the advantage of drinking this build from a user-friendly cylinder versus a top-heavy monstrosity. The Martini glass’s stale, unimaginative cone was first foisted on the American public during the silent film era, several decades after the drink itself had already achieved widespread popularity. Too narrow at the base to gracefully hold and too wide at the top to respectably drink from, the Martini glass seems to have been originally intended for Champagne — or, at least, that’s what the movie stars of the day used it for. Somewhere along the line, though, this shell picked up a new hermit crab. Though many Art Deco treasures of the 1920s and ‘30s died out, this un-ergonomic nightmare tragically wasn’t one of them, and by the time the three-Martini lunch was in its prime, the drink and the glass were inexorably fused together.

“I think the Martini’s evolution, its popularity came from people bucking tradition.”

This presents a compromise: Wouldn’t a coupe split the difference between a rocks glass and the V-glass? And split the difference it does — in the worst ways. The straight-sided nature of a coupe concentrates the alcohol fumes coming off the drink in the same way a rocks glass does, with the increased spill-ability of five ounces of liquid astride a thin, brittle stem. To be fair, there’s also the Nick & Nora glass (a piece of drinkware that I genuinely like) but that has the same name recognition problem as the coupe for those less cocktail-conscious and then some. So in short, when you’re looking for the ideal vessel for your crisp, cold Martini on a hot summer’s day no matter the closest bar cart, a rocks glass is really your most solid option.

Of course, not everyone agrees with me.

“I would take those small plastic cups that are next to a water jug over a rocks glass,” says Mandy Naglich, drinks writer and author of the recent book “How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life.” She points out that as that big, juicy cube I love so much melts, it’s going to affect the flavor compounds that are expressed in the drink. Naglich also contends that the drink’s eponymous vessel makes it more pleasant to smell and easier to drink: a Martini glass allows the boozy aroma cloud that would hover over a rocks glass or a coupe to dissipate, as opposed to focusing those ethanol molecules toward the nostrils like a laser beam. That same open shape also affects the surface tension of the drink, allowing it to cascade over the side and into the mouth of a thirsty customer with ease.

None of this, of course, changes the fact that the Martini glass sucks.

“They’re just terribly designed,” says Chockie Tom, a writer, indigenous drinks activist, and brand ambassador for Mr Black. “It’s an awkward glass for most people to drink from, it’s an awkward glass for most servers to deal with. It’s aesthetically cool if you like the ’50s for 10 seconds, but I just kind of prefer something more rounded.” Tom, who, crucially, agrees with me, feels the heft of a hearty ice cube in a hearty rocks glass adds to the storied oomph of a drink that is often best known as the cocktail of choice for the mid-century power player, even as it continues to evolve. Sienna Jevremov, head distiller and blender at Widow Jane, takes that tradition a step further, preferring her Martinis shaken and triple-strained into a rocks glass with an orange peel wrapped around an olive, pig-in-blanket-style, as a garnish.

“I think the Martini’s evolution, its popularity came from people bucking tradition,” Tom says. “So, why not continue to do it?”

Rock(s) of Ages

There is historical precedent for this preparation, too. The Martini-on-the-rocks (as it used to be hyphenated) had a brief heyday in the 1950s and early ‘60s per multiple publications at the time. Gin brands even got in on the action, with Seagram’s running a 1960 ad that read, “Who said the Martini isn’t a summertime drink? Our good host above makes a Martini-on-the-rocks that tastes fresh and frosty when it’s 90 degrees in the shade!” My sentiments exactly.

“The important thing is to be happy with what you’re drinking.”

This trend, obviously, isn’t looked at too fondly in retrospect. Drinks writer David Wondrich says that it was an “adaptation to both the decline in bartending skill and the hegemony of the Martini.” Spirits educator and genever entrepreneur Philip Duff is a little more blunt when I ask him why he thinks this trend took off in the middle of the 20th century.

“Those are the golden ages of homophobia,” he says, “and people were afraid that if you held a stemmed glass, you’d be gay.”

Bigotry aside, Duff argues that the Martini’s value lies in a short list of tenets that are simple and unbending. “A Martini is perfect because of its limitations,” he notes. “It’s small, it’s cold, it’s strong. Once you start f*cking with any of those parameters to some degree I think you ruin it.” That said, he does admit simultaneously that he’s helping his downstairs neighbor design a Martini-on-the-rocks for a new cocktail bar.

Contradictory? Sure. But embracing contradiction is the on-the-rocks Martini’s genius. What other cocktail trades a dainty glass for something utilitarian in order to turn a booze bomb refreshing? It’s a liquid poke in the eye to anyone who claims there’s a right way to make this drink.

“If [people] are going to come to the Martini they should come to it right,” Duff says, when asked about this cognitive dissonance. “And if they don’t come to it that’s OK, too. They can just drink whatever the hell they like. But the important thing is to be happy with what you’re drinking.”

The article Unpopular Opinion: Serve My Martini on the Rocks appeared first on VinePair.

Ever wonder what deep space tastes like? To be honest, it’s not something we ever fully considered until browsing the menu at NYC’s newly opened Bar Contra.

Featured among the Lower East Side cocktail bar’s list of shaken drinks is the Sagittarius B2, a drink that, according to the menu, replicates “the taste of the center of the galaxy.” While drinkers might come across this description and suspect it’s just a figure of speech, it turns out the statement is scientifically accurate. So, how does the bar team actually know what the inner layers of the universe taste like, and how did they replicate it in a drink? To answer these intergalactic questions, VinePair tapped Dave Arnold, drinks expert and partner at Bar Contra.

Arnold recalls coming across an article about a cloud of gas at the center of the Milky Way called Sagittarius B2 that caught his interest. It detailed the findings of astronomers conducting research on the possibility of life on other planets and investigating a giant dust cloud in search of amino acids. But instead of finding protein precursors as hoped, the scientists found ethyl formate, the chemical compound that gives raspberries their flavor. It’s also known to smell like rum.

“Right away, I knew I wanted to make a drink,” Arnold recalls. “It only got better when I learned that there are also cyanide compounds in that cloud.” In bitter almonds, the compound amygdalin breaks down into cyanide and benzaldehyde, which gives almond extract its aroma. Arnold decided an orgeat was the perfect tie-in.

It’s no surprise that Arnold pulled this inspiration from the science world. He’s widely known for his highly technical approach to drinks, pioneering inventive preparations at his now-closed bars Booker & Dax and Existing Conditions and in his book “Liquid Intelligence.” The biggest issue with his newest project: making the ingredients work. Though rum is standard base and almond orgeat is a natural pair for the spirit, raspberries are a bit of black sheep in the cocktail world, rarely used outside of the Clover Club.

“Raspberries aren’t normally used in cocktails because they don’t have enough acid to act like lime, or enough sugar to act like syrup — and are expensive,” Arnold notes. To address this issue, he implemented the acid adjusting technique — a method that Arnold himself popularized at Existing Conditions — adding further scientific flair to this already geek-y drink.

“I used acid adjusting to boost the acid in the raspberry juice to 6 percent,” he says. “Then, the drink practically mixed itself.”

The resulting Sagittarius B2 cocktail is a stunning bright pink and served up in a glass chilled by liquid nitrogen. And the palate? Some might say it’s out of this world.

The article This Bar Contra Cocktail Literally Tastes Like Outer Space appeared first on VinePair.

This week, Canadian cannabis company turned global consumer goods conglomerate Tilray Brands acquired four craft breweries from Molson Coors, bringing Tilray’s total brewery count to 20. Needless to say, the company is very bullish on craft beer, but it’s also very bullish on its original focus: cannabis.

For a long time now, the alcohol industry has viewed cannabis as a threat to its bottom line, but the truth is, on-premise liquor sales are likely to remain unscathed by the growing weed industry. After all, cannabis simply isn’t a social lubricant like booze is. In reality, it’s the off-premise where alcohol should really be concerned.

On this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” Adam, Joanna, and Zach discuss the biggest way that cannabis products are threatening alcohol: by being the substance of choice for relaxation at the end of a long day. Tune in for more.

Joanna is reading: Facing a Shortage, Will Wray & Nephew Rum Be the Next Chartreuse?
Zach is reading: Are ‘Legendary Vintages’ Becoming a Tired Wine Marketing Cliche?
Adam is reading: The Best and Worst Bravolebrity Booze Brands, Tasted and Ranked

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Listen on Spotify

The article The VinePair Podcast: Where Cannabis Is Catching Alcohol Off Guard appeared first on VinePair.

“Cocktail College” is brought to you today by Tanqueray. I don’t know about you, listener, but I’m one of those people who needs a mobile app to track my budget. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I actually have a line item on mine marked “Tanqueray.” It’s true! Because I’m a gin Martini drinker, and Tanqueray is my Martini gin. I’m not ashamed to admit it — I have a Tanqueray monthly budget. But it’s not just for Martinis. No, I turn to Tanqueray for any of the gin classics because it always delivers on that classic London dry profile. You know, Tanqueray is not like a good friend. It’s like a best friend, a dependable stalwart that always delivers. Now, if you’re looking for cocktail inspiration, well, you know you’ve come to the right place. But if you’re looking for something tailored specifically for Tanqueray, you should head over to www.tanqueray.com now because you know what, listener? When it comes to gin cocktails, you deserve the best.

We often ridicule Martini variations from the ‘80s and ‘90s for being overly sweet and only classified as “Martinis” because of their glassware. In most instances, that derision is justified, but it’s very much not true of today’s drink: the Breakfast Martini. Inspired by a tasty condiment served during the most important meal of the day, the Breakfast Martini is so much more than a novel brunch cocktail. It’s a modern classic — one of the earliest in the canon — devised by Salvatore Calabrese in the ‘90s.

On this episode of “Cocktail College,” we’re joined by the “Cocktail Maestro” himself to chat about one of his most famous creations, how it came to be, why it’s become so famous, and how to perfect it, plus so much more.

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Salvatore Calabrese’s Breakfast Martini Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ ounces London dry gin
• ½ ounce Cointreau
• ½ ounce lemon juice
• 1 heaped barspoon Wilkin & Sons Orange Marmalade
• Garnish: orange twist

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice.
2. Stir to dissolve marmalade, discard excess water, and add fresh ice.
3. Shake until chilled.
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
5. Garnish with a shredded orange or orange twist.

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Salvatore Calabrese

*Image retrieved from Johannes via stock.adobe.com

The article The Cocktail College Podcast: The Breakfast Martini appeared first on VinePair.

Remarkable cocktails require exceptional ingredients. This is especially true for traditional, spirit-forward ones like the Old Fashioned, which blends whiskey, bitters, and sugar to create a full-bodied flavor that’s meant to be sipped and savored.

Considered one of the most important cocktails of all time by bartenders and historians alike, the Old Fashioned traces its roots to the original 19th-century definition of the word “cocktail.” This mixture of base spirit, bitters, and sugar became wildly popular, prompting bartenders to create new versions with varied ingredients. Eventually, customers who preferred the original recipe made with whiskey were requesting that the cocktail be made “the old-fashioned way.” Over time, the name became official and while the basic recipe has remained, the ingredients and spirits used for it have evolved.

As whiskeys became more cultivated, bourbon became the preferred base spirit for Old Fashioned recipes, and discerning customers typically order theirs by name brand. Elijah Craig is one of the most requested bourbons — for Old Fashioneds and for sipping neat. It’s named after Reverend Elijah Craig, who was renowned for his skill as a distiller and for his commitment to innovation. In 1789, he became the first distiller to age his whiskey in new charred oak barrels — etching his name into history as the “Father of Bourbon”.

Elijah Craig has embraced one of the world’s oldest cocktails as its signature sipper, and now hosts Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week® every October as the ultimate celebration of a drink so beloved that it was selected as the official cocktail of Louisville, Ky. Elijah Craig’s fifth celebration will take place from Oct. 11 through Oct. 20, 2024. In addition to encouraging people of legal age to experiment with creating and sharing their own Old Fashioned recipes, the brand will allow them to create their own Old Fashioned Week itinerary via the “Find A Bar” page on OldFashionedWeek.com. Elijah Craig will also donate $1 (up to $100,000) for every Old Fashioned sold at participating bars to the Southern Smoke Foundation, which helps food and beverage industry workers in times of need.

In addition, Elijah Craig is partnering with VinePair to hold its A New Era of the Old Fashioned Cocktail Contest, which invites bartenders to add a new twist to the classic Old Fashioned recipe for a chance to win up to $15,000, to be featured on VinePair.com, and to have their cocktail listed in Elijah Craig’s “Old Fashioned Week Cocktail Companion: Volume 2” recipe book. Entries will be accepted from Aug. 15, 2024 to Nov. 1, 2024, and in November, 10 semifinalists will be selected to submit a video of their cocktail presentation. Five finalists will then be chosen to compete in a live competition in Kentucky.

To enter, contestants must submit an image of their new take on the Old Fashioned featuring Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon or Elijah Craig Straight Rye Whiskey, as well as an explanation of the thought process and inspiration for the cocktail. Entries will be judged on flavor, aroma, balance, appearance, and creativity, as well as innovation, a core value at Elijah Craig and a key factor in this competition. The competition is open to bartenders based in the United States. However, individual state liquor laws apply. Check the website to see if your state is legally eligible to participate.

Judges for this competition include editors and industry experts, such as VinePair’s co-founder and CEO Adam Teeter, who is recognized as an authority on wine and cocktails and is a winner of the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup American Wine-Tasting Championship. VinePair’s editor in chief and VinePair Podcast co-host, Joanna Sciarrino will also be among the judges, and so will Lynn House, the national spirits specialist and portfolio mixologist for Heaven Hill Brands. In addition to representing the entire Heaven Hill portfolio, including Elijah Craig, House also oversees brand and spirit education, cocktail development, and cocktail trend identification. She was recently recognized as the 2023 American Whiskey Brand Ambassador of the Year by the Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky Awards.

Just as the Old Fashioned is a perfect vehicle for highlighting and showcasing the nuanced flavor profiles of Elijah Craig’s whiskeys, the Old Fashioned Cocktail Competition will highlight the ingenuity and expertise of talented bartenders.

Click here to submit your cocktail to the 2024 A New Era of the Old Fashioned Cocktail Contest.

This article is sponsored by Elijah Craig.

The article A Modern Take on a Classic Drink: Enter Elijah Craig’s A New Era of the Old Fashioned Cocktail Contest appeared first on VinePair.

In June 2021, after it became clear that New York City’s current mayor, Eric Adams, was as much or more of a political hack as his predecessor, The Onion published an instant-classic item on this dispiriting electoral dynamic. “Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy To Find A Mayor That Doesn’t Suck Shit, Huh?” reads the headline, perched atop a photo of former NYC mayor Bill De Blasio looking smug.

The joke was on my mind last week as Monster Beverage Corporation (MBC) reported its second-quarter earnings. Recall, the energy-drink giant bought into the American beer business in a big way back in January 2022, acquiring the CANarchy Craft Brewing Collective for some $330 million. That was then. These days, Monster’s beverage-alcohol division has started to look like it got thrown through drywall.

Net sales for the unit — a mish-mash of half a dozen craft breweries, as well as a homegrown flavored-malt-beverage brand — are down a staggering 31.9 percent compared to the same period last year, according to MBC’s Q2 earnings report earlier this month. Zoom out to six months, and the decline stands at 9.1 percent. The declines are accelerating: Even though The Beast Unleashed, Monster’s flagship flavored malt beverage, hasn’t even fully cycled through the low-denominator, limited-distribution benchmarks it began laying down after its January 2023 launch, its best days look to be behind it. After a rash of closures and layoffs, MBC also told analysts on Aug. 7 that it would write down another $8.1 million of its initial CANarchy investment, after taking a $39.9 million impairment charge on its booze division in the fourth quarter of 2023 “due in part to the continuing challenges in the craft beer and seltzer categories.”

One imagines the smug looks on the faces of American brewing executives taking stock of the interloper’s woes in the tough market they’re all muscling through. Well, well, well, not so easy to run a beer business that doesn’t suck shit, huh?

The beverage-marketing juggernaut’s comeuppance has been swift. It wasn’t long ago that it looked like MBC executives, hardened in the cutthroat, flavor-forward, convenience store-centric world of non-alcoholic energy drinks, had the skills and vision to pull off a smooth transition to “total beverage.” It clearly grasped the perils of making enemies of the National Beer Wholesalers Association in a way that its fellow Big Beverage firm, the much larger PepsiCo, didn’t. Rather than trying to stand up its own operation in the middle tier, à la Blue Cloud, or sign distributors one at a time, it bought CANarchy’s ready-build wholesaler network instead. After the January 2022 buyout of CANarchy’s brands, the firm waited almost a year before even announcing The Beast Unleashed, an impressive display of corporate composure given the mad scramble among every damn consumer packaged goods conglomerate under the sun to cash in on leverage their non-alcoholic brand equity with hard seltzers, juices, and teas. It didn’t even really start fiddling with the breweries it acquired for a year or so after closing on CANarchy.

Unlike many of its peers, the firm’s longtime co-chief executive also seemed to grasp just how alarming a soft-to-hard crossover might be in the court of public opinion (and actual court, too.) “I actually am vehemently opposed to putting a brand that’s a strong consumer brand onto an alcoholic product,” co-CEO Hilton Schlosberg told investors on a January 2022 conference call to discuss the then-fresh acquisition, according to Brewbound. “I think it’s just opening up for major issues down the road. … This vision of kids being stopped, and they claim that they thought they were drinking non-alcoholic products.” Now there’s a guy who understands Regulatory Roulette is not a game you want to win!

Overall, these moves demonstrated a level of sophistication and restraint that, frankly, I don’t really associate with Monster as a brand. However, as a company, I think it made a lot of smart moves in the early days of its tenure as one of the country’s largest craft breweries, as (somehow) defined by the Brewers Association.

Of course, MBC didn’t buy CANarchy to leave it be forever. Whatever institutional hubris may have animated the decision to build The Beast Unleashed from scratch rather than extending one of the existing beverage-alcohol brands it had bought — Wild Basin, Oskar Blues Brewing Co.’s hard seltzer sub-brand seemed ripe for it — there was some expediency at play, too. CANarchy’s breweries were struggling to keep up with the shifting preferences of the American drinking public. Data collected by the BA show that the roll-up’s annual volumes grew 2 percent in 2020 before falling 5 percent and 13 percent the following two years. Independently owned craft breweries might be able to keep their investors calm through those tough-but-recoverable declines, but MBC is publicly traded, and had plans of its own. Things would have to change.

Even as MBC began to make proactive moves with its beverage-alcohol business, though, the outcomes weren’t catastrophic. Not, at least, in ways that might presage those bed-shitting results from last quarter. Hell, some of the firm’s choices played well, at least at first.

The Beast Unleashed arrived with much fanfare at the top of 2023; by mid-March of that year, it was already a top-50 FMB brand, with its variety pack outselling those of PepsiCo/Boston Beer Co.’s Hard Mtn. Dew and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda, according to Sightlines editor and retail-scan superman Bryan Roth. Sure, the former was struggling to expand its footprint with Blue Cloud helming distribution, and the latter was called, indecipherably, “Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda.” But still! By October, Monster was the 23rd-largest vendor in the beer category, per Circana multi-outlet and convenience scans crunched by Brewbound’s Jessica Infante — and that was excluding the CANarchy brands. The Beast Unleashed closed out its first full frame as the top-selling new beer brand in NielsenIQ scans, crowed Schlosberg and his co-CEO Rodney Sacks in a January 2024 investor presentation. Three flavors were top-selling FMB ready-to-drinks; Mean Green, designed to taste the most like NA Monster, was No. 1.

(I should note that despite Schlosberg’s vehemence about keeping the energy drink’s branding off the alcoholic line extension, Mean Green looks more than a little bit like Monster as such, right down to the electric-green M logo in the center of the eye.)

The existing CANarchy portfolio faced tougher sledding as MBC got into the weeds. In November 2023, Oskar Blues’ Austin facility — a 50,000-square-foot brewhouse with a 5,000-square-foot taproom opened in 2016 — was abruptly shuttered, reportedly without advanced notice to the unspecified number of employees who lost their jobs. In March 2024, the company laid off a dozen workers at Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing, including longtime brewmaster Wayne Wambles, a signal that whatever “research and development” the corporation planned to do at the facility in the future would be much different than its venerable, award-winning past. Two months later, Deep Ellum Brewing in Dallas received similar treatment: closure, 25 layoffs, and a shift of production to other facilities.

The cuts were, of course, rough for the affected workers. It smarted extra for observers from around the once-ebullient, now-beleaguered craft brewing industry to watch an outside corporation — not just an outsider to craft beer, but from beer entirely — make them. “The location that we know and love has been slowly dismantled over the past two weeks,” said Alex Kidd, the commentator behind the popular Don’t Drink Beers Instagram account and blog, in a visibly irate video message posted to the social platform as news of Cigar City’s closure got out. It wasn’t the outpouring of grief you saw after news of Sapporo USA’s own abrupt closure of San Francisco’s legendary Anchor Brewing Co. last year, but MBC’s moves earned it no friends among the in-flux industry members who had seen this pattern play out plenty over the past half-decade. They also haven’t magically turned around the Collective’s collective struggles, not yet at least. The breweries were down around 9 percent in volume through the third week of July 2024.

This all brings us back to that comeuppance. After delivering bad news to some of its craft brewing properties over the past nine months, MBC execs had to do likewise to analysts on its Q2 call last week. That Monster Brewing’s net sales have plunged nearly 32 percent on the quarter is bad, but what it signals is worse. Namely, that the company bet big on its flagship FMB, The Beast Unleashed, and it just isn’t sticking. The Q2 earnings report signals as much: “The decrease in net sales was primarily due to decreased sales by volume of flavored malt beverages.”

Why? Well, for one thing, the FMB space is crowded as hell. For another, I’m not convinced Monster has figured out how to position these brands. It’s running its (extremely powerful) energy-drink marketing playbook on the beverage-alcohol space as though that Venn diagram of drinkers is a circle, even though it isn’t. I’ve personally seen stacks of the stuff sitting untouched in grocery stores, and a few tipsters from around the country have checked in with your humble Hop Take columnist to report the same.

That’s anecdotal evidence, of course, but coupled with the brand’s falling volumes, it suggests that The Beast Unleashed just isn’t winning the coveted repeat buyer. Its growth throughout 2023 was likely fueled by some combination of novelty and aggressive geographic expansion, but you’re only the hot new thing on the shelf once, and there are only 50 states to open for distribution. The Beast Unleashed is in all 50; Nasty Beast, which aims to ride Twisted Tea’s long tail and has picked up around 1 percent of hard tea share in its first year so far, is in 49. Maybe it’s the liquid, the packaging, the lack of “facings” in the cooler due to its limited SKUs… maybe it’s all of the above, or something else entirely.

Whatever it is, it ain’t working. MBC jump-started its adventures in beverage alcohol with its CANarchy acquisition, but to get its brewing unit back on track, it’ll have to embrace the suck just like everyone else.

🤯 Hop-ocalypse Now

There’s a bill currently working its way through the California legislature that would codify restrictions on how retailers can use self-checkout stations. Naturally, the grocery industry is not a fan, and ditto the state’s Chamber of Commerce. Another apparent critic of the idea is The Drinks Business’ managing editor Sarah Neish, who filed a lengthy pearl-clutcher last week arguing that the bill, SB 1446, would dictate drinkers would “no longer be able to buy alcohol at self check-outs.” But here’s the thing: That hasn’t been allowed since 2013, when the California Grocers Association’s lawsuit against the state control authority’s interpretation of a law passed two years prior in Sacramento failed in appellate court. In other words, the Drinks Business published thousands of words and some anti-labor swipes based on a false premise that Hop Take was able to debunk with a quick Google and texts to a handful of sources from the Golden State. (Not the “Sunshine State,” as it’s referred to in the column; that’s Florida.) The publication, which is based in the United Kingdom, did not not respond to Hop Take’s request for comment.

📈 Ups…

Around two-thirds of the American drinking public drinks beer, and 29 percent prefer it to other categories, according to new survey data from YouGov… After a 14-year run, the taproom and brand of the Bay Area’s Heretic Brewery will live on thanks to a recent acquisition by nearby Calicraft… Lawson’s Finest Liquids is marching down the Eastern Seaboard, opening distribution in North Carolina (its 10th state, including its home of Vermont)… New Trail Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania has found a “bizarro world” niche, posting 75 straight months of growth even as the craft segment struggles…

📉 …and downs

The Brewers Association, Beer Institute, and National Beer Wholesalers Association all filed more objections to the supposedly shady processes behind the 2025 federal dietary guideline revisions… The 2024 Craft Brewers Convention saw a ~20 percent attendance drop from the previous year, per the BA’s post-mortem…

The article Monster’s Brewing Business Is Crashing Hard appeared first on VinePair.

In its new 2024 Alcoholic Drinks Report, brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance revealed the 10 most valuable wine and Champagne brands in the world. Despite a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the wine industry this year, this data suggests that many of the category’s biggest brands continue to show growth.

Based on value, three out of the top four most-valued brands are Champagne producers, and all of the brands in the top four — Moët & Chandon, Chandon, and Veuve Clicquot, and Dom Pérignon — are owned by French powerhouse LVMH. Moët & Chandon retained its No 1. spot from 2023, with a 9.1 percent increase in brand value this year.

Ranking fifth is Chinese wine brand Changyu, which dropped from the No. 2 spot this year due with a 33-percent decrease in value. According to Brand Finance’s research, this could be tied to a decline in stakeholders’ perceptions of Changyu’s price premium, likely due to an influx of competing wine brands in China.

Australia’s beloved critter wine Yellow Tail also makes an appearance in the top 10 this year. The brand demonstrated impressive growth, with an 138.7 percent increase in brand value from 2023, catapulting it from the 12th spot in 2023 to the 7th this year.

The report also features a Brand Strength Index (BSI) that takes several factors into account including, “inputs” or activities supporting the future strength of the brand; “equity” or current perceptions of the brand; and “outputs” which are performance measures such as market share. While Changyu dropped in value, the brand did still clinch the No. 1 spot on the BSI rankings.

To see what other wine and Champagne brands landed in the top 10 most valuable, check out the full list below.

The 10 Most Valuable Champagne and Wine Brands 2024

1. Moët & Chandon ($1.4 billion)
2. Chandon ($1.0 billion)
3. Veuve Clicquot ($959 million)
4. Dom Pérignon ($800 million)
5. Changyu ($707 million)
6. Penfolds ($675 million)
7. Yellow Tail ($613 million)
8. Beringer ($542 million)
9. Jacob’s Creek ($344 million)
10. Lindeman’s ($271 million)

The article The World’s 10 Most Valuable Wine and Champagne Brands (2024) appeared first on VinePair.

This year, a new wave of hype-dining washed ashore in New York City. Seafood, in all of its stunning, salty forms, took center stage at the city’s buzziest restaurants. Sure, smash burgers are having a moment and hot dogs keep showing up on menus (sometimes in unexpected forms), but ultimately it’s the seafood-centric spots that have come to dominate the dining scene in 2024. This trend stretches beyond the influx of luxury bromakase options, wine bars slinging tinned fish, and dishes that boast often unnecessary spoonfuls of caviar. Instead, it’s a collection of innovative restaurants pushing the boundaries of what a singularly focused marine menu can offer.

Penny, a seafood counter perched above its predecessor, Claud, in the East Village, delivers particularly succulent examples of typical raw bar suspects alongside more complex dishes like Dover sole dotted with bone marrow. Theodora, a follow-up to Fort Greene’s beloved Mediterranean haunt Miss Ada, features dry-aged fish across its menu, from a selection of crudos to larger dishes cooked in an open-fire kitchen.

These spots, among other new openings like the coastal Italian San Sabino and Il Totano, Basque Eel Bar, and New Orleans-inspired Strange Delight, introduced fish dishes that are dry-aged, wood-fired, doused in chicken fat, or even covered in red sauce and cheese — a combination that would have many Italian Nonnas clutching their spatulas.

Traditional pairing advice dictates: “White wine with fish, red wine with meat.” And since guests gravitate toward reliable options Sancerre, Muscadet, and Chablis with marine fare, restaurants typically lean into them. But just as chefs stretch what an all-seafood menu can do, beverage professionals are pushing the limits of the accompanying drinks lists. In this wave of openings, diners can expect something new alongside their scallop crudo or swordfish belly — whether it’s a smoky mezcal cocktail, sparkling sake, or earthy skin-contact wine.

Breaking the Muscadet Mold

Theodora’s general manager, Maggie Dahill, discovered the grip of the “white wine with fish” convention during the restaurant’s opening week in February. “Within the first few weeks we just flew through the white wines and had to buy more immediately,” she says. “Coming from Miss Ada, which has a more diverse menu, I was used to seeing a pretty even split.”

Despite most drinkers’ inclinations, Dahill was determined to compile a list that pushed diners to try new combinations and interesting producers from across the globe. For those sticking with whites, she loves recommending Mediterranean wines, particularly the salty, smoky volcanic examples from Mt. Etna. But for the more open-minded, Dahill points to the skin-contact section of the menu. “Floral, salty, elegant skin-contact wines take the food to another level,” she says. “With the intensity of the smoke you get in the wood-fired dishes it’s nice to have something that wraps itself around it.”

Theodora’s use of dry-aged fish, as well as specialty wood-fired grills and charcoal ovens, adds an extra dimension of flavor to its dishes. Picking a wine that can level up to those savory, smoky, spicy notes — like one of Dahills favorites, a skin-contact Muscadelle from Oriol Artigas in Catalonia — helps match those complexities.

“Xarel-lo as a grape variety is one that everyone should be paying attention to.”

At Penny, wine director Ellis Srubas-Giammanco oversees a concise but well-rounded program with a robust selection of classic whites from Burgundy, Jura, and the Loire, as well as more obscure wines like still Palomino from Jerez and older Carignan Blanc from Languedoc-Roussillon. The by-the-glass offerings nudge drinkers toward the more left-field options, like Insolia from Sicily or white blends from Portugal. The list rotates, but a consistent favorite is the Bodega Clandestina ‘‘Sense Papers” Xarel-lo, from Penedès.

“Xarel-lo as a grape variety is one that everyone should be paying attention to,” Srubas-Giammanco says. “The value is incredible, and it’s something that can really appeal to Chablis drinkers. A perfect, briny, mineral white.”

In a year when two of the most talked about dishes in NYC are San Sabino’s hearty Shrimp Parm and the rich Lobster au Poivre at Demo, it’s safe to say that reds can find a home alongside seafood, too, especially considering the growing popularity of chilled reds. At Penny, Srubas-Giammanco looks to wines like the Nanclares y Prieto “A Senda Vermella” Mencia-based blend from Rías Baixas, Spain. The light-bodied wine, which comes in at about 9.5 percent ABV perfectly complements the restaurant’s grilled swordfish with Jimmy Nardello peppers. “It plays well with the red fruit, pepper, and earth notes,” he says.

Cocktails Have Entered the Chat

Pairing off-the-beaten-path wines with seafood is one thing, but what’s more surprising is a concerted emphasis on mixed drinks. With spirits demonstrating continued growth, more restaurants are embracing culinary-driven cocktails to complement their menus — seafood included.

Though wine is a major focus at red sauce joint Don Angie, down the street at the team’s new coastal Italian restaurant San Sabino, guests pair their crab-filled pastas and spicy tuna arancini with brightly colored cocktails.

“When we designed the beverage menu at San Sabino, we thought about our favorite seaside locations to dine, and our minds immediately went toward cocktails we’d want to drink on a beach,” says chef Angie Rito. “We also wanted the cocktails to align with the food menu in terms of its ethos — our style of cuisine is about risk-taking and a bit of ‘rule breaking,’ relying heavily on personal stories, with a strong thread of Italian and Italian-American ingredients mashed up with other unique and unexpected flavors.”

One example is the Sabinooch, the restaurant’s take on a white Negroni made with mezcal, a twist of grapefruit, and a house-made “Moscato Chinato.” The complex ingredient is a white riff on the traditional Italian fortified wine Barolo Chinato, made using Moscato. The drink is light and fresh, but also herbaceous, bitter, and smoky, making it a versatile pairing across the menu.

Theodora also set out to design a comprehensive cocktail program to complement its marine-centric menu. The drinks are split between easy-drinking, aperitivo-style cocktails that could accompany one of the restaurant’s fresh crudos, and technique-driven, complex creations that match the food’s more savory components. The latter include ingredients like caperberries, bay leaf, feta, anchovy, and even lamb fat, and frequently feature mezcal, as the spirit harmonizes with Theadora’s smoky, wood-fired preparations.

Theodora’s Mayahuel, for example, riffs on a mezcal Martini with an infusion of black pepper and bay leaves and a touch of honey. “It ends up being something that settles into the mid-palate of a lot of dishes,” Dahill says. “The food brings a lot of acidity, freshness, and brightness on the front and smoky finish on the back, and this fits right in the middle.”

A Spotlight for Sake and Sherry

At NYC’s hot new seafood spots, odds are that wine, beer, and cocktails aren’t the only sections on the menu — they’re making room for lesser-known beverages like sake, sherry, and vermouth.

When Srubas-Giammanco joined the opening team at Penny, he knew he wanted to feature both sherry and sake on the by-the-glass list. Though often underappreciated in the U.S., these categories are particularly well suited to fish and shellfish pairings. Plus, logistically, they have great shelf life, making them easier to take a risk on by the glass.

“Vermouth is usually tucked into a cocktail, and here we’re saying this is about the vermouth — it’s not the accessory.”

Srubas-Giammanco recalls a standout red rice-based Mukai Shuzo he poured during Penny’s opening week that guests were pleasantly surprised by. And though sherry seems to be a more difficult sell, Srubas-Giammanco likes to steer interested drinkers toward that section for certain pairings. “Right now we have a beautiful amontillado sherry, which is amazing with the lobster, basted in brown butter,” he says. “It’s salt meets umami meets unctuous lobster.”

Similarly, Eel Bar on the Lower East Side includes vermouth in two of its menu sections — with pours of blanco and rojo vermouth sitting alongside sherry under “Fortified Wines,” and a separate collection called “Prepared Vermouths” that features cocktails. This category includes drinks like the Marianito, made with Axta red vermouth, agricole rum, curaçao, Angostura, and an olive. Though Eel Bar could easily list these under the “cocktail” sections, featuring them separately draws attention to vermouth so guests can become more familiar with the category.

“Vermouth is usually tucked into a cocktail, and here we’re saying this is about the vermouth — it’s not the accessory,” Taylor Ward, Eel Bar’s director of operations, says.

Though not every drinker will be caught with a glass of sherry or vermouth while slurping shellfish at a bar, these establishments might convince curious guests to try new things. The same can be said about seafood itself, which wasn’t always as widely adored.

“People seem to be more open to exploring new flavors and ingredients now more than ever,” Rito says. “Although in the past seafood was a more polarizing category for people, that no longer seems to be the case.”

The article NYC’s New Wave of Seafood Restaurants Is Shaking Up Beverage Pairings appeared first on VinePair.

One of the main takeaways from “Castaway” and “Robinson Crusoe” is that being stranded alone on a deserted island would be — to put it lightly — a pretty dismal existence. Food isn’t a guarantee, inanimate objects become your only friends (looking at you, Wilson), and you don’t know if or when you’ll ever be able to leave. Another losing quality in this scenario: Alcohol would likely be in short supply.

Imagine, though, if you could take an unlimited stash of just one beer to have on hand during your potentially indefinite stay. It would have to be something you’d never grow tired of. Ideally, it’d be crisp and sessionable; maybe something on the hoppy side, or perhaps a reliable, stalwart macro lager. What would you pick?

We posed this very question to 10 professional brewers from all over the U.S. Some were happy to choose just one, but others got more creative with their island picks. Here’s what they had to say.

The best desert island beers, according to brewers:

• Russian River Brewing Company Pliny the Elder
• Machine House Brewery Cambridge Bitter
• Sante Adairius Rustic Ales Saison Bernice
• Allagash White
• Westmalle Tripel and Hamm’s Lager
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
• Live Oak Brewing Company Pilz
• Rainier Beer
• Russian River Brewing Company Blind Pig
• Coors Banquet

“It’s a desert island, so I assume it’s hot and dry. I’m a hop guy; I love hops. I love New England IPAs and I love West Coast IPAs, but I might have to go West Coast here because it’s hot and I want hops with a little more crispness. Probably Pliny. I don’t have anywhere to go, so the fact that it’s 8 percent ABV doesn’t matter, and it’s still pretty crisp.” —Sam Richardson, co-founder and brewmaster, Other Half Brewing Company, Brooklyn

“The island would have to be somewhere in the Washington San Juans or the Salish Sea. I would be a fisherman, deserted alone. Existence would be rain formed in mist, drizzle, sleet, or the common downpour. The cloudy skies prove gray nearly year-round, except for the occasional orange sword of sunset far away, which would point sideways to mark the time: 5 o’clock. In an old stone keep, there would be but one cask, never failing or becoming stale [but always pouring] the stuff that mimics the orange horizon: Machine House Cambridge Bitter. I would pop a tin of Capstan Blue and guzzle a few pints before retiring to bed.” —Kevin Davey, co-owner, Gold Dot Beer, McMinnville, Ore.

“Sante Adairius’s Saison Bernice. During my time in Berkeley, I fondly remember making the pilgrimage to Capitola with coworkers in the hope of stocking up on bottles. It’s such a beautiful and balanced expression of mixed-culture fermentation and acidity. To me, it’s the gold standard of a tart saison. I could drink it all day, every day, and it would never grow old on me.” —Rob McCoy, VP of brewing operations, Great Notion Brewing, Portland, Ore.

“For a beer that would be palatable for many, many hot days on end, I’d choose the Allagash White. I can’t imagine ever getting sick of it. While it’s light and refreshing, it has complexity with lemony and spice notes.” —Michael Bracco, brewer, FlyteCo Brewing, Denver

“It’d be really easy for me to pick Pliny the Elder as my desert island beer, but I think that’s because it’s rarely seen in Michigan, and I’ve only had it a couple of times. Ruling that one out and turning towards beers I know well, I’m going with a combo of Westmalle Tripel and Hamm’s. I’ll enjoy a couple Westmalles with my daily dinner and crush the Hamm’s with breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks. I’m also bringing a hip flask, putting my phone on ‘do not disturb,’ and enjoying some New Riff Rye every evening while watching the sun go down over the water. When do I leave?” —Brian Confer, co-owner and head brewer, Stormcloud Brewing Company, Frankfort, Mich.

“My desert island beer is — and probably always will be — Sierra Nevada Torpedo. It’s got the perfect balance of balance, bitterness, and booze. Served really cold, it is bright and crispy. And as it warms up, you get all those classic West Coast aromatic notes of pine and citrus from the early days of craft beer. Question is, does this desert island have a nice cold walk-in to store these beauties in?” —Ian Smith, lead brewer, Kings County Brewers Collective, Brooklyn

“My desert island beer would probably be Live Oak Pilz. I’m assuming the desert island would probably be somewhere hot, so their Pilz satisfies the thirst-quenching part. On top of that, it’s simultaneously a complex beer with great malt and hop character, as well as one you don’t have to think about too much, either.” —Jeffrey Stuffings, co-founder, Jester King Brewery, Austin, Texas

“My current desert island beer would have to be Rainier. It’s light, crispy, and has just enough flavor to keep you interested. Whenever I travel to the Pacific Northwest, I drink at least a couple a night and take a couple 6-packs home with me.” —Derek Gallanosa, head brewer, GOAL. Brewing, San Diego

“Blind Pig is one of those beers I simply cannot resist. Anytime I see it, I have to have one. I don’t think there has ever been a wrong time to enjoy a Blind Pig, and if there were, I haven’t found it yet. Its high level of bitterness dries out completely, leaving you wanting more. Huge notes of pine and lemongrass balance out the soft, juicy grapefruit and citrus, creating a perfect bitter-and-tropical vibe that would help me survive on a deserted island. I’m pretty sure if I had an endless supply, I wouldn’t be in much of a hurry to get rescued.” —Skip Schwartz, head brewer, WeldWerks Brewing Co., Greeley, Colo.

“I’m not sure if I’m taking the term ‘desert island beer’ too literally, but the first thing that comes to mind is macro lager. Even being a professional brewer, macros are something I’m certainly interested in especially when it comes to quality and longevity. With that being said, I personally rotate between a holy trinity of Miller High Life, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and my current selection for desert island beer, Coors Banquet. Often overshadowed by the watered-down Coors Light, Coors Banquet is a perfect example of an American adjunct lager that I could drink to the end of eternity without ever getting tired of it.” —John Aravich, brewer, Five Dimes Brewery, Red Bank, N.J.

The article We Asked 10 Brewers: What’s Your Desert Island Beer? appeared first on VinePair.

For many East Coasters, it wouldn’t be summertime without a trip to the shore. With roughly 130 miles of coastline, the Jersey Shore is known for sandy beaches, boardwalks, one iconic MTV series, and, of course, its many bars. And while things tend to be more tame than they were on “Jersey Shore,” N.J.’s dozens of small beach towns have cultivated their own distinct bar scenes and the signature drinks to match — so much so that a trip down the shore (DTS) just wouldn’t be complete without them.

From regional creations intended to be sucked down as quickly as possible to 32-ounce, rum-soaked concoctions you’ll find up and down the state’s coast, check out our list of the essential summer drinks of the Jersey Shore.

The Grail

Of all of the shore’s staple drinks, perhaps none is as infamous as the Grail. Originally poured out at Belmar’s D’Jais (where it’s still a signature), the small, near-fluorescent drink has proliferated at other bars in the area and is meant to be chugged through a few straws. Since every bartender on the shore seems to have their own variation, there’s no true recipe. In general, it’s said to be some combination of orange vodka, cranberry juice, and Sprite, but grenadine is also known to appear in some bars’ versions. Some bartenders even make theirs with Monster or Red Bull, which just sounds like cardiac arrest in a plastic cup.

@john_mercier if you know you know #headliner #grails #djais #belmar #TubiTaughtMe #PrimeDayDealsDance ♬ Friday (feat. Mufasa & Hypeman) (Dopamine Re-Edit) – Riton & Nightcrawlers

The Grail got a viral boost outside Jersey when social media star Alix Earle, who’s originally from Monmouth County, discussed the drinks while hung over on an episode of her podcast “Hot Mess.” In the episode, Earle describes the drinks — which she’d jumped behind the bar to make the night prior — as sugary and so strong that they “hit you like a rock … after two of them, you’ll be crawling around.”

Mind Eraser

Popular at college bars nationwide, the Mind Eraser may not be unique to the Jersey Shore, but its popularity there is massive. Just like the Grail, Mind Erasers aren’t meant to be sipped. When one ends up in your hand (whether you ordered it or not), the goal is to chug it through the straw as quickly as possible and allow your mind to be erased. The drink combines vodka, coffee liqueur (typically Kahlúa), and sparkling water or Sprite. While it’s particularly popular at Lake Como’s Bar Anticipation (Bar A, for short), pretty much every bartender in the state should know how to make one, so don’t be afraid to call for one if a hankering strikes. Well, maybe be a little afraid.

Rum Buckets

Offered at many beach bars in Jersey, Rum Buckets are kind of a big deal. Typically offered in 32-ounce servings, the drinks feature the dealer’s choice of rum combinations, a medley of fruit juices, and hunks of fruit for a garnish. Some buckets even take things a step further by floating a shot (or two) of rum over the top. At Point Pleasant Beach’s Wharfside’s Patio Bar, three rum bucket variations are on offer, each packed to the gills with booze. The Sneaky Pete is prepared with a blend of light and dark rums before orange juice, pineapple juice, and grenadine join the mix. For an even fruitier version, opt for the Patio Punch, which includes mango, pineapple, banana, and coconut rums cut with cranberry and pineapple juices. The third and final bucket, the Azteca, takes things in a different direction by fusing reposado and blanco tequilas with pineapple juice, sour mix, and blue curaçao.

 

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Also, a heads up: Despite how adorable these drinks may be in their toy-sized pails, for the love of God, don’t pick them up by their handle when they’re full — you’ll wind up drenched.

Boardwalk Lemonade

Drinks don’t need to have booze in them to stand out down the shore. Just take the Boardwalk Lemonade as an example. As the name suggests, these lemonades are on offer at the countless stands and stalls lining the state’s 18 boardwalks. It’s a little more tart and rustic than your traditional lemonade — typically, half a lemon gets squeezed and dropped into a cup and then topped with sugar, water, and ice. That’s really it. Despite its simplicity, Shore-goers simply cannot get enough of the drink’s acidic bite.

 

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The Boardwalk Lemonade is such a widespread phenomenon DTS that many bars have added alcoholic versions to their menus. At Asbury Park’s Asbury Ale House, the lemonade gets leveled up with lime juice and simple syrup before it’s spiked with Absolut vodka and triple sec and served in adorable plastic lemonade cups. Cape May’s Cape May Brewing Co. even makes a Boardwalk-Style Hard Lemonade in the summer months, which the brewery says pairs best with grilling, sunshine, and lounging on the beach. Sounds about right.

The article The Essential Drinks of the Jersey Shore appeared first on VinePair.

Even if you know just a little bit about Chianti, you’ve probably either seen a black rooster on a wine label or heard a story about the knights of Siena and Florence.

As the legend goes, in the Middle Ages Florence and Siena were both vying for land, and to settle this dispute once and for all they proposed a race. One knight from Florence would start heading south at dawn, and a knight from Siena would start heading north at the same time. Where those knights met would determine the border between the two regions.

Since they didn’t have alarm clocks back then, both knights waited for the sound of a rooster’s morning crow before mounting their horses and taking off. Allegedly, Florence opted for a black rooster, and they starved the poor thing for days. Whereas in Siena they picked a white rooster and fed it well, hoping that it would get a good night’s sleep and wake up early. It turns out that starving an animal is better if you want it to wake up early and look for food. Advantage: Florence.

Whether or not this story is true, it gives a snapshot of what was happening in the Chianti hills at the time. And on this episode of “Wine 101,” we break it all down. Tune in for more.

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Follow Keith on Instagram @VinePairKeith. Rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. It really helps get the word out there.

“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.

*Image retrieved from: Massimo Santi – stock.adobe.com

The article Wine 101: Italy Part IV: Warring Hamlets and the Gallo Nero appeared first on VinePair.

Now in its seventh decade — can that really be?! — craft beer has been around so long that it’s experienced several significant booms and several subsequent busts. It has been an underground sensation sold only at obscure specialty shops, and something that would eventually necessitate taking over entire aisles of coolers at mainstream supermarkets. From something only bearded hipsters drank, it is now perhaps seen as something only dorky dads consume.

There are around 10,000 craft breweries in America. If craft breweries were once started by people with a pure passion for drinking “better beer,” eventually they started to be seen as easy money by entrepreneurial types. Start a brewery, crank out some IPAs, and you, too, could become a millionaire! (Sell out to some multinational conglomerate and you could become a billionaire!) Now that the industry is flailing, the opposite has happened and people have started to ask who would be crazy enough to get into the brewing game.

But through its ups and down, craft beer has proven that it is here to stay, now a part of the culinary and cultural fabric of not just American life, but life all over the world.

What are the craft breweries that changed the way we think about beer, that ushered in a new era for how we drink beer, and that continue to innovate and change the industry at large?

We asked eight of America’s most insightful beer voices for their Mount Rushmore of craft breweries. And as I’ve been around long enough to recall when we still called them “microbreweries,” I included my selections as well.

The following picks include early-era pioneers, mainstream stalwarts, hyped-up breweries that launched in the 1990s and 2000s, “crafty” breweries and “sellouts,” as well as more modern spots that would define the industry during its most halcyon days of the 2010s.

Note: Some quotes have been edited for clarity.

Aaron Goldfarb

VinePair Writer at Large; author: “Dusty Booze: In Search of Vintage Spirits”
@aarongoldfarb

Sierra Nevada: A Mount Rushmore needs at least one founding father, and while breweries like Anchor and New Albion are certainly worthy, Ken Grossman’s Chico, Calif., outfit not only got in early (1980), but has continued to change the game for decades. Their Pale Ale might be the most iconic craft beer ever made; their Celebration IPA one of the most seasonally beloved. Recent beers like Hazy Little Thing, Cryo Fresh Torpedo, a Trail Pass NA series, as well as a new-ish 300,000-square-foot outpost in North Carolina, show that, unlike some pioneers, they aren’t resting on their laurels.

Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.): This brewery might be most responsible for making craft beer mainstream through their ubiquitous Boston Lager and network television commercials featuring their affable, denim-clad founder Jim Koch. Since 1984, they’ve offered innovation after innovation: barrel-aged beer in Triple Bock (1994), “summer ales” (1995), extremely expensive beer with Millennium (1999), extremely high-proof beer with Utopias (2002). They weren’t all hits, and the fact that Boston Lager eventually became the one craft beer you were most likely to find at the sorts of places that didn’t offer any other craft beer at the time (dives, sports bars, stadiums, airports, your cousin’s house) eventually caused people to take “Sam” for granted and forget just how significant they once were.

Russian River: To call this Santa Rosa, Calif., brewery the country’s first hype brewery is probably true, but it surely downplays its significance and greatness. Co-founder (with his wife Natalie) Vinnie Cilurzo often gets credit for creating the double IPA courtesy of his acclaimed and often hard-to-find Pliny the Elder. But his mastery of wine barrel-aged sour beer seen in offerings like Supplication, Consecration, and Beatification showed that craft beer deserved a place at the table amongst the nearby vinos of the Valleys, both Napa and Sonoma. Even today, Russian River’s annual Pliny the Younger one-week release is said to attract some 25,000 visitors and inject over $6 million into the local economy.

Hill Farmstead: The first time I went to visit Hill Farmstead, circa 2012, a guy advised that I print out Mapquest (Mapquest!) directions as my iPhone’s GPS would no longer work once I got to the rural roads leading to this Vermont hot spot. Did Shaun Hill’s Greensboro Bend brewery spawn the idea of brewery tourism? The fact they didn’t distribute meant you had to actually go to their idyllic tasting room and brewery (right on the property of Hill’s family home that seven generations have lived and worked on) in order to try their magnificent Vermont-style pales and IPAs, farmhouse ales, stouts and barleywines. All were flawless; many, like Society & Solitude #3 and Civil Disobedience #15, were transcendent, befitting the names the philosophy major Hill had given them. RateBeer named Hill Farmstead the top brewery every year from 2013 through 2020, and by the end of the decade, most of the beer world simply took it as an immutable fact that this was the best brewery in the world.

Courtney Iseman

Beer writer and VinePair contributor
@highwaytohops

Sierra Nevada: It’s hard to imagine a Mount Rushmore of craft breweries without Sierra Nevada. It’s hard to imagine American (global?) craft beer without Sierra Nevada. Ken Grossman is one of the trailblazers of modern American hop-forward beer, which has essentially laid the foundation of craft beer as we know it. Unlike other shapers of industries and movements, Sierra Nevada has remained an innovator and has helped keep craft beer relevant and engaging even beyond the beer geek community with the Little Thing brand.

Dogfish Head: Dogfish Head paved the way for boundless creativity in craft beer, embracing experimentation to create quintessential bitter-bomb IPAs alongside explorations of global and historical brewing traditions. Everything about Dogfish Head and [founder] Sam Calagione showing up at tap takeovers and releases screams “early craft beer salad days.” And yet, the brewery has kept up with evolving culture and sustainability within the industry, as well as new categories like non-alcoholic and spirits.

Allagash: Another major, influential force of craft brewing nature that has helped build a bridge from beer geeks to the beer-drinking public, at least to a respectable extent — and they did it not with a hazy, but with a Belgian-style wheat beer, Allagash White. Any American brewery that has remained incredibly relevant and a beloved destination with Belgian-leaning styles and even coolship beers deserves a spot on the industry’s Mount Rushmore.

Bow & Arrow: Personally, I don’t feel craft beer is an industry worth celebrating at this point if its Mount Rushmore looks too much like the actual Mount Rushmore — exclusively white dudes. The industry has been dominated by them for most of its existence, and yes, plenty of them have made amazing beers and shaped important brewing innovations. But craft beer now and going forward (which is the only way it can continue to exist, really) belongs to the people who have been marginalized in the industry for decades. Not only does this finally invite communities in that have never felt welcome within craft beer before, but it means interesting beer is being added to the conversation with more diverse perspectives. Owned by Indigenous couple Shyla Sheppard and Dr. Missy Begay, Bow & Arrow represents this future from its storytelling to its beer with local, often Indigenous farmer-grown ingredients.

Mandy Naglich

VinePair contributor; author: “How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life”
@drinkswithmandy

Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.): Jim Koch wasn’t the first post-Prohibition craft brewer (in fact he’s a sixth-generation brewer himself) but he was the first to go toe-to-toe with the macro brewers dominating the market. He insisted that lager made with high-quality, flavorful ingredients was something people would pay for. After about six years of selling his Boston Lager by hand, the general public agreed. From there, Koch started the phenomenon so many craft brewers are still beholden to today: the seasonal release schedule. We have Sam Adams to thank for the Oktoberfests, summer ales, and barleywines that reliably rotate through American shelves each year. And then there is Utopias — IYKYK.

Bell’s Brewery: There’s something to be said for a brewery that’s been making solid American craft beer since 1985. Even as it’s remained a pillar of the beer scene, Bell’s has shifted with the times. Their famous wheat ale is no longer interesting enough for the American palate so it now comes in spicy mango, cherry, and citrus varieties. But they still put out a standard American porter (that’s right, no chocolate, coffee, or vanilla!) and an amber ale (the style craft beer was built on!). The thing that gets Bell’s to my Mount Rushmore is one of America’s all time favorite IPAs: Two Hearted.

Russian River: Vinnie Cilurzo is most famous for his Pliny the Elder IPA as well as its long-line-inspiring variant Pliny the Younger. However, Russian River has contributed much more to the American craft beer scene. Cilurzo’s experiments with Belgian styles and wild yeasts led passionate beer geeks to adore the sharp tang of sour beers, and the funky barnyard notes of farmhouse ales. These intense flavors could have easily been rejected by the American drinking public (and still sometimes are) but careful blending and the trustworthy touch of the guy that made Pliny anointed Belgian beers for huge growth stateside. Those that head to Belgium searching for Cantillon and Tilquin owe at least part of their inspiration to Russian River.

The Bruery: Where Russian River popularized intimidating flavors, The Bruery made putting recognizable culinary flavors into beer a thing. I remember splitting a single bottle of Grey Monday (a barrel-aged stout with hazelnuts and vanilla beans) nine ways because it was so rare. Though the Goose Island barrel-aged releases paved the way for The Bruery, no one combined impeccably brewed styles with quirky added ingredients quite like them. A rum-barrel-aged sour stout, golden ale with pineapple juice and spices, an “Imperial Belgian Style Milk Stout,” I don’t want to blame the smoothie sour trend on them but you can see where brewers got the inspiration.

Brad Japhe

Longtime drinks writer and co-host “The Sipping Point”
@journeys_with_japhe

Sierra Nevada: Founder Ken Grossman literally conceived American craft brewing by hand, forging necessary vessels from discarded dairy equipment in the early ’80s. The brand’s iconic Pale Ale clued domestic drinkers in on the notion that beer can actually be full of flavor.

Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.): Truly an OG of the game, ever since they were founded in 1984. But with all the success its parent company has earned since — swelling into one of the largest brewing behemoths on the planet — the brand that started it all has stayed the course and kept the world safe for mass-market beer that still offers ample flavor.

Brooklyn Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery was cool before its home neighborhood of Williamsburg. Seriously. And Garrett Oliver, who just celebrated his 30th year as brewmaster, is as venerated an emissary as anyone in the industry.

Russian River: Russian River is as much responsible for the enduring IPA craze as any single craft brand — via the cultish proliferation of Pliny the Elder. But its impact on a broad range of styles cannot be overstated. Brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo’s masterful deployment of funky yeast strains and fresh-wine-barrel maturation essentially enshrined the American Wild Ale category.

Beth Demmon

VinePair contributor; author: “The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider”
@thedelightedbite

I might be reading too much into the Mount Rushmore prompt, but apparently the 60-foot-tall sculptures were chosen by Gutzon Borglum to represent the first 150 years of American history: Washington for birth, Jefferson for growth, Roosevelt for development, and Lincoln for preservation.

Yuengling: Birth: George Washington is called the father of the country, so it stands to reason that Yuengling is his beer counterpart. If we’re looking to immortalize the breweries that built the American beer industry as we know it, it would be impossible to leave off America’s oldest.

Sierra Nevada: Growth: Is there a more influential gateway craft beer than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale? I think not. This icon helped convert a huge part of the population from drinking macro lagers into bonafide craft beer fans, or at least hops appreciators. The American craft beer scene would look vastly different if Sierra Nevada hadn’t entered the scene in 1980.

Russian River: Development: Russian River Brewing and Teddy Roosevelt both seem really into nature and keeping busy in their respective fields. They’re also both prolific in a number of different specialties: Roosevelt was a writer, politician, outdoorsman, and rancher, while Russian River makes world-class IPAs as well as spontaneously fermented brews. If they were to carve this face on the side of the mountain, I vote for a bust of Blind Pig.

Bell’s Brewery: Preservation: Craft beer has had its fair share of starts and stops, and plenty of breweries have had a hand in keeping the spark alive. But few breweries manage to nail so many different styles as Bell’s can. From Oberon to Two Hearted to their Porter and Amber Ale, this brewery can unite even the most polarized groups under the banner of beer.

Doug Veliky

Chief Marketing Officer at Revolution Brewing Chicago; BeerCrunchers Substack
@beeraficionado

Port Brewing/Lost Abbey: There’s perhaps no other brewery that sparked my personal interest and passion for this industry more: the every-third-year release of an American spin on Belgian gueuze called Duck Duck Gooze, the mythical Cable Car, and the need to visit [San Francisco bar] Toronado in hopes of scoring a vintage, or the never-to-be-duplicated Track Set, which featured a literal (treasure) chest of 12 innovative specialty beers, each themed after famous rock songs. Funky, barrel-aged sours may not have as much pull in today’s market, but Lost Abbey’s impact cemented their status for me.

Russian River: I made baby announcements for both of my children out of Russian River 3-liter, 750-milliliter, and 375-milliliter bottles, so I think I have to include them. I don’t think of Russian River as having invented the West Coast IPA, but I believe they perfected it and made the style timeless. Their ability to make Pliny the Younger “stay small, stay beautiful” has allowed the annual pilgrimages to Sonoma County for the release to stay as relevant and popular all these years later.

Hill Farmstead: I give Hill Farmstead more credit than most for their role in the creation or at least evolution of what became today’s Hazy IPA style. But it’s not growlers of Double Nelson in swing-top bottles that puts them on my mountain, it’s their endless list of perfect barrel-aged saisons.

Fat Head’s: Having grown up in Pittsburgh, just like Fat Head’s, I have a special affinity for the brand, which reminds me of the uncle that we all have. They may have relocated to the home of the [Cleveland] Browns, but they’ve stayed true to their simple, lovable style while making incredible, clean IPAs.

Dave Infante

VinePair Contributing Editor and columnist; editor/publisher of Fingers
@dinfontay

Anchor: You cannot have a conversation about the most important craft breweries in American history without starting with The House That Steam Beer Built on Potrero Hill. Anchor has so much history that at some point the beer became more or less incidental to the enterprise, a paradigm shift that became painfully obvious when Sapporo-Stone Brewery (then known as Sapporo USA) suddenly shuttered it in summer 2024. Maybe the decision was a matter of dollars and cents, or careless corporate mismanagement, or something else entirely, but one thing was eminently clear from the international outpouring of grief as the news (broken by this reporter for VinePair, thank you very much) hit the wire. San Francisco’s beloved hometown brewery has inspired a global community of drinkers and brewers with a vision of full-flavored, artisanal beer ever since Fritz Maytag rescued it from bankruptcy in 1965. Besides, the beer was good! May it be so once again, and brewed by the passionate union workers that Hamdi Ulukaya, its new billionaire owner, should stop dithering and hire back already.

Blue Moon: Are there troll picks allowed on Mount Rushmore? Was there such a thing as trolling when the sculpture was commissioned in 1925? Regardless: Despite its well-publicized, occasionally sued-over Coors Brewing Company provenance, I think Blue Moon is one of the most important craft beers the American beer aisle has ever known. I have heard all the arguments against this designation; I have also interviewed founding brewer Keith Villa at length about them (see: parts one and two of our episode together on VinePair’s Taplines podcast.) I don’t even particularly like the beer. This is my metaphorical slab of South Dakotan granite, and I get to sculpt it as I see fit. Case for case, Blue Moon’s pie-growing, tide-rising influence on the segment is impossible to ignore. Debate the semantics among yourselves, do not CC me, thank you!

Goose Island: Anheuser-Busch InBev’s acquisition of Clyburn Avenue’s venerable microbrewery in 2011 instantly turned it into a big target for the (often-circular) firing squad that was the American craft brewing industry. Does anybody still care? Who knows! But I know that Goose Island did as much as any brewer, if not more, to mainstream the idea of barrel-aged beer. Check on my Taplines interviews with John Laffler, the one-time head of that program, and Seth Gross, who was there to witness its inception, for more on how that all took shape. That, plus the crucible it passed through as the first major “sellout” to the biggest and baddest Big Beer buyers, makes it singularly historic in my mind.

New Glarus: When the Wisconsin brewer decided to cut bait on the Illinois market and focused exclusively on developing its customer base in the Badger State way back in the early aughts, people thought they were crazy, as Dan Carey recounted in an early Taplines episode. (Are you sensing a theme? Subscribe to Taplines!) Crazy like a fox badger, turns out. New Glarus had the moxie to reject conventional wisdom at the time, which dictated expanding broad instead of deep. Scary stuff. Two decades on, and wisdom dictates… well, doing the opposite, really. In other words: doing what New Glarus did. It’s the 11th-biggest brewer in the country, with near mythic brand recognition from people who have never even set foot in Wisconsin.

Anne Becerra

First female-certified cicerone in New York City
@annelikesbeer

Tröegs Independent Brewing: One brewery that I don’t think gets enough credit is Tröegs from Pennsylvania. Their portfolio is super diverse with everything from hefeweizens to tripels to bocks, plus they make two of my favorite seasonals that I look forward to every year: Nugget Nectar and Mad Elf.

Allagash: Without question, Allagash belongs on this Mount Rushmore beer list. Besides the fact that they make one of the best and most iconic beers of all time (Allagash White), their attention to detail and creativity really shows in a handful of smaller-batch beers like their Coolship series, which I absolutely love. In addition to their beers, they’re great educators — their social media page and website provides such a sense of place, and as a Certified B Corp they’re consistently able to raise money and awareness for a handful of wonderful causes.

Maine Beer Co.: One brewery I’m genuinely excited to see every time is Maine Beer Co. Their beer is always delicious and I think it’s the mark of a great brewery that it doesn’t even matter what beer is being served; if it’s made by them you just order it and you know it’ll be good.

Hitachino Brewery: Hitachino absolutely belongs on the “best of” lists. Everything they do is exciting, thought out, balanced and unique, from the simplest lager to sake-inspired ales aged in Sakura barrels, they’re absolutely top notch. And it’s not just the beer that’s delicious. If I see the quintessential Hitachino owl logo on anything — wine, sake, whiskey — I’m all in!

Cumulative List (for those counting)

• Russian River – 5
• Sierra Nevada – 4
• Samuel Adams -3
• Allagash – 2
• Bell’s Brewery – 2
• Hill Farmstead – 2
• Anchor – 1
• Blue Moon – 1
• Bow & Arrow – 1
• Brooklyn Brewery – 1
• The Bruery – 1
• Dogfish Head – 1
• Fat Head’s – 1
• Goose Island – 1
• Hitachino Brewery – 1
• Maine Beer Co. – 1
• New Glarus – 1
• Port Brewing/Lost Abbey – 1
• Tröegs Independent Brewing – 1
• Yuengling – 1

The article The Mount Rushmore of Craft Breweries, According to 8 Beer Experts appeared first on VinePair.

The industry loves to debate about the drink of the summer each year, but what if the drink of the summer is different for everyone? When the weather is at its hottest, some people may want something fizzy and refreshing, and others may prefer something a little stronger. While clear spirits like gin and tequila might feel like the most obvious choices for summertime sipping, rum and bourbon also have their place, as do lighter, low-ABV options like vermouth and Pimm’s.

With so many options, it’s easy to default to the same beverage every time. But sometimes, you have to plunge into the deep cuts instead of playing the hits. For a little inspiration, we asked bartenders to recommend their favorite underrated summer cocktail. Their responses ranged from the classic rum Daiquiri to some less expected options. Whatever your summer drinking style, there’s a cocktail for you below.

The most underrated summer cocktails, according to bartenders:

• Eastside
• White vermouth and soda
• Caipirinha
• Limoncello Spritz
• Ranch Water
• Daiquiri
• Southside
• The Saturn
• The Bicicletta
• Mojito
• Old Hickory
• Pimm’s Cup
• Mexican Martini
• Hugo Spritz
• French 75
• Ice Pick
• Tongue Twister
• Lion’s Tail
• Americano
• Tom Collins

“The ever-so-classic Eastside! What better way to refresh your palate than with cucumber, mint, lime, and gin? It’s basically renegade spa water in a Martini glass, and I love it for summer.” —Albert Beltran, bar manager, Wayfare Tavern, San Francisco

“Whenever you’re at a loss for what to drink and just want something light and refreshing, look no further than a white vermouth and soda. I have a lot of brands I love, but specifically in the warmer months, I love Jacopo Poli’s Bianco; [it’s] bright and tart with what always feels like tropical fruit notes to me. Serve that in a tall, cold glass with a lemon slice, wedge, wheel, or peel (seriously, they all work) and you’re good to go!”—John Ware, bar director, Forsythia, NYC

“Put your faith in the cultures that have perfected summer. Summer in Brazil never quits, so it’s a Caipirinha all the way. Fresh lime, sugar cane, sugar, and ice, and you dump it dirty, which always feels wrong in the best way. Lime wedges also count towards your ‘five-a-day’; I think I read that somewhere.” —Diana Benanti, general manager, Bar Parisette, Chicago

“The most underrated cocktail of the summer is the Limoncello Spritz as it’s perfectly refreshing and easy to make at home. Ours at il Casale is a nod to our family’s Italian roots and is homemade with lemons from Sorrento. We garnish it with fresh thyme sprigs and a candied lemon peel made from the same Sorrento lemons.” —Damian deMagistris, co-owner & director of operations, il Casale, Belmont, Mass.

“In my opinion, the Ranch Water is an underrated cocktail for summer, likely due to the classic Margarita getting the limelight. While I do love a Margarita, I find that the carbonation of a Ranch Water and its [lack of] sweetness is refreshing for the season. Swapping the tequila for mezcal is equally delicious and a great option for those looking for something a bit more complex.” —Isai Xolalpa, director of bars and lounges, W Philadelphia, Philadelphia

“A classic Daiquiri. It’s had a resurgence recently, but still too many people hear Daiquiri and immediately think of a blended, red sugar bomb that vaguely resembles [something] strawberry. But a classic Daiquiri with simply rum, lime, and sugar might just be the greatest treat all summer.” —Kate Wise, bar lead, Juniper Bar + Restaurant, Hotel Vermont, Burlington, Vt.

“The Southside is a sophisticated cocktail with a dark history. It’s a Chicago-native cocktail rumored to be the preferred cocktail of Al Capone, who dominated Chicago’s South Side with his gang. Basically, the cocktail is a Gin Mojito. Most people don’t think of gin in Mojitos, but the Southside is a perfect summer cocktail to enjoy.” —Ruben Delgado, director of outlets and events, Sugar Palm (Viceroy Santa Monica), Santa Monica, Calif.

“In my opinion, the most underrated summer cocktail is the classic rum Daiquiri. I’m not talking about the frozen sugary pool drink, although I’ve had my fair share of those. I’m actually referring to the classic concoction of just rum, fresh lime juice, and sugar. When shaken to perfection with a decent rum, this cocktail screams ‘summer sunset with friends.’” —Rob McShea, beverage director, Cococabana at The Brick Hotel, Oceanside, Calif.

“The Saturn. This tiki-style gin drink offers a delightful blend of tropical flavors, ideal for warm weather and summer vibes. While rum is often the go-to for tiki cocktails, gin adds a lovely layer of botanical notes that complement the tropical sweetness of passion fruit and the nutty richness of orgeat syrup. The addition of falernum introduces a subtle spiciness, making this cocktail a complex yet refreshing choice for summer.” —Thi Nguyen, Bar Director, Moon Rabbit, Washington, D.C.

“The Bicicletta is a daytime favorite of mine that’s easily enjoyed with lunch on the patio, basking in the sun. I prefer mine with Vermentino which allows for notes of green apple and almond.” —Alicia Perry, beverage director, CH Projects, San Diego

“I’d say the most underrated summer cocktail is a classic Daiquiri. It’s so simple, so delicious, and so refreshing. You can enjoy it in its simplest form, or do a fun seasonal riff!” —Hailey Cook, bar manager, Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge, Bend, Ore.

“The most underrated summer cocktail is the Mojito. It is so refreshing, delicious, and easy to make. My little trick that, in my opinion, always makes it even better: a little dash of Angostura bitters and making a mint simple syrup with the leftover leaves and stems! It is extra Mojito-ey.” —Christine Wiseman, Beverage Director, LilliStar, NYC

With lower-ABV and non-alcoholic cocktails becoming essential for menus these days, the New Orleans-classic Old Hickory is a drink that should be on everyone’s radar. This 50/50 blend of sweet and dry vermouth packs a ton of flavor and texture into a sessionable, stirred concept. It is infinitely riffable; one can orient it around local fortified wines, or make it extra fussy by sourcing and blending esoteric bottles.” —Thomas Mahne, bar manager, Cambridge Hospitality Group, Cambridge, Mass.

“The Pimm’s Cup is absolutely the most underrated summer cocktail. Originating from England, it’s made with Pimm’s No. 1, lemon juice, and ginger ale and garnished with a variety of fresh fruits and herbs like cucumber, strawberries, oranges, and mint. It’s refreshing, light, and perfect for hot weather, yet it often gets overshadowed by more well-known summer drinks like Mojitos or Margaritas.” —Ariana Haut, bartender, Summer Shack Back Bay, Boston

“The Mexican Martini is the most underrated summer cocktail because it’s still fairly unknown, but it was actually invented here in Austin. It’s so refreshing, as if a Margarita and a Martini had a baby. It’s 2 ounces of fine tequila, olive juice, orange juice, and lime juice topped with a salt rim and olives. Served up in a Martini glass, of course.” —Markisha Barber, manager, La Piscina, Austin, Texas

“For sure, a Hugo Spritz, which is made with St-Germain, sparkling water, sparkling wine, and mint. The St-Germain and its notes of elderflower, peach, pear, and grapefruit pair nicely with the mint and wine for a tasty, refreshing drink. It’s a nice alternative to an Aperol Spritz, which tends to be a bit bitter. To each their own, but this is my go-to.”—Joshua Viele, bartender, Cobble Fish, NYC

“When I think of summer, I think Champagne, Margaritas, Gimlets, Daiquiris, or an Aperol Spritz. But why not a French 75? It’s such a versatile and easy cocktail to make. If you don’t like gin, then make it with tequila, vodka, rum, or mezcal.” —Eric Torres, general manager, Claro, NYC

“No one talks about Ice Picks anymore! When I was little and my dad was the age I am now, his go-to in the summer was always an Ice Pick: vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and iced tea. It’s simple, refreshing, and affordable. Perfect for the pool or a larger-format Big Gulp on the beach. They’re so popular now in RTD format, but it’s just as easy to make them at home.” —Jillian Moore, head bartender, My Loup, Philadelphia

“Tongue Twister. It’s an equal-parts combo of four of my absolute favorite things: mezcal, Chartreuse, falernum, and lime. It’s a Last Word riff that deserves as much spotlight as any other summer crusher that comes to mind. Created by Tony Roehr from Raised by Wolves, I can’t think of a more perfect and refreshing herbal concoction to beat the heat!” —Jacoby Morciglio, bar manager, Adrift Tiki Bar, Denver

“One of the near-forgotten classics that perfectly encapsulates the essence of summer is the Lion’s Tail. This cocktail begins in familiar territory with bourbon, lime, and bitters, but adds just the proper amount of sunshine with the addition of allspice dram. This combination is ideal to enjoy poolside, on a patio, or at a backyard barbecue.” —Jason Marshall, bars manager and curator, The Ritz-Carlton, Portland, Ore.

“In the summertime, I sing the praises of the Americano. Overshadowed by its big sibling, the Negroni, an Americano omits the gin in favor of soda water. Lower in ABV, the Americano becomes something we can reach for a few of in the heat without worrying about overindulging. Refreshing and bittersweet, I tend to sub out my Campari for any other red bitter, often Bordiga’s or Contratto’s.”—Keenan Davis, bar director, Che Fico and Che Fico Parco Menlo, San Francisco

“The most underrated summer cocktail is the Tom Collins. Classic and easy-drinking, the feeling a TC gives you is a mini-vacation in a glass. Try it with a basil garnish for added freshness.” —Stephen Rowe, co-owner, Dario, Minneapolis, Minn.

Photo credit: svetlana_cherruty – stock.adobe.com

The article We Asked 22 Bartenders: What’s the Most Underrated Summer Cocktail? appeared first on VinePair.

After a long day of commuting, meetings, and staring at screens, enjoying a well-made cocktail or an ice-cold beer can be necessary to relax and unwind. Step one to achieving the perfect drinking experience? Using the right vessel. But beyond ensuring that you’ve selected the right stemware for your Martini or the proper pint for your lager, the temperature of your glassware is also an important factor.

If you’re looking to nurse your drink, ensuring it stays cold for as long as possible should be top of mind. Who wants a room-temperature beer? Not us, that’s for sure. One of the most reliable ways to make sure your drink remains nice and cold is by storing your glassware in the freezer. But while many beverages are best served out of frosted glasses, there are always exceptions to rules, and this hack is no different. To learn more about which types of glassware should always be stored in the freezer and which are best kept on our bar carts, VinePair tapped Trevor Langer, beverage director at NYC’s Porchlight.

When choosing which glasses to chill pre-serving, Langer says the most important thing to consider is how much dilution your cocktail needs. For example, if your build is iceless, a stone-cold glass is ideal for keeping it chilled.

“Stemware like Martini glasses and Nick and Noras should always be kept in the freezer,” he explains. “When cocktails are served up, there is already a perfect rate of dilution before it’s poured into the glass, so you’re not waiting for it to further dilute over ice. So having those stemmed glasses frozen to keep the cocktail as cold as possible for as long as possible is absolutely necessary.”

On the flip side, if a cocktail is served on the rocks, you may not want to store those glasses at sub-zero temps. As ice cubes provide further dilution for these types of drinks after they’re shaken or stirred, they’re not built to be the perfect ABV the moment they’re poured. The drinks will continue to evolve as the ice melts, lowering the proof of the spirits involved. But when these drinks are served in frozen glasses, Langer says, the ice will melt much slower, thus making it more challenging for them to reach their optimal level of dilution.

“Of course, there are outliers here, like the Sazerac, which is served down with no ice,” he adds as a caveat. “But overall, especially if you have a finite amount of freezer space, I would say that rocks glasses in the freezer should not be a top priority.”

As for beer glasses, Langer says it all comes down to personal preference. While some may argue that the only beer that belongs in a frosted glass is a macro lager, brews tend to warm a bit faster than cocktails as your hand wraps around the circumference of the glass every time you take a sip. So, if you want your brew cold for as long as possible, Langer says to go for the frozen glass.

“At the end of the day, it’s a combination of effectiveness and preference,” he says. “I’m sure everyone has had a warm beer once, and it’s never the best. Frozen glasses are effective at keeping the beer cold, and if you prefer your beer cold, it’s all about finding the marriage of those two.”

The article Here’s the Glassware You Should and Shouldn’t Chill in the Freezer appeared first on VinePair.

What is intellectual property? Well, the name of this podcast, “Taplines,” is intellectual property. The Marvel Cinematic Universe? That’s intellectual property. And, of course, the hundreds of thousands of beer labels, logos, slogans, packaging — that’s all intellectual property, too. Today, we’re talking about trademarks, at least in the general sense. After all, this isn’t a legal podcast. It’s a modern beer history podcast. But intellectual property disputes are actually fairly common in beer history, and in this episode, we’re talking about a big one.

Our guest today is Bianca Bruno, an editor of the venerable trade publication Beer Business Daily. Bruno was there, live and in person, to cover the landmark trademark trial between San Diego’s Stone Brewing Company and macro brewery Molson Coors over an allegedly infringing Keystone Light rebrand that featured the word “STONE” emblazoned across the adjunct lager’s packaging. The federal jury trial yielded a shocking verdict, and what it revealed about the state of Stone’s business would set the stage for the once vehemently independent firm’s sellout to Sapporo. Tune in for more.

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The article Taplines: How Stone Brewing Dropped a $56-Million Stunner on Molson Coors appeared first on VinePair.

On Tuesday, global consumer goods company Tilray announced its deal to acquire four craft breweries from Molson Coors Beverage Company. The roster includes Oregon’s Hop Valley Brewing Company, Georgia’s Terrapin Beer Company, Michigan’s Atwater Brewery, and Texas’ Revolver Brewing. The deal is expected to close later this month, according to Brewbound.

The deal will help Tilray grow its distribution network and its share in crucial markets like the Pacific Northwest. The company’s hope, according to a press release, is that these acquisitions will allow it to continue expanding and growing in the beverage industry at large. This acquisition will bring Tilray’s craft brewery count up to 20.

“We are excited to welcome the employees and distributors behind these craft beer brands which will play a pivotal role in the growth of Tilray Beverages,” president of Tilray Beverages North America Ty Gilmore said in the release. “Through this acquisition, our beer business is expected to grow to 15 million cases annually, cementing Tilray Beverages as the no. 1 craft brewer in the Pacific Northwest, no. 1 in Georgia and anchors Tilray’s craft brands in two key beer states, Texas and Michigan.”

On the other side of the handshake, Molson Coors representatives claim that the deal supports the conglomerate’s long-term goals, too.

“Last Fall, we set a clear portfolio premiumization ambition, and achieving it is going to require tighter focus on the segments we believe have the highest growth potential for our business,” Molson Coors chief commercial officer Michelle St. Jacques said in the release. “While we love these craft breweries and the people behind them, this move allows us to do exactly that – focus our time, energy and resources behind the initiatives we believe will best help us meaningfully grow our U.S. above premium portfolio in beer and beyond beer.”

Tilray began its brewery acquisition push in 2020 when it bought out Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing. The following year, the corporation scooped up San Diego’s Green Flash Brewing Company and California’s Alpine Beer Company. In 2022, Tilray bought New York’s Montauk Brewing Company, and in August 2023, it acquired a whopping eight breweries from Anheuser-Busch. Although many found the $85-million deal with AB a bit strange at the time, Tilray CEO Irwin Simon was resoundingly confident about the acquisition, claiming at a 2023 earnings conference that “craft beer is cool, and will become cooler.”

The price tag of the Tilray-Molson Coors deal was not disclosed.

The article Tilray Brands Acquires Four Craft Breweries from Molson Coors appeared first on VinePair.

In this heated election year, the country might feel more divided than ever. But new data from YouGov’s 2024 U.S. Alcohol Rankings suggests Democrats and Republicans might have more in common than it seems — and what’s more unifying than a cold, foamy glass of beer?

YouGov asked more than 300 adults over the age of 21 which beers they would most consider purchasing at a store. The results were remarkably similar across party affiliations. Ranked in first place for both political parties was Amsterdam import Heineken, scoring 20.4 percent consideration among Democrats and 17.6 percent consideration for Republicans. Both sides of the aisle also shared the same runner-up, with Corona scoring high amongst both groups.

The parties diverged at third place as Guinness clinched the ranking for Democrats while the Republicans preferred Coors Light. Guinness does appear on the Republicans’ list in the No. 5 spot. Despite the differences in order, Democrats and Republicans share seven brands across their respective top 10 rankings, including Heineken, Corona, Guinness, Blue Moon, Samuel Adams, Modelo, and Miller Lite.

Brands that Republicans look for that don’t appear on the Dems’ list include Coors Light, Yuengling, and Michelob ULTRA. On the flip-side, only the Democrats boast Bud Light, Budweiser, and Stella Artois in their top 10. The absence of AB InBev products among the Republican party isn’t shocking considering the conservative Bud Light boycott in 2023.

Maybe instead of a crisp brew, the answer to true peace across parties in America is just a Diet Mountain Dew.

The article These Beers Unite Both Democrats and Republicans — Can You Guess Which Ones? appeared first on VinePair.

On Tuesday, Michter’s announced the forthcoming release of its US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon 2024 edition, according to a press release.

Ten years ago — a year before the Louisville distillery even had its own brick-and-mortar location — Michter’s first unveiled its now-coveted US*1 Toasted Barrel Straight Bourbon and Rye. Since then, Michter’s has re-released both expressions sporadically over the years, and even added a Toasted Barrel Sour Mash Whiskey to the lineup. This release marks the first time Michter’s has offered an iteration of its US*1 Toasted Barrel Straight Bourbon since 2021.

To craft this 10-year anniversary release, which hits shelves in September, the distilling team took the brand’s fully-matured US*1 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon and transferred it to a second toasted barrel made of 18-month, air-dried wood for a second round of aging. While we’re also big fans of the Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon here at VinePair, to Michter’s credit, the distillery created the toasted barrel finish category in 2014.

“It’s a testament to our team that so many other great distillers have followed us in releasing toasted barrel finish whiskeys,” Michter’s master of maturation Andrea Wilson said in the press release. “There are many different toast profiles in which the barrel is heated to create beautiful flavor notes. This year’s Michter’s US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon reminds me of a fall evening where we are roasting campfire treats with graham crackers, marshmallows, caramel and butterscotch.”

The limited-edition expression is bottled at 91.4 proof and will retail at $110 SRP. Given the impressive accolades Michter’s has been receiving lately, this bottle likely won’t linger on shop shelves.

The article Michter’s to Release 2024 US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon in September appeared first on VinePair.

Irish whiskey is a backbar mainstay in the U.S. — where would we be without shots of Jamo? However, after a boost post-Covid, total Irish whiskey sales in the U.S. declined last year for just the second time in two decades, according to Shanken’s Impact Databank. Total sales declined 8 percent to 5.1 million cases in 2023, with volume decreases in nine of the category’s 10 largest brands.

Despite this loss, spirits companies remain positive about the future of Irish whiskey, particularly in the super-premium category. The majority of the new brands entering the category are priced at this level, and now, nearly 90 percent of all Irish whiskey brands in the U.S. are $25 per 750-milliliter bottle or higher. In line with this shift, consumers are showing interest in special releases with higher age statements and rare cask types. To meet this need, top brands are investing in new facilities and products. For example, Bushmills opened a new distillery last year dedicated to single malt production, cementing its plan to be a leader in single malt Irish whiskey production in the years to come.

Irish whiskey’s darling Jameson is still far and away the most popular brand in the U.S. with 3.9 million cases in sales. Even though the brand experienced a 9.6 percent decrease last year, it remains about 400,000 cases above its pre-pandemic volume. The only top-ranking brand that avoided the past year’s knockout punch is UFC champion and boxer Conor McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve, which actually grew 12 percent from 2022 to 2023.

Even with the recent decline, Irish whiskey is still an evolving category to keep an eye on. So, which brands currently lead the pack stateside? Check out the table below to see the five best-selling Irish whiskey brands in the U.S.

*Thousands of 9-liter case depletions
Source: Shanken’s Impact Databank 2024

The article The 5 Best-Selling Irish Whiskey Brands in the U.S. (2024) appeared first on VinePair.

In 2016, “Big Sam” Allardyce, with his blue-collar charm and Meatloaf-ish looks, was supposed to be the England national soccer team’s everyman hero — a player’s manager straight from central casting, finally fit to lead the “Three Lions” on to ultimate victory since god knows when. But after only one match and two months at the helm, the lunch pail gaffer got himself quagmired in a sting scandal orchestrated by The Telegraph, caught on tape advising on how to illicitly rig player transfers. And while a crushing blow to England’s pride, there was something odd about the accompanying undercover video that set the internet into a frenzy.

In it, Allardyce appears to be quaffing — wait for it — a full imperial pint of wine.

Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Honestly, it was probably just some flattish suds. But in the shadow of a notorious Brexit vote just a couple months prior, Conservative Tory hearts soared at such a distinctly British idea. “F*ck those froggy little stem glasses. We drink our wine by the pint!”

Fast-forward to December 2023. A new reality had emerged, with U.K. trade slumping, small businesses suffering, and hindsight support for Brexit in the gutter. But after countless unfulfilled promises and missed targets, Brexiteers — desperate to save their grand fantasy now mired in the swamp of an inconvenient reality — finally had an ace to play.

Pint bottles of wine.

Now unburdened by the “tyrannical” alcohol bottling standards of Europe, the United Kingdom government, in a gesture capitalizing on Brexit’s “new freedoms,” trumpeted the triumphant return of literal pint-sized bottles of wine. According to the ever-shrinking ranks of Brexiteers, it’s yet another “great benefit” of the divorce; a Union Jack vested symbol of glorious Britishness.

But will anyone actually buy these mythical, imperial-pinted Tory trophies when they theoretically return to British shelves? (Supposedly this September, though in reality it’s anyone’s guess.) And by extension, can any producers find it worthwhile to pony up for this dubious demand of the market? When the time comes to fork over the cash, who wants to pay a premium of their hard-earned money for the novelty of a pint bottle of wine over more economically advantageous 750-, 500-, or 375-milliliter standard bottles?

It seems a complete waste of time at first. A total dead end. Or is it?

Pints, Promises, and Politicians

Veteran U.K. wine journalist Julie Sheppard doesn’t mince words in her overall evaluation of Brexit and its outcome for the U.K. wine industry. “Brexit has been hugely damaging,” she says. “For some smaller wine producers, the amount of red tape and changes in import duties and tax systems has meant that it’s no longer viable for them to export to the U.K.” The situation has become a daily nightmare for those in the trade, including journalists and wine publications. “Even sending samples for tastings and competitions has become prohibitively expensive for many, with wine shipments getting lost or delayed in customs — even now, four years later,” she adds.

It’s the inevitable result of false promises and inedible carrots dangling in front of a riled-up public; something that sounds great in theory to a certain demographic, but has little to no value — and likely negative value — in the real world. “It’s a political gesture … designed to appeal to a sector of voters who hanker back to the ‘good old days’ of imperial measures,” says Sheppard. “It’s not a reflection of the realities of modern Britain: its population, values, or modern lifestyles.”

“It would involve a huge and costly shift in production in terms of sourcing not only bottles, but also bottling lines and packaging.”

The scathing review is seconded by James Simpson, managing director for the Pol Roger Portfolio in the U.K. — though the pilot of the revered Champagne house’s import operation cures his Brexit hangover with a contrasting dose of tried-and-true British humor. “To be frank about it, it was a bit of a joke,” he says of his original advocacy to revive the imperial pint format. “I thought, we could bring back the pint bottle and have a bit of fun with this.” But what was originally conceived as a gimmicky bit of glass for shits and giggles took on a life of its own. “We caught the press imagination at the time,” Simpson says. “The Sun was convinced we were bringing them back tomorrow.”

However, as so often is the case, there’s a devil lurking in the details: the excessive cost, time, and logistics of producing a new line of imperial pint wine bottles.

“It would involve a huge and costly shift in production in terms of sourcing not only bottles, but also bottling lines and packaging,” says Sheppard. It’s a concept that every winery bean counter would loathe, and appears to be an absolute money pit unless legitimate strong demand miraculously materializes from nowhere.

On the surface, with the data at hand so far, the idea of wine pints returning seems like utter folly. Sheppard’s insight should put the final nail in the coffin.

But there’s more to the story than just a peculiar volume of liquid and the exorbitant cost involved. There’s history, pride, and precedent. And for that, one needs only to gaze toward the storied Winston Churchill to appreciate the appeal.

The hero-statesman of World War II was, by all accounts and to say the least, quite the prolific boozer. And perhaps his favorite pour over the years? Champagne. And not just any Champagne. Pint bottles of Pol Roger.

The highly regarded French bubbly house sold the format for about a century in the U.K., and indeed, it wasn’t the only one. Many wine producers catered to those thirsty Brits across the Channel with grapey pints. The U.K. market had long been the cornerstone of French wine exports, and capitalizing further with customary pint bottles was only natural at the time. The tradition ultimately met the chopping block, however, axed by the official 1973 conversion to metric measurements for wine and spirits on the island.

Yet Pol Roger, eager to brandish its relationship with Churchill — and therefore endearing itself to the U.K. market as the most British of French bubbly — has kept the nostalgia burning over the years. So maybe, just maybe, there’s a potential marketing diamond buried somewhere in the bog.

Why the Wine Pint Joke Might Just Work

Still wine in half-liter format is already a legal bottle size in both the E.U. and the U.K. — and the glass for said flat stuff is readily and actively produced — thereby making a 568-milliliter imperial pint-sized bottle ridiculously redundant and inherently devoid of demand. Case closed and idea abandoned for still wine. But what about 500-milliliter bubbly?

Champagne bottles must be produced specifically to conform to the needs of sparkling wine closures and high pressures. But half-liter bubbly bottles are a regulatory no-no in Europe, so no one is producing 500-milliliter bubbly glass. And ever since the U.K. metric conversion of 1973 for wine and spirits came to pass, 568-milliliter imperial pint production of bubbly bottles has gone the way of the dodo entirely.

“You have a brand new English sparkling wine industry in need of a thing, and the imperial pint bottle could be it!”

So, if one can actually scrounge up a legitimate reason and potential return on investment to restart this bespoke glass production, why not just go ahead and fire up a custom line of imperial pint bottles for bubbly in the U.K.? After all, the 500-ish general size range is currently unavailable to devotees of fine fizz.

“Call the pint bottle of sparkling wine a Churchill,” says Simpson. A brilliant thought.

By leveraging a legend, Pol Roger might be able to avoid losing money on the concept. That’s likely the best case scenario for even a distinctively British-linked Champagne house to go it alone on wine pints, and the rest of Pol Roger’s competitors in Champagne have little to no desire to share the burden and risk financial loss in the proprietary scheme.

But what about doubling down on the nationalistic appeal?

Through increased investment, broadening experience, and greater exposure — along with an ironic helping hand from a warming climate sunning its ideally chalky soils — English bubby looks well positioned to rival Champagne in the coming decades. And from Simpson’s perspective, if the entire lot of English bubbly producers can go in together on bespoke pint-size glass costs, it could be the perfect opportunity to finally realize a long-pursued marketing hook for English sparkling wine, all while capturing some surprising profit from the Brexit joke.

“You have a brand new English sparkling wine industry in need of a thing,” says Simpson, “and the imperial pint bottle could be it!”

The novelty of English sparkling wine purchased in pint form may work out as a proudly British pour after all. Hell, I’m an American, who upon reading the news, condescendingly mocked the idea of Brexit wine pint bottles returning. Normally, it’d be a ridiculous proposal.

But the thought of ordering an imperial pint bottle, of excellent English fizz, at a London restaurant? Done. Sold. Take my money. Bob’s your uncle. God save the king!

In an odd twist of fate, for a lucky few, the laughable Brexit consolation prize has an outside chance at being an elusive golden ticket.

The article Brexit Pints of Wine Might Not Be as Stupid as They Sound appeared first on VinePair.

One of the joys of summertime is finding the perfect wine to pair with the season’s variety of outdoor activities. From a refreshing and salty white that complements beach snacks to a chilled red at a backyard cookout that brightens every dish to an icy rosé that makes a lazy weekend picnic that much more enjoyable, some wines were just born to be sipped al fresco.

Seeking guidance and inspiration from the experts, we asked sommeliers for the go-to wines they turn to when the heat is on. While the end of summer may be in sight, these bottles will keep you in vacation mode for months to come.

The best go-to summer wines, according to sommeliers:

• Domaine de la Pépière Château-Thébaud
• Coastal and Northern Italian Whites
• 2022 Sybille Kuntz Riesling Trocken
• Tuscan Vermentino
• Domaine Paul Pillot and Domaine Roulot Aligoté
• Txakoli
• Matthiasson Yount Mill Vineyard Pinot Meunier
• Bernard Baudry or Domaine Ott Cabernet Franc Rosé
• Julian Haart 1,000L Riesling
• Moritz Kissinger Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc blend
• Domaine Landron Chartier Aussi Pinot Gris
• Loire Valley Chenin Blancs and Mosel Rieslings
• Empire Estate Riesling Blanc de Blancs
• Viognier
• Ciro Picariello Brut Contadino
• Chilled Brouilly or Gamay
• Vai Vinho Verde
• Girolamo Russo Nerina Etna Bianco
• Domaine Bornard Les Chassagnes
• Romain Le Bars Tavel
• Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo from Emidio Pepe or De Fermo
• Envínate Palo Blanco
• Weingut Harkamp Gelber Muskateller
• Hatzidakis Winery Assyrtiko

“A nice Muscadet like the Château-Thébaud from Domaine de la Pépière is my absolute summer favorite. It’s got beautiful crisp acidity to beat the heat and a nice body that pairs well with food, but really doesn’t need it if you just want to drink in the sunshine with friends. A great pair[ing] with spicy food!” —D’Onna Stubblefield, beverage director, Bloomsday, Philadelphia

“Forever and always, I lean into salty, crisp, textural white wines. Some of my favorites typically come from Liguria or Alto Adige. Coastal or northern Italy produce some of the most refreshing white wines, and they are typically priced pretty well, too. Coastal Italy provides salinity and bite, while northern Italy will give you texture, body, [and] complexity that is so different from the other regions.” —Evelyn Goreshnik, wine director, Last Word Hospitality, L.A.

“Anything viciously crisp and dry. My thirst quencher for the summer is the 2022 Sybille Kuntz Riesling Trocken from the Mosel in Germany. It is crazy-dry and full of mineral taste, and it has that mouthwatering acidity that makes your eyes twitch. Pairs perfectly with relaxing on a summer patio.” —Sebastian Zutant, sommelier and co-founder, Primrose, Washington, D.C.

“I am still 100 percent in my Tuscan Vermentino era. There is a clarity and precision to these wines that I think is really spectacular. Coupled with the slight salinity that comes from the vineyard’s proximity to the sea, the wines make for a perfect summertime sipper. They are food-friendly, refreshing, and a touch fruity, making them easy for everyone to enjoy.” —Kat Hawkins, wine director, Tre Dita and Miru, The St. Regis Chicago, Chicago

“Everyone who knows me knows I only drink Burgundy. In the summer, I still prefer to only drink Burgundy, but if I’m poolside or on a rooftop my go-to is Aligoté. It’s a great way to drink wine from amazing winemakers while also not breaking the bank. I’m really loving the Aligoté from Paul Pillot these days, and Roulot is every sommelier’s favorite value white wine. One last option that is a little under-the-radar is Jean-Philippe Fichet, a winemaker from Meursault that makes a little bit of Aligoté. The wine is simply delicious!” —Cedric Nicaise, co-owner and sommelier, The Noortwyck, NYC

“My go-to summer wine is the hard-to-pronounce but easy to love — and drink. It’s a Spanish white from northern Spain’s Basque country called Txakolina or Txakoli. Txakoli (pronounced chac-o-lee, meaning ‘wine made from a village’) is a zippy, low-ABV, lemon-lime sipper with a hint of effervescent fizz for fun. The wine pairs perfectly with fresh seafood and summer produce or on its own as a salty little thirst-quencher.” —Michael McCaulley, beverage director, Schulson Collective, Philadelphia

“As our summers keep getting hotter, the best time to enjoy the outdoors is often after the sun goes down. A warm night on the back porch calls for a fruity red that can be served slightly chilled, refreshing but with a compelling personality. This season, I can’t put down Matthiasson’s Pinot Meunier from the dry-farmed, organic Yount Mill vineyard in Napa. Meunier is best known as a red grape utilized in Champagne blends; this still expression sings with juicy, wild strawberry notes and bright, high-toned mineral tension.” —Caroline Clark, director of beverage + hospitality, Id Est, Denver

“During the summer I’m outside grilling a lot — even if the heat index is over 100 degrees here in South Carolina — so I’m always looking for something refreshing and thirst-quenching. I’m particularly fond of Cabernet Franc rosés from the Loire Valley, such as Bernard Baudry’s excellent example, or anything from Domaine Ott’s multitude of estates that are going to be high quality and textbook examples of the dry and refreshing Provençal style.” —Jonathan Lopez, owner and beverage director, Hampton Street Vineyard, Columbia, S.C.

“This summer, I have been looking to Germany for wines that are lower in alcohol, higher in acid, and super refreshing. Julian Haart’s 1,000L Riesling is just that. Moritz Kissinger’s Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc blend has electric energy, and the light, savory Pinot Noirs coming out of that region right now are excellent.” —Dora Grossman-Weir, sommelier, Tolo, NYC

“Currently on the Riverpark menu, we are offering Domaine Landron Chartier’s Aussi Pinot Gris from the Loire Valley by the glass. This wine has a little over a week’s time on the skins. giving it a beautiful pink-orange color. Its crisp acidity and earthy-fruit characteristics make it the perfect wine to sit outside on the patio while enjoying a summer night, usually paired with a cheese plate.” —Nadine Pizzuto, beverage director, Riverpark, NYC

“Mineral, smoky Chenin Blancs from the Loire Valley are one of my greatest guilty pleasures of all time. I also have a penchant for zesty, sharp Mosel Rieslings and I am constantly looking for the most exciting sparkling wine on the list. The Empire Estate Riesling Blanc de Blancs from the Finger Lakes is one of my recent discoveries.” —Alessia Ferrarello, wine director, NoMad London, London

“Viognier is my go-to summer wine because its aromatic profile bursts with tropical fruit flavors, making every sip feel like a sun-soaked getaway. The wine’s refreshing acidity keeps things lively — perfect for pairing with light summer dishes or sipping by the pool. Plus, its floral notes make it feel like a bouquet in a glass, bringing a touch of elegance to even the most casual summer gatherings.” —Jeremy Kibalo, sommelier, TRUST, San Diego

“I love sparkling wine in the summer because it pairs so nicely with the fried food you often get at seafood shacks, poolside, etc. My favorite option right now is the Ciro Picariello Brut Contadino. It is 100 percent sparkling Fiano from the Fiano GOATs (if you will). It’s vinified like Champagne but done all in stainless steel, which preserves the freshness of the wine, the saltiness that comes from the region, and the acidity that cuts through fatty, fried foods like supplì.” —Charlotte Mirzoeff, wine director and general manager, Forsythia, NYC

“I love a Brouilly or any other Gamay varietal wine served chilled. Or take any other light, fruity red wine, set in a bucket of ice for half an hour, and enjoy. A popular option in Parisian cafés and a must-try!” —Jonah Selaya, director of operations, The Liberty Hotel, Boston

“Vai Vinho Verde. It’s a dry, zippy, and slightly effervescent blend of Loureiro, Arinto, and Trajadura from the Minho region of northern Portugal. This wine encapsulates the youthful vibrancy of both Vinho Verde and Portuguese wines, and at $12, it’s an approachable and affordable bottle. This wine is made to go with you on all your adventures, whether it be to the beach, on a backpack, or to an outdoor concert to see your favorite band this summer.” —Stephen Ott, co-founder, Nossa Imports, Tucson, Ariz.

“My go-to summer wine is Girolamo Russo’s Nerina Etna Bianco, a delightful bottle from Mount Etna that captures the feel of a Mediterranean coast in summer. It has bright lemon notes with olive orchards, thyme, and a refreshing sea breeze. The wine has a great texture with lovely minerality, making it a perfect match for light Mediterranean snacks that help cool down the summer heat.” —Beyza Yildirim, sommelier, TIYA, San Francisco

“White wines from Jura, especially Les Chassagnes from Domaine Bornard, a Savagnin Ouillé that’s complex with mouthwatering salinity and acidity that keeps you coming back for more. It’s truly my ideal version of refreshing. I also love wines that straddle the line between dark rosé and light red such as Romain Le Bars Tavel or Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo from Emidio Pepe or De Fermo. These wines have enough fruit and acidity to keep you feeling fresh on a summer day, yet [have] enough structure to pair with a wide variety of food from a fritto misto and a big tomato salad to grilled lamb chops or a roast chicken.” —Noah Ledwell, wine director and assistant general mana’ger, My Loup, Philadelphia

“When the temperature crosses 80 degrees, it’s time to reach for a refreshing island white wine. Currently, I find myself drawn to Envínate’s Palo Blanco. Grown in the complex volcanic soils of Tenerife, this Canary Island white wine is versatile enough for any occasion. Its crispness pairs perfectly with a watermelon salad, and its salty mineral finish complements a barbecue, making it a summer must-have.” —Stevan Miller, beverage director, Esmé and Bar Esmé, Chicago

“My current go-to wine to beat the heat is this Gelber Muskateller from Weingut Harkamp in South Styria, Austria. It’s light-bodied, very mineral, and just a little bit floral, reminiscent of things like Sauvignon Blanc or Grüner Veltliner but way more interesting. Plus, they farm organically and biodynamically, so less day-ending hangovers tomorrow from sulphur additions.” —Patrick Kattner, wine director, Foul Witch, Blanca, and Roberta’s, NYC

“I love Greek wine, and summer is the perfect season to explore the breadth and depth of what the country has to offer. Greece is best known for white wines, namely from the indigenous Assyrtiko grape, and the best examples come from Hatzidakis: both lighter styles and the more textured and traditional Nykteri bottling. They are mineral, refreshing, and great enjoyed on their own poolside or with lighter summer fare. Their red Mavrotragano is awesome as well, which is sure to please Chianti and Brunello drinkers.” —Justin Mueller, wine director, Choy, Nashville, Tenn.

The article We Asked 20 Sommeliers: What’s Your Go-To Summer Wine? appeared first on VinePair.

To be frank, the wine world listens too much to failures. It sounds harsh, but it’s true.

The individuals who receive the most public attention tend to be somms who have never run a successful or profitable restaurant. And when those wine professionals — and disgruntled journalists — consider wineries that actually are successful and scooping up sales, they often propose that those establishments are cheating somehow, perhaps going so far as to argue they’re making “Kool-Aid in a bottle” to pander to unsophisticated palates. While these somms might not want to drink said wines personally, maybe they should take a moment and try to understand why those brands are so popular instead of just complaining about the industry’s struggles (and not offering any solutions).

On this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” Adam, Joanna, and Zach ponder why the wine industry listens so intently to certain journalists, entrepreneurs, and wine professionals who haven’t actually had all that much success. Why do the voices who want to keep wine insular and snobby get so much attention? Tune in for more.

Joanna is drinking: Division Bell
Zach is drinking: Perrier-Jouët “Belle Époque”
Adam is drinking: Vesper at Lola’s

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The article The VinePair Podcast: Wine Is Listening to the Wrong People appeared first on VinePair.

If you have the luxury of flying first or business class, you’re probably getting a full-on dining menu with that extra-plush seat and room to stretch your legs. For the majority of us who opt for economy, however, the in-flight meal often boils down to two equally sad options: vegetarian or non-vegetarian. And sometimes, by the time the attendants reach your seat, your options have slimmed to whatever tiny trays they’ve got left.

But according to one flight attendant, there’s a hack for getting the best meal service possible — one that better promises a timely delivery, food that hasn’t gone lukewarm, and the full range of meal options, even if there are only two. The trick? Choosing your seat in advance.

“Often meal service will begin at the front of the cabin and progress to the back,” Cathay Pacific flight attendant Joyce Chan recently told Australian food publication Delicious. “Choosing a seat towards the front may increase your likelihood of being served earlier.”

On top of being among the first travelers to get your in-flight meal, landing a seat at the front of the cabin also increases your chances of getting the meal you want. In the unlikely but very possible scenario that the flight crew runs out of meal option A or B by the time they get to the back of the plane, won’t be stuck eating a cheese calzone when you were eyeing up the chicken parm that the guy in seat 5D just snagged.

This trick might seem like a no-brainer, but the importance of seat selection often goes overlooked by casual fliers who could care less about leg room or staring out the window during takeoff. It’s one of the few liberties that economy ticket-holders have, so it’s best to take advantage of it. If airline food really isn’t your jam, you can always grab some grub in the terminal. Maybe grab some coffee to bring on board, too.

The article How to Get the Best In-Air Meal Service, According to a Flight Attendant appeared first on VinePair.

Though she may seem superhuman on the vault or the floor, Simone Biles proved she’s just like us when it comes to hangovers. On Monday, she posted on Threads: “I’m never drinking again,” presumably after a string of rowdy post-Olympic events.

 

Post by @simonebiles

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The Olympic gymnast had a lot to celebrate after clinching three gold medals and one silver medal in the now-finished Paris games. She even hinted at her plans to indulge in a few drinks after the gymnastic events concluded: “I know tequila hate to see me coming,” she posted to Threads on Thursday.

Fans clearly connected with Biles’ quick progression from “eagerly ready to rage” to “hungover and regretful,” with many echoing the post’s sentiment with comments like: “Hands-down, the number one most repeated sentence in the world,” and “if you haven’t said those words at least once in your life, have you even lived?”

Others commended the gymnast for being so relatable, with one user stating: “it’s comforting knowing even the greatest athletes of all time are still like us in a lot of ways.” Some Threads users took a more comedic approach with comments like: “Did ALL the bars seem uneven by the end of the night?”

Athletes from other events may be feeling the pain, too. Some fans have speculated that the U.S. soccer team appeared hungover in photos after their impressive win over Brazil, and some users on X (formerly Twitter) suggested that Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis looked like he may have had a fun night out ahead of a morning TV interview.

Though Biles did make a public, sweeping statement swearing off alcohol, we’re willing to bet it’s just the hangover talking.

The article How Hungover Is Simone Biles Right Now? appeared first on VinePair.

Arby’s, which famously “has the meats,” is bringing back two beloved, bourbon-soaked menu offerings inspired by summer barbecues. The fast-food chain recently announced the return of the Bourbon BBQ Chicken Sandwich and the Bourbon BBQ Brisket Sandwich, available for a limited time only at participating locations nationwide.

The chicken iteration is stuffed with a crispy filet, heaping piles of brown sugar bacon, gooey Cheddar cheese, fried onions, and a smattering of Arby’s signature bourbon BBQ sauce. The brisket version swaps out the poultry in favor of sliced beef smoked for 13 hours. Both sandwiches are served on toasted brioche buns.

Prices of the items will vary depending on location, with the Bourbon BBQ Chicken Sandwich starting at $7.49 and the Bourbon BBQ Brisket Sandwich at $8.29. If you’re interested in taking things to the next level, each sandwich can also be ordered as a meal with a side of fries and your choice of soft drink.

Also returning for a limited time is a fan-favorite milkshake flavor, and no, it’s not pumpkin spice. The fast-food chain’s strawberry-flavored shake, which is served with a mound of whipped cream on top, will also be priced depending on location. The shake is only available until the end of the summer, so strawberry stans, be sure to grab yours before supplies run out.

The article Arby’s Is Bringing Back Two Bourbon-Flavored Favorites appeared first on VinePair.

It’s a chilly, drizzly November evening but on Platform 1 at London’s Victoria Station, spirits are high. No wonder: Ahead lies a four-hour ride around Kent on the swanky British Pullman train, taking in a five-course dinner prepared by Irish chef Anna Haugh, entertainment (including singing troupe The Spitfire Sisters), lavishly decorated historic railroad cars — and, perhaps most importantly of all, a bottle of Dom Perignon’s 2012 Vintage Champagne for every couple.

A fairly unique and, at more than $650 a ticket, expensive experience, the Belmond’s British Pullman service is typical in one aspect: It demonstrates the European passion for drinking on the move. From German Wegbier, open-container beer drunk on Berlin streets and en route to Bavarian biergarten, to cross-continent rail journeys, Europeans love to combine the necessity of travel with the pleasure of a good glass.

Now more than ever, that’s true. Beer sales onboard Deutsches Bahn trains doubled during the first six days of July’s European soccer championships; rail companies across Europe are adding bespoke beers to their catering offering; and “beer bike” tours, though they can be controversial, are popping up in cities from Bristol to Bratislava. This is a phenomenon that’s clearly going places.

A Good Lauf

On Berlin’s Adalbertstrasse, the Wegbier of choice appears to be Sternburg Export; in the streets around Munich’s central station Augustiner Hell dominates, with Tegernseer a distant second; and on Hamburg’s ever-seedy Reeperbahm, Astra is most popular with locals.

The brands vary but the tradition remains. In some European countries and cities, drinking in public is banned, such as Glasgow in Scotland, where open containers have been verboten since the late 1990s. But it’s a vital part of the culture in Germany, where 84 percent of beer is consumed packaged rather than on draft.

“There used to be a room full of beer to drink on the way home. There’s not much better than a walk with a beer on a sunny day.”

It’s something Germans learn at an early age. “Father’s Day in Bavaria is a bit different,” laughs Helen Busch, beer sommelier for the German Kraft brewpubs and bars in Vienna and London. “When I was younger, my father and his friends would fill up a pull-trolley with beer and ice [on that day], drinking it on the way to a brewery.”

Busch grew up in Erlangen in Franconia, the northern third of Bavaria, widely regarded as Germany’s brewing heartland. One of her first Wegbier experiences came at the age of 16, as part of another key drinking-on-the move tradition: Kastenlauf, or crate run. On the opening day of Erlangen’s Volksfest, Bergkirchweih, young adults traditionally carry a 20-bottle crate to the event, drinking as they go. A 40-minute walk can take up to five hours. “We didn’t actually go to the beer festival that day,” she says.

A beer while taking a stroll is even part of German workplace culture, according to Reece Hugill, British brewer and owner of Donzoko, who spent time working in a laboratory while studying in Munich. “There used to be a room full of beer to drink on the way home,” he says. “There’s not much better than a walk with a beer on a sunny day.”

Pedal Pints

The German passion for Wegbier doesn’t extend to all drinking on the go. Beer bikes — a human-propelled vehicle, seating up to 16 customers, who drink as they pedal — have been restricted in Germany for many years over concerns about rudeness and, most unforgivable in Deutschland, holding up traffic. Other countries have taken a similar approach, including the Netherlands, where the phenomenon first reared its head in the late 1990s.

Nonetheless, they are still popular, with Britain in particular currently a growing market — although even here concerns remain, perhaps because they’re associated with rowdy stag parties.

“Increasingly we find our passengers are most interested in wines from the vineyards we pass by on the train. It’s like normal life is suspended.”

Beer Travel UK operates beer bikes in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, and Newcastle. The Bristol scheme launched in February; it costs £370 (around $470) for an hour’s trip around the city center, and customers bring their own beer. Thanos Koufis, operations manager, told The Times he thought beer bikes’ bad reputation was “a bit unfair.” He said “it’s a way of bringing people together and socializing in a physical activity with friends.”

Train, No Strain

When Hugill was considering names for a Donzoko beer to be served on Lumo, a budget rail service between London and Scotland, one option stood out: Train Beer. In the U.K., “Train Beers” — carry-on beers bought in station stores — are hugely popular. “So why not call it Train Beer?” he says of the pale ale, which is served in 330-milliliter cans on the company’s eight daily services.

Britons enjoy taking their own beer (or RTDs, which are increasingly popular) on trains but, as Hugill points out, MittelEuropa is the place to go for a really classy experience. His passion for train beer was sparked by a journey between Venice and Vienna, when Austrian lager Stiegl was served on board in a glass. “I thought, ‘This is mint,’” he says. “It’s so much better than having to drive.”

(Beer served in a glass is common in this part of the world, from Germany to Czechia, where Pivovar Chroust brews exclusive beers for dining cars.)

Few people have as much experience of European train travel as Mark Smith, English creator of “The Man In Seat 61,” a comprehensive guide to rail travel around the world. Smith says a personal favorite is Erdinger Weissbier as served on German trains. “It’s always served in the proper tall glass,” he says.

Not all rail companies are so liberal, he adds. In Sweden, for example, you can drink alcohol but only if you buy and consume it in the dining car, while it’s banned entirely on Scotrail trains (but not those connecting to the rest of the U.K.) and the London Underground — although in the latter case, enforcement is not particularly stringent.

Smith says that while dining has gotten worse on European trains due to dining cars being removed, the quality of wine and beer has not suffered. “I think it’s as good as it’s ever been,” he says.

Fizzing Along

Sometimes, drinking on the go isn’t about getting anywhere, but the journey itself — as with the Belmond Pullman, where each passenger is greeted with a glass of sparkling wine as they arrive on board. The company runs a variety of journeys, from immersive murder mystery tours to afternoon tea, but perhaps the most intriguing are those that take in one of Kent’s growing number of vineyards, all within easy reach of London.

“Increasingly we find our passengers are most interested in wines from the vineyards we pass by on the train,” says Craig Moffat, general manager of British Pullman. There’s a special pleasure to enjoying a drink while you’re on the move, he says. “It’s like normal life is suspended.”

The same might be said of Wegbier — or even beer bikes, if the mood strikes you. It seems a particularly European approach to travel, a refusal to accept that even the most humdrum life moments shouldn’t be enjoyed. “You’re sitting there with your feet up, enjoying the countryside going past; why not have a glass of wine or a beer?” says Smith.

Why not indeed?

The article From Beer Bikes to Champagne-Soaked Train Excursions, Europeans Adore Drinking on the Go appeared first on VinePair.

Just like wine, cheese is central to France’s identity and culture. Also as with wine, each region boasts its own specific styles of cheese, and some even have official designations. Though we’re used to seeing household names like Munster on supermarket shelves in the U.S., there is a plethora of delicious regional varieties to get to know.

Some of these include creamy Camembert from Normandy, funky wedges of Roquefort from the south, and smooth wheels of Saint-Paulin hailing from the coast. Some regions offer both robust wine and cheese offerings that make for beautiful pairings — like Loire Valley Chèvre and Sancerre, or Comté and Jura Chardonnay — so expanding your knowledge can be the key to unlocking some killer wine and cheese nights.

From Saint André to Beaufort, here are the essential cheeses of France, mapped.

*Image retrieved from Aliaksandr Kazlou via stock.adobe.com

The article The Essential Cheeses of France [MAP] appeared first on VinePair.

This article is part of our Cocktail Chatter series, where we dive into the wild, weird, and wondrous corners of history to share over a cocktail and impress your friends.

Luxury fashion house Burberry is known for its all-around class, iconic raincoats, and signature beige, red, and black check. The pattern is just as ubiquitous as the Louis Vuitton monogram or Chanel’s interlocked Cs, and over the years, it’s become something of a status symbol of the U.K.’s well-to-do.

But in the fashion world, trends come, go, and come back again. And in 2003, British bars and clubs turned away potential patrons who showed up wearing any garments by the historic brand. Who turns away good business over something as petty as a brand name, let alone one like Burberry?

Blame the Chavs

In 1997, Burberry went beige check crazy, putting the pattern on everything from bikinis to baseball caps. Within a few years, it became easier for lower-income shoppers to scrape together enough money to buy one or two of the brand’s more affordable accessories. In the U.K., some of these shoppers included chavs.

For those unfamiliar, chav is a (usually pejorative) British term used to stereotype lower-income young people dressed in sportswear. From a fashion standpoint, this brand-loyal subculture carries a similar reputation to American frat bros in Ralph Lauren polos or streetwear fans in Supreme camp caps. Chavs also often roll in the same circles as rowdy soccer fans: We’re talking about the ones who routinely get piss-drunk and stir up a ruckus while spilling lager on the sleeves of anyone in a three-foot radius. (If you’ve seen the 2005 film “Green Street Hooligans,” you know the type.)

In the early aughts, chavs adopted the Burberry beige pattern full-force. Given this rise of Burberry among people who couldn’t generally afford the brand, counterfeiters began pumping out garments adorned with the iconic checkered design.

“It was associated with people who did bad stuff, who went wild on the terraces,” British columnist Peter York told the BBC at the time. “Quite a lot of people thought that Burberry would be worn by the person who mugged them.”

In 2003, a slew of photos of former soap star Danniella Westbrook and her baby dripping in head-to-toe Burberry check popped up in numerous tabloids. At that point, British media had become well aware of chav culture, and the chav-Burberry connection was all over the press.

The Burberry Ban Begins

The Burberry-chav association came to a head that same year when multiple bars and clubs across Britain banned any customers wearing the brand. They didn’t want the mischief the chavs might bring. And for many pubs, it wasn’t limited to just Burberry; the ban applied to any clothing brand associated with chavs and football hooligans. Two pubs in Leicester, the Parody and Varsity, posed a strict rule against Burberry, Stone Island, Aquascutum, Henri-Lloyd, and Rockport.

“Well-known football hooligans have a dress code,” PC Karen Holdridge of the Leicestershire County police department’s violence and disorder team told the Guardian. “These people are recognised as coming into the city centre day in, day out and causing trouble.” According to Vogue, even a few bars in Scotland embraced the beige check ban.

Burberry Strikes Back

Following these bans, Burberry pulled the checked baseball caps from the market, and further removed the iconic checked pattern from multiple products. According to the BBC, the pattern was featured on 20 percent of its products in 2002, and by 2004, it appeared on less than 5 percent. The fashion house also tapped its legal team and started cracking down on counterfeiters and anyone using the beige check pattern without permission.

We’re not experts on British subcultures, but as fashion trends tend to go, the chavs eventually moved on from their Burberry obsession. It’s not totally clear as to when, but both the brand’s legal defensive maneuvers and the widespread pub ban appear to have fizzled out by roughly 2005 when reports of the matter ceased to pop up in various publications. And admittedly, even when the ban was in effect, it did little to hinder Burberry’s reputation on an international scale. In 2004, an unnamed Burberry spokeswoman told B2B fashion company FashionUnited that “[the ban is] clearly a localised issue and to be honest it’s actually quite insignificant in the face of the brand’s global appeal.”

Eventually, the plaid returned to the pubs, and normalcy was restored. But the infamous Burberry ban reminds us that the fashion industry — and the bar industry — can be surprisingly fickle and fragile.

*Image retrieved from pixarno via stock.adobe.com

The article No Plaid Allowed: Why English Pubs Once Banned Burberry appeared first on VinePair.

Even though cheese boards undoubtedly bring joy to any gathering, there’s always that awkward hesitation that arises when you take a knife to a big chunk of Brie or Camembert: Do you go for the rind, or cut around it? At that moment, it can feel like the entire party is watching your every move. You don’t want to be the rude guest who leaves the perfectly good rind behind, but you also don’t want to look like the idiot chowing down on something that’s clearly inedible.

So, when you approach a fancy cheese board, how do you know which rinds are safe to eat and which ones you should avoid? To help prevent a fromage faux pas, VinePair tapped Kai Norton, cheese manager at NYC’s Bedford Cheese Shop for answers.

Norton says that overall, most cheese rinds found on a typical platter will be safe — and even enjoyable — to eat. The fluffy white exterior on popular bloomy cheeses like Brie, Camembert, and Leonora are all fair game for snacking, as are those on washed rind cheeses like Taleggio, Brebirousse, and Winnimere and natural rind cheeses including Stilton, Queijo Serra da Estrela, and Pecorino Romano. All of these examples are made with natural processes, making them all acceptable to eat.

When a cheese is encased in something that wasn’t developed naturally — such as a wax, cloth, or plastic coating — Norton says that’s a clear clue you should skip the rind.

“We would recommend avoiding any rinds that are encased in wax, like Brabander Reserve, Gouda, and Coolea as well as the cloth of any clothbound cheeses similar to a Montgomery’s Cheddar,” Norton notes. Manchego usually falls under this category, too. Norton also suggests avoiding any cheese rinds that are rubbery, hard, or tough to bite through. “No one wants to be sent to the dentist on behalf of a Parmigiano rind — save it for the soup,” they add.

Some cheeses have strange rind components that might be technically OK to eat, but can be turn-offs to casual cheese consumers. Norton cites Sottocenere, which features a rind covered in ash, and Mimolette, a variety that’s aged with mites. This cheese’s rind is tough, craggy, and full of small “cheese bugs.”

While it might seem easiest to avoid the rind just in case — especially after hearing about cheese mites, sorry about that! — Norton says that edible rinds can add a distinct depth of flavor to the overall experience and shouldn’t be overlooked. Some of their favorite varieties for exploring the different styles of rind include Couronne de Fontenay, an ash-ripened goat cheese “donut” from the Loire Valley where the rind enhances the cheese’s complex woodsy, tangy, and earthy notes as well as Baron Bigod, a cheese from the U.K. that offers a citrusy paste balanced by a nutty, mushroomy rind.

Norton notes another standout, Langres, a classic soft, ripened French cheese from Champagne. Made to pair well with the region’s signature drink, this cheese offers a yeasty, brioche-like rind that complements rich expressions of the wine. A hot tip from Norton: Pour a bit of Champagne in the indent on top of the cheese to add another dimension of flavor and effervescence.

In the end, when it comes to rinds that are safe to eat, that decision is largely up to your preference. Still, Norton urges cheese lovers to at least give rinds a try before shunning them entirely.

The article Here’s How to Tell if a Cheese’s Rind Is Edible appeared first on VinePair.

A popular and once-ubiquitous Jamaican rum has become mysteriously scarce this year. And with the shortage of Chartreuse fresh in everyone’s minds, it’s natural to wonder if this current dip in supply may be permanent.

Wray & Nephew Overproof is practically synonymous with overproof rum. It’s by far one of Jamaica’s most popular rums, and can be found behind most bars in the U.S. It’s a heavyweight, both high-proof at 63 percent ABV and loaded with bold, funky flavors and aromas known in the rum world as hogo. It’s got a powerful profile, which is why Wray & Nephew tends to be used in small and potent portions.

“A strong note of banana and other tropical fruits paired with the high-proof, untamed spirit adds an edge to a cocktail that is hard to replicate,” explains Adam Sandroni, bar director at Santa Barbara, Calif., cocktail bar Test Pilot, of the expression. Thanks to that edge, it’s not a bottle that one tends to run through quickly, but it remains a staple for many bartenders and home mixologists who enjoy whipping up tropical cocktails. And when it’s not available, people notice.

Here’s everything we know about the shortage.

The Disappearing Act

Whispers of a Wray & Nephew shortage began circulating online this past spring. In a March 25 Reddit post on the r/rum subreddit, one user asked the community if anyone else has had trouble finding the brand on shelves. Users quickly chimed in from every corner of the U.S. to share that they, too, hadn’t been able to find Wray & Nephew Overproof in their local stores.

“Due to a combination of unexpected weather conditions in Jamaica, some equipment challenges, and strict environmental regulatory requirements, we have not been able to distill as much Wray & Nephew White Overproof rum as planned since December 2023.”

“I was going to make a blind tasting video,” Arminder Randhawa, content creator and host of The Rum Revival, told VinePair. “But then I realized, oh, man, it’s really tough to find a bottle. All my local shops were all out of stock.”

Over the next few months, the rum’s increasing scarcity became more and more apparent. Various states’ Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) inventories also reflect either dwindling stocks or the complete absence of the rum over the course of this year. Speculation as to why this affordable commodity rum was becoming as rare as Pappy Van Winkle began to spread, but there was still no definitive explanation.

Down Dunder

Rum aficionados began to get some answers in June when an article in Jamaican news outlet Gleaner claimed the shortage was being caused by a drop in production due to heavy rainfall. This was confirmed in a statement to VinePair by J. Wray & Nephew Limited.

“Due to a combination of unexpected weather conditions in Jamaica, some equipment challenges, and strict environmental regulatory requirements, we have not been able to distill as much Wray & Nephew White Overproof rum as planned since December 2023. This in turn, has led to our current inability to supply, in full, our global volumes during this quarter. We are working assiduously to correct the problem and we expect to return to our full supply capacity by Q4, 2024.”

Unanticipated high rainfall can affect rum production in multiple ways. It can disrupt sugar cane cultivation, slow down the transportation of materials, and damage distillery equipment. In this case, the rain caused an issue specific to Jamaican rum producers — it prevented the distillery from legally disposing of its waste, also known as dunder.

“The Campari Group recently announced the installation of a Dunder Treatment plant which will allow us to meet the increasing demand for our rum brands while simultaneously mitigating the environmental impact of our operations.”

“Big picture, this is an ongoing problem,” says Matt Pietrek, co-author of award-winning book Modern Caribbean Rum. “Distilling [rum] creates an incredible amount of waste.”

Dunder is the acidic stillage left over after all the alcohol has been cooked out during molasses-based fermentation. This waste is typically stored in outdoor ponds or pits until it can be processed and released back into the environment without causing harm. With excessive rainfall, though, these ponds can fill too quickly, leaving the distillery with nowhere to store its dunder. Improper processing of dunder can have disastrous effects on the environment, and because of this, the way distilleries dispose of their dunder is closely monitored and regulated by the Jamaican government. If the dunder pits are full and processing is delayed, distilleries have one option.

“They basically have to slow down or stop production because they have nowhere to put this stuff,” Pietrek says.

Return of the Rum

So, will Wray & Nephew find itself in the same rarefied company as allocated bottles like Blanton’s?

Since the rum isn’t barrel-aged, it shouldn’t take long for bottles to make their way back to liquor store shelves once the distillery is back to operating at full capacity. And J. Wray & Nephew’s parent company, Campari, is already working on a long-term solution.

“The Campari Group recently announced the installation of a Dunder Treatment plant which will allow us to meet the increasing demand for our rum brands while simultaneously mitigating the environmental impact of our operations,” J. Wray & Nephew Limited said in its statement. “The investment will also make us less susceptible to weather conditions.”

Thankfully, for those who can’t get enough of the funk, there are plenty of other high-octane, unaged Jamaican rums to try in the meantime.

“We all love and cherish Wray & Nephew, but we should use this as an opportunity to support Jamaica’s smaller distilleries,” Pietrek says. Who knows? A newfound alternative might earn a permanent spot on your back bar, too.

The article Facing a Shortage, Will Wray & Nephew Rum Be the Next Chartreuse? appeared first on VinePair.

From its dozens of “Real Housewives” iterations and spinoffs to “Summer House,” “Below Deck,” and more, Bravo provides an endless font of gossip and mess. And let’s face it: If loving reality TV is wrong, we don’t want to be right. Whether it’s one Gen X socialite throwing a drink at another while demanding she stay away from her husband, or another star being exposed for various white-collar crimes, we’ll be watching with rapt attention — likely with a drink in hand.

Speaking of drinks, they’re something the Bravoverse is quite familiar with. Just look at the sheer number of alcohol brands launched in the past decade by Bravolebrities (Bravo celebrities, if you’re new here). Seriously, so many get involved in the food and beverage space that it’s honestly hard to keep up. But just as quickly as these brands appear on our TV screens and social media feeds, they can vanish without a trace. Whatever happened to Sonja Morgan’s Tipsy Girl Prosecco? Or Ramona Singer’s Pinot Grigio? Countess Luann’s nonalcoholic rosé, the aptly named Fosé Rosé, allegedly sold out two years ago and hasn’t returned. Even finding Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz’s joint venture, Toms’ Good Lovin’ whiskey, can feel like a Sisyphean task.

That said, many Bravo-born brands are currently alive and thriving, and we wanted to know how they all stack up. So, we got to work tracking down every line we could find, from Vida Tequila to Loverboy. Without further ado, check out our definitive ranking of Bravolebrity booze brands.

7. Skinnygirl (Bethenny Frankel, ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’)

In the pilot season of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” founding cast member Frankel “invented” the now-controversial Skinny Girl Margarita, which contained Patrón silver, fresh lime juice, and a splash of triple sec. This inspired Frankel to launch Skinnygirl Cocktails with a low-calorie, ready-to-serve Margarita in 2009. While the lineup — which sold to Beam Suntory in 2011 — has since expanded to include several other cocktails, wines, vodka, and even salad dressings, we stuck to the OG Marg. And, woof. Its potent kitchen-cleaner aroma made taking even one sip feel like a chore. The watery palate wasn’t any better: The drink burst with an unattractive, artificial lime flavor that prevented our taste buds from picking up any tequila notes.

6. Rinna Wines (Lisa Rinna, ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’)

When the cast of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” set off on their Season 9 girl’s trip to Provence, France, it was a bad time to be a glass of wine. During an hours-long tasting, the ladies took down bottle after bottle of rosé, resulting in some of the drunkest moments the show has seen to date. It was here that then-series regular Rinna got the idea to start a wine label of her own: Rinna Wines, which hit shelves in August 2022. Made in collaboration with Prestige Beverage Group, the line includes Sparkling Brut and Sparkling Brut Rosé, both produced in Provence. Our tasting panel opted to sample the former, which was so tart it bordered on sour. While we picked up some faint hints of pear, the flavors quickly turned dusty on the back palate. Not only that, but the carbonation was so fine that it made consuming the sparkling wine a challenge, at best.

5. Vanderpump Wines (Lisa Vanderpump, ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ and ‘Vanderpump Rules’)

Vanderpump has made an impressive name for herself by starring on two of Bravo’s most successful programs and opening over 30 restaurants across the globe with husband Ken Todd. Given the couple’s illustrious hospitality career — and the fact that Lisa is rarely caught on camera without a glass of wine — it didn’t come as much of a shock when the former housewife announced her own wine label in 2013. Vanderpump Pink Sangria and Vanderpump Red Sangria hit shelves the following year and, unfortunately, neither is very good. The former smelled like the juice left over in a bowl of fruit salad (not in a good way) and things further fell apart on the palate: Saccharine, overripe fruit dominated our taste buds and stuck around in our mouths. The Red Sangria was slightly better, offering ripe red berry and baking spice notes that were better fused with the relatively tannic, dry red base. While we’re not sure we would ever reach for this product again, it was at least drinkable.

Vanderpump also launched a separate line of wines in 2017 with the release of her flagship expression, Vanderpump Rosé. We didn’t get a chance to sample the pink stuff, so we opted for Vanderpump Chardonnay, which debuted in 2020. Nutty and buttery oak aromas permeated the glass before a tart palate took over, highlighting flavors like pear, lemon, and brioche. While it’s not the best Chardonnay we’ve ever tasted, it certainly was better than the Sangrias, which was enough to bump it up a spot.

4. Casa Del Sol (Kathy Hilton, ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’)

Hilton, who makes frequent appearances on the show thanks to the housewife status of her sister Kyle Richards, didn’t found tequila brand Casa Del Sol. But her investor status sparked a pretty intense feud with cast mate Rinna, who opted to order Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila instead of Casa Del Sol while on a trip to Aspen. Unlike Rinna, we were interested in giving the brand a try, so we sampled the blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions.

Of the three, the blanco was by far the best, though it doesn’t stand up to other blancos at the same price point. While there were some pepper and grassy agave notes, the overwhelming flavors of caramel, vanilla, and confectioner sugar lingered in our mouths and were even sweeter on the finish. The reposado was similarly cloying, exuding heavy butterscotch aromas that joined bubble gum and baking spice on the palate. The worst of the trio was the añejo, which combined cloying butterscotch with artificial-tasting vanilla and caramel for a spirit that tasted more like a saltwater taffy than agave.

3. Vida Tequila (Lisa Barlow, ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’)

If you’ve ever seen “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” you’ve likely watched series regular Barlow order a “Vida cocktail” while out for a meal. What exactly is in that cocktail remains up for debate, but Barlow just knows she wants the tequila that she owns. Despite the brand’s name recognition skyrocketing after the show’s premiere, Vida Tequila was actually founded over two decades ago, even before the U.S. tequila boom. Barlow and her husband John came up with the concept in 2003 after meeting their now-distilling partner, and by 2007, bottles of the stuff lined the shelves of Utah liquor stores.

The brand also offers reposado and añejo expressions, but we snagged the blanco, and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. The spirit was intense on the nose, bursting with grassy agave aromas accompanied by underlying citrus. The palate was similar with vegetal notes, intense black pepper, and pyrazines. Crisp and citrusy on the finish, this tequila might not be a standout when compared to other high-quality blancos, but it certainly knocks other celebrity tequilas out of the water.

2. Loverboy (Kyle Cooke, ‘Summer House’)

Launched in 2018 just a year after “Summer House” hit the airwaves, co-stars and now-spouses Cooke and Amanda Batula launched Loverboy, a lineup of sparkling, low-ABV canned teas. The two got the idea for the brand by witnessing the added success that came to brands like Twisted Tea and Whispering Angel after cast mates drank them while filming. Promoting the line on the show delivered similar buzz: By 2023, the brand had generated approximately $38 million in sales across the U.S.

While there are about 10 hard teas under the brand’s umbrella alongside cocktails and spritzes, we kept things simple and tried the Hibiscus Lime and White Tea Peach teas. Both are wonderful. The former is highly floral, with hibiscus providing some bittersweetness that plays well with the lime juice’s acid. With a hint of pomegranate juice, the palate offered nice weight and a hit of sweetness. Equally refreshing was the White Tea Peach, which delivered a ripe, juicy peach flavor where one might expect candied peach rings. The tea’s tannins were more noticeable here than in the former can, which prevented the sweet stone fruit from taking over the palate.

1. Bluestone Manor (Dorinda Medley, ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’)

Despite her popularity with fans, Medley left the franchise in 2020 after six seasons. But she clearly made the most of her free time: Just a few months after the news of her departure broke, Medley launched Bluestone Manor Bourbon. Named after her sprawling estate in the Berkshires, the spirit is designed to fit into a niche not previously filled by other Bravo brands: brown liquor. And in our opinion, she pulls it off.

Bottled at 45 percent ABV, the bourbon is distilled in Newburgh, N.Y., from a mash bill of 70 percent corn, 25 percent wheat, and 5 percent malted barley. The result is a spirit with robust baking spice aromas undercut with a hint of enticing orange peel. The palate was similar, washing the taste buds with vanilla, allspice, and dried fruit. Weighty on the palate, the spirit is sure to hold up just as well in cocktails as it did neat, making it the certified champion of our Bravo booze battle.

The article The Best and Worst Bravolebrity Booze Brands, Tasted and Ranked appeared first on VinePair.

The article The Cable Car appeared first on VinePair.

“Cocktail College” is brought to you by tequila Don Julio. Don Julio González followed his heart over his head. He loved his land, agave, and community — basically, every choice he made was for exceptional tequila, something I know you can appreciate, “Cocktail College” listener. He did it por amor, and this is how people from Mexico basically live every single day. Hecho en México, loved everywhere, head to www.donjulio.com/tequila-drinks for a list of cocktails to create with Don Julio’s expressions. Made with love in every drop.

Here at “Cocktail College,” when we’re not embarking on historical deep dives or waxing lyrical about Martinis, we often find ourselves discussing the modern cocktail renaissance, the players involved in it, the essential bars, and the storied drinks created in that era. Typically those conversations revolve around New York, the U.S., and, to a lesser extent, our friends across the pond in London. Today, we’ll be doing much of the same, but only after boarding one of the longest metaphorical and theoretical flights. We’re touching down in Melbourne, Australia, to discuss one of the weirdest, most interesting modern classics devised this century.

On this episode of “Cocktail College,” we’re joined by former bartender Chris Hysted-Adams to discuss the Death Flip. The drink debuted on the menu at the Black Pearl in 2010, and the ingredients list reads like a concoction that simply should not work — but it does! Tune in for more.

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Chris Hysted-Adams’ Death Flip Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ounce blanco tequila
• ½ ounce Jägermeister
• ½ ounce Yellow Chartreuse
• ¼ ounce vanilla simple syrup
• 1 whole egg
• Garnish: grated nutmeg

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaking tin with one ice cube.
2. Dry shake until all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Fill with ice and shake until chilled.
4. Fine strain into a chilled Coupette glass.
5. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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The article The Cocktail College Podcast: The Death Flip appeared first on VinePair.

There are terms when it comes to certain liquids that industry pros often think will resonate with consumers. In all actuality, drinkers just want something that tastes good and that they’re familiar with.

For example, the app Tequila Matchmaker made efforts to convince people that whether or not a tequila has additives is indicative of whether or not it’s authentic. At the end of the day, though, the app’s agenda had little effect on which brands of tequila were kept behind the stick. Sure, bartenders might enjoy additive-free tequila on their own time, but if they don’t have Clase Azul or Casamigos on the menu, that’s money left on the table.

On this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” Adam, Joanna, and Zach posit that despite lots of industry and brand focus on additive-free tequila, relatively few consumers understand what the term means or care much about it if they do. They’re in it for the flavor profile or the recognizable label, and brands and bars are starting to wise up to that reality. Tune in for more.

Joanna is reading: Can the Beverage Industry Stand United Amid Anti-Alcohol Animosity on Multiple Fronts?
Zach is reading: Why the Mule Is the Ultimate Workhorse Cocktail
Adam is reading: What Ever Happened to Old Crow, Once the ‘Pinnacle of American Whiskey’?

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The article The VinePair Podcast: Do Consumers Really Care About Additive-Free Tequila? appeared first on VinePair.

Searching for an easy way to reinvent your summer? Look no further than your cocktail glass. In a world of endless riff culture, we’ve found a twist on the classic Negroni that’s worth the buzz. Beautifully bright, curiously clear, and perfectly balanced between bitter and sweet, Luxardo’s Bianco Negroni is built for summertime. 

You may recognize the Luxardo family name. Debuting in 1821, Luxardo cemented its place in cocktail history right out of the gate with their Luxardo Rosolio Maraschino cherry liqueur and, shortly after, their iconic candied Maraschino Cherries, and the brand hasn’t stopped innovating since. With over 200 years of history under its belt, the company has been around longer than most classic cocktails, including the Negroni — so we say, who better to trust when it comes to putting a summertime twist on one of our favorite cocktails? After all, the Negroni is an inventive take on another cocktail: the Americano. 

The History of the Negroni Riff

The Negroni’s lineage dates back to 1860 with an Italian drink called the Milano-Torino. Named after the cities where this two-ingredient cocktail originated, the Milano-Torino is made from half Italian sweet vermouth and half bitters. A lower-ABV take on this simple cocktail soon appeared with the addition of soda water. It was nicknamed the Americano because of its popularity with American tourists. From here, it didn’t take long for a riff on the Americano to arrive, swapping out the soda water for a more boozy take with gin, creating the beloved Negroni.  

The Bianco Negroni builds on this concept of innovation, putting a refreshing twist on the traditional Negroni. Despite the direct translation to English, the Bianco Negroni should not be confused with the White Negroni, a yellow-hued cocktail created for a 2021 cocktail competition. Unlike the White Negroni, which uses French ingredients, the Bianco Negroni mirrors the classic Negroni recipe, swapping out the cocktail’s signature Italian red vermouth with an intriguingly clear counterpart. The result is a light, bright, slightly bitter, slightly sweet crystal-clear cocktail perfect for summertime sipping.

How a Rediscovery Launched the Bianco Negroni

What truly makes the Bianco Negroni shine — and gives it its distinguishing clarity — is the inclusion of Luxardo Bitter Bianco, a bitter Italian apéritif invented around the same time as the classic Negroni. While the classic Negroni’s exact origin story is more legend than law, the history of the Bianco Negroni’s key ingredient, Bianco Bitters, can be traced back over 100 years to a Luxardo family recipe book. When repeated bombings during World War II destroyed the original Luxardo Distillery in Zara, Italy, this early collection of family recipes was thought to be lost forever. No existing bottles or samples were ever found in the rubble. Miraculously, over 60 years later, the family recipe book was rediscovered, prompting Luxardo to begin distilling Bitter Bianco again. A few years later, in 2016, the Bianco Negroni was introduced into the world. 

One of the reasons Luxardo Bitter Bianco works so well is because it contains the same aromatics and botanicals as Luxardo Bitter Rosso, though they are treated slightly differently in the production process. Prior to blending, the infusions used in Bitter Bianco undergo a distillation process. This extra step slightly alters the flavor profile and is what gives the liqueur its remarkable clear color. As a finishing touch, Luxardo infuses the bitters with Roman Absinthe, a type of wormwood, before bottling, creating a one-of-a-kind bitter liqueur with herbal, floral, and citrus notes and a hint of sweetness that works perfectly in summertime cocktails like the Bianco Negroni. 

How to Make a Bianco Negroni

While the ingredients may have changed, the Bianco Negroni stays true to the original Negroni’s easy-breezy equal-parts build. All you need to usher in this summer’s Bianco Negroni era is a bar stocked with bianco vermouth, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, and Luxardo London Dry Gin, some ice, and a sunny spot to sip. 

Pour equal parts vermouth, Bitter Bianco, and gin into a mixing glass with ice, gently stir, and strain over into a cocktail glass with one ice cube. Finish the drink with a fresh twist of grapefruit or lemon, and serve. This no-sweat recipe will come in clutch whether you’re mixing up single servings or whipping up a quick batch of cocktail pitchers for your next backyard summer soirée.

Luxardo Bianco Negroni Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ounce Luxardo Bitter Bianco
• 1 ounce Luxardo London Dry Gin
• 1 ounce Bianco vermouth
• Garnish: grapefruit twist
  

Directions

1. Fill a beaker with ice. Add all ingredients except garnish to beaker and lightly stir.
2. Strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

This article is sponsored by Luxardo USA. 

The article How a Lost — and Found — Luxardo Family Recipe Sparked the Bianco Negroni appeared first on VinePair.

Channing Centeno has received a lot of press recently for his intriguing bar menus. While he appreciates the hype, he never wants it to lead him off course, to make him complacent. “As a Black man in this industry, and in every industry, we have to work twice as hard to get half of what other people are given,” he says. “I never want to do something gimmicky or be a one-hit wonder, which has always been one of my fears.” To avoid this, he approaches his work in the spirit of Kaizen, the Japanese concept of getting one inch better every day.

Centeno approaches his life and profession with thoughtfulness and intention, whether he’s warmly welcoming people into his space to share an experience; tirelessly researching cultures, techniques, and ingredients to create something fresh; or riffing on a tried-and-true cocktail, like the updated Whiskey Sour he shares here. For his Sour Colada recipe, Centeno chooses a spirit that’s also tried and true and anything but a one-hit wonder: Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon — a timeless and authentic Kentucky bourbon whiskey.

A History of Excellence Speaks for Itself

Centeno acknowledges that the Whiskey Sour is a go-to classic cocktail that is in every bartender’s repertoire and easily ordered off-menu. Guests who know, know. Early variations of the American-born cocktail date back to the 1700s (and arguably further), but it wasn’t officialized until 1862 when Jerry Thomas’s “The Bartenders Guide” was published — nearly 80 years after Evan Williams built Kentucky’s first commercial whiskey distillery along the banks of the Ohio River in 1783.

Still distilled in Louisville and aged in Bardstown, Kentucky, Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch pays homage to Williams not just in name but by following a time-honored method of ‘Bourbon Done Right®.”

American-made and American-owned, Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch is crafted from less than 200 barrels, yielding a brilliant honeyed color and a smooth, rich, and bold character. Semi-sweet, oaky, with hints of honey on the palate, this bourbon whiskey is not only expertly crafted to be a perfect stand-alone sipper but also serves as the perfect base for a Classic Evan Sour.

Every New Build Needs a Strong Foundation

As the second-largest purveyor of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey in the U.S. and around the world, Evan Williams is a first-rate, easy-to-source staple for every bar. It’s award-winning consistency and versatility make it easy to elevate the cocktails creatives like Centeno carefully craft.

This dedication to tradition and a lack of pretense matters to Centeno. “Evan Williams has always been a reliable bourbon featured on most back bars,” he says. “I really appreciate the taste of brown sugar and caramel on the palate, and the deep vanilla on the nose really adds to the finish of the cocktail.”

Like Evan Williams Bourbon, Centeno leans into his heritage to stay authentic and at the top of his game. “I always want my cocktails to be crushable,” he says. “I like them to be vibrant; I like for people to want to take pictures or talk about them. I think that from my background being African American and Filipino, I tend to go towards fruiter, juicier cocktails — things that aren’t necessarily sweet but have a lot of flavor.”

Centeno says the research is his favorite part of the creative process. “I like to use ingredients from other cuisines more intentionally,” he says. And because Evan Williams 1783 pairs well with a wide range of cuisines, it’s a solid foundation for any cocktail.

Moving Forward While Honoring the Past

When developing a Whiskey Sour riff like the Sour Colada, Centeno is clear on his approach: a traditional, proper bourbon combined with interesting sources of citrus and sweetness, all inspired by his personal history.

For his take on the Classic Evan Sour, Centeno wanted to create something fun and vibrant that reflects the sweet and sour flavors central to Filipino cuisine. He incorporates East India sherry: a blend of Amaroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry, and a staple of Mediterranean drinking culture, which Centeno says he’s been obsessed with ever since he traveled to Spain. “Amaroso is a drier, darker, nuttier sherry,” Centeno explains, “whereas Pedro Ximénez is a sweeter sherry that gives body to the blend. It’s one of my favorite things to combine with coconut and pineapple.”

Centeno includes Angostura bitters for “that baking spice element.” Easy-to-make ginger syrup provides a sweet spice that enhances the citrus. And while he acknowledges the addition of egg white is always optional, Centeno likes the creamy texture it provides. A toasted coconut dust garnish lends a nutty kick and a complementary hue.

The cocktail creation reflects Centeno’s approach to mixology, which he likens to “home cooking” in that it comes from the heart and soul while still seeking to improve with each creation.

Evans Williams 1783 Small Batch is a versatile spirit made with time-honored practices that seem only to improve as years pass. As the genesis of Kentucky’s bourbon scene — the heart and soul, if you will — it only makes sense that Centeno would use it as the foundation for his Whiskey Sour riff. It’s a perfect pairing, indeed.

The Sour Colada Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ ounces Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch
• ½ ounce East India Sherry
• ½ ounce toasted coconut syrup*
• ¼ ounce ginger syrup
• 1 ounce lemon juice
• ½ ounce pineapple juice
• ½ ounce egg white
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Garnish: expressed orange peel and toasted coconut dust*

Directions:

1. Jigger all ingredients into a small shaker tin.
2. Whip shake a large ice cube until you hear that the cube has broken.
3. Add more ice to the tin (about ⅔ full)
4. Hard shake with a circular motion until all the ice has broken up.
5. Fine strain into a chilled single rocks glass.
6. Express and discard an orange peel then sprinkle with toasted coconut dust.

*Toasted Coconut Syrup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 quart unsweetened toasted coconut flakes
• 1 quart granulated sugar
• 1 quart boiling water

Directions:

1. Add boiling water to the toasted coconut flakes, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes.
2. Strain, then add sugar to coconut tea and whisk until all the sugar is completely
   dissolved.

*Toasted Coconut Dust Recipe

Ingredients:

• ½ cup toasted coconut flakes
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a spice grinder or blender.
2. Blend until incorporated.

This article is sponsored by Evan Williams Bourbon.

The article The Whiskey Sour Goes Global: How Bartender Channing Centeno Is Upgrading a Classic appeared first on VinePair.

The bigger they are, the harder they’ll tea. We’ve been saying this for almost two years now! Twisted Tea, the flavored malt beverage from Boston Beer Company, has grown into an indisputable colossus over the past half-decade, and everybody in the beverage-alcohol business wants a taste of that literally and figuratively sweet growth. Missing out on incremental sales opportunities? In this economy for brewers? Not the move.

And lo, the flood of hard teas gushed forth from all comers. With a fermented formulation and a stupid-simple saccharine flavor profile, you can grasp how firms big and small could have Mad-Libbed themselves into this piping-hot segment. What if Twisted Tea but less sugar? What if Twisted Tea but better flavor? What if Twisted Tea but in trendy slim cans?

What if? More like as if. After two decades of chugging along mostly alone, BBC’s retina-searing yellow juggernaut has done OK against real competition from well-funded Johnny-come-late-teas. But any financial advisor can tell you that past performance does not indicate future results. It’s not that the country’s second-largest craft brewer doesn’t have a legitimate, sustained hit on its hands, or that it’s incapable of defending its share against the FMB-arbarians at the brewery gates. It does, and it has been so far.

The problem is that fermentables aren’t the only thing going anymore when it comes to sweet, crushable, single-serve molar-rattlers. But the brand currently buoying BBC’s fortunes has no answer to the spirits-based stuff of tomorrow. Surfside, the vodka tea brand you’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of by next summer, has clearly caught the next wave in hard tea. Somehow, despite pioneering the style, BBC missed it — and is paddling furiously to catch up with a “me-too” launch of its own.

Hold that thought, and let’s give some credit where due. It’s almost impossible to overstate Twisted Tea’s success since it hit shelves for the first time as BoDean’s Twisted Tea back in 2001. (Like TheFacebook.com, BBC eventually dropped the first word, but not just because it sounded better — a Milwaukee band by the same name successfully sued over it.) “The Twisted Tea family increased chain retail sales +185% between 2016 and 2021 and, until now, has had virtually no draft presence in bars or restaurants,” reported Kate Bernot for Good Beer Hunting in a thorough 2022 profile of the brand. Brewbound’s analysis of barrelage estimates put its overall growth at nearly 500 percent since a decade ago. It’s now cruising toward the top 10 “beer” brand families in Circana-scanned off-premise dollar sales. Its household penetration is still low compared to other big-name FMBs. Challenger brands from well-capitalized firms like New Belgium (Voodoo Ranger Hardcharged Tea), AriZona (AriZona Hard Tea), Monster (Nasty Beast Hard Tea) have slightly decelerated its growth, but certainly haven’t derailed it.

The vagaries of the hard-tea market, even if you just restrict it to fermented-base stuff (which you shouldn’t, for reasons we’ll get into in a moment) are innumerable, but one tailwind that has reliably helped Twisted Tea soar so far is its sheer longevity. If there was another hard tea on the market 23 years ago when BBC (reportedly inspired by Snapple on the soft-drink shelves and Mark Anthony Brands’ Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s march into the beer aisle) rolled it out for the first time, I can’t recall it. Certainly none caught on. Though my personal adoration of Smirnoff Raw Tea’s viral ad from 2006 endures, the product itself has long since fallen by the wayside. Twisted Tea may not have technically secured first-mover advantage, but it has effectively enjoyed one up until very recently.

Even now, with deep-pocketed brewing incumbents and Big Soda interlopers crowding in, the brand is doing pretty damn well. Bernstein Research recently estimated Twisted Tea’s market share of the off-premise fermented hard-tea segment at 84.5 percent, which is down from a few years ago… but not by much. I think Jim Koch, BBC’s co-founder and chair, was right on last September when he told analysts that most of these “me-too Twisted Teas” have “no reason for being.” Agreed. “The thing you want, but slightly different” is a very thin reed on which to hang a value proposition, and even more so when the original product is just as available. Sure, strong contenders will continue to peel off some Twea-kers with existing brand loyalty, new flavors, and so forth, but only if those pitches can overcome the powerful gravity of the ur-FMB that got them into hard tea in the first place. Many can’t.

Still, some of them clearly have. Bernstein’s analysis, reported late last month by Brewbound’s Jess Infante, in advance of what turned out to be a lackluster BBC second-quarter earnings call, shows the brand’s year-over-year growth has decelerated from 35 percent at this point in 2023 to 10 percent in the here and now. The brand is maturing, and its denominator is big enough now that those eye-popping numbers of yore are probably in the rearview for good. That would be fine if BBC had applied its unmatched understanding of the hard tea segment to a spirits-based follow-up. It didn’t, not fast enough at least. And while it dithered, Surfside snaked its wave.

If you haven’t heard of Surfside yet, you will soon enough. Stateside Distillery launched the ready-to-drink vodka tea brand in 2022, and it’s been going gangbusters ever since. What’s Stateside Distillery? See, that’s the thing: It’s a family-owned outfit in Philadelphia that sells the most craft vodka in Pennsylvania, which is nothing to scoff at, but also not the sort of credentials you’d necessarily expect would give it the drop on the country’s 10th-largest brewer. Especially since vodka iced tea isn’t a proprietary concept: Firefly Distillery has been bottling it since your humble Hop Take columnist was in college. Especially-especially since BBC had all the pieces in place to ride this wave itself. It was dabbling with a Twisted Tea whiskey right around the same time, and would push into High Noon’s lane with Truly Vodka Seltzer Soda less than a year later. Hell, it’s owned Dogfish Head — which boasts both a distillery and an established, high-end canned cocktail sub-brand — since 2019! As a company, it also has the marketing resources to push it hard, and the distribution and retail relationships to make it stick. It just… didn’t.

Maybe BBC was too preoccupied with avoiding another Bevy-style bomb, or reining in Truly’s over-innovation, or trying to soothe distributors calling bullshit on partner PepsiCo’s end-around gambit with Blue Cloud Distribution and Hard Mtn. Dew. Whatever the reason, Stateside beat BBC to the punch (or the vodka iced tea, as it were) and ever since, it’s been reaping the first-mover bounty that Twisted Tea once enjoyed itself. By which I mean, it is posting obscene growth. In mid-July, Beer Business Daily, citing NielsenIQ data, reported that the upstart was up 860 percent in off-premise dollars year-over-year in the trailing four-week frame, with its co-founder projecting 4-4.5 million cases by the end of 2024.

Yes, yes: it’s easier for smaller brands to do triple-digit comps. But Surfside isn’t that small anymore. If that projection holds, Surfside is poised to blow past Anheuser-Busch InBev’s NÜTRL and Cutwater this year. That’s no mean feat considering they’re a) the third- and second-best selling spirits-based canned cocktails in the country, behind only High Noon; and b) both are pretty damn hot at the moment themselves. As BBD noted, the brand hasn’t really figured out California yet, having relaunched with Reyes Beverage Group just this year, and liberalizing laws around spirits-based RTD sales — including, just last month, in its home state of Pennsylvania — will offer it more entrée into more off-premise accounts, a potential flywheel given its unusual strength in the on-premise. Surfside’s wave hasn’t even crested yet.

This is not the sort of growth BBC could ignore forever. Enter Sun Cruiser, Koch and Co.’s answer to Surfside. It’s fascinating! Not the liquid; that’s too sweet for my taste, but just because I trust my palate doesn’t mean you should. The branding is flat-out strong, but also not what I want to focus on. What fascinates me is how Sun Cruiser came to be, and what the brand tells us about the company that pioneered the segment that it’s now trailing.

Twisted Tea’s senior brand director Erica Taylor told Brewbound last November that BBC had been “noodling for a long time” on Sun Cruiser, and considered 2024 the right time to begin rolling it out to select markets. Which, sure: If some distillery from Philly started running up the score with a not-really-new drink that I could have launched myself, I’d probably decide it was the right time to, y’know, launch that drink myself. (So would spirits-based RTD leader, Gallo, which launched a High Noon tea this year as well.) Not extending Twisted Tea into spirits-based stuff makes sense to me. Holding back on Sun Cruiser does not, and suggests that BBC’s recent innovation misses have made the firm gun-shy where it was once gung-ho.

None of this is existential. Twea-kers aren’t going to trade up for Surfside en masse any time soon, and BBC has done a good job so far differentiating Sun Cruiser from its fermented-base hard tea progenitor. Plus, Sun Cruiser is doing all right so far: Koch told investors in the Q2 earnings call last month that it’s “outselling Surfside two-to-one” in New England. And besides, the young-gun brand could biff it: As ever, past performance does not indicate future results. For now, though, you gotta hand it to Stateside — and you gotta cringe, too — watching BBC chase Twisted Tea’s heir apparent rather than crowning it.

🤯 Hop-ocalypse Now

Much has been made in recent weeks of the retrograde, misogynistic, and just plain creepy views of Republican vice-presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. Even some GOP operatives are admitting it: Dude’s a sniveling little weirdo. Clearly, the Trump campaign can see it, too, because last week, it dispatched Peter Thiel’s handpicked No. 2 for a little image boost with the NELK Boys, the YouTube shock-jocks who gave Donnie Deals himself an open mic to spew lies about the 2020 election on their channel a couple years back. To loosen up Senator Birth Rates for an appearance on their podcast, “Full Send,” the very-online jabronis presented him with a pack of their stunningly successful Happy Dad hard seltzer. “We’ll use it on the airplane,” Vance said, chuckling awkwardly. “Use it” how, JD? What exactly do you think normal people do with hard seltzer?!

📈 Ups…

After a solid second quarter, Ball Corporation’s chief financial officer once again publicly called on macrobrewers to slash prices, the chutzpah… Athletic Brewing Co. announced an endorsement deal with Arsenal Football Club of the English Premier League… Anheuser-Busch InBev, via its ZX Ventures incubator/loss-harvester, sold the spirits site Masters of Malt back to its owners, which is nice…

📉 …and downs

The once-soaring taproom chain World of Beer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last week… Just because Dunkin’ Spiked’s new pumpkin-spiced latte flavor was inevitable doesn’t mean I have to like it… Monster Beverage Corporation reported a Q2 miss and a 31.9 percent drop in alcohol sales year-over-year, eesh…

The article How Boston Beer Co. Got Ambushed by Twisted Tea’s Biggest New Threat appeared first on VinePair.

As the 2023 harvest came to a close, Napa Valley Vintners declared it “The Vintage of a Lifetime.” The non-profit trade association wasn’t alone in its self-aggrandizing praise. A chorus of winemakers and industry observers echoed the superlative language. “Best ever!” exclaimed some. “Legendary!” said others. By all accounts, it was one for the ages.

But what exactly does all this hyperbole mean in real terms?

Jason Moulton, director of winemaking and viticulture at Whitehall Lane Winery in the prestigious Rutherford subregion of Napa Valley, offers up a generalized definition for such labeling: “Something extraordinary happening in a growing year, leading to perfect conditions for optimal ripeness, balance, and extraction of color, flavor, and tannin.”

Given Moulton’s parameters and the climate timeline of Napa’s 2023 vintage, it’s hard to argue with the aforementioned grandiose declarations. A wet winter and spring rolled into a long, steadily warm summer. Replenishing splashes of rain hit at just the right moment. Hang time on the vine was very prolonged with one of the latest harvests on record, producing grapes of remarkable harmony, complexity of flavor, and little need for any sort of corrective winemaking intervention whatsoever.

The growing season was a uniquely thrown pitch: under-speed and right down the middle, just begging to be crushed out of the park.

But linguistic hyperbole is becoming the norm, even when conditions fall well short of the anomalous magnificence of examples like 2023 Napa. It’s creeping into the realm of tiresomely repetitive, with multiple global regions boasting similar proclamations seemingly every year. The constant noise now threatens to water down praise that should be reserved for truly rare outlier vintages. Compounding the issue — save for catastrophic weather events — consistently warmer vintage conditions are conspiring with modern winemaking techniques to smudge much of the distinctive definition between years.

And that undeniably justified praise for 2023 Napa? Well, it’s feeling a bit lost in the cacophony.

Too Much of a Good Thing

The obsession with certain vintages for their historical lore — say Robert Parker’s 1982 Bordeaux, the early ‘70s “Judgment of Paris” years for Napa, France’s 1945 “Victory Vintage,” and the year 2000 just for the numerical hell of it — is to be expected. It’s a perfectly healthy fixation. Even a wine novice can wrap their head around the mystique of a game-changing moment in time or a deliciously Gallic middle finger to the freshly defeated Reich. And besides, these touchstones of history come along only very seldomly.

But besides these rarities, we’ve been spoiled rotten over the past 20 years by a crate full of vintages trumpeted as legendary by the wine industry and media.

Bordeaux in 2005, 2009, and 2010: “A holy trinity.”

2011 and 2017 port: “Universally outstanding” and “magnificent,” respectively.

Napa in 2018 was “spectacular.” 2013? “Flawless.”

Numerical vintage charts — 100-point scales with attached blanket descriptors aimed at making fine-wine buying perhaps a bit too simple for the masses — are adding to the excess by now consistently ignoring almost any number below 90.

In fact, the praise coming out of Napa in particular (save the tragic fire vintages), has almost become a broken record, with ‘19, ‘18, ‘16, ‘14, ‘13, ‘12, ‘10, ‘09, ‘08, and ‘07 all weighing in at 95–100 points in one famed publication — a previously somewhat rare top honor that boasts the moniker “classic.” Likewise in northern Italy’s Piedmont, home of Barolo and Barbaresco, a full half of the past decade has been lauded with the same giddy exuberance.

Even the great Jancis Robinson, a universally revered wine writer and critic, agrees that the descriptive euphoria and race to the top for both vintage and individual wine scores is getting out of hand. “This regrettable trend makes me glad we have stuck with the 20-point scale,” says Robinson of her publication JancisRobinson.com. “Eighteen [is] a really high score.” As the extrapolated equivalent of 90 points, it’s a far cry from the nosebleed altitude now frequented by some. “It leaves us lots of room for maneuver as wine quality continues to improve — unlike those scattering 100-point scores for the last decade or two,” she says.

“Take this for what it’s worth, but I’ve always been a firm believer that not every child deserves a ribbon.”

From a producer perspective, Moulton adds that there’s a strategic marketing aspect to all the hype. “I think going after a specific growing region and hailing it as a ‘legendary vintage’ happens frequently,” he says. “In some parts of the world, I call this the whisper campaign.”

Essentially, it’s guerilla marketing, with the goal of selling more cases and elevating both global prestige and pricing. Of course, some truly rare years like Napa 2023 are indeed strikingly distinctive and bonafide outliers.

But in the grand scheme, the sugary praise now annually heralded from every corner of the winegrowing world is bound to result in some kind of psychological numbness.

Vintage Chart Abuse and Subjective Taste

Nicole Muscari, a private client sales manager and wine content creator, sees firsthand the recent inflationary trend developing a problem for the consumer. “If every vintage is declared extraordinary, then no vintage truly stands out,” she says. It seems that vintage charts — the quick and ready multitool of wine buying — are exacerbating the issue. “It’s similar to the point system for individual wines, where more and more wines receiving 90-plus points actually provides less guidance,” she says.

Descriptive restraint is now in exceedingly short supply, with an ever-shrinking moat of rare “disaster vintages” now left to defend a modicum of contextualizing contrast. “Take this for what it’s worth, but I’ve always been a firm believer that not every child deserves a ribbon,” Muscari says. Less-is-more as a concept seems to be vanishing from the wine marketing repertoire.

And yet the rudimentary utility of vintage charts is all but self-evident to both enthusiasts and serious collectors. No matter one’s personal opinion, love ‘em or hate ‘em, they serve a legitimate purpose.

“As someone in Burgundy sales, I find vintage charts can be somewhat limiting. Often, I feel like I have to help my clients ‘unlearn’ certain preconceptions they’ve formed from vintage charts to get them interested in buying wine.”

The average wine drinker wants to get the best they can for their buck, while the elite collector set requires the insider scoop on what to sock away for that high-stakes wine-and-dine or profitable resale projection. Many of us have used them (and continue to do so) for generalized context — an at-a-glance impression of what to expect from a year. Because, truthfully, the wine world has grown so vast, it’s become a fool’s errand to memorize a complete and nuanced understanding of what happened everywhere in every year. And that handy vintage chart provides an instantly useful signpost toward the right direction. “They’re small, compact, now on the interwebs, and are a great quick reference guide for purchasing when you are on the move,” says Moulton.

But modern winemaking and viticulture have grown far more sophisticated over the past century, with each passing decade expanding the producer toolbox. Extensive knowhow and technological ability now allow many to round out the rough edges of tricky years in both the vineyard and cellar. “Some vintages are [deemed] terrible due to catastrophes such as wildfires, etc., but some [producers] make great wines even in those trying circumstances,” he says. “There are definitely diamonds in the rough that can be missed if you cling to it.”

As a result, aforementioned “disaster vintages” are becoming less frequent mile markers, removing even more contrast from an already grayscale picture.

Muscari echoes the caveat, adding that, from a sales standpoint, the charts can make her job of guiding clients effectively harder. “As someone in Burgundy sales, I find vintage charts can be somewhat limiting,” she says. “Often, I feel like I have to help my clients ‘unlearn’ certain preconceptions they’ve formed from vintage charts to get them interested in buying wine.”

So while vintage charts have their place as a basic tool, they’re not the be-all and end-all many mistake them for. And with modern winemaking smoothing rough edges — and sky-high scores ever more frequent — the trusty vintage chart of old may be becoming substantially less useful.

And besides the hype inflation looming large for all to see, another issue lurks beneath:

Not everyone seeks the same thing when it comes to a particular vintage. Some folks are searching for wines that can be immediately popped and poured, while others comb the vintage landscape for bulletproof bottles to lay down for decades.

Then there’s taste. Not everyone even likes the same thing.

Someone may swoon over Napa 2012, while their friend prefers 2013. I like silky, you like structure. It’s only human. And frankly, focusing on the unique traits of a vintage — as opposed to blanket superlatives — makes the wine world more interesting anyway.

The article Are ‘Legendary Vintages’ Becoming a Tired Wine Marketing Cliche? appeared first on VinePair.