The Business Behind Barrel-Aged Food Products
Barrel-aged foods are products of a singular process: Take an old barrel that formerly held bourbon, gin, or another spirit, place a culinary item inside, let the item rest inside for a specific time, and allow the barrelâs influence to enhance the flavor. These concoctions also tend to emerge from the same philosophical question. Namely, âwhat would happen to this food item if I treated it like a spirit?â To consumers who enjoy the bevy of barrel-aged syrups, sauces, and other miscellaneous foods on the market, answering this simply depends on what positive flavor adjective they wish to use.
For the distillers and food companies behind the brands, the answer is much more complex, and achieving a proper response requires a collaborative effort built on mutual trust, a shared passion for creative sustenance, and a collective curiosity about what a barrel can do after it has aged a spirit.
The Roots of Collaboration
Successful barrel-aged food collaborations are often the result of âgame recognizing game.â After all, a distillery cranking out award-winning juice wonât likely be willing to partner with a mediocre food brand with a penchant for cutting corners. This sense of mutual respect lays a foundation of trust that governs the collaborative process. How this admiration begins and evolves inevitably becomes part of the collaborationâs story.
One such story follows the union of a Virginian bourbon company with a local honey brand. Around 2018, siblings Owen and Kira King of Ironclad Distillery Co. stumbled upon ARâs Hot Southern Honey by chance and decided to pick up a bottle. The honeyâs sweet, peppery essence inspired Owen to call ARâs founder, Ames Russell, with a proposal: Ironclad would give him bourbon barrels for his hot honey, and heâd give the barrels back to Ironclad for a hot honey-finished bourbon. Since the barrels are technically repurposed, this also allows Ironclad to circumvent laws prohibiting distilleries from using a barrel to make the exact same spirit twice. âOwen didnât even finish his sentence before Ames said he was in,â says Kira, Ironcladâs creative director. âThat first collaboration ended up tasting phenomenally, and itâs led to a strong relationship over the years.â
âMaking a hot honey aged in bourbon barrels was such a beautiful concept, and giving the barrels back to make bourbon was such a cool idea,â Russell says. âWe started working on the honey shortly after that initial conversation, and itâs still a cool, exciting project. The bonus of the collaboration has been getting to know the King family over time. Theyâre lovely, smart people.â
Right around the same time, in Stephens City, Va., Brandon Clark had his own idea for a collaboration. As the founder of the Virginia-based culinary sauce brand Clark + Hopkins, Clark wanted to see what would happen if he threw his Virginia-style barbecue sauce in a bourbon barrel; at the same time, he wanted to work with a Virginia distillery that was close to where he grew up. This led him to contact Catoctin Creek in Purcellville to inquire about a potential collaboration. The first visit sealed the deal. âThe first time I stopped into Catoctin Creek, I watched [Catoctin Creek co-founder] Becky Harris pick up these big 70-pound bourbon barrels like they were miniature schnauzers,â Clark says. âIt was badass, and it seemed like a sign of how much she cares about what she does. I knew I wanted to work with her as soon as I saw that.â
Both collaborations have the advantage of the partnering parties being in the same state, enabling all parties involved to promote Virginiaâs artisan food and craft distilling scene in the process. However, strong collaborations arenât bound by state lines.
Since 2017, FEW Spirits in Evanston, Ill., has been involved with a barrel exchange program with craft syrup producer Mount Mansfield Maple Products, located some 920 east in Winooski, Vt. Their exchange is similar to the pact held by Ironclad in ARâs, except maple syrup is the food, and the brands have expanded the barrel roster to also include rye, single malt whiskey, and gin. According to FEW founder Paul Hletko, the driving force behind the exchange is joy. âNone of us are really making any extra money from doing these things,â he says. âWe do these collaborations because theyâre fun to do, and we have a good time doing them.â
Hitting the Shelves
Some bourbon barrel-aged food collaborations occur on a routine basis. Others function more like rock and roll side projects. They happen only when the parties involved have the time to divert focus from their main gig; When they do get together, their collective efforts could yield some experimentation. âOur last collaboration we did with Catoctin Creek was two years ago, when we left the sauce in the barrel for 141 days,â Clark says. âThis year, weâre leaving it in for about 150 days, just so we can see what the barrel can do with that extra time.â
How the finished products are promoted once they do eventually hit the shelves varies by collaboration. FEW and Mount Mansfield, for instance, have mutually agreed to a silent partnership, and both brands refrain from putting their logos on each otherâs bottles. Ironclad and ARâs take the opposite approach and give each other clear label shoutouts. âCross-branding feels like an intuitive part to telling our story,â says Russell. âItâs important to us because these products wouldnât exist without both our involvement.â
Elements like branding or time between releases are of course subjective. The only thing that is truly objective is a mission to make something that tastes terrific. As long as distillers and food companies are getting together and making barrel-aged culinary deliciousness, this objective will no doubt continue to be achieved.
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The Highest-Rated Stout in Every State [MAP]
While IPAs are having a moment, stouts continue to quietly rank among the most popular beers in the country. And with the categoryâs vast array of styles â from dry Irish stouts to pastry and milk stouts galore â thereâs a stout out there for every palate.
To learn which stouts are favored among a broad range of beer lovers, VinePair consulted Beer Advocateâs highest-rated beers in the United States. From there, we selected the highest-rated stouts with at least 50 ratings, and found the top pick per state. Though the selection process meant some states were not ranked (sorry, South Dakota), the results show a tantalizing array of dark and roasty brews.
From classic English-style oatmeal stouts to a bevy of bourbon-barrel-aged imperials, these are the most highly rated stouts in every state except Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Click here to see a full size version of the map!
State Beer Alabama El Gordo
Good People Brewing Company
Stout â Russian Imperial | 13.90% Alaska Blessed
Anchorage Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 14.00% Arizona White Russian Imperial Stout
Sun Up Brewing Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 9.20% Arkansas BDCS
Ozark Beer Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 10.20% California Fundamental Observation
Bottle Logic Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 14.30% Colorado Medianoche â Coconut
WeldWerks Brewing Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 14.10% Connecticut Imperial Stout Trooper
New England Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 8.50% Delaware Bourbon Barrel-Aged World Wide Stout
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Stout â American Imperial | 18.30% District of Columbia Mexican Radio
Bluejacket / Arsenal Restaurant
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 7.40% Florida Hunahpuâs Imperial Stout â Double Barrel Aged
Cigar City Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 11.00% Georgia Mexican Siberius Maximus
The Wrecking Bar Brewpub
Stout â Russian Imperial | 11.00% Hawaii Not enough reviews Idaho Black Cauldron Imperial Stout
Grand Teton Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 9.50% Illinois Bourbon County Brand Stout
Goose Island Beer Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 14.70% Indiana Marshmallow Handjee
3 Floyds Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 15.00% Iowa Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 12.00% Kansas Owd Macâs Imperial Stout
Free State Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial Kentucky 70K
Against The Grain Brewery & Smokehouse
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 13.00% Louisiana RĂȘve
Parish Brewing Company
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 7.20% Maine Mott The Lesser
Tributary Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 10.50% Maryland 10 Layer
RAR Brewing (Realerevival)
Stout â American | 8.60% Massachusetts Triple Shot
Tree House Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 9.70% Michigan CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout)
Founders Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 11.30% Minnesota Darkness
Surly Brewing Company
Stout â Russian Imperial | 12.00% Mississippi Black Creek
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 8.50% Missouri Barrel-Aged Abraxas
Perennial Artisan Ales
Stout â American Imperial | 11.00% Montana Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout â Barrel-Aged
Big Sky Brewing Company
Stout â Russian Imperial | 11.60% Nebraska Black Betty Imperial Stout â Whiskey Barrel-Aged
Nebraska Brewing Company Production Brewery & Tap Room
Stout â Russian Imperial | 11.30% Nevada Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout
Joseph James Brewing Inc.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 9.50% New Hampshire RIS
Stoneface Brewing Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 9.50% New Jersey A Night To End All Dawns
Kane Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 12.20% New Mexico Cafe Con Leche
La Cumbre Brewing Co.
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 7.50% New York Imperial Biscotti Break â Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Evil Twin Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 11.50% North Carolina The Event Horizon
Olde Hickory Brewery
Stout â American Imperial | 12.25% North Dakota Not enough reviews Ohio Appervation
Jackie Oâs Pub & Brewery
Stout â American Imperial | 15.00% Oklahoma Bourbon Paradise
Prairie Artisan Ales
Stout â American Imperial | 13.70% Oregon Double Stack
Great Notion Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 11.00% Pennsylvania Sunny Side Up (Little Amps! Double Coffee)
Alâs of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 9.50% Rhode Island InfRIngement
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.
Stout â Russian Imperial | 11.00% South Carolina Mexican Cake â Maple Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Westbrook Brewing Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 10.20% South Dakota Not enough reviews Tennessee Astronaut Status
Wiseacre Brewing
Stout â American Imperial | 12.20% Texas Bourbon Barrel Temptress
Lakewood Brewing Company
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 11.30% Utah Big Bad Baptista
Epic Brewing Company
Stout â American Imperial | 11.70% Vermont Beyond Good And Evil
Hill Farmstead Brewery
Stout â American Imperial | 10.00% Virginia Kentucky Christmas Morning
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
Stout â Sweet / Milk | 10.60% Washington The Rusty Nail
Fremont Brewing Company
Stout â Oatmeal | 13.30% West Virginia Minerâs Daughter Oatmeal Stout
Mountain State Brewing Co.
Stout â Oatmeal | 5.20% Wisconsin Black Gold
Central Waters Brewing Co.
Stout â American Imperial | 11.00% Wyoming Zonker Stout
Snake River Brewing Company & Brewpub
Stout â Foreign / Export | 6.00%
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VinePair Podcast: What Makes a Wine âAmericanâ?
This November on VinePair, weâre celebrating everything about American Wine. From up-and-coming regions and our favorite bottles, to the challenges winemakers are facing right now, weâre turning a spotlight on the industry across the United States.Â
November marks VinePairâs American Wine Month, which features coverage that celebrates the many facets of wine and winemaking across the country. But what exactly makes a wine âAmericanâ to begin with? Itâs a tough question to answer â and one that necessitates looking beyond geography.
In this episode of the âVinePair Podcast,â join hosts Adam Teeter, Joanna Sciarrino, and Zach Geballe for a conversation about the defining factors of American wine and whether any unifying qualities exist that distinguish U.S.-made wines from the rest. Is American wine only about geography after all? Or is there something deeper at play?
Tune in to find out.
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Or Check Out The Conversation Here
Adam Teeter: From VinePairâs New York City headquarters, Iâm Adam Teeter.
Joanna Sciarrino: Iâm Joanna Sciarrino.
Zach Geballe: And back in Seattle, Washington, Iâm Zach Geballe.
A: This is the âVinePair Podcast.â Zach, it was great having you here.
J: It was so great to meet you.
Z: Yeah, same. It was a pleasure to get to spend some time with both of you, and Joanna, to actually meet you in person, hard as it is to believe. You podcast with someone long enough, and they feel like family. Theyâre either a beloved cousin in Joannaâs case, or the brother that you canât seem to get rid of, like Adam.
A: Oh, interesting. Wow.
Z: Itâs all love here. Our contentious conversations are a part of what some of our listeners enjoy, I hope.
A: Oh, I hope so.
Z: It was a lot of fun, though. Thanks for having me out for a really epic party.
A: Yeah, man, Thank you. It was a crazy epic party.
J: It was a great party.
A: Everyone was very responsible, too.
Z: Itâs true. It was just the right amount of fun.
A: It was. Obviously, you enjoyed the party. Besides the party, though, what else did you drink this week that was really delicious?
Z: I would say there were two great experiences for me. One was getting a chance to visit the newer location of Dante in the West Village.
A: Youâve been to Dante before though, right?
Z: Iâve only ever been to the one on MacDougal, which is where I used to hang out as a college student.
A: It was not the Dante it is today back then, right?
Z: No. It was not that kind of Dante. It was just an Italian cafĂ© where I drank a cappuccino, pretended to study, and mostly just people watched pretty regularly. The West Village location is a little bigger. Itâs nice and breezy. I had two cocktails that weâve talked about on this podcast a few times. I had a proper Negroni Bianco, and that was delicious. Then, I had two Martinis because it was that kind of day. One of Danteâs many things is their Martini hour. I had one and some friends joined. Iâd finished my first Martini, so I thought, letâs just make it a two Martini kind of afternoon. That was great, and a lot of fun visiting there. One of the things that was really cool is that I went to dinner on Friday night with some college friends of mine. We went to an innocuous wine bar in Midtown. It was convenient. Some friends were coming in from Long Island, so it was near Penn Station. We wanted to be somewhere where everyone could meet. A couple of our friends in particular were pretty adamant that they wanted to dine outside, which I understand. There were limited options for a larger group sitting outside on a Friday night. We ended up at a place called Wine:30, which was fine. It wasnât anything spectacular, but it was just fine. They had a really remarkable collection of old Italian wine that was very reasonably priced. It was kind of wild to be in Midtown drinking 20-year- old Barolo for $150. I understand for some listeners, that does not sound like an incredible bargain. Given what that wine would probably cost in a lot of Manhattan restaurants, I said, âSure, Iâll buy that. Thatâs great.â That was really cool. How about you guys?
J: After the party, I was not drinking for a little while. The other night, I went to Katana Kitten â a bar over in the West Village â for the first time to celebrate my partner Evanâs birthday. It was great. I guess I just didnât know what to expect from that place because itâs been on the list of Worldâs Best Bars, but it has a great vibe, and the drinks are excellent. We had a few different cocktails. We had the Hinoki Martini and a highball, but the standout for me was their Amaretto Sour. They serve it on a big rock with a dusting of red shiso and salt seasoning, which was really good.
A: Iâve heard that itâs amazing.
J: It was great. Itâs a really cool spot. I canât wait to go back.
A: People talk about it a lot. People have actually said theyâve stolen it and tried to recreate it at other bars around the country once theyâve had it, because itâs so well known.
J: Oh, wow. Itâs so good.
Z: Thatâs such a fascinating thing, too, because the Amaretto Sour is one of those cocktails that is very out of style. Thatâs at least how I would think about it, when I would bartender or serve, or whatever. Very few people would order an Amaretto Sour. It was just wild to think thatâs now a trendy drink again. Itâs cool. Whatâs next? The Midori Sour? That would be interesting. Iâm sure someone could make one that tasted OK.
A: Yeah. Thatâs really interesting.
Z: How about you, Adam?
A: Two cool things. The first is that I had some friends over Saturday night. We had one of our first dinner parties. I opened a really old bottle of 2001 Cab Franc from Barboursville, which was really awesome. It was very delicious. Also, last night, I went to Temple Bar.
J: Man, I saw that. Iâm so jealous. Iâm going next week. That was one of my favorite bars, and now is again since itâs reopened in New York.
A: Now itâs been reopened by the owners of Attaboy. It was super cool.
J: Did you have the blue Negroni?
A: I did not. I had the Gibson. My friend had a tiki cocktail they made where they split the sherries. The sherries are the main ingredient, so itâs a low-ABV tiki cocktail. It was really cool. There was a bouncer out front, and I was thinking we werenât going to get in and it was going to be so annoying. Then, of course, they said, âYeah, sure. Come on in.â We walked right in. We went early enough, around 9 p.m., so there wasnât much of an issue. But also, I guess you make reservations. People are very pumped about it. It definitely was packed. Everyone was having a great time. Itâs so cool.
J: Itâs such a good spot.
A: Itâs very exciting that itâs reopened. Thatâs about it for me. This week, weâre going to kick off American Wine Month on the site, our editorial theme for the month. Today, weâll talk about the question, what is American wine? Can you define American wine? As a category, what makes it unique? Itâs very tough to define. Zach, do you want to take a stab at it first? What is American wine?
Z: Sure. One of the reasons why I think weâre all interested in this conversation is that someone out there is thinking, âDuh, itâs wine from America.â Yes, geographically, itâs made within the borders of America. Fine.
A: A lot of other people from other parts of America will say, âSouth American wine is also American wine.â
Z: Thatâs true. I think the way we are generally using it on our site is wine from the United States. How do you define it? Can you make generalizations about it? Why thatâs interesting to me is that, as the wine industry in the United States has matured, grown, and expanded, some of the things that were said about wine from the United States a few decades ago or even a decade ago donât really hold true. They were these sweeping generalizations, and what most people thought of when they thought of wine from this country was wine from California. Even more specifically, people mostly thought of wine from certain parts of Northern California. If I were to start by trying to codify some kind of definition or generalization about wine from the U.S., I would say that it embodies three fundamental ideas. The first one is freedom. I donât mean to be a flag-waving patriot here. However, one of the things that is appealing to so many winemakers in so many different areas with so many different stylistic approaches is the idea that â because wine in this country is still a relatively new thing and a growing industry where weâre exploring and pushing boundaries â thereâs this incredible opportunity to do almost whatever you want. As long as you can make the wine well, hopefully, and you can find a market for it, thereâs no reason that you canât center your wine region or winery around Petit Manseng, St. Pepin in the Great Lakes, Cabernet Franc in Washington State, or whatever the heck you want.Youâre not totally beholden to established ideas about what great wine is. The second thing to me is that you are seeing more and more development of this idea that wine can be a part of a place. I donât want to get into a terroir conversation. Itâs in the same way that craft beer has cracked the code of feeling very local wherever you are. Even if some of these local craft breweries do have a regional or national presence, they still mostly feel like theyâre of the place theyâre from. Wine, too, in a growing number of places in the country, can be connected to the region that surrounds it. Wine isnât a thing that you have to get imported from other parts of the world. It can be a part of your local economy. Thereâs a third thing thatâs really interesting to me, itâs that wine is not just a product. Itâs not just a beverage, Itâs an experience. The United States is so connected to the experience of tasting rooms, visiting wineries, and all of that in a way that I think is not as true in much of Europe. Where it is true in Europe is largely because of the influence of the wine industry in this country. Thatâs me talking a lot. How about you guys?
J: When I was thinking about this prompt earlier, I was thinking that there are probably certain winemakers or regions that have helped define the âAmericanâ style of that wine. I think of a Napa Cab being one of them. Maybe thereâs Riesling in the Finger Lakes, or White Zinfandel and that style that gained popularity in the mid-â70s. Theyâre defining certain grapes or wines in a distinctive American way or style. Iâm not sure thereâs a more comprehensive definition for American wine or American-style wine. As you said, I donât know if you can just make a sweeping generalization for American wine.
A: I hear what youâre saying, Zach, about all the different abilities for experimentation. I would say that it still is very much defined by a country dominated by basically one state. Come at me, Oregon and Washington, but itâs still really dominated by California and hyper-focused on just a few very classic French varietals. Thereâs Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, basically. That, at this point, is American wine. There is a desire to go past that. There are some really cool people that are now doing Picpoul, like Randall Grahm. As a whole, itâs not huge. That is why in every vineyard across the country in developing regions, you will find a Cabernet Sauvignon because they think thatâs what the American population is looking for. You can go up to the Finger Lakes, out to the North Fork, down to Georgia, where theyâre making wine, and youâll see it.
J: But, in that very specific style.
A: Yes. Or, theyâre trying to make it like that because they think thatâs whatâs going to sell. That is why I think there has been, until recently, a reluctance to say, âWeâre in Georgia. Maybe, in the vineyards in Georgia, a crazy Spanish varietal will grow better,â for example. The American wine consumer has just begun to evolve and has really only thought of these as being the wines to drink. I think the American wine that we know is still represented by those four wine grapes.
J: I think thatâs important to mention, Adam. Itâs the American wine consumerâs impression of American wine.
A: Yes. Itâs their impression, and I think that impression is basically formed by the wines coming out of California. There are small portions of people who will say that theyâre actually being informed by the cool Rieslings made in the Finger Lakes or, in your case Zach, the interesting wines coming out of the Yakima Valley. There are small groups of those people. The majority of American consumers, though, are influenced by California. California is American wine.
J: What do you think it would take to change that?
A: Thatâs a loaded question. I donât know. Maybe California has an earthquake and becomes an island? I donât mean that, my California people. I really love California. Itâs just such a dominant player in the world of wine.
J: Will it take California changing their wine to break that mold?
A: I donât think they want to.
J: No reason to, right?
A: Yeah. Zach, what do you think it would take for California to not be the dominant wine region in the United States and defining what American wine is?
Z: Outside of the doom and gloom situations, one thing weâre seeing, slowly but surely, is the percentage of American wine that is produced in California is becoming a slightly smaller slice of the pie. Thatâs just because other states are producing more wine. California is still, by far, the dominant producer in the country. I think with California, and certainly with some of these regions, you are already butting up against a problem thatâs happening for a variety of reasons. Thereâs an inability to expand production more. As America becomes more and more of a wine-drinking nation, which has definitely happened over the last couple of decades, I think you are seeing more interest in wine from the U.S. and the world over. I think that there is an undeniable fact that what you are saying is true, Adam. Californiaâs preeminence, as a bulk producer from certain places and also from the premium regions in other places, are both defining American wine consumersâ preferences towards wine. One thing that could change is this idea of breaking the hegemony of those few grapes in a little bit. Youâre starting to see people, even within Napa Valley and other regions, trying to highlight other varieties. Thereâs a broader recognition across the wine drinking public that there is more out there than just Cabernet Sauvignon or just Merlot. Whether that ever really changes things at the root level, Iâm not totally sure. I do think you are seeing more people want to connect with wine differently. I think you also see the inaccessibility or just the eye-popping price tag of taking a trip to Napa. That is going to, and is, driving people to some other regions. Some of those regions might still be in California, of course, but others might be in other parts of the country. If you are someone who says, âI want to go on a wine-tasting trip, but I donât want to be spending thousands of dollars on it,â you might look at the Texas Hill Country, Arizona, the Great Lakes, or wherever.
A: I think they will. This wasnât supposed to be a podcast about how California defines the American wine industry, but it is, and they will. In the very famous 1972 song off of âExile on Main St.,â the greatest album the Stones ever wrote, Mick Jagger sang in âSweet Virginia,â âThank you for your wine, California.â He sang that before the Judgment of Paris. It was already a state that was very well known for its wine internationally. California is American wine. It just is.
J: Yeah. Zach said it before, too. For other countries of the world, thatâs probably their perception of American wine as well.
A: For sure. California is what created the winery experience there. They basically created the idea of winery and restaurant and tourism. Thatâs whatâs then been exported to all of the other American wine regions. Itâs now being exported to places like France and Italy that did not have that kind of culture yet. Thatâs all California.
Z: Yes, absolutely.
J: You can play bocce and cornhole.
A: Exactly. Thereâs these third spaces. People are serving burgers and pizza with wine. You would never find a pizzeria in a lot of these Italian wineries because they drink beer with pizza. Thatâs just not part of their culture. Thatâs the California cuisine. Itâs completely influenced the kind of food people expect theyâll get at wineries. Itâs all California cuisine. Thatâs American wine.
Z: We donât call it California wine month, so maybe we should look a little bit at other places.
A: The conversation is, âHow do you define American wine?â Thatâs how Iâm defining American wine. Itâs California wine.
Z: Fair enough. Youâre the man who just opened a 20-year-old bottle of wine from Virginia.
A: I love that wine. I think itâs really interesting. The majority of wine drinkers you tell that youâre drinking wine from Virginia will say, âThereâs no way thatâs good.â Even if Iâm drinking a wine from New York State, people will say, âReally?â If you go down south to Atlanta, where thereâs one of the largest annual wine auctions called the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction, itâs considered to be an epic wine event in the country. No one is auctioning off wines from Virginia and the Finger Lakes. These are great wine regions, but they are auctioning off crazy wines from Napa, Sonoma, and other parts of the world.
Z: I wonder if this is a topic where weâre seeing a little bit of a change. I donât doubt that at the top of the wine market, yes, the most expensive wines produced in the United States are all produced in California. You may get some very high-end Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley. Basically, if youâre talking about the absolute top of the pyramid in America, youâre talking about California wine. That isnât what most people are drinking day-to-day. People are not drinking $1,000 bottles of wine.
A: No. Theyâre drinking red blends from California.
Z: Yeah. True. The point is that I do think youâre seeing, in the expansion of these wine regions throughout the country, more interest. Maybe itâs just locally. Maybe itâs not national or international at this point in a lot of these places. Certain passionate people might say, âI believe that I can make great wine in the Finger Lakes.â Most people who go into that business at least have to think they can sell it. If youâre in a wine region like the Finger Lakes, which doesnât have a huge population center right there, youâre probably counting on being able to sell it to people besides those who live within walking distance of the lakes or whatever. For the most part, that is what we are seeing. Thereâs an appetite that weâve grown in our country. People throughout the country are looking to meet that demand locally, or at least regionally. Itâs true that California is going to be the access and entry point for a lot of drinkers, especially if youâre not particularly near a wine region or youâre outside of the country. Thatâs fine. It is by far the biggest producing state. It has some of the most famous regions and wineries. At the same time, I think we are missing something if we are as reductionist as to say, because California is the big player in this country, that all American wine is California wine. We wouldnât want to say that about beer. Not all American beer is macro lager, even if thatâs the biggest player in the category.
A: No, but if you want to talk about influence, then yes, all wine in America right now is currently influenced by the wine being produced in California. 100 percent. When you look at craft beer, there was a time when all the beers being produced were being influenced by the beers being produced on the West Coast. That was mostly, again, in California. Then it changed and all the beers were being influenced by wines coming out of places like Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. There are these East Coast IPA beers. If weâre having a conversation about the question, âShould we be paying attention to other regions in America other than California?â Iâm happy to have that conversation. If weâre having a conversation about âWhat is the definition of American wine?â Then, itâs California wine.
Z: Fair enough.
J: Well, see you later.
Z: This was like 15 minutes longer than it needed to be. We shouldâve started and ended there.
A: I rest my case. Iâd love to hear other peopleâs opinions who listen to the podcast. What do you think, Joanna? Do you think Iâm wrong?
J: No, I agree. It makes a lot of sense to me, and like I said earlier, I think other people from other parts of the world probably think that of American wine as well. That doesnât mean that we shouldnât consider these other regions. I think theyâre important. Like Zach said, maybe weâre moving in a different direction as they gain popularity and recognition. I do think that, for this particular prompt and conversation, that seems to make sense to me.
Z: I have one last thought here. Iâll leave it at this. If the United States was analogous to Europe and each of these states or regions were their own country, we wouldnât necessarily lump California and the Finger Lakes together any more than we lump France and Germany together in general as a broader political unit.
A: Well, they did go to war against each other.
Z: Well, you might be aware of a certain civil war in this country, for example.
A: Was California even really a player at that point?
Z: No, not so much, I guess. In any case, the point Iâm trying to make is that I think if you were to talk about European wine in aggregate, it is often through a France-centric lens. If we want to analogize France and California in these two examples, I can see where youâre coming from. Obviously, you donât believe that we should only be talking about California wine. It is true that there is a way in which, because this landmass is still currently one political unit â
A: Thatâs pretty dark there, Zach. âCurrently.â
Z: I donât know when people are going to listen to this. I donât know what the future holds. You talked about a gigantic earthquake, so I can talk about the political dissolution of the United States. In any case, I do think that youâre right. California casts a very long shadow at a minimum. I also think that itâs important for all of us to remember that itâs a big country. Thereâs a lot going on. While California still kind of rules the roost, I think itâs interesting to think about the ways in which other regions have both leaned into their California-ness and also tried to break away from it.
A: What I would challenge you to bring to the discussion next week is this: Tell me what would be the U.S. state that would become more influential in the future of American wine than California?
Z: Iâm not sure thatâs possible. California is the biggest state that produces wine. Thatâs partially just a landmass thing.
A: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case. I agree with all the things youâre saying. I think I would also argue, on the European side, that I think France has cast a very large shadow.
J: Me too.
A: Thatâs why you see so many of these wineries around Europe who go to France to study winemaking, bring the French influence into their wines, et cetera. For some reason, theyâre getting more praise. Theyâre being more successful. I was just in Greece touring a lot of the wineries there, and all they wanted to tell me was about how their most recent winemaker had gone and worked in France. He had learned that way of winemaking. I thought, âWell, maybe your way is also cool.â
Z: I think weâve seen that here with UC Davis and a lot of people training in California and Napa. Just like in Europe and in places like Greece, where youâre seeing a little bit of a pivot away from that, I think you are also seeing more homegrown and home-taught winemaking in other parts of the country. That includes the opening and development of great viticulture and vinification programs in universities throughout the country. Thereâs a great program at Cornell. There are great programs here in Washington State. Thereâs all kinds of stuff.
A: Very cool. Let us know what you think about this episode. Shoot us an email at
[email protected]. Tell us how much California wine you drink. I promise you, this was not brought to you by the state of California. Zach and Joanna, Iâll talk to you on Friday.
J: Thanks, guys.
Z: Sounds great.
Thanks so much for listening to the âVinePair Podcast.â If you love this show as much as we love making it, please leave us a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show.
Now for the credits. VinePair is produced and recorded in New York City and Seattle, Washington, by myself and Zach Geballe, who does all the editing and loves to get the credit. Also, I would love to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder, Josh Malin, for helping make all of this possible, and also to Keith Beavers, VinePairâs tastings director, who is additionally a producer on the show. I also want to, of course, thank every other member of the VinePair team, who are instrumental in all of the ideas that go into making the show every week. Thanks so much for listening, and weâll see you again.
Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.
The article VinePair Podcast: What Makes a Wine âAmericanâ? appeared first on VinePair.
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Gone Pickinâ: 5 Boozy Ways to Use Up a Bounty of Apples With Crown Royal Whisky
Like flannel shirts or the much-derided pumpkin spice latte, apple picking has become another yearly signifier of autumnâs arrival. Similar to the other things that make the season â tailgating, adult Halloween costumes, pumpkin beer â itâs slightly ridiculous. After all, we canât think of any other activity that sends ostensible city slickers into the countryside to pay for the privilege of picking their own fruit.
All logical concerns aside, thereâs just something satisfying about picking a basket of your own apples on a crisp November day. So satisfying, that you may return to your non orchard-adjacent living space and realize you have a glut of apples on your hands.
That is where Crown Royal whisky comes in.
There are many good reasons to mix apples and Crown Royal. The whiskyâs creamy texture and rich flavors of oak and vanilla marry beautifully with apple and all the flavors that tend to accompany the fruit â cinnamon, brown butter, baking spices and beyond.
With this in mind, weâve decided to outline five ways that you can use orchard-picked apples to enhance the flavor of Crown Royal whisky in cocktails. Read on below for more apple-enhanced whisky goodness.
Infuse the Source
An easy way to turn any whisky-involved cocktail âfrom an Old-Fashioned to a Manhattan to a Lionâs Tail â into its apple equivalent is to first infuse the whisky itself with apples. Itâs a pretty simple process: youâll just want to core and slice an apple, and then combine those slices with your whisky in a mason jar (or any other sealed container) for a period of several days to several weeks.
Thereâs no hard and fast rule on when the apples should be removed. Instead, itâs a matter of personal preference: the longer the apples infuse with the whisky, the more apple-y your final product will be. To suss this out, occasionally taste your whisky while itâs infusing to determine whether itâs absorbed the amount of apple flavor youâre seeking. Once that metric is met, strain it back into the original bottle and start deciding which classic whisky cocktails might benefit from an apple remix.
While weâve outlined the most basic way to create apple-infused whisky, you can also up the ante with apple pie-infused whisky. Follow the same steps but add those spices (just the spices!) associated with apple pie âcinnamon, allspice, etc.â to the whisky and allow it to infuse with the apples for extra autumnal flavor.
Simply Turn It into Syrup
Simple syrup, which as its name implies, is nothing more than sugar and water melded together after a brief simmer on the stove. It works like a blank canvas for flavor. Almost anything added to the saucepan during the simple syrup-making process will infuse the final product with its own flavors, apples included.
So, to make apple simple syrup, core and slice an apple and add it to equal parts water and sugar (for an even richer flavor use brown or demerara sugar) and simmer the ingredients together in a saucepan for a few minutes. Once youâve whisked the combination into a clear syrup, strain out the apples and bottle the syrup before refrigerating for up to one week.
In this way, you can make an Apple Old-Fashioned with regular, non apple-infused Crown Royal by reaching for your apple simple syrup. To complete the theme, garnish the drink with an apple slice and maybe even a cinnamon stick for good measure.
Muddle it Up
Plenty of cocktails call for muddling, most classically the Whisky Smash or Mint Julep. In those drinks, itâs mint that gets muddled up with syrup to extract the herbâs flavor before combining with spirit.
However, apples are fair game for mudding, too. To make a more autumnal iteration of the Whisky Smash, combine cored and sliced apples with simple syrup or brown sugar at the bottom of a shaker and briefly muddle to pull out the appleâs flavor and aromatics. Add Crown Royal Whisky, then give it a dry shake before straining into a rocks glass full of crushed ice.
Juice it, Then Sour It
This one might be considered a shortcut, as juicing your own apples at home can be a bit of a chore. For that reason, weâll withhold any judgement should you decide to pick up apple juice from a local farm stand instead.
Either way, youâll discover that apple juice can take the place of lemon juice in a whole family of whisky-involved drinks, most notably the Whisky Sour. Just remember that because apple juice is less tart than lemon juice, you might want to cut back on the simple syrup in your drink build.
How Do You Like Them Apple Garnishes?
And lastly, we come to the apple garnish. At its most basic, an apple slice can spruce up a simple Old-Fashioned (and also serve as a useful stirring device). But should you be feeling extra-crafty, you can make dehydrated apple garnishes by slicing the apples very thinly before arranging them on a baking sheet and baking on low heat.
After a few hours in the oven, youâll be rewarded with thin, crispy apple chips that would also make a fine snack but can instead be floated on top of any whisky drink served up, like a Manhattan (just try and resist making any âBig Appleâ puns).
No Bounty of Apples?
No problem! You can still celebrate the fall season by picking up your own bottle of Crown Royal Regal Apple.
This article is sponsored by Diageo.
The article Gone Pickinâ: 5 Boozy Ways to Use Up a Bounty of Apples With Crown Royal Whisky appeared first on VinePair.
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$407,000 ChĂąteau dâYquem Among Dozens of High-End Wines Stolen from Restaurant in Spain
Authorities are searching for a man and woman suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wine, including a rare 215-year-old bottle, from an upscale hotel-restaurant complex in Spain.
José Polo, the owner of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Atrio, told the Associated Press that the theft took place early last Wednesday morning.
The English-speaking suspects distracted the hotelâs desk clerk with a task, leaving security cameras unmonitored and the male half of the duo free to sneak into the cellars. The couple were staying at the hotel as guests, and had dined at the restaurant that same night. When they checked out early the next morning, they reportedly left with bags full of wine bottles.
âThey were professionals, they knew exactly what they were doing,â Polo stated.
Atrioâs vast cellar holds over 40,000 bottles of wine, many of which are extremely old and valuable. Among the 45 bottles taken by the thieves was an 1806 ChĂąteau dâYquem valued at ÂŁ295,000 (approximately $407,000), and six bottles of RomanĂ©e-Conti dating back to the 19th-century.
Polo believes that the couple may be working with a private collector because many of the missing bottles are so rare that they would instantly be recognized as stolen from Atrio.
âââThose bottles are very numbered and controlled. That 1806 Yquem is unique; everyone knows itâs ours,â Polo said.
Local authorities are currently investigating the case.
The article $407,000 ChĂąteau dâYquem Among Dozens of High-End Wines Stolen from Restaurant in Spain appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/booze-news/expensive-rare-wine-heist-spain/
source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/666755774565040128
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E.U. Ends Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Whiskey and Bourbon Products
Members of the U.S. spirits industry celebrated on Saturday, as the EU agreed to remove long-standing tariffs on American whiskey and bourbon.
âAfter three very difficult years of sagging American whiskey exports, the EU and the U.S. are back to a zero-for-zero tariff agreement on distilled spirits, which has been instrumental to our export success and job creation on both sides of the Atlantic since 1997,â Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), stated in a press release.
The trade dispute dates back to June 2018, when the Trump administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on all imported aluminum and steel products from the EU, Mexico, and Canada. While not necessarily a âwarâ on the alcohol beverage sector, Americaâs producers suffered as a result. In response to the levies, the EU and Canada retaliated with 25 percent tariffs on American whiskey.
The impact of the sanctions proved significant on both sides of the Atlantic. Between 2018 and 2020, exports of American whiskey to the EU dropped 37 percent, from $702 million to $440 million, according to DISCUS. Industry members are hoping there will now be a quick reversal of that trend.
âWith the removal of these EU tariffs, we are energized and ready to ramp up our American whiskey promotions in the EU to re-introduce Americaâs native spirits to EU consumers and resume a great American export success story,â Swonger stated.
Amid the excitement, there are still ways to go. The 25 percent tariff on American whiskey remains in place in the U.K., which was part of the EU when the initial tariff was imposed but has since ceased to be a member state.
American distillers may feel particularly unfairly treated in this respect. In March 2021, the U.S. temporarily suspended a separate, unrelated 25 percent tariff on Scotch whisky imports. Later in June, when the provision was set to expire, the Biden administration extended the suspension for five years.
âThe end of this long tariff nightmare is in sight for U.S. distillers, who have struggled with the weight of the tariffs and the pandemic,â Swonger stated. âItâs time for the U.K. to lift its tariff on American whiskeys so we can all get back to toasts, not tariffs.â
The article E.U. Ends Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Whiskey and Bourbon Products appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/booze-news/eu-ends-american-whiskey-tariff/
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The Two New Glarus-es: Viewing a Unicorn Brewery From Beyond Wisconsinâs Borders
This October, VinePair is celebrating our second annual American Beer Month. From beer style basics to unexpected trends (pickle beer, anyone?), to historical deep dives and new developments in package design, expect an exploration of all thatâs happening in breweries and taprooms across the United States all month long.
Wisconsinâs New Glarus Brewing Company is, by any estimation, one of the most successful craft breweries in American history. It is one of the oldest (born in 1993) and one of the biggest (the 12th largest craft brewer in 2020 and 21st overall brewery, per the Brewers Association).
These figures are all the more astonishing when one considers the breweryâs famously ironclad commitment to sell no beer outside the boundaries of Wisconsin.
Think about that: Duvel Moortgat and Canarchy amalgamated their way into the Top 10. Boston Beer Co. floats on pontoons of seltzer and hard tea. Breweries like Bells, Stone, and Sierra Nevada earn their way in with nearly nationwide sales. New Glarus does that with beer alone, in the confines of the nationâs 20th most populous state.
New Glarus is no less than a brewing unicorn, one perfect specimen of a brewery that opened at the right time, in the right place, for the right people, in the right beer-drinking culture, with the right beers. Still, somehow, beyond the borders of Americaâs Dairyland, itâs barely a blip on the radar. It is a hype vacuum, with a â90s-era website and no major social media footprint (it only just joined Twitter last year when a gift shop worker asked if it could start one) for simply being the best damn brewery in Wisconsin.
And yet, there isnât just the one New Glarus Brewing Company. Philosophically, there are actually two.
One is the New Glarus every Wisconsin resident knows; the brewery that makes the wonderfully fluffy farmhouse ale Spotted Cow and picture-perfect pale ale Moon Man. The brewery that makes the beers that are available at every pizza tavern and gas station beer cave and convenience store cooler in Wisconsin.
This second, smaller but still powerful New Glarus is the one that exists in the minds of the residents of bordering states like Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. The New Glarus thatâs just out of reach for the day-to-day drinker, the brewery that makes thousands of barrels of beer per year just for the people across an invisible line on the ground. On that side, they get all they want. Itâs explicitly just for them. Over here on the other side? We beg for them to branch out beyond Wisconsin, and co-owner Deb Carey looks back and whispers, âNo.â
Ubiquitous though it may be to the residents within the Cheddar Curtain, this version of New Glarus is adored, desired, and mythologized well beyond the boundaries of a normal brewery. Tell a beer drinker from Chicago that youâre driving to Indiana or Michigan and theyâll say, âHave a nice time.â Tell someone from Chicago that youâre going to be in Wisconsin for 15 minutes that afternoon and theyâll say, âCan you pick me up some Staghorn? And a 12-pack of Two Women? And some Totally Naked if you have room?â
Name another brewery with that kind of power. If you think any beerâs scarcity hype is unjustified in 2021, know that some of Americaâs original hype beers call the rolling hills of Southwest Wisconsin their home.
How do I know this? Because I, a born-and-raised Chicagoland-ian (western suburbs through my early 20s and 15 years in the city proper) am an admitted, avowed New Glarus acolyte. I have made trips to the Woodmanâs grocery store in Kenosha, Wis., for the express purpose of purchasing New Glarus beer and I have dragged my wife to the New Glarus beer garden on my birthday as though it were a pilgrimage. I have raved as much about their simply perfect Zwickelbier and Fat Squirrel as I have about their richly complex Oud Bruin and their Scream IIPA, which somehow tastes magically like an Orange Crush in beer form.
So when I tell you that New Glarus is, to some beer drinkers around the Great Lakes states, just a bit akin to a cult, know that I tell you from a place of relative confidence.
Am I the outlier? Is my taste for inaccessible beer skewing my impressions of what the brewery means to people beyond the Wisconsin state line?
Infinitely more of an authority on New Glarus itself is Dan Carey, co-owner, brewmaster, and creator of the hundreds of beers that the brewery has produced over the decades. âOf course weâre flattered,â he says of drinkers like me. âItâs nice when people choose our beer and weâre flattered wherever theyâre from.â
That said, their beer beyond their borders isnât a huge concern to him and his wife and co-owner, Deb Carey.
âWeâve never really done a study on that, although certainly we know how much beer is sold in every account that we have around the state,â Dan says. âPlaces like Mars Cheese Castle or some of the places outside of Minneapolis do very well for us. But frankly, my instinct is that itâs not a large part of our business.â
When I ask whether the decision to turn to a Wisconsin-only footprint (following some infamous initial attempts at Chicago distribution in the early 2000s) had, in fact, contributed to a New Glarus mythology among drinkers, I do get a bit of affirmation. âWell, certainly thereâs some bit of human nature to that,â Carey says.
âI think I would be fibbing if I did not say that. Certainly thereâs merit to that but ⊠if it is the key to success then everybody would be doing it. Itâs like the tail wagging the dog. Success is not tied to the scarcity of the beer, but the scarcity of the beer is an outcome. And I think I know of no other brewers that are doing this, at least in the United States.â
Scarcity and Ubiquity
This much is true: In terms of a large-scale operation, only Shortâs Brewing in Michigan comes to mind when thinking of an avowed state-specific footprint, being all in on Michigan Only, Michigan Forever â until they werenât, citing the increased competition in the beer market.
âI see it in Germany, which we sort of identify with more than the American craft brewers. Most of our competitors, I see their beer in 50 states. I see it in [places like] Temple Bar in Dublin,â Dan says. âOf course, the human mind is such that itâs accepted that thatâs how business is done. But ⊠my God, thatâs crazy when you think about it. If we sold in 50 states and six countries, thatâs a different business. We become a different company.â
But what about the accounts that make the orders from that company, and watch the beer go out their front door and across the state lines? Tyrrell Gaffer has been the owner and manager of the Historic Casanova Liquor Store in Hudson, Wis. â just steps from the Mississippi River across from Minnesota â since purchasing the store in 2002. According to Gaffer, roughly half of its New Glarus sales are going right across the state line.
âItâs funny because itâs not just Minnesota, itâs regionally â we get a ton of travel from all over,â Gaffer says. âWe get a lot of snowbirds up here that bring it back down so itâs going all over the place, but itâs at least half, 50 percent moving out of Wisconsin ⊠if not more.â
In part, the ubiquity of New Glarus in Wisconsin contributes to that, Gaffer says. âOur [Wisconsin] regulars, they know the brand, itâs at every gas station, on tap at every bar. Itâs just always around.â
Not only is New Glarus a major draw for out-of-state drinkers, but no other out-of-state brand has the same hold. âI probably have 10, 15 brands that arenât available in Minnesota,â Gaffer says, âbut no oneâs buying cases to bring back. But New Glarus is always ⊠Jesus, of our 22 [cooler] doors, two full doors are New Glarus and one of themâs just 24-packs of cans and bottles.â
Justin Ludeman is in a similar role as the liquor manager for Woodmanâs Food Market in Kenosha, whose department is so large it makes up its own wing of the building. Thereâs plenty of Chicago traffic coming in for New Glarus beers (which it keeps smartly stacked in tall piles near the front of the building), says Ludeman.
âWe do quite a good chunk,â he says. âMaybe like 10, 15 percent. The scarcity of it definitely drives demand, so thatâs a huge pull. I mean itâs a nice solid brewery, though. It wouldnât be so big if they didnât do a good job.â
Other factors are admittedly at play. Taxes on beer in Wisconsin are about one-fourth of those in Illinois, so folks on the border naturally gravitate north due to that as well. But the lure of the Spotted Cow is still strong: âA lot of times people just grab a couple cases, but weâve seen people come through and load up three shopping carts sometimes,â Ludeman says. âItâs a really good beer, so yeah, itâs going to be sought out. And the scarcity only drives it a little bit more.â
To Gaffer, scarcity is one aspect of the Careysâ success, but itâs also the role that New Glarus has come to play for a large generation of drinkers coming up around Wisconsin. âItâs always been our gateway to craft beer. Spotted Cow is the gateway into it, and then their seasonals fit the next level, so they can work from Spotted Cow up into a pale ale or a bock or something, a nut brown. Something thatâs still craft but itâs not a double-hazy-IPA kind of thing.â Gaffer says. âAnd then they do their high-end fruit beers and double IPAs in 4-packs, which is another tier for them. So itâs kind of a gateway into craft.â
Beyond the unimpeachable quality of the beer, I asked Dan Carey if he attributed their intra-Wisconsin success to any other right-state, right-time factor. âWisconsin has always been beer-centric, not necessarily craft-beer-centric but beer-centric in a kind of a Germanic way,â he says, â[but] I would argue the contrary: that our ability to succeed was simply due to our tenaciousness.â
He adds: âWe have a saying that is painted around the top of our brew house that says, âLet me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity,â which comes from Louis Pasteur. I would argue that it wasnât so much luck, being in the right place at the right time, but just that ⊠weâre fighters. We donât give up. We never stop. I donât know how else to describe it but itâs not been easy. We both have our scars.â
Near the end of our conversation, I wanted to know if there was ever a point at which the Careys started to see the needle tick upward in their Wisconsin takeover, or if there was a moment they could look at as being able to say, âThis thing might work out.â
âWhat we were desperately trying to do was get back to the amount of money Dan had made at Anheuser-Busch [where he previously worked as a production supervisor] and that took us a solid 10 years, I think,â Deb says, âwith both of us working to replace his income with insurance. So that is probably about the time that we started to say, âHmm, I think weâre going to be OK.ââ
Deb Carey insists that âmarket dominance [has] never, ever, ever, ever, and will never be a goal. I cannot explain it, no oneâs gonna believe it, but I do not care about money. Itâs not how I run the business.â
The John Galt of Breweries? Or the Anti-Galt?
Which is, in fact, a hard thing to believe, living in a hyper-capitalistic society where, as the last decade progressed, more and more breweries seemed to be opening for money first, craft second.
And yet, thereâs something Randian about moving to a remote valley in the countryside, setting up shop, doing the one thing you love and doing better than nearly anyone else in the world, then letting everyone else beat their way to your door. (In fact, thatâs pretty much the end of âAtlas Shrugged.â) Lest I imply that New Glarus has anything in common with Paul Ryan, thereâs thankfully a bit more acknowledgement of other peopleâs humanity in the Careys story.
âFor me, itâs about taking care of the people: checking in with my wholesalers, making sure retailers are happy, [and if theyâre] having a problem in those areas, I walk around in my brain trying to think, âHow can I solve this problem for them,â Deb says. âItâs me and others trying to be a servant leader. If I can make this wholesaler successful, if I can make this retailer in this area, if I can help the bar owners ⊠then Iâm going to help myself.â
Part of that caretaking has led to conflict: A lawsuit was recently filed by three of New Glarusâs original investors, claiming that the Careys (per WPR) were âkeeping annual profits from themâ and âused the companyâs profits to invest in outside projects that only the Carey family financially benefits from, including the formation of Sugar River Distillery.â
In response, Deb Carey filed a defamation suit against the law firm representing the investors, plus 50 other unnamed individuals and media outlets in order to (according to the AP) push back on the âexaggerations that were sent out in the press release.â
As Carey tells VinePair, the original conflict was over lost profits and other finances during the Covid shutdown; the brewery is only now working toward reopening its beer garden after closing in early 2020. In order to keep employees working, Carey says, they moved the hospitality team over to production roles â a necessary pivot for many craft breweries during the pandemic.
âWe kept everybody at their 40 hours so that no one lost any pay or benefits, and really that is exactly the fight that happened at the investor meeting,â Deb Carey says, explaining that arguments over PPP funding and layoffs also came into play.
âIâm not trying to work over the employees or the wholesalers, but Iâm also not going to let them work us over. And thatâs a weird balance,â she says. âAnd I mean, frankly, that is the crux of the whole lawsuit thatâs happening right now. Itâs really fascinating. So I just think, âWell, OK, whatever. Iâm right. I will win this one, too, but whatever. Bring it.ââ
New Glarus also operates under an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and has since 2015, which the original investors allege (according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) âis a mechanism to support artificially low share valuation.â
In a followup email to VinePair, Deb Carey passes along one final very interesting detail, which she discovered due to the pandemic. According to Carey, âDuring Covid tourism was at a standstill and border stores reflected their losses. We estimate out-of-state sales count for 1.5 to 2 percent of our overall sales.â With that, letâs run the numbers!
New Glarus produces 250,000 barrels of beer per year, which means as much as 5,000 barrels of New Glarus beer is being muled out of state. At roughly 1.6 million individual beers, that means the equivalent one full case of beer leaves the state every 7 minutes, or a single 12-ounce bottle every 19 seconds. Every hour, every day, of every year. Not an inconsiderate amount of beer.
In fact, according to an estimate provided by Bart Watson, economist at the Brewers Association, fewer than 5 percent of breweries in America make over 5,000 barrels of beer each year. Which means that if the New Glarus beer that travels across the Wisconsin border represented its own brewery, that alone would be bigger than 95 percent of American craft breweries.
If youâve made it this far down the page, youâve probably spent nearly as much time as I have trying to figure out what the magic pixie dust is that made New Glarus what it is. It turns out, itâs really not much of a secret at all.
âDecisions are very, very easy for us because theyâre not about ⊠the bottom dollar, theyâre about whatâs best for the taste of the beer, and whatâs best for our employees and the community,â Dan Carey says. âWhat Debbie says is that âMost people donât see good luck because it arrives dressed in coveralls.â Weâve worked 30 years, 60 hours a week, fist-fighting our way through this to be an âovernight success,â and Iâm sure a lot of brewers have done that. But the difference is, we stayed laser focused; never changed our direction. So when you march forward for 30 years you go pretty far if you keep going in the same direction.â
Show up, do the work, try to take care of people first, donât chase the money, and sometimes it works out that you make a product that resonates with people. And sometimes, that product is a fluffy, fruity farmhouse ale with a dancing cow on the label.
The article The Two New Glarus-es: Viewing a Unicorn Brewery From Beyond Wisconsinâs Borders appeared first on VinePair.
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Ask a Bartender: Should I Ever Drink My Beer Out of a Frosted Glass?
This October, VinePair is celebrating our second annual American Beer Month. From beer style basics to unexpected trends (pickle beer, anyone?), to historical deep dives and new developments in package design, expect an exploration of all thatâs happening in breweries and taprooms across the United States all month long.
While thereâs plenty to argue about in the drinks world, thereâs one thing everyone from cicerones to winemakers can agree on: Thereâs nothing more refreshing than a cold beer. And many beer lovers do their best to chill their brews down to the lowest temperatures possible.
But as we search for beers as cold as the Rockies, some pros warn against taking extreme measures to make it happen. With this in mind, VinePair consulted Zach Mack, owner of NYCâs ABC Beer Co., to answer the question: When it comes to beer, how cold is too cold?
For most beers, the ideal serving temperature ranges from 38 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, with lighter-bodied beers ideally served at chillier temperatures than fuller-bodied varieties such as stouts, porters, and Belgian dubbels and tripels. When drinking at home, this most often means serving beers straight out of the refrigerator, which has a temperature of 40 degrees on average. At bars, beer straight from the tap has plenty of chill.
But some bars and home enthusiasts go a step further, frosting their glasses to prove to thirsty guests just how cold their drink is. But beer geeks like Mack advise against this practice for a variety of reasons.
First, frosting a glass doesnât actually cool a beer down if itâs already being poured at the proper temperature. âEverybodyâs like, âI can make the beer even colder, even though Iâm pouring from a freezing cold keg,ââ Mack says. But as he explains, thatâs not the case. âItâs just kind of stunty, and itâs really more for the aesthetic where you pick up a glass and it feels freezing cold in your hand.â
In addition, freezer storage can create tiny ice crystals on the surface of a glass, which, as Mack explains, âcreate nucleation points for the carbonation.â This in turn causes your beer to foam up instantly and reach an ice-cold temperature for a short period of time. âBut then it warms right back up to just above freezing, and you essentially just end up with a cup full of flat beer,â Mack says. As a proper pour is served with a half an ounce of foam on top, such a fizzle can be detrimental to the flavor and aroma of the pint, which are released through carbonation.
Another reason to refrain from frosting your glasses? Cleanliness. âWhen youâre storing the glass in the fridge, it picks up all the other smells in the fridge or the freezer,â Mack says. âSo itâs kind of gross in that way, too.â
Though many dive bars have and will continue to frost their glasses as a point of pride, youâd be hard-pressed to find a quality beer bar that does so. So the next time you want to impress the beer geeks in your life, be sure to serve their brews straight from the fridge or keg in a beer- clean glass â no extra tricks necessary.
The article Ask a Bartender: Should I Ever Drink My Beer Out of a Frosted Glass? appeared first on VinePair.
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7 of the Best Daiquiri Recipes for Fall
The colder months are an exciting time for drinks lovers. As we say adieu to the frozen concoctions of more humid days, the chillier weather means a reintroduction to old friends like Hot Toddies and mulled wine.
But there are some drinks that go beyond a single season. One such cocktail is the Daiquiri, which has a delightful simplicity that allows for seemingly endless opportunities for riffs and variations â taking the rum drink from summer to winter with just a few easy swaps.
Read on for seven inventive ways to winterize the Daiquiri with recipes from VinePairâs library.
The Whey Daiquiri, a Take on the Daiquiri
For a drink to cozy up with, look no further than the Whey Daiquiri. Developed by Jay Khan, beverage director at Hong Kong-based COA, this recipe brings the comforting flavors of milk tea to the Daiquiri with the addition of chamomile and milk whey. These ingredients are an unlikely yet exciting addition to the Daiquiriâs main ingredients: rum, lime juice, and sugar.
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The Autumnal Daiquiri Recipe
One sip of this spiced tipple will instantly bring back memories of apple picking and cider donuts. To make one, swap out rum for Calvados, an apple brandy, and stir in honey syrup rather than simple syrup. These ingredients are shaken up with lime juice and a few dashes of aromatic bitters and topped with an apple fan.
See Recipe
The Jettison Daiquiri Recipe
For a depth of citrus flavors, this Daiquiri is made with grapefruit-infused simple syrup and a few dashes of bitters. Add in a blend of Panamanian and Martinican rums and a squeeze of lime, and take the simple flavors of the Daiquiri to the next level.
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The Armagnac Daiquiri Recipe
The earthy flavors of Armagnac take the Daiquiri from summer to winter in one fell swoop. Along with grapefruit and lime juices and Maraschino liqueur, the resulting drink is rich and layered, with undertones of caramel.
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Spicy Ancho Chile Daiquiri Recipe
Though a classic Daiquiri is endlessly refreshing, a little added spice takes the drink to the next level. This variation takes the ingredients of the Daiquiri and adds Ancho Reyes Verde liqueur for a subtle peppery flavor thatâs sure to warm you up on the coldest of days. Top with a fresh chile, and sip fireside.
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The Chartreuse Daiquiri Recipe
For a herbaceous drink to match your favorite holiday flavors, add green Chartreuse to your Daiquiri. This drink is made with the liqueur, as well as honey syrup, rhum agricole, and lime juice for an earthy, warming appeal.
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The Rosemary And Honey Daiquiri Recipe
Made for sipping on cozy snow days, this Daiquiri variation is made with dark rum, rosemary, honey syrup, and lime juice. A sprig of rosemary to garnish the concoction brings an added seasonal aroma, making the beverage ideal for the most festive occasions.
See Recipe
The article 7 of the Best Daiquiri Recipes for Fall appeared first on VinePair.
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VinePair Podcast: Why is Pumpkin Beer Still a Thing?
Perhaps the most well-known fall seasonal beer style among American consumers, pumpkin beer has stood the test of time. Since the mid-1990s, pioneering American craft brewers such as Dogfish Head and Schlafly have released pumpkin ales year after year. So, much to the chagrin of anti-pumpkin-spice aggressors, the polarizing trend is still here â but why?
In this episode of the âVinePair Podcast,â co-hosts Adam Teeter, Joanna Sciarrino, and Zach Geballe taste an early example of pumpkin ale and share their takes on why they think it continues to be a seasonal favorite.
Sciarrino also sits down with VinePairâs managing editor and resident beer expert Cat Wolinski to learn a little more about the history and changing consumer base for pumpkin beer. To cap things off, the co-hosts try Elysianâs Great Pumpkin imperial ale for the Friday tasting.
Tune in to learn more about why pumpkin beer continues to get buzz when fall rolls around each year.
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Or Check Out the Conversation Here
Adam Teeter: From VinePairâs New York City headquarters, Iâm Adam Teeter.
Joanna Sciarrino: Iâm Joanna Sciarrino.
Zach Geballe: and Iâm Zach Geballe.
A: Why are you still here?
Z: Canât get rid of me.
Z: Iâm like bed bugs, man.
J: I like it. Weâre all in the same room.
Z: When youâre on their side, I donât know what youâre wearing.
J: Do you have shoes on or not?
A: Youâre in your basement, in your hovel.
Z: In my hovel? Excuse me.
A: Arenât you in your little wine cellar?
Z: Yeah. Iâm in a corner of my house. I donât live in a hovel.
A: But you have a wine cellar in the basement, right?
Z: I do.
A: Thatâs what I thought. How many bottles?
Z: Like 400. Got to be ready.
J: For what?
Z: Come visit. Youâre welcome to.
A: Did you bring any with you?
Z: I had to pay to check bags. Iâm not going to do that.
A: Iâm sorry about that. So, I donât know todayâs topic of the podcast because itâs been kept from me. Iâm going to let one of you introduce it.
Z: Oh, thatâs a lie. Itâs staring you right in the middle. I figured, itâs the time of year where itâs #SpookySeason. Weâre getting into true fall. It brought to mind a question that I thought we could try to answer as a team here, which is: Why is pumpkin beer still a thing?
A: I donât know. It shouldnât be.
Z: I know thatâs your opinion, Adam. I respect and appreciate your personal aesthetic stance on this matter.
A: Everyone needs a cause. My cause is being anti-pumpkin beer.
Z: Maybe you can win a Next Wave Award sometime. In any case, it does really surprise me that a beer style thatâs relatively recent and is â and I like pumpkin beers all right â undeniably gimmicky. You donât see the same thing with any other seasonal ingredient. Well, fresh hop beer is a thing, but then again, hops are a part of beer always. Maybe thatâs not the same. You donât see raspberry or lavender beer season in spring.
A: I guess nothingâs really taken off in the same way. You have summer ales, but itâs not the same as everybody going for pumpkin.
Z: Thereâs not an added ingredient in those that everyone is jazzed about. Joanna, coming from the food side, itâs not like thereâs a cry in food for pumpkin-flavored everything. Well, maybe there is. Thereâs pumpkin spice everything.
J: Yeah. I think we have to acknowledge that this coincides with the great rise of pumpkin spice and pumpkin spice lattes, candles, et cetera.
A: Zach, have you been to Trader Joeâs recently?
Z: No.
A: Thereâs literally an entire section devoted to pumpkin flavors. âHereâs our pumpkin soup. Hereâs our pumpkin pasta sauce. Hereâs our pumpkin spice yogurt.â
J: I think it waned for some amount of years. Now itâs kind of come back.
A: Thereâs a lot of people out there â I donât know if itâs as many as summer people â who believe fall is the best season.
J: Iâm one of them.
Z: Yeah.
A: Keith is another. My wife is another. I was born in summer, so you know?
Z: What other season could they be?
A: June gave the world Adam. Drake literally named his company Octoberâs Very Own because he was born in October. Just call me Drake. I mean, fall is a great season. I would say itâs a top-two season.
Z: Well, thereâs only four. I mean, come on.
A: As long as we can all agree that winter is the worst season.
A: The worst.
J: True.
A: People canât convince me that skiing is a thing. Anyways, fallâs a great season. Summer has a lot of things people get excited about. I mean, I would say, you know, the equivalent of pumpkin beer. I see so many tomato pictures all the time on Instagram. Everyoneâs like âtomato season.â Everyone does it.
J: Itâs true.
A: Pumpkin is the tomato of the fall.
Z: That is maybe the most brilliant analogy thatâs ever made on this podcast. Congratulations, Adam. This comes back to my question, which is why are pumpkins the only thing that weâre adamant must be added to beer every year?
A: Itâs Charlie Brown, dude.
Z: I kind of donât mind pumpkin beer, but I hate everything about Halloween.
A: Oh, get out.
Z: And Iâm the person here with kids.
A: Halloween has become, in the course of the last 40 to 50 years, but especially in the last 20, much more of an adult holiday.
Z: Yes. It was shocking to me when I moved to New York for college because I hadnât done a Halloween thing in years because I was a teenager. All of a sudden, my freshman year, everyone was asking, âAre you going to the Halloween parade? Are you going to the Halloween parties?â I was like, âWhat? No. Is there candy? Whatâs going on.â
J: Itâs the best.
Z: I want to ask one more thing about pumpkin beer before this goes even further off the rails. This is why I donât do these recordings in person. Who knows where we are right now.
A: I think itâs way better.
Z: Itâs true. Itâs more fun. Listeners, I hope you agree. Whatâs also weird to me about the pumpkin beer season is that not only has it remained a thing. Itâs ebbed and flowed a little bit, but it remains a category. It seems like breweries are content to put out the exact same beer every year, even relatively small to medium-sized craft breweries. That strikes me as also odd. Even breweries that do creative, innovative things much of the rest of the year, when it comes to pumpkin beer season, they just decide, âLetâs dust off that recipe and make our batch.â Maybe it goes back to the pumpkin spice lattes. People want the exact same thing. It is almost like people just want their signifier of the season. They want to drink a 6-pack of whatever.
A: They want to drink the leaves.
Z: I guess so. I just wanted to talk about how strange the continued trend is. Itâs not a fad. I think itâs just here, and itâs its own weird segment of beer that exists ephemerally, even more than summer or winter ales.
A: Itâs the drink of fall. Itâs the thing that everyone feels like they have to have at least once to say that itâs fall.
Z: Yeah, I think thatâs right.
A: Whatâs also weird about pumpkin beer is that, to make most pumpkin beers and be in market when itâs appropriate or earlier, you actually arenât using this fallâs pumpkins.
Z: Not pumpkin at all, sometimes.
J: Sometimes squash.
A: Sometimes itâs spice. But if you are using it, youâre using squash or pumpkin puree from last season. Itâs this really weird thing.
Z: Part of thatâs the season creep that happens with everything. Pumpkin beers available in August now. You definitely did not harvest pumpkins for that.
A: OK. Can we try this dumb shit, because itâs sitting in front of me. Itâs making me really upset.
J: The last thing I wanted to say is that I think a lot of beer people drink Oktoberfest.
A: Yes, they do.
J: But now that craft beer is so accessible to so many more people, that there are other people who are drinking pumpkin beer.
A: Why donât you go talk to a craft beer person? I donât want to have this conversation anymore.
Z: Weâre going to make Cat talk to us about it.
AÂ Pumpkin Beer Conversation with VinePair Managing Editor Cat Wolinski
J: Today on the podcast, I am joined by Cat Wolinski, VinePairâs managing editor and resident beer expert. Cat, welcome to the show.
Cat Wolinski: Thank you, Joanna.
J: Iâm excited to have you here because weâre talking about pumpkin beer. Pumpkin ale, I suppose, is the better way to say it. I wanted to chat with you about it because I think weâre all very curious to know if pumpkin ale is still relevant. What do you think?
C: Relevant is an interesting word. Pumpkin beer is still definitely around.
J: Itâs still a thing?
C: Yeah, but I think who itâs a thing for has changed over the years.
J: Yes, thatâs a good point. Why donât we talk first about how, when pumpkin beer became a thing, how it gained popularity initially, then what happened, and who is it popular with now?
C: I think it started out as a brewpub, fun, seasonal thing. Some of the older classic craft breweries made them for the fall. It wasnât such a contested subject then. It was just a fall flavor. That was the harvest. Itâs theoretically made with pumpkin, which is associated with the season, with Halloween, and things like that.
J: Was this back in the early 2010s?
C: It was longer ago. I think Elysian has been making pumpkin ale since the late â90s.
J: Whoa. OK. Itâs older than I thought.
C: When I say brewpub, this is also the days of yore. Itâs early craft beer. When I was coming up as a beer drinker and writer, it was still something fun, something you saw at beer festivals, or something that your friend who thinks theyâre really into beer but only like sweet beers would seek out. One that was big around here in New York was Southern Tier Pumpking. That was legitimately considered a good beer by drinkers and beer people, too. It would be served with a brown sugar rim, and it was a special occasion.
J: Wow. Interesting. Back in 2012, I was working at Bon AppĂ©tit at the time, and we did a pumpkin beer tasting to publish on the site. Thatâs when I feel like it was really coming into more mainstream popularity.
C: Wow. Weird that thatâs almost 10 years ago. Yeah, I think it still exists in the way that I just described it. Itâs still a fun, seasonal thing for a lot of people in the way that a pumpkin spice latte is a fun seasonal thing for people. The pumpkin latte is not necessarily something an everyday coffee drinker drinks or wants, though. Even since 2012, thereâs been this big anti-pumpkin beer movement. It was like this thing that everyone had to bandwagon hate. âWho wants to put baking spices in a beer? Itâs not even real pumpkin sometimes!â
J: Why do you think that happened? Why did it fall out of favor with the craft beer drinking community?
C: Speaking first from personal experience, I think pumpkin beer can be an entry point to another dimension of beer flavor. In the same way that a lot of people remember their first craft beer or the first beers that made them think, âWoah, I didnât know beer could taste like that,â I think that feeling existed with pumpkin beer.
I think itâs also something that you grow out of as you get more into beer. If youâre someone who really continues to seek out different flavors, you might learn that you love a Belgian Ale. You can find those warm caramel notes in Chimay or Belgian Strong Ale. You might find other, baked-good-associated flavors, like banana and clove in a wheat beer. It became looked down on to be forcing flavor into the beer, like with pumpkin; then itâs not ârealâ beer anymore.
J: Itâs not the most sophisticated flavor palate.
C: Yes. But itâs also not supposed to be sophisticated. Itâs literally supposed to taste like pumpkin pie. I think myself and a lot of my comrades think, âWho cares if you like pumpkin beer?â I donât personally drink it. Iâm tasting one today to remind myself how they taste. I think theyâre fine. If you want something thatâs sweet and spiced, go for it. At least youâre drinking beer, in my opinion. I think itâs pointless to hate on pumpkin beer. Sorry, Adam. I know heâs the biggest pumpkin beer hater. Whatâs the point, man?
J: Drink what you like.
C: Yeah.
J: Something that I feel like is worth noting in this conversation â or what I think is a big part of this conversation â is the pumpkin spice latte that you mentioned. I want to talk about that movement and pumpkin spice in general. I feel like, as that gained popularity, people started to think, âThis isnât cool anymore.â
C: I see what youâre saying.
J: As it became more mainstream, the edgier, alt craft beer drinkers said, âThis isnât cool anymore. Letâs all hate on it.â
C: I think that is definitely true. Despite being a precursor, perhaps, to the popularity of the PSL, as the PSL waxed, pumpkin ale waned. If thatâs the argument, then whatâs going to happen with fruited hazy IPAs? Why are we all up in arms about flavoring an ale with fall-themed flavors, but itâs cool to put lactose, all sorts of fruit, and things in a different beer? Those are still considered cool and worth waiting in line for.
J: Maybe we give that 10 years and see what happens. Is that too long?
C: Itâs true. Ten years from now weâll think, âCan you believe how much hazy IPAs dominated everything? Yeah, they were delicious, but thatâs so lame now.â It used to be uncool to have fruit in beer. One of my other early beer experiences was Leinenkugel. I remember thinking, âWow, this tastes like Froot Loops. Thatâs so weird.â That was one of the early âahaâ moments of my beer-drinking life. There was also the stigma attached that, âItâs not real beer. Who needs fruit flavors in a beer?â Now, so many beers use fruit and itâs cool again.
J: I also think itâs curious because I think a lot of it is in the label and less in the flavor profile. Oktoberfests are very popular. That has kind of similar baking spices and warm notes that a pumpkin beer would have. Craft beer people may like one over the other.
C: Yeah. I love Oktoberfest. I love a Festbier. I love a MĂ€rzen. What youâre saying is true.
J: Who do you think is drinking pumpkin beer now? If it lulled a bit after its initial popularity and now itâs popular again, whoâs drinking it?
C: Besides Keith Beavers, who has discovered and enjoys one of these beers that weâre tasting, I think itâs like someone who doesnât really drink cocktails, but when they go out with friends, theyâll get a Margarita or even a vodka cranberry. One demographic here is someone whoâs not a beer nerd, but someone who is interested in trying different things. Maybe they have a local brewery that they love. Like I said before, itâs also a special occasion kind of thing.
J: People love seasonal things.
C: Yeah. Thereâs such a draw. Maybe theyâre not going to go back to that brewery for their house lager or even their house IPA. That may be why brewers and beer geeks get mad about it, too. Itâs like being the person that only goes to church on Christmas and not every other Sunday. Thereâs also the component of seasonal creep, as they call it. Itâs how CVS is decked out in Christmas decorations before Halloween and you feel like, âOh my God, this is so stressful.â Pumpkin beer used to be something we had in October and November. Then, all of a sudden, it was September, and then July.
All these brands are trying to push theirs out to market sooner because thereâs such a short window that people will want to drink them in. The same people that are excited to drink it in October are going to be over it come December. Itâs a strange enigma, the pumpkin ale. There are other things, too. Thereâs pumpkin lager. There are some really respected breweries that do different things that are really unique, like Prairie Artisan Ales in Oklahoma. They do a sour pumpkin ale that has all the sophisticated things of a funky sour beer, but it has actual pumpkin in it. Itâs cool, but itâs also not going to be their moneymaker. Right? Itâs just a little fun thing.
J: Thereâs still some amount of experimentation with pumpkin ale. I see that you have this coffee pumpkin ale.
C: I wanted to compare them side by side because I thought maybe I would like the coffee pumpkin ale better, but itâs even sweeter than the other one. Not that I donât like sweet. Thatâs just not what I go to beer for.
J: Maybe thatâs why it makes such a good beer around Halloween time. People like sweet things. Thereâs trick or treating.
C: Itâs fun. I would pair this with a Kit Kat. Why not?
J: OK, Final thoughts: Pumpkin beer, Yay or nay?
C: I say yay. If pumpkin beer makes you say âyay,â then yay.
J: Cat, thank you so much for joining me today and for lending us your beer expertise in this hotly contested area. I really appreciate it.
C: Thank you for having me.
The VinePair Team Tries Pumpkin Ale
A: All right.
Z: The moment of truth. Letâs open these.
J: We werenât going to get through this season without making you do it.
A: It is the Friday before Halloween, too.
J: Thatâs true. Tell us what we have.
A: Did you bring this, Zach?
Z: I did bring this. This is all the way from Seattle. Itâs the Elysian Great Pumpkin imperial ale.
A: Itâs one of the more famous ones too, I think.
Z: It is. Elysian was started in Seattle. It made its way national because it was bought by AB InBev. According to the bottle, the Great Pumpkin is the worldâs first imperial pumpkin ale. Itâs packed with pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seeds, and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, Adamâs favorite collection of spices.
A: For the record, I like pumpkin pie.
J: I was actually wondering that the other day. Do you like other pumpkin things?
A: I do like pumpkin pie.
Z: How about pumpkin bread?
A: Eh.
Z: OK.
J: For the listeners who donât know this, Keith trolls Adam pretty hard about pumpkin spice things.
A: So annoying.
J: Itâs great.
A: Keith bought me a T-shirt. It literally says âpumpkin spice and everything nice.â
Z: Have you ever worn it?
A: Once, to take a picture and send it to Keith. OK. This is gross. It tastes like drinking a candle. It tastes like drinking a cinnamon-flavored candle.
Z: I think itâs all on your head, man.
J: It does taste like pumpkin pie. Itâs a lot sweeter than I thought it was going to be.
A: Itâs sweet. I donât like it. I donât want to drink anymore. I just donât think itâs very good. Thereâs an aftertaste now, too, that I donât like.
Z: Itâs so much better than the hard seltzers, because itâs actually a product that I would consider drinking. My feeling about pumpkin beer is that itâs fine and if itâs a thing that you enjoy as a drinker, great. Have fun. This amount that I am consuming here â these three to four ounces â will probably suffice for the entire season.
A: Iâm good with two sips.
Z: You were probably good with zero sips.
A: What was weird about it for me, too, is that thereâs a point in the experience of this beer where it tastes like an actual beer.
Z: Yes. For sure.
A: Itâs somewhere in the middle. At the beginning and at the end, itâs all gross-ness.
Z: I can see what youâre saying. Thereâs a hint of pumpkin spice up front. Then, thereâs the beer. Then thereâs a feeling like I had a three-day-old pumpkin pie. Keith, you want to share your thoughts on this beer? In the many pumpkin beers youâve had, where does this sit?
Keith Beavers: I agree. This is one of the better ones Iâve had. It actually has a creamy texture to it. It kind of feels like youâre sinking your teeth into a delicious, spicy pumpkin pie, and I like a pumpkin pie.
J: It has a lot of body.
Z: I shouldâve tried to find a pumpkin hazy. We couldâve seen which force is stronger: Adamâs haze boy status or his hatred of pumpkin.
A: I saw one. It was staring me in the face at Trader Joeâs and I thought, âIâm not doing this.â
K: I think I figured it out. I think Adamâs love-hate relationship with pumpkin spice is because he loves pumpkin pie so much that when those spices are in another thing, it upsets him. He just wants the pumpkin pie.
A: I would also say that pumpkin pie is not the most superior of all pies. We can get into that close to Thanksgiving.
J: Save it for the pie episode.
A: I have major pie thoughts. Weâre getting closer to Thanksgiving. We can talk a lot about pie and pairings with pies. Pumpkin pie would not be my first choice of pie.
Z: We can draft pies. Thatâd be fun.
A: All right, guys. Well, Iâll see you on Monday.
Z: Iâll see you guys next time Iâm in town.
A: Itâs been a pleasure, Zach. Weâll see you from Seattle next time.
Z: Sounds great.
Thanks so much for listening to the âVinePair Podcast.â If you love this show as much as we love making it, please leave us a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show.
Now, for the credits, VinePair is produced and recorded in New York City and Seattle, Washington, by myself and Zach Geballe, who does all the editing and loves to get the credit. Also, I would love to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder, Josh Malin, for helping make all this possible and also to Keith Beavers, VinePairâs tastings director, who is additionally a producer on the show. I also want to, of course, thank every other member of the VinePair team who are instrumental in all of the ideas that go into making the show every week. Thanks so much for listening, and weâll see you again.
Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.
The article VinePair Podcast: Why is Pumpkin Beer Still a Thing? appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/podcast-pumpkin-beer-tasting/
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Is 2021 the Year of the Pumpkin Beer Renaissance?
This October, VinePair is celebrating our second annual American Beer Month. From beer style basics to unexpected trends (pickle beer, anyone?), to historical deep dives and new developments in package design, expect an exploration of all thatâs happening in breweries and taprooms across the United States all month long.
After exploding in popularity in the early 2010s as the world of craft beer began its own exponential growth, pumpkin ales became, just as quickly, the biggest joke in craft beer.
As early as 2013, Buzzfeed News was asking which side of the debate you fell onto, following a controversial BeerAdvocate retweet of someone calling pumpkin beers âthe mullet of craft beers.â Things got worse in 2015, when Anheuser-Busch chose to punch down at craft beer in its infamous Super Bowl ad, and it used a pumpkin beer to do it. (OK, technically a pumpkin-peach.)
Now that the American brewing community has matured (a bit) and the fall seasonal world has mostly moved on to Oktoberfest adoration, where do these pie-spiced ales stand in todayâs craft beer landscape? Is there a squash-ale stasis, or are we seeing brewers slowly return to the style that has more or less stagnated for years?
In the broadest sense, Google Trends shows an annual spike in pumpkin beer interest every October, and thereâs been a slow but steady uptick since bottoming out in the middle of the decade. As of now, 2021 is currently trending to have the highest search interest since October 2015. Itâs a small indicator of a resurgence, but an indicator nonetheless. We looked into some numbers provided by Chicago-based market research firm IRI, but since it doesnât track pumpkin beers as a style, weâre choosing instead to look at some anecdotal evidence from the category leaders.
To get a better feeling for where the world of pumpkin beers is today, we reached out to a couple of authorities in the field, one responsible for the nationâs most popular pumpkin beer (Southern Tierâs Pumking) and one responsible for many awards (Whole Hogâs Pumpkin Ale).
We also wanted to see what brought one of the nationâs most innovative, interesting breweries to make its very first pumpkin beer this year: Off Color Brewingâs Pumpkin Beer for Cafes. Itâs a weird time for pumpkin beers; letâs find out how things are panning out for the pros.
The Pumpkin Beer Powerhouse: Southern Tierâs Pumking
If you noticed an overall dip in pumpkin beer midway through the last decade, no one felt that more than Phin DeMink. As co-founder of Southern Tier, home to the category-leading 8 percent imperial pumpkin beer known as Pumking, DeMink experienced the contraction of the category first hand. âA few years back ⊠it was just pumpkin everything,â he says. âIt went a little over the top, between the candles and Starbucks and cereal.â The result for pumpkin beer peddlers: âWe went through this pumpkin beer exodus. ⊠There was definitely a big fallout.â
DeMink estimates that they lost nearly 20 percent of their pumpkin beer volume during that mid-decade seasonal backlash â not insignificant when you consider that, per DeMink, âif you just looked at IRI, there were a couple of years where we outsold the category.â Pumking is indeed a powerhouse, and has recently spawned a variety of other products, including Warlock (a pumpkin stout), Pumking nitro, and cold brew coffee Pumking nitro. Thereâs even Pumking whiskey plus a âKing & Colaâ RTD through its distillery arm.
All those line extensions aside, itâs been a good time for Pumking prime as of late. âWe were one of the few [breweries] that was like hey, everybodyâs been eating pumpkin pie forever, Thanksgiving isnât going away,â DeMink says. âWeâre gonna just stick to our guns and weather the storm. We saw a couple of years where competition was growing leaps and bounds. And [then] that whole pack went back to Oktoberfests. So the last couple of years for us, everythingâs been really, really healthy.â
DeMink estimates that year over year, theyâre up by double digits just for Pumking alone. âWe were kind of anticipating that this was probably going to be a comeback year,â he says. For a company that starts spinning up the Pumking machine as early as May in order to meet demand, itâs good to see the renewed enthusiasm for a seasonal product thatâs really only got about a two-month window to make the lionâs share of its sales.
âItâs in a great spot,â DeMink said. âBut itâs funny, because now all of a sudden Iâm seeing pumpkin beer starting to pop up again.â
The Critically Praised Pumpkin Beer: Whole Hogâs Pumpkin Ale
If you use medals from the Great American Beer Fest as a generally well-regarded metric of quality, the annual Pumpkin Ale from Whole Hog Beer in Stevens Point, Wis., is head and shoulders above every other pumpkin beer in the nation. In fact, it might be one of the most highly awarded beers in America. Since its release in 2011, the beer has medaled five times at GABF, including two gold medals.
Mike Schraufnagel has been along for the entire ride, having worked at the brewery for 13 years, including the last three as its brewmaster. Whole Hogâs pumpkin ale has remained the same beer since some final tweaks in 2012, and aside from a brief foray into a barrel-aged option in 2015, remains the standard bearer for what an excellent pumpkin beer should be.
Per Schraufnagel, thereâs never been a better time for Whole Hogâs pumpkin beer than this one. âIt had a heck of a year, it really did,â he says, praising some new logistical advances on the distributor side that allowed Whole Hog to get a better sense of demand. âWe [went] into the year thinking, OK, we need 23 brews of it this year and we can fulfill all the pre-sale orders. Whereas in the past, we started out with 10 brews and just kind of, you know, put our ear to the ground to see what the feedback was, and hoped that weâd end up [selling] a good number of them.â
Logistics aside, the appetite for the Whole Hogâs Pumpkin Ale is there in spades: Sales increased roughly 25 percent since last year, and the brand has moved over 2,100 barrels of its pumpkin beer in 2021 so far (up 600 barrels from the previous year) with most of them out the door by late August. âAs the numbers were coming in for the pre-sales I was like, âThis canât be right,ââ Schraufnagel says. âRight now it would be hard to find a bottle anywhere.â
Pumpkin Beerâs Modern Progression: Off Colorâs Pumpkin Beer for Cafes
Chicagoâs Off Color Brewing has made its name since 2013 as one of the nationâs most well-known experimental breweries. From leading the way for fruited goses and funky farmhouse ales, and self-created styles like âtiki-weissesâ and Russian-style âserf stouts,â to its experiments with wild yeasts, foeders, and puncheon-aged beers, Off Color beers often push the limits. But it also loves classic lagers and the occasional pastry stout, as evidenced by its DinoSâmores series of beers.
With all that in mind, itâs either outrageous or inevitable that Off Color would produce a pumpkin beer, which it did for the first time this summer, in the form of its chai-vanilla-infused Pumpkin Beer for Cafes. Co-founder and brewer Dave Bleitner said it was just the right time for an Off Color pumpkin beer to enter the landscape.
âWe donât want to do stuff thatâs prevalent. And I think we found more recently that everythingâs gone so radical. You know, to one end thereâs the haze craze, and then [on] the other end the Zima phase,â he says of the recent spate of sparkly, fruity beverages emerging from breweries. âItâs like, well what about ⊠beers that are good?â Bleitner says. âWe would joke, âOh yeah, letâs do a historical style that was from the â90s.â
But why pumpkin beer, a style that has so fallen out of favor? âI guess it was uncool enough for us to do it now,â Bleitner says.
Off Colorâs Pumpkin Beer for Cafes is based on its original âBeer for Cafesâ which features chai spices on top of a rich, malty beer. Bleitner says that making a pumpkin chai was a natural next step, blending red rooibos tea with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin puree, and vanilla to make a beer that was definitely pumpkin-forward but undeniably Off Color.
âI try not to make stuff that I wouldnât drink, and thereâs not a lot of pumpkin beers out there that I seek out,â Bleitner says. âTheyâre either overly sweet, ⊠overly boozy, or overly spiced, and Iâve never really had one that was well balanced.â It came along at the right time, apparently: Even though Off Color brewed the biggest-ever batch of its annual Oktoberfest, âthe pumpkin beer outpaced it by like, 50 percent,â Bleitner says.
âWe actually ended up with more in-house for to-go sales than I originally intended to have,â he says. âWe had a hundred-something cases and I was like, âThat seems like a lot for this.â And we blew through it.â
Unfortunately, it came along too late for one potential patron. âLast year we had somebody come into the bar and say, âIâll take your pumpkin beer,ââ Bleitner says. âWe said, âWe donât make a pumpkin beer.â And then, they left. âOoooookay.ââ
Good news for that guy: It looks like the marketâs coming back to meet him.
The article Is 2021 the Year of the Pumpkin Beer Renaissance? appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/best-pumpkin-beer-guide-2021/
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Elviraâs Short, Sexy Stint as Coors Lightâs Halloween Queen
This October, VinePair is celebrating our second annual American Beer Month. From beer style basics to unexpected trends (pickle beer, anyone?), to historical deep dives and new developments in package design, expect an exploration of all thatâs happening in breweries and taprooms across the United States all month long.
The year is 1986, and Halloween is fast approaching. Whatever will you wear? Donât worry, The Los Angeles Times has a Fright Night costume dispatch that should help you hone in on the seasonâs spookiest, sexiest get-up.
âCarmen Miranda is in, Playboy bunnies are out, and people are scouring the city for Gumby attire. Belly dancers are hot, and Cleopatras, too. But topping them all in popularity is curvaceous cult heroine Elvira, currently of Coors beer commercial fame.â
The Elvira, she of the pitch-black mane and pale-moonlight bosom? Of Coors beer commercial fame? In this day and age, itâs hard to believe, or even remember. But for a handful of years toward the end of last century, the Mistress of the Dark was all over the airwaves pitching a new light beer from the mid-size Colorado brewery, which was at that point just starting its national push after decades of distribution restricted to the Western U.S.
Elviraâs Halloween Coors spots were instant classics, and gave the then-new Silver Bullet an enviable hold on the adult-ifying October holiday, which had previously been the province of candy companies catering to trick-or-treating kids. But as good as they were, they wouldnât last. After less than a decade, the two parted ways. It was a blow to the breweryâs marketing department, then struggling to compete with the high-dollar heavyweights in Milwaukee and St. Louis. And it was baffling to the Queen of Halloween herself.
âAll of a sudden it was like, âOh, we donât understand these [ads] anymore,â and âOh, weâre not gonna make a [TV] commercial, weâre just gonna have you do a voiceover,ââ Cassandra Peterson, the entertainer who created and has played the Elvira character for over four decades, tells VinePair. âIt was like, What?â
Why didnât Coors keep making black, beer-selling magic with the Mistress of the Dark? Itâs a spook-tacular war story from the â80s light-beer battlefields, a cautionary tale of the collision between mainstream beer marketing, well-funded Christian conservatives, and accusations of occult behavior. And, of course: cleavage. But before Elviraâs âgravity-defying bosomâ enters the frame, weâve got a Beerwolf to meet.
Of Light Beer Wars and Silver Bullets
Years before Elvira ever set foot on a Coors Light commercial soundstage, the Colorado brewery had plenty to be afraid of. After decades of nearly unchallenged dominance in the American West, by the mid-â70s, Coors had encountered new bogeymen in its backyard. âSmelling blood,â wrote author Dan Baum in his 2001 history of the company and its eponymous family, âCitizen Coors,â Anheuser-Busch âwas coming after Coors in California with discounts, price promotions, and a bottomless-pockets advertising blitz.â And from the Midwest, Miller was menacing the Colorado brewerâs territory, too, bludgeoning the Banquet Beer with its not-so-secret weapon, Miller Lite. âMiller, which had sold twice as much beer as Coors in 1977 and was already the countryâs number-two brewery, attributed almost all of its growth to Miller Lite,â wrote Baum.
The situation was all the more doom-and-gloom in Golden because Coors (which, despite going public in 1975 remained firmly under the companyâs powerful, family-controlled board, led by Bill Coors, chairman, and Joe Coors, president) was almost fatally late to the light beer game. By the time the Coors elders accepted the inevitability of light beer it was 1978, and the fledgling Silver Bullet brand had a lot of catching up to do. âCoors seemed to be the brand that was competing against Miller [Lite] and [Budweiser] for all the key holidays,â says Gary Naifeh, a career marketer who served as the Coors Light brand director in the early â80s. âCoors Light was, to some degree, playing second fiddle.â At the time, the Colorado brewer was only distributed in 11 states, while Miller and Anheuser-Busch products were available nationally. And when St. Louis marched Bud Light into Coors country in 1982 as part of the brandâs national rollout, Naifeh found the bloody battle for light beer supremacy knocking on his door.
Then, as now, holidays were key âoccasionsâ in the American beer business â an opportunity to move cases and kegs with splashy ads, clever in-store promotions, and limited-time offers. But: âThe national holidays were just owned by Millerâ and Anheuser-Busch, Naifeh tells VinePair. With their national distribution, spectacular scale, and marketing savvy â Millerâs honed at then-owner Phillip-Morris; A-Bâs bought with mountains of dough â the bigs were gobbling up primetime airwaves, appointment-viewing sports, and holiday specials across the country. But Halloween, long considered childâs play, was still up for grabs.
âHalloween was building steam, it was becoming a more adult holiday,â says Peterson, crediting both the gay community at large, and the 1984 national syndication of her show, âMovie Macabre,â for that shift. (MTV seemed to agree: In 1986, it tapped the Mistress of the Dark to anchor its Halloween special from Salem, Mass.) The outgunned marketing team in Golden saw an opportunity the big brewers had overlooked. âHalloween was not a big holiday in the beer business, and Coors was looking to find a way that it could own a particular holiday,â recalls Naifeh. âI thought, gee, I really like Halloween, and we have adult Halloween parties in my house. Maybe it could be a really big adult holiday.â
Coors Lightâs first crack at inserting itself into the trick-or-treat discourse came in 1983, when it introduced the Beerwolf, a howling werewolf that could only be brought to heel by â you guessed it â Silver Bullets. What happened? Peterson remembers the campaign as a flop in her new bestselling memoir, âYours Cruelly, Elviraâ: â[T]he cheesy-looking hairball didnât quite accomplish what [Coors had] hoped for.â Naifeh says the opposite: The Beerwolf was a smashing success, once the marketers got the blessing of the notoriously staid Coors family brass. âIt was such a big hit with the public [and] when I introduced that stuff to the wholesalers at our national convention, there were people literally standing up on chairs and clapping,â he tells VinePair.
Regardless, by 1986, Coors Lightâs marketing department was looking for its next Halloween hit. âThereâs a saying that people donât get tired of your commercials, you get tired of your commercials,â says Rob Klugman, who was vice president of marketing at Coors during the Elvira era. (He has since left the firm.) The Beerwolfâs successor would have to be bold, hip, and TV-ready if the Colorado brewer was going to keep pace with the bigs. From Los Angeles, the Mistress of the Dark beckoned.
The Ads
Elviraâs witchy star was on the rise by the time Coors came knocking in 1985 thanks to passionate local fans in L.A. and the aforementioned syndication deal. (A feature film, âElvira: Mistress of the Dark,â would follow in 1988.) But Peterson nevertheless remembers the beer brandâs pitch as a pivotal step for the character: a national ad campaign, with all the exposure and money that it entailed. âThis was the most lucrative source of income weâd had since the character began,â she writes in âYours Cruelly, Elvira.â (The chapter, aptly, is titled âBoobs ânâ Beer.â)
âI had a freaking blast doingâ the first commercial, Peterson tells VinePair. Airing in the run-up to Halloween 1986, the 30-second spotâs concept was cooked up by Coorsâ creative team and Chicago ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding, but the horror host brought it to life with her signature valley-girl-meets-goth lilt and striking figure. âHere I am, stocking up for Halloween â got my stakes, got my ribs,â she says, gesturing toward a shopping cart full of wooden spikes and human bones. âWhen I ask the stock boy where the Coors Light is stacked, he points me to the Coors and Coors Light Halloween display, and Iâm on it!â Then Peterson strikes a pose next to a life-size cardboard standee of herself to amplify the punchline: âWhoa, itâs like deja vu!â
Both the ad and the standee (which weâll come back to) went over big. According to Baum, Elviraâs âraunchy and hugely popular Halloween campaignâ comprised part of âa fresh wind of positive change [that] blew through the breweryâ in the mid-â80s, along with a long-delayed embrace of computers, and plans for a new $70 million facility in Virginia that would help take the company national.
(For what itâs worth, Klugman offered a less sweeping, albeit still positive, assessment of Elviraâs import to Coors. âObviously if we did [the Elvira Halloween campaign] for five years or so, we were happy with it, but this was a campaign that ran for three or four weeks a year. I donât know that Iâd be comfortable saying it had much significance beyond that.â)
But before that first commercial ever hit the air, Coorsâ marketers had to get buy-in from the board of directors â which meant they had to get buy-in from Bill and Joe Coors themselves. According to Naifeh, Bill Coors had personally and enthusiastically greenlit the early Beerwolf spots, which featured the beercanis lupus chatting up a few bathing-suited women. But Elvira, with her occult aura and â in Klugmanâs words â âwhat must have been a very, very good push-up bra,â was another story. So after getting storyboards together, the department cut a test reel with Peterson to present to the board.
As the former vice president of marketing recalls in a recent phone interview, the presentation was hardly smooth sailing. âThey had two problems: One was that Elvira, whatever she was, vampire or whatever, this was not an acceptable Christian concept.â Klugman sighs. âAnd second was her cleavage.â To Peterson, the idea that her boobs would jeopardize the campaign is still patently absurd â itâs literally and figuratively central to the Elvira character, a trait she likens to Supermanâs âSâ mark. But to get the deal done, she collaborated with the Silver Bullet marketers about how much cleavage sheâd show in the spots, with an eye toward winning approval from the conservative Coors elders. The result: âIâm showing about as much cleavage as a teenage boy,â she says of the ads, laughing exasperatedly. âI had my hair pulled forward, and I even put tape on my chest so that I could stick my hair to it. ⊠I mean, how crazy, right? Theyâre selling beer, not Pampers!â
Crazy or not, the modesty gambit worked, and Elviraâs Coors partnership got the all-important Coors family green light. The Elvira spots ran alongside a full-court-press retail activation that included massive case mountains of Coors and Coors Light and a reported 150,000 life-size Elvira standees, carried forth to retailers by its fired-up distributing partners. The standees were a huge competitive edge for Coors, Naifeh remembers. âWhen you can walk in with something like Elvira, who obviously is known outside the beer community ⊠I mean, the people that were the buyers at the Krogerâs and the Safeways, they knew Elvira. So when you can give a retailer something that [they think] is really cool, you just bought yourself a place in their establishment to feature your products.â
Covered-up cleavage aside, Peterson was pleased with the cut-outs. âThey stopped in-store traffic flow faster than a spilled case of Mrs. Butterworthâs pancake syrup on aisle thirteen,â she writes in her memoir. And customers loved them, too â perhaps too much. Klugman told The L.A. Times in 1986 that the company was having trouble getting them to retailers, because people kept walking off with them. (âIâm afraid to find out what people are doing with them,â another Coors executive told the paper.)
Everything was coming up Elvira, and Halloween was the Silver Bulletâs for the owning. But even as the tax reports rolled back to Golden showing Mistress of the Dark-induced sales upticks, trouble was brewing in the Coors family cauldron.
Ditching âthe Demonâ
VinePair was not able to verify when, exactly, things started going south between Elvira and the Coors Brewing Company, and contemporary reporting proves deficient on this front. Peterson pegs the souring of relations to 1988, following Procter & Gambleâs bizarre, unfounded Satanism scandal a few years earlier. Naifeh was foggy on the exact year, and so was Klugman. Molson Coors declined to make Peter Coors (who was president of the companyâs brewing division in the Elvira years, and chairs Molson Coorsâ board of directors to this day) or anyone else from the company available for an interview.
Regardless of the exact date, at some point in the late â80s, the brewer backed away from Petersonâs character. Despite the successful Halloween campaigns, or maybe because of them, Elvira had become unpalatable to one or several Coors family members. Baum lays the blame at the feet of born-again Christian Jeff Coors. âJeff could barely look at the Halloween promotions using âElvira, Mistress of the Dark,ââ he wrote in âCitizen Coors.â âThey stirred in him a powerful revulsion, even fear.â Between that and the P&G saga then playing out in the headlines (or both), the Silver Bulletâs affiliation with Elvira proved too unholy for the firmâs executives.
(In a zany turn, Baum reported that the Coors marketers even tried to devise a cardboard modesty panel to send out to distributors to affix to the standees already in circulation, in order to save the companyâs Halloween that year. Naifeh says that never happened, and Klugman doesnât remember. But Peterson insists it went down. âI had a big argument with them,â over the panels, she says. âThere was nothing to cover. I donât know if they were gonna knit turtleneck sweaters and send them out to everybody, because you [already] couldnât see anything!â)
Whatever the year, Peterson and Naifeh both remember the brand stopping down on the commercials for at least one season, maybe two, then trying to start them back up again. What contemporary media remains from that era seems to confirm that timeline: On YouTube there are Elvira spots with burned-in copyright dates from 1991 and even 1994. But the comeback was not to last. The brewer bailed on the buxom host, and the latter says it was not a mutual decision. âThe reports of Coors and Elviraâs amicable parting of the ways were grossly exaggerated,â Peterson writes in âYours Cruelly.â Here again, the record is foggy, and most signs point to a Coors family member finally killing the campaign. But Peterson says it wasnât Jeff, but Joe Coors, who shut down the spooktacular spots for good. This would track: While Jeff was technically Coorsâ parent companyâs president at the time, his father, Joseph, a major Republican donor who wrote the check that launched the right-wing Heritage Foundation, was involved in the firmâs operations until the late â80s, and remained on its board until retiring in 2000.
Peterson wasnât personally in the room for his pivotal ruling, but sheâs pretty sure Joe ended Elviraâs run around 1995. She says her counterparts within the company, at some point toward the decadeâs end, brought a cardboard cutout to the elder Coors for review â and he saw Satanâs fingerprints all over it. âThey said that they took the latest standee into Joseph Coors, to see what he thought, and he said â and I remember their words like it was yesterday â âI see demons there!ââ
From then on, according to Peterson, Coorsâ marketers tried to dial the campaign back to voice-over and radio, to keep the Mistress of the Darkâs slinky, salacious likeness off screen (and therefore, out of eyeshot of any Coorses concerned with eternal damnation.) But that idea frustrated the horror host, who by then had come into her own as a bona fide B-list star with a national cult following. Worried that when the watered-down campaign flopped sheâd be blamed, Peterson and her team decided to walk.
It was a bitter pill, all the more so because sheâd had so much fun on the campaign â and because sheâd adjusted her characterâs chesty image to accommodate the Coors familyâs modesty requirements. But never again. âAfter Coors, I drew the line,â she says. âI said to myself, my character needs to look like this all the time. Iâm not going to put panels over my boobs, Iâm not gonna try to cover them up.â
Coda
If this story were written in 2020, it would end right there. But with the publication of âYours Cruelly, Elviraâ in September 2021, Peterson dropped a bombshell on her still-loyal legions of fans: For the past two decades, sheâs been romantically involved with a woman. Elvira, Queen of Halloween and longtime gay icon, is a member of the queer community herself.
This begs the question: Did the Coors familyâs well-documented track record of funding right-wing organizations that worked to block protections and marriage rights for LGBTQ+ Americans factor into the breakdown between brewery and horror host? At the very least, it would have been impossible to ignore, posits Allyson Brantley, Ph.D. The professor of history at Californiaâs University of La Verne authored âBrewing a Boycott,â a historical account of the three-decade collective action waged by labor organizers, Chicano and Black activists, and the LGBTQ+ community in an attempt to force the Colorado brewer to improve its hiring practices and politics. âAt first the boycott began as a shop-floor conflict ⊠in the â50s and â60s, but in the early â70s, Joe Coors himself became more public in his politics,â says Brantley.
Around that same time, the labor wing of the anti-Coors coalition drew the queer community into the fight with a grim detail on Coorsâ hiring practices: a polygraph test that included questions about prospective employeesâ sexual preferences. âA lot of employees said the polygraph test asked problematic and invasive questions,â says Brantley, noting that the general practice of requiring lie-detector tests for employment was not itself uncommon at the time. As the late Baum put it in a May 2000 interview with C-SPAN, âThis was a company that used to run lie-detector tests to run the homosexuals out.â
With that, queer organizations like Bay Area Gay Liberation, the Stonewall Democratic Club, as well as contemporary gay leaders like San Francisco mayor Harvey Milk, joined the fight against Coors. Queer consumers proved to be one of the boycottâs staunchest wings until the AIDS epidemic ravaged the community in the late â80s and early â90s, Brantley adds.
(In an emailed statement to VinePair, Molson Coors spokesperson Marty Maloney said: âMolson Coors has a long history of advocating for the rights of the LGTBQ+ community because thatâs what we believe is right. That was true more than 20 years ago when Coors Brewing became one of the first companies to extend health benefits to the partners of LGTBQ+ employees, and it remains true now.â He did not dispute Brantleyâs description of the lie detector tests, which Coors reportedly began phasing out in 1986 after Congress began exploring bills to prohibit them from companiesâ hiring processes.)
VinePair asked Peterson whether she was aware of the Coors familyâs posture toward the gay community, and whether it factored into her decision to work with the company, particularly given the revelations of her memoir. âIn the beginning, I had no idea, didnât even think about it,â she says. But in the intervening years between her first and second wave of Coors spots, she continues, âI had discovered that the gay community had boycotted them for their many right-wing causes.â When Coors came back around to restart the Halloween campaign, the Mistress of the Dark was ready.
âI met with some of their marketing team, and I actually believe I helped make a bridge to some gay activists in the community, to talk about that with Coors to help resolve the issues that the gay community wanted resolved,â says Peterson. âI used that as one of my bargaining chips when we went back to Coors because then, I had a little power.â
Whether this righted any of Coorsâ wrongs in the LGBTQ+ community is up for debate, says Brantley. The company began pouring money into gay organizations, either to clean up its image in the eyes of queer drinkers, or because the companyâs new, non-family leadership believed it was âright,â or both. But Coors family members remained powerful players in right-wing politics. As recently as 2004, the comparatively forward-thinking Peter Coors â who, even according to the mostly unsparing Baum, was friendly with gay and lesbian customers â ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in Colorado on a platform that included support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. (He supported civil unions for gays and lesbians; Coors Brewingâs then-CEO disavowed his chairmanâs politics even so.) Still, it seems like a net positive if the Mistress of the Dark was able to move the Coors Brewing Company toward some form of reconciliation with the gay community â even if it wasnât quite a Silver Bullet.
The article Elviraâs Short, Sexy Stint as Coors Lightâs Halloween Queen appeared first on VinePair.
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The 14 Best Whiskey-Based Canned Cocktails to Drink Right Now
Itâs an exciting time for cocktail lovers on the go. From cans and bottles to cartons and bags, there is now a plethora of premixed drinks available on the market that make it easier than ever to sip our favorite cocktails without having to go to a bar.
The options are especially endless for whiskey enthusiasts, with a sea of everything from Old Fashioneds and Manhattans to Gold Rushes and spiked lemonades hitting the market with gusto. With so many options for whiskey-based RTDs now available, the VinePair team tasted through the many offerings to separate the wheat from the chaff.
A large portion of these RTDs are Old Fashioneds and Manhattans â the former beating out the latter by a landslide, impressing our panel with natural orange essences and spirit-forward depth. With so many Old Fashioneds to choose from, our final list includes the offerings, both canned and bottled, that stood out from the pack and impressed the VinePair team most.
From boozy bottles sure to please whiskey fans, to crushable canned cocktails that can easily replace your weekend hard seltzers, these are the best whiskey-based RTDs to drink right now.
Tattersall Old Fashioned
ABV: 35%
This highly aromatic Old Fashioned delights the senses with a golden honey note on the nose and a richness on the palate. Ideal for seasonal sipping, this cocktail includes flavors of festive holiday spices and a whiskey-forward finish that stays on the palate long after the last sip.
Sundayâs Finest Gold Fashioned
ABV: 40%
Saffron sets this cocktail apart from the rest, imparting a bright yellow color and vibrant aroma. Best served over ice and spritzed with the atomizer of citrus oil the cocktail comes with, this large-format-bottled Old Fashioned tastes like it was freshly mixed by a pro bartender. Expect a whiskey-forward tipple with a streak of freshness and a hint of spice.
Dashfire Old Fashioned
ABV: 38%
Donât be fooled by its size: This mini can is bursting with energizing flavors. Candied orange and aromatic bitters hit the nose, followed by a spirit-forward flavor on the palate. It is best chilled in the fridge and poured in an Old Fashioned glass expressed with orange oil.
Tip Top Proper Cocktails Old Fashioned
ABV: 37%
A brand beloved by the VinePair team for its mini Margarita, Tip Topâs Old Fashioned stood out to our panel for its zesty fragrance. With all the body and aroma we seek in the classic cocktail, this whiskey-forward offering has a nice hint of spice to complement the strong flavors of Angostura bitters and orange.
Hochstadterâs Slow & Low Rock and Rye
ABV: 42%
Hochstaterâs has been making its whiskey RTDs since 2008 â long before the recent trend emerged. The old-school brand impressed our panel with sweet notes of rock candy offset by the prickliness of aromatic bitters. Spirit-forward with hints of baking spices and orange expression, this is a whiskey loverâs RTD.
Livewire Alley Cat Old Fashioned
ABV: 39%
Created by bartending legend Chris Patino, this Old Fashioned riff has all the classic aromas youâd expect from the classic cocktail, followed by the welcoming tastes of cherry, apple brandy, and vanilla bean. Instantly recognizable as an Old Fashioned, this variation is as inventive as it is delicious.
Party Can Gold Rush Old Fashioned
ABV: 15%
With the viscous texture of a Gold Rush and the orange spice of the Old Fashioned, this cocktail is tantalizing from the first whiff. Christmas-y aromas of pine, gingerbread, and baking spices are complemented by comforting chamomile and honey. Less boozy than many of its competitors, this cocktail invites a second (and third) sip.
Jim Beam Citrus Highball
ABV: 5%
Dry yet refreshing on palate, this canned offering is balanced and effervescent, with a nice depth of flavor and texture. Aromas of lemon and honeysuckle are followed by a hint of bourbonâs oaky sweetness. And at just 5 percent ABV, this highball would be a great swap for hard seltzer or beer.
Bully Boy Distillers Old Fashioned
ABV: 37%
Orange defines both the color and flavor of this Old Fashioned. Along with seasonal smells of Christmas tree pine needles and tastes of caramel candy, this tipple has some distinctive characteristics that set it apart while still maintaining all the classic elements that make an Old Fashioned an Old Fashioned.
Golden Rule Old Fashioned
ABV: 39.5%
Another small can with big flavor, Golden Ruleâs Old Fashioned is intensely fruity on the nose, with smells of candied orange and cloves. Though the cocktail is made with bourbon, it has a peppery spice reminiscent of rye whiskey. Herbaceous and boozy, this Old Fashioned is packed with vibrant flavor and character.
High West Distillery Old Fashioned
ABV: 43%
The quality of High Westâs whiskey shines through in this cocktail. The barrel-aged, pre-batched cocktail is made with both bourbon and rye â both of which come through on the palate with sweet and prickly notes, respectively. For whiskey geeks who pride themselves on the quality of the spirits in their cocktails, this is a great choice.
Jack Danielâs Tennessee Honey & Lemonade
ABV: 7%
Crowd-pleasing and crushable, this RTD has a balanced sweetness on the nose. Itâs sweet without being cloying, with the tartness of lemonade pairing beautifully with Jack Danielâs vanilla and brown sugar notes. The resulting beverage is not very complex, but it would be great to have on hand for a fall tailgate or picnic.
Fishers Island Lemonade
ABV: 9%
For those newer to whiskey or who prefer a sweeter profile, this boozy lemonade is a great place to start. It is made with both whiskey and vodka, with smells of rock candy, fresh lemon, and a slight hint of peppermint. Though thereâs not much whiskey flavor present on the nose or palate, itâs a bright, flavorful drink thatâs sure to refresh on hot, humid days.
Crown Royal Washington Apple
ABV: 7%
Its bright red color may give this RTD an artificial feel, but on the palate, it tastes like fresh apple juice with just a hint of sweetness. It benefits from the texture gained from carbonation, creating an inviting mouthfeel. Itâs by no means whiskey-forward, but itâs a playful drink ideal for sipping with friends at outdoor gatherings.
The article The 14 Best Whiskey-Based Canned Cocktails to Drink Right Now appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/buy-this-booze/best-whiskey-canned-cocktails/
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New Data: Hard Seltzer Availability at Sports Bars Skyrockets vs. Pre-Pandemic
Hard seltzer producers were among the winners of pandemic-related drinking trend shifts. With bars and restaurants closed, revelers largely took their drinking occasions outside or kept them at home, making the bulk of their alcohol purchases at stores, online, and via third-party delivery apps. Meanwhile hard seltzer sales surged, and the category continued to morph, with lemonade, punch, iced tea, and higher-ABV offshoots forming.
One question that remained unanswered during this period, though: Could that momentum continue into the on-premise â i.e., bars and restaurants â after lockdowns and capacity restrictions were lifted?
The answer appears to be a tentative if not resounding âyes,â according to a recent VinePair survey.
Source: VinePair Audience Panel Fall Sports Bar Survey
Between Oct. 8-12, 2021, VinePair surveyed 779 members of its Audience Panel â a group of thousands of legal-drinking-age U.S.-based adults who are alcohol enthusiasts and/or members of the trade. Among the questions in the âFall Sports Bars Survey,â we asked, âIs hard seltzer typically available in cans or on draft when you have gone to a sports bar in 2021?â
Of the 548 panelists who responded to this question, 56.2 percent said âyes,â 37.2 percent said they werenât sure, and just 6.6 percent said âno.â
But despite being available in the majority of sports bars visited by the Audience Panel, hard seltzer still has strides to take in those locations from a popularity perspective. Just 2.6 percent of respondents said hard seltzer was their preferred alcoholic beverage at sports bars. Beer topped the popularity ranking (61.3 percent), followed by spirits and cocktails (27.7 percent), and wine (8.4 percent).
Though not as lightning quick as most aspects of hard seltzerâs rise, the lightly flavored, low-cal, low-carb beverage does appear to be gaining traction at sports bars. Just 8.9 percent of respondents said they drank hard seltzer at some point while watching sports at bars in fall 2019. That proportion grew to 13.2 percent for fall 2021, according to the survey.
Source: VinePair Audience Panel Fall Sports Bar Survey
To join VinePairâs Audience Panel and participate in future surveys, head to the following link.
The article New Data: Hard Seltzer Availability at Sports Bars Skyrockets vs. Pre-Pandemic appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/vinepair-sports-bar-hard-seltzer/
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How to Celebrate Dia de Muertos in Style With PATRĂN
Itâs difficult to overstate the cultural significance of DiĂĄ de Muertos in Mexico, and yet here in the U.S., many misunderstand what the holiday is really all about. Though it literally translates to âDay of the Dead,â DiĂĄ de Muertos is actually a commemoration of life. And itâs observed over the first two days of November â not that infamous last day of October. Festive music reverberates through town squares, people parade in the streets, their faces painted in the familiar iconography of calaveras (skulls), brightly colored marigolds and pastries are placed around ofrendas (makeshift altars) âall in the service of celebration.
If youâre unable to experience this exuberance in its native land, there is still plenty of partying to partake in at home. Especially now that youâve got a little help from the worldâs top-selling producer of ultra-premium tequila: PATRĂN. The legendary liquor brand has partnered with Mexican artist Lugar de Huida and Isabel Zapata â an essayist and poet native to Mexico City â to spin a unique yarn inspired by the origin myths and iconography of the annual holiday.
The animated short is narrated by Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez and can be watched in its entirety below. Entitled, âThe Story of DĂa de Muertos,â it highlights the traditions of honoring ancestors through the journey of the Calavera bee. If the iconic insect looks familiar, itâs for good reason. This storied honey maker adorns every bottle of PATRĂN you see on shelves today, symbolizing a relationship to the building block of the liquor: blue Weber agave. Here it has been remade to fit the holiday, and its sweet nectar brings the festivities to life.
Of course, youâll also need a little liquid to toast the occasion. And for this, PATRĂN offers three seasonally-inspired recipes to fit the mood. Each one is built around the brandâs award-winning liquids â all of which are 100 percent free of additives, distilled from extra-matured blue Weber agave from the Highlands of Jalisco.
The crystal clear PATRĂN Silver is a versatile gem, smooth sipping on its own, while forming the sturdy backbone for an elegant tequila cocktail. The award-winning Reposado starts with that same solid foundation and adds a touch of vanilla sweetness. The addition of this flavor â along with a light tan hue â is wholly the result of cask maturation. It spends up to a year patiently aging in hand-fashioned American oak casks at PATRĂNâs idyllic hacienda distillery.
As you prepare your DiĂĄ de Muerto cocktails, PATRĂN encourages you to consider the age-old themes of the holiday: How can we hope to carry the spirit of our ancestors with us in the present and into the future? Embrace the cultural touchstones of Mexico, as expressed through family, art, laughter â and, yes, tequila.
PATRĂN does not compromise when it comes to this venerated liquid. The brand follows the same authentic approach thatâs been practiced in Mexico for centuries. Many competing marks try to gain an edge by adding sugars, sometimes even imbuing their âtequilasâ with artificial colorings. These are practices that PATRĂN expressly avoids across all its labels. After all, there are no shortcuts to a world-class tequila. Itâs the way the storied brand has approached production ever since debuting on shelves over 30 years ago.
In the case of Reposado, it equals meticulously crafted agave spirit mingling with the best-quality barrels over time, though it goes well beyond the barrel, of course. Each and every pour of this ultra-premium tequila is in service to time-honored Mexican traditions. The cocktails you craft with it are an extension of the very same. Follow the recipes below to be left with a lively result, rendered especially for a holiday meant to make you feel alive. Raise a glass and lift your spirits high.
Marigold Mule
Ingredients
1 Âœ ounces PatrĂłn Silver
œ ounce St Germain
Ÿ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
3 ounces ginger beer
Directions
Add all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice.
Stir to combine and garnish with a lime wedge and a marigold (Please note: Use only marigolds that are pesticide-free, and for ornamental purposes only as it isnât safe to eat them).
Paloma Roja
Ingredients
1 Âœ ounces PatrĂłn Reposado
1 œ ounces fresh squeezed blood orange juice.
œ ounce lime juice
Œ ounce agave syrup
3 ounces soda
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Shake to chill and combine.
Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish with a blood orange wedge.
Pan de Muertos
Ingredients
1 Âœ ounces PatrĂłn Reposado
œ ounce orgeat
Ÿ ounce lime juice
Âœ ounce PatrĂłn Citronge
Ÿ ounce pineapple Juice
Directions
Combine all ingredients into a shaker with ice.
Shake to chill and combine.
Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish
Smoking cinnamon stick and pineapple leaves (by pulling the leaves from the stem of the pineapple).
This article is sponsored by PATRĂN.
The article How to Celebrate Dia de Muertos in Style With PATRĂN appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/how-to-celebrate-dia-de-muertos-in-style-with-patron/
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10 Things You Should Know About KahlĂșa
For those seeking a boozy pick-me-up, cocktails like the White Russian and Espresso Martini are classic choices. Coffee liqueur takes center stage in these drinks, giving the tipples their signature sweet vanilla and coffee tastes.
KahlĂșa, a coffee liqueur with origins dating back to the 1930s, has been around longer than many of the cocktails itâs now famously used in. The brandâs coffee-bean-infused rum spirit is one of the most well-known liqueurs on the market.
Read on for 10 more things you should know about KahlĂșa.
KahlĂșa calls Veracruz, Mexico home.
Veracruz, a port state in eastern Mexico, is where KahlĂșa was first dreamed up in 1936. As the story goes, two coffee merchants, a financier, and a chemist decided to marry their home countryâs abundant coffee, vanilla, and sugar cane supplies by making and infusing their own rum with coffee beans. Veracruz remains the production hub for KahlĂșa today, with ingredients often growing in close proximity to one another on local farms.
KahlĂșaâs name is a lesson in language.
There are two oft-told origin stories of KahlĂșaâs name, which reference the brandâs ties to Mexican culture and coffee beans, respectively. The first translation is thought to come from a Veracruz language that originated in the 7th century. KahlĂșa, according to this NĂĄhuatl translation, means âHouse of the Acolhua Peopleâ â a reference to the indigenous Aztec populations who were early inhabitants of eastern Mexico.
The other translation, which has ties to ancient Arabic languages, is purported to be slang for coffee. This oneâs a little less dense on the history side and, perhaps, a little less historically accurate. Regardless of its true origins, the name KahlĂșa stuck, and the word is now best known for the beverage that bears its name.
Itâs the sixth best-selling liqueur brand in the world.
The liqueur category is massive, and flavors can range from different nuts to fruits to spices and more (including some pretty unique concoctions â artichoke, anyone?). Given the breadth of competition, KahlĂșa is all the more commendable for its high ranking in global liqueur sales. It was the sixth biggest seller in 2020, according to a Spirits Business report. KahlĂșa sold upwards of 1.6 million cases in 2020, with a 3.2 percent increase in volume sales bolstering the brandâs popularity. Still, the brand remains several million cases steadily behind other liqueur giants like Baileys and Malibu.
One bottle takes up to seven years to produce.
KahlĂșa breaks down its coffee liqueur production process into five key steps: growing, harvesting, drying, distilling, and blending. By far the most time-consuming part of this process is growing coffee beans, which can take up to six years. Once harvested and dried, KahlĂșa distills its rum, roasts its beans, adds them to the rum, and bottles the final product. The result is a bottle of liqueur seven years in the making.
KahlĂșa dessert recipes can satisfy any sweet tooth.
Cookie, brownie, and cake lovers can all find a KahlĂșa-filled dessert fit for their palates. There are recipes for drinks, baked goods, and more that incorporate the liqueur. If a KahlĂșa hot chocolate or decadent Mudslide drink doesnât strike your fancy, a spin on rum balls might.
KahlĂșa even sells its own liqueur-infused chocolates for those craving a quick sweet treat. For inquiring minds, one VinePair contributor ran an experiment of her own to see how many booze-filled KahlĂșa chocolates it would take to get a buzz.
A leadership team of women led KahlĂșa to media fame in the 1960s.
The KahlĂșa ladies, as they were dubbed, were a group of six women that made up KahlĂșaâs executive leadership team in the 1960s. Their story began when Maria del Pilar Gutierrez Sesma secured the position of general manager and operations manager for the company. Eventually, the leadership team grew into a group that was entirely female â a rarity at the time (not to mention by todayâs standards).
The old-school brand isnât afraid to modernize.
In 2021, KahlĂșa launched its first bottle redesign in over 10 years. The new design aims to honor the brandâs Mexican heritage and show off additional information about its coffee content. KahlĂșaâs classic red and yellow colors are still central features of the label, but thereâs a new minimalistic look and modern font that nods to contemporary Aztec design. Plus, one scan across a label will give drinkers a quick education on the coffee beans inside, including information about their harvest methods and origins.
KahlĂșa is investing in a sustainable future.
In 2019, KahlĂșa launched an initiative aimed at sourcing 100 percent of its coffee from sustainable communities by 2022. The brand announced its threefold approach to address environmental, social, and economic issues at the start of that year. This includes providing education and monetary incentives for Veracruz coffee farmers to encourage the increased use of sustainable agricultural techniques and premium coffee production.
âWith this program, we have the opportunity to engage with communities we rely on for our ingredients and work together to ensure a strong and more sustainable future for us all,â says Billy King, KahlĂșaâs director of sustainable development, of the initiative.
You can drink KahlĂșa from a can.
In 2019, KahlĂșa took its first step into the RTD sphere, launching a canned version of a cocktail commonly crafted with its product â the Espresso Martini. The cans are 4.5 percent alcohol by volume, serve two per 200-milliliter can, and include the cocktailâs classic ingredients of KahlĂșa, coffee, and vodka.
One year later, KahlĂșa expanded its canned offerings to include a Nitro Cold Brew. Like the Espresso Martini, the cold brew is 4.5 percent alcohol per volume and packaged in a 200-milliliter can that serves two. This can features an ingredient list including KahlĂșa, rum, and, of course, cold-brew coffee.
KahlĂșa has its very own holiday.
Thereâs a nationally recognized day for just about every topic you can dream up, so why not coffee liqueur? The KahlĂșa brand and its enthusiasts celebrate on Feb. 27 with cocktail-making livestreams, giveaways, and more on social media, all under the hashtag #NationalKahluaDay. As to when (and why and how) the holiday began? That much remains a mystery.
The article 10 Things You Should Know About KahlĂșa appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/ntk-kahlua-coffee-liqueur-guide/
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Ask Adam: My Waiter Was Rude to Me. Do I Still Need to Tip?
I am really sorry that your waiter was rude to you â no one likes an unpleasant dining experience â but yes, you still need to tip. In the U.S., we have created an economic system in dining where the majority of a serverâs salary is not paid by the restaurant, but instead by the diner. If you decide to go out to eat, you need to factor your tip into the cost of your night out, regardless of the service. Thatâs just the way it is. If you disagree, you shouldnât be eating out.
If we had a system in place where the required minimum wages that restaurants must pay employees were higher, youâd still subsidize the salary; just instead of a tip, youâd pay higher costs for your meal.
But bad service doesnât mean you have to leave the same tip youâd leave if the service was great. I like to stick to the general rule of no less than an 18 percent tip if you were unhappy, 20 percent or more if the service was great, and 25 percent if the service was exceptional. Going out is not a right, itâs a privilege, and itâs important to remember that. The tip is not for you to lord over a server in order to have them do your bidding. Itâs for you to thank them for even serving you in the first place.
The article Ask Adam: My Waiter Was Rude to Me. Do I Still Need to Tip? appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/tipping-waiter-advice/
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