Buffalo Trace sharing its experiments

Buffalo Trace has quietly been working with what amounts to an adult chemistry set for about 17 years. What comes of the activity is a steady stream of experimental whiskies from the Franklin County, KY, distiller.

Now for the first time, Buffalo Trace plans to bottle a few experimental barrels. Its rule will be a maximum of 400 bottles of any one kind for each experiment to be released, beginning late this month.

Says Harlen Wheatley, master distiller, "We love to push the envelope of whiskey making by exploring different ideas and methods we've never tried before."

Company officials say the first three barrels will be the start of making more periodic releases. The first trio will be called the Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection.

Buffalo Trace says no pre-release tasting samples will be available, so I can't provide first-hand tasting notes. Here, instead, are details of the first three releases as described by the company:

• French Oak: This bourbon was aged 10 years in a French oak barrel in which the staves were first air-dried for 24 months. The oak has given the whiskey a sugary sweetness and dark caramel color.

• Twice Barreled: After aging this bourbon for 8 years, 8 months, this whiskey was put into a new barrel. With twice the wood, this whiskey has lots of oak and a long, warm finish.

• Fire Pot Barrel: This barrel was heated to 102 degrees F for 23 minutes to dry the wood prior to filling. The whiskey has a smoky nose, and hints of fruit and tobacco on the pallet.

The Experimental Collection will be packaged in 375ml bottles at $46.35 each. Each label will fully describe information unique to that barrel.

Buffalo Trace Distillery is a family-owned company. in a distillery producing bourbon and vodka on site. The facility recently was named to the National Historic Register.

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A sensory soiree

Hi Bill:

I host sensory wine tastings, bringing everything from cut-up cigars to limestone, etc., to build smell files about wine varieties.

Can something similar be done with vodka, tequila and gin?

Many thanks,

Allison Robbins

Dear Allison:

That's an interesting question. I'd say one can definitely do that with all three, although vodka would be the least aromatic.

Vodka must be, by legal definition, odorless, colorless and tasteless. I agree that it's colorless, but there is a bit of a nose and one can detect tastes depending upon the type of water used as well as whether is is a grape, potato or grain vodka.

Because vodka can be made from any organic matter, so tastes and aromas do sometimes come into play.

Gin, however, is virtually a booming bottle of herbals. There are some basics in each blend, such as juniper berries, lemon, etc., but the varieties are enormous. (Just take a look at the side panel on a large bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin for an example of a lengthy list of infusions.)

Tequila presents some good possibilities, depending upon the style. There are three -- blanco, which is silverish or clear and is not aged; reposada, which is aged 3-11 months in wood and picks up nuances from the leaching process, and anejo, which is aged a year or more in oak and picks up caramel, butterscotch and herbal notes.

If you try any of these, I'd love to hear back from you on the details.

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Rye on the rebound (online version)

Back in the dark ages of my occasionally misspent youth, when the legal drinking age in New York was 18 and minimum wage was less than a buck an hour, 30 cents would buy you a nice highball. Really.

Highball. Then a common term for a simple mixed cocktail, now a quaint, anachronistic word. The highball of choice for my untrained young palate was rye and ginger. Four ounces of ginger ale and a shot of whatever rye the bartender poured into it. I wasn't into labels in those days. Even for the ginger ale.

For many years, though, rye rarely came to mind. Rye -- a whiskey distilled from rye or rye and malt -- is far down the list of brown beverages, peering up longingly at the lofty perches occupied by a sea of bourbons, an ocean of scotches.

But that hasn’t deterred all rye distillers. After all, vodka wasn't always wildly popular. Bourbon had its down periods. The current success and attention of the forgotten whiskey may indeed be signalling a rye rebound.

Such star bourbon makers as Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Old Overholt and Van Winkle are pushing their ryes. Old Potrero, lesser known but a must-have with rye aficionadoes, has several styles on the shelf, and Michter’s, which has a whole range of ryes, is making a huge comeback.

And, in a victory of huge proportions for the legitimacy of rye, Heaven Hill Distilleries' Rittenhouse Bottled-In-Bond Rye Whisky took the title of "North American Whiskey of the Year" at the recently-completed 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

In the whiskey world, that’s akin to Rudy making the varsity football team at Notre Dame.

The annual competition is perhaps the most prestigious spirits competition in the industry. Rittenhouse’s victory meant it had to clear two huge hurdles.

First, it had to be judged a double gold –- a unanimous pick -- medal winner in a blind tasting in its rye whiskey class. Then it had to top all other double gold winners in the North American Whiskey category, which included bourbons, Canadian whiskies and artisinal spirits made by micro-distilleries.

Kirstin Jackson, brand manager for Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey, didn’t mind crowing a bit after the triumph.

"Historically, rye whiskey has been the ultimate expression of classic American whiskey style, and we at Heaven Hill Distilleries were one of only three remaining producers to keep the style alive during the lean years when rye was overshadowed by bourbon and Scotch and Irish whiskies," she said.

Rittenhouse Rye was launched by the Continental Distilling Co. of Philadelphia after the repeal of Prohibition. Later, it was bought by Heaven Hill Distilleries, the nation's largest independent family-owned spirits producer and the second largest holder of aging American whiskey in the world.

While the victory as best North American whiskey overall might have been a surprise, winning in the rye category was not. Rittenhouse was named "Whiskey of the Year" for 2005 by Wine & Spirits Magazine, and last summer Esquire called it "one of the best American Whiskeys at any price."

In recent years I’ve been trying high-end ryes. While a high price doesn’t always guarantee quality and enjoyability, it seems to help. For example, I was very pleased with Michter's Single Barrel Straight Rye (92.8 proof), aged 10 years in charred white oak. It carries a suggested retail price of $57.99. Now, however, Rittenhouse chimes in at the opposite end of the pricing scale with a suggested price for its 100-proof version at about $19 and its 80-proof at about $15.

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What next? Freezers for Eskimos?

If someone told you Russians would be importing vodka, you'd truly know the world has been turned upside down. Or, upside from Down Under.

The Tamar Distillery, a new manufacturer operating at Beauty Point on the island of Tasmania off the southeast coast of Australia, has signed a six-year distribution deal for its Strait brand vodka after initial test events in Russia showed strong consumer and distributor reaction to its distillation.

Philip Ridyard, managing director of Tamar, said at a media event,"The Russian market is very sophisticated and we're looking to break into that area along with other imported spirits internationally.

"The main attraction is the quality of the wheat grain alcohol we're using and also the quality of the Tasmanian natural spring water. Water is so important as it provides the purity and the individual character of the vodka. No vodka is identical and our Russian colleagues were impressed with Tasmania's quality and disease-free attributes."

Plans call for eventually expanding the line to include Tasmanian fruit-based and spiced vodkas as well as fruit liqueurs and gin.

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The Donald, The Drink: The update

Late last year I wrote about the impending debut of Trump Super Premium Vodka. The question at the time was whether it would be just another novelty label or whether it actually would sell.

Well, the initial reports say the latter is the case. Drinks Americas Holdings, which is handling the marketing and distribution of teetotaler Donald Trump's distillation say 40,000 cases have been ordered in the first 30 days of presenting to wholesalers. That's an opening tally of about $5 million in advance orders, and that's only from a limited number of states. The company expects to begin shipping by May 1.

Why the strong showing? J. Patrick Kenny, CEO of Drinks Americas, told Drinks Business Review, "In our view the Trump name is one of the most recognizable and valuable global trademarks in existence today, synonymous with the very best in class."

The super premium vodka category is the fastest growing segment of the largest distilled spirits category, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS). While super premiums account for only 23% of sales by volume, almost 44% of the revenue - exceeding $1.3 billion per year - comes from the segment.

Drinks America develops, owns, markets, and nationally distributes alcoholic and non-alcoholic premium beverages often associated with celebrities. Among them: Willie Nelson's Old Whiskey River Bourbon and Bourbon Cream; Roy Yamaguchi's Y Sake, and golfer Greg Norman's Norman's Wines from Australia.

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Caymans 'tourist' rum enters U.S.

Fans of Tortuga Rum no longer have to go to the Cayman Islands for a bottle. It now is being made available in 10 U.S. states with nationwide distribution expected by mid- to late summer.

Majestic Distilling of Lansdowne, MD, is the U.S. importer.

The Tortuga Rum Co. Ltd., founded in 1984, is the largest duty-free liquor business in the Cayman Islands. Its premium and flavored Tortuga Rums, blends of Jamaican and Barbados rums, are a good seller to cruise ship passengers and other tourists. Prior to signing a distribution agreement with Majestic, they were available only in the Caymans.

Majestic is offering Tortuga rums in 1.75, liter and 750ml bottles. Banana, coconut and spiced flavors will be introduced later this year.

The Tortuga Rum Co. is a family-owned business based in Grand Cayman. It already has international business experience with its Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cakes, the Caymans' No. 1 export product.

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Gimme a T(equila)

NEW YORK -- Tequila. For some people the name conjures up images of lost weekends in Tijuana, wild nights at college parties, or self-medicating visits to dingy bars when life got too much to bear.

That was then, this is now. The consumer market for the onetime outlaw alcohol continues to expand, with the 100% pure blue agave super premium niche recording a 25% sales increase in the past year. Tequila has gone mainstream and upscale in a big way.

In fact, it has gone so mainstream that the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) has just approved a $1.6 million grant to support the Tequila Trail, a sustainable tourism project in the Tequila region of the Mexican state of Jalisco.

The aim is to highlight the region's natural and cultural attractions such as mariachi music and the charrors, the traditional horsemen. The region is linked by highways to Guadalajara, the country's No. 1 convention city, and to Puerto Vallarta, one of Mexico's most popular seaside resorts. The project also will be supported by the Jose Cuervo Foundation and other distillers.

Beyond Jose Cuervo, Sauza, Patron, Don Eduardo, Corazon, Don Julio and other familiar names, more newcomers to the American market keep popping up, drawing comparisons to the explosion in vodka labels that shows no signs of abating.

Partida, for example, is an estate-grown tequila made by the Partida family in Mexico's Amatitan region. They've released tequila in all three official categories -- Blanco, Reposado and Añejo. Partida's Reposado won a double gold at the recent San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the Blanco won a single gold, the Añejo -- aged 18 months in French-Canadian oak barrels -- won a silver.

It also earned a perfect, and rare, five-star tasting mark from my colleage F. Paul Pacult in his respected Spirit Journal. Not bad at all for a tequila introduced to the general market less than a year ago. Suggested retail prices: $45 for Blanco, $57 for Reposada, $62 for Añejo.

At the other end of the production extreme is Siembra Azul (Blue Harvest), a kosher, 100% blue agave small-batch product just introduced to the U.S. market in March. It's produced by David Suro-Piñera, who returned to his native land after two decades in the States to take up commercial tequila making.

"I've spent 20 years researching the greatest tequilas and made hundreds of trips in search of the rarest and best tequilas that my homeland offers," says Suro-Piñera.

His tequila comes in three traditional varieties, all produced in the highlands of Jalisco state. The Blanco retails for about $34, the Reposado for $39, the Añejo for $45.

The first batches of Siembra Azul Blanco and Reposado are available only in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania restaurants, bars and liquor stores, but will go national in the coming months. Consumers elsewhere who can't wait can order through online companies such as Sherry-Lehmann Wine and Spirits in New York.

Tequila has its unique points. For one, there are no vintage years because tequila is made year-round from a plant that takes eight to 12 years to mature and its ripeness doesn't depend on the climate of one particular year. However, the weather obviously plays a major role year after year on the quality of the blue agave plants.

Once the best plants are selected, workers cut off the outer layers to reveal the piña, the pineapple-like heart of the plant, roasting it, with a clay oven the most traditional and, say purists, the best way to heighten flavor, then undergoing the fermentation and distillation processes.

Just as true champagne can only be made in Champagne, France, true tequila can only be produced in the Tequila region of Mexico and must meet stringent government regulations. It is made in two general categories:

• Tequila 100% Agave -- Must be made only with the juice of the blue agave plant and must be bottled at the distillery in Mexico. It may be Blanco, Reposado, or Añejo.

• Tequila -- Must be made with at least 51% blue agave juices. It may be exported in bulk to be bottled in other countries following the NOM standard. It may be Blanco, Gold, Reposado, or Añejo.

NOM, the official Mexican product safety requirements, defines four types of tequila:

• Blanco, or Silver -- The traditional tequila. Clear, transparent, fresh from the still. Must be bottled immediately after distillation process. Traditionally served in a two-ounce glass called a "caballito."

• Oro, or Gold -- Modified by adding colorings and flavorings, caramel the most common. Widely preferred for frozen Margaritas.

• Reposado, or Rested -- Kept in white oak casks or vats called "pipones" for two to 11 months. Much mellower than blanco or oro, pale in color, gentle bouquet.

• Añejo, or Aged -- Matured in white oak casks for a year or more. Maximum capacity of the casks should not exceed 159 gallons. Amber color, oak notes.

• Reserva -- Not technically a category, but recognized as an Añejo aged in oak up to eight years.

The aforementioned Paul Pacult was the leadoff speaker at a recent tequila workshop in Manhattan for beverage journalists and industry insiders. He, mixologist/author Dale DeGroff, spirits experts Steve Owen and Doug Frost and beverage historian Dave Wondrich led the group through a tasting of the full range of tequilas as well as sampling several drinks created by DeGroff ("The Craft of the Cocktail").

MY TASTING NOTES

The Manhattan tasting covered a trio of 100% blue agave tequilas, from young to aged, and can be used as a basic yet high-quality range of tequilas for an at-home tasting party.

(1.) The Don Julio Blanco had a slight greenish tinge with an initial taste to match -- pleasant brine, dill and clover.

(2.) The Don Eduardo Reposada tended toward notes of butterscotch from being aged form several months in oak.

(3.) The Corazon Añejo showed the results of being aged two years in new oak, with a vanilla aroma and initial flavors and aftertaste of vanilla, caramel and pear.

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Tea and alcohol, a great partnership

I have a weakness for people who try to marry two of my favorite beverages, tea and spirits.

Gary Regan, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, takes on the topic just as I did two summers ago in creating the Marteani, a refreshing green tea/vodka cocktail that excited some local interest among bartenders looking for a warm-weather special.

Regan, who writes a column called The Cocktailin, writes about Qi Lapsang Souchong Tea Liqueur, a product made by Qi Spirits, a new company in San Francisco. The liqueur is distilled by Lance Winters of St. George Spirits in Alameda, a partner in the new venture.

You can get the details by linking directly to the company or to Regan's column.

As noted, the California drink utilizes a commercial tea liqueur. My New York drink uses a commercial iced tea, Arizona brand green tea with honey and ginseng.

Here's the California recipe, adapted from a recipe by Kieran Walsh, bar manager at Solstice Lounge in San Francisco.

QI SPIRITS COCKTAIL INGREDIENTS

• 3 kumquats, halved (plus 1 kumquat for garnish)
• 1/3 oz. simple syrup
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 1 3/4 ounces Bulleit Bourbon
• 1/3 oz. Qi Tea Liqueur

INSTRUCTIONS

Muddle the halved kumquats with the simple syrup and both bitters in a mixing glass. Add ice, the bourbon and the Qi liqueur, and stir for approximately 30 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and add the garnish.

And, here's the New York recipe from my own adult chemistry set:

DOWD'S MARTEANI INGREDIENTS

• 3 oz. Arizona Green Tea w/honey and ginseng
• 3 oz. all-grain vodka (Absolut, Blue Ice, Beldevere, etc.)
• 6 drops Angostura Bitters
• Splash of Galliano or Strega
• 2 orange slices
• 1 mint leaf

INSTRUCTIONS

In a metal cocktail shaker, combine tea and vodka. Add bitters and splash of Galliano liqueur, or the more herbal Strega if you prefer, plus a handful of ice cubes. Stir briskly, then strain quickly into a frosted martini glass. Twist the juice from an orange slice into the drink and let it meander through the solution on its own. Garnish with an orange slice and a mint leaf for color.

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Plymouth goes Deco to push its gin

American gin aficionadoes planning a trip to the United Kingdom can get a preview of Plymouth Gin's new look in June.

They will join domestic drinkers in the UK who will see and sample the new Pymouth before it is rolled out globally as part of a new marketing campaign.

The new design, says the Plymouth PR folks, "takes its inspiration from the Art Deco period of the 1920s and 1930s and it is presented as a cut glass decanter-style bottle, the first major design change in the premium gin’s 200-year history."

The new look will get its U.S. debut in August. What you'll notice hasn't changed is the gin's potency, still at 82.4 proof.

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Scotch rarity on the block

A bottle of what is believed to be the oldest unopened bottle of Scotch whisky in the world could be yours. If, that is, you can outbid all others on April 4 when the Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 goes up for auction in New York's Grand Central Terminal as part of Tartan Week celebrations.

The annual week-long festivities celebrate Scottish culture and heritage. Glenfiddich is partnering with City Harvest, a New York-based charity, to auction one of the four remaining bottles of this exceptionally rare spirit.

Rare Collection 1937 comes from one cask at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown, Scotland, that yielded 61 bottles. Company officials explain that import laws required a special 750ml bottle to be made, so the item being auctioned is, therefore, the only 750ml bottle of this particular whisky ever produced. The spirit was cask aged for 64 years and bottled in 2001.

If you're interested in reserving a seat at the auction, call (212) 982.8300 ext. 111. Really.

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Laphroaig wins hearts in San Francisco test

Laphroaig found the 6th annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition worth its time again this year.

The Scottish company was named "Distiller of the Year" and its 30-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch was named "Best in Show/Whisk(e)y."It's made at the distillery (seen here) on Islay, Scotland, at 86 proof and $240 a bottle.

The other "bests of show" were:

• White Spirits: Plymouth Gin, England, 82.4 proof, $23.
• Vodka: Zyr Vodka, Russia, 80 proof, $32.
• Aquavit: Linie Lysholm Aquavit, Norway, 86 proof, $25.
• Rum: Ron Matusalem 10 Year Old Clasico Rum, Dominican Republic, 80 proof, $20.
• CachaÇa: Sagatiba Velha Luxuosa Cachaça, Brazil, 80 proof, no price given.
• Tequila: El Tesoro El Tesoro Paradiso, Mexico, 80 proof, $121.
• North American Whiskey: Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey, Kentucky, 100 proof, $13.
• Brandy: Hennessy Richard Hennessy Cognac, France, 80 proof, $1,800.
• Liqueur: Chartreuse Green Herbal, France, 110 proof, $48.
• Fruit Liqueur: Grand Marnier Cuvée Speciale Cent Cinquantenaire, France, 80 proof, $215.
• Blended Scotch: Johnnie Walker Green Label, Scotland, 86 proof, $50.
• Calvados: Grand Pommier XS Calvados, France, 80 proof, $300.

Full medal results are available on the event Web site.

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Cane spirits competition aglow with gold

Photo by William M. Dowd

The first International Cane Spirits Festival Tasting Competition, held in Tampa's historic Ybor City area, went off with nary a hitch but plenty of glitter.

Entries came from distilleries ranging from the expected places -- such as Jamaica -- to the surprising -- Nepal, the tiny Himalayan nation tucked between India and China, as well as from the United States, Guyana, Trinidad, Guatemala, Brazil, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, St. Maarten, Aruba and Barbados in the Caribbean and Latin America as well as from Australia and the African nation of Mauritius.

With nearly every one of the 60-plus entries taking a medal of some sort, the enthusiasm of the 25-plus judge panel certainly was evident. The judges, a mix of writers, marketers, business people and hospitality industry specialists from the U.S., Brazil and the UK, awarded gold medals to 28 of the 63 entries.

However, some of that could be laid to the fact that new competitions, be they for spirits, wine or beers, tend toward large numbers of medals because only the strongest competitors are willing to enter a new event and they usually enter only their best distillations.

"While there are other respected tasting competitions in the U.S. and Europe, this is the only opportunity for sugar cane spirits to be judged on their own merit and in classes recognized by the sugar cane spirits industry," said Edward Hamilton, an internationally-known expert and author on rums who created and organized the competition. Hamilton is known for his Ministry of Rum Web site that is devoted to all things rum.

Santa Teresa, a Venezuelan distiller, earned the largest number of gold medals, taking four. Entries from Prichard's, a Tennessee distiller, and Inner Circle of Australia took three each.

Blind tastings were conducted in four sessions held over two days in Ybor City -- once the center of Florida's cigar-making industry. They covered more than 1,600 samples of cane spirits, distilled either directly from sugar or from molasses, a sugar byproduct.

While local laws and methods for producing rum vary widely around the world, the essential process is uniform. Rum is made by a process of fermentation and distillation. The clear liquid distillate usually is aged in wood casks. The majority is made in and around the Caribbean and along the Demerara River in South America, but higher-end spirits are distilled around the world as the entries in this competition show. Most commercial rum producers use traditional small batch pot distillation, then age the distillate in oak casks to obtain the brown-gold color of most rums along with various fragrances and flavors.

Rums and cachaças from around the world were judged for their aroma, initial taste, body and finish on a scale of 1 to 25 points for each attribute. Judges then added their scores for these attributes and gave a final rating which Hamilton used to calculate awards, using a bell curve system.

Cachaça, once merely a blue-collar drink in Brazil, has grown in popularity as tourists "discovered" the cane-based drink and created a demand for it once back at home, similar to what happened to tequila when it grew from a blue collar Mexican drink to a major player in the international spirits industry . Outside Brazil, where 98% of the domestic production is consumed, cachaça is used almost exclusively as an ingredient in tropical drinks. The most popular is the caipirinha -- a mixture of muddled lime slices, superfine sugar, ice and cachaça.

Santa Teresa, this competition's top entry, is spirits royalty in Venezuela, established in 1796 and still family owned. Prichard's uses Tennessee spring water and molasses to manufacture its rums. And, Inner Circle is an Australian industry giant once made only for employees of the distillery (thus the name) and that now routinely wins major competition medals.

The gold medalists:


FLAVORED/SPICED/CREAM

Gold Medals

• Santa Teresa Arakú Ron y Coffee Liqueur (Venezuela)
• Prichard's Sweet Georgia Belle Fine Rum Liqueur (U.S.)
• St. Maarten Guavaberry Rum Liqueur (St. Maarten)

Silver Medals

• Santa Teresa Rhum Orange Liqueur (Venezuela)
• Pirate's Choice Key Lime Rum (U.S.)
• Santero Coffee Rum (Colombia)

Bronze Medals

• Prichard's Cranberry Rum (U.S.)
• Canne Royale Banane Rum (Grenada)
• Guap Lemon Capirinha Cachaça (Brazil)

WHITE RUMS (inc. spirits aged less than a year)

Gold Medals

• Santa Teresa Blanco (Venezuela)
• Starr African Rum (Mauritius)
• Prichard's Crystal Rum (U.S.)
• Ron Botran White Rum (Guatamala)

Silver Medals

• Distiller's Choice White Rum (U.S.)
• 10 Cane Rum (Trinidad)

Bronze Medals

• Vodkane, Sugar Cane Vodka (Colombia)
• Inner Circle Traditional Pot Still Rum (Australia)
• Cartavio1929 Ron Blanco Superior (Aruba)

CACAHCA

Gold Medals

• P51 Cachaça (Brazil)
• Água Luca Cachaça (Brazil)
• Guapiara Prata Cachaça (Brazil)

Silver Medals

• Guapiara Special for Caipirinha Cachaça (Brazil)
• Fãzenda Mae de Ouro Cachaça (Brazil)

Bronze Medals

• José Junqueira Guapiara Ouro Cachaça (Brazil)

OVERPROOF

Gold Medal

• Inner Circle Rum Green Dot (Australia)

Silver Medal

• Inner Circle Rum Black Dot (Australia)

Bronze Medal

• Cannes Royale White Overproof Rum (Grenada)

DARK RUMS

Gold Medals

• Coronation Khukri Rum (Nepal)
• One Barrel Rum (Belize)
• Ron Botran Solera Rum (Guatamala)
• Ron Abuelo Añejo Reserva Especial (Panama)
• Santa Teresa Selecto (Venezuela)
• Santa Teresa Gran Reserva (Venezuela)
• Pirate's Choice Molasses Reef Rum (U.S.)
• Inner Circle Rum Red Dot (Australia)
• Inner Circle Rum Blue Dot (Australia)

Silver Medals

• Ron Botran Añejo 8 yo (Guatamala)
• Cartavio 1929 Ron Añejo Reserva (Aruba)
• Sea Wynde Rum (Jamaica / Guyana)
• Ron Botran Gold Rum (Guatamala)
• Ron Barceló Añejo (Dominican Republic)

Bronze Medals

• Distiller's Choice Gold Rum (U.S.)
• Maui Reserve Gold Rum (U.S.)

PREMIUM RUMS

Gold Medals

• Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 yo (Guatamala)
• Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva (Venezuela)
• Santero Ron 21 Años Antigua Reserva (Colombia)
• Prichard's Fine Rum (U.S.)
• Ron Macuro Ron Añejo Ultra Premium (Venezuela)
• Cockspur Bajan Crafted Rum 12 (Barbados)
• Ron Zacapa Centenario 15 yo (Guatamala)
• Ron Abuelo 7 Años Reserva Superior (Panama)

Silver Medals

• Ron Botran Añejo 12 yo (Guatamala)
• Ron Bastidas Reserva de Conquistador Añejo 23 Años (Colombia)
• Ron Barceló Imperial Rum (Dominican Republic)
• Santa Teresa 1796 Ron Antiguo de Solera (Venezuela)
• Cartavio 1929 Old Rum of Solera 12 years (Aruba)

Bronze Medals

• Canne Royale Extra Old Rum (Grenada)
• Cartavio 1929 Ron Gran Reserva, 7 (Aruba)

Photo by William M. Dowd

MY TASTING NOTES

As one of the judges, my selections resulted in 12 gold medal votes, 19 silvers, 13 bronzes and 18 no-medal votes.

• In Flavored/Spiced/Cream Rums, I agreed with one of the three golds, my tasting notes calling the St. Maarten Guavaberry Rum Liqueur "pleasing on all levels with a just-right hint of fruit."

• In White Rums, I cast no gold medal votes but did cast a silver for eventual gold-medalist Starr African Rum from Mauritius which I regarded as "peppery; floral; and, with a long finish."

• In Cachaça, my gold vote matched that of the panel for the P51 Cachaça, my notes saying "olive-brine notes, nicely nuanced, good finish." The gold medal Água Luca I rated silver, noting it was "smooth; full-bodied with a hint of lemongrass."

• In Overproof, I didn't rate anything better than a bronze. Overall, there was just one gold among four entries in the 100-150 proof range.

• In Dark Rums, nine of the 18 entries collected golds. I concurred with two of those, my notes saying of the One Barrel "complex nose; layered flavors; pleasantly lingering aftertaste" and of the Inner Circle Blue Dot said "very good throughout; heat and flavor balanced; long finish."

• In Premium Rums, eight of 17 entries took gold, with me agreeing with half of the golds. My notes said of the Ron Abuelo 7 Anos Reserva Superior "mild butterscotch-caramel, vanilla and peat; smooth, nicely balanced." Of the Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva, "pleasant molasses evident in the taste, finish; heady fragrance; rich mix." Of the Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 yo, "Irish whiskey style; very smooth; butterscotch notes." And, of the Prichard's Fine Rum, "pleasant aroma of candied fruit; initial taste echoes it."

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Cruzan is Absolut-ly sold

News item: Absolut Spirits Co. has purchased Cruzan International.

It's a geographic puzzle come together: Absolut, the New York-based subsidiary of Swedish spirits and wine company V&S Group (distillery seen here), buying the West Palm Beach, FL, rum producer and distributor and rum and brandy distiller.

The bigger part of the puzzle, by the way, cost $28.37 per Cruzan share it did not already own. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing puts that as worth about $80 million. Angostura owned 68% of Cruzan.

Cruzan has long been a maker and distributor of premium rums and flavored rum-based drinks. Among the products: Cruzan Rum and rum flavored with banana, pineapple, orange, mango, raspberry, coconut, vanilla and citrus.

Absolut has a wide range of flavored vodkas -- mandarin, vanilla, raspberri, pepper, kurant, apple, peach, etc.

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An Irish-Italian alliance

When you own two products that have what seems like a natural affinity, why keep them apart?

That, at least, seems to be the logic behind Castle Brands' move to package 750ml bottles of Boru Vodka with 50ml bottles of either Pallini Limoncello, Peachcello or Raspicello. The packaging, referred to as the "sidecar," has a window so the consumer can tell which flavor of Pallini it contains. The sidecar also contains recipes for tall drinks and martinis made with the vodka and the Italian liqueurs.

Boru is an 80-proof premium grain vodka produced in Ireland. It's quadruple distilled and charcoal filtered.

Pallini Limoncello is Italy's top-selling liqueur, made from a century-old Pallini family recipe -- the same family that created Romana Sambuca -- using Italian Sfusato Amalfitano lemons. The Peachcello and Raspicello are relative newcomers made, respectively, with white peaches native to Italy and wild raspberries from the Abruzzi region, blended with blueberries and black currants.

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Vodka: Bring on the grapes

The recent absence of lengthy reports on this site about the newest vodkas has been intentional. So many producers were releasing new vodkas, often with silly marketing gimmicks, at such an overwhelming pace I was beginning to be forced into a vodka-centric blog.

That self-imposed slowdown has now allowed me to catch up. And it took some doing. The pace of releases hasn't eased up -- did you know renowned designer Milton Glaser has been hired to redesign Donald Trump's signature vodka bottle? -- so I've been very selective in what I'm reporting on.

Idol, for example, shouldn't be ignored. Billed as "The vodka for wine lovers," the new release from Boisset America is distilled from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from Burgundy, France.

The grapes come from France's Cote-de-Nuits and Cote-de-Beaune regions, fermented the same way as for wine, then distilled close to the vineyards, using a seven-column continuous distillation process to extract exceptionally pure alcohol. Local spring water is blended with the distilled alcohol to bring it down to 40% alcohol (80 proof) before being filtered five times. Idol winds up with a very smooth, slightly sweet taste.

The beauty, or sometimes the curse, of vodka is that it can be made from any organic matter, so using grapes is not exactly new. It's merely a matter of quality.

As one example, Ciroc, another French grape-based vodka, actually has sort of a grapey nose even though vodka must, by definition, be essentially neutral in color, taste and nose.

For another, Jorg Rupf, a renowned maker of fruit brandies in his St. George Distillery housed in a former airplane hangar on Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay, makes a premium-priced vodka called Hangar 1.

The bottle is a cross between a sleek, aerodynamic look and the classic Russian style. The handcrafted vodka splits from the pack in its base material: the Viognier grape. My tasting notes say it stands up to any competitor, foreign or domestic, for clarity, smoothness and lightly nuanced reaction on the palate. Giving it the freezer treatment draws out the taste of the neutral grape spirits blended into the vodka.

IN OTHER VODKA NEWS...

Yazi, a ginger-flavored vodka from Hood River Distillers in Oregon, has been released in a French glass bottle that resembles a large perfume decanter.

There is no doubt this offering was created for women, and the distillers make no bones about that. Yazi includes natural ginger along with orange, lemon, cayenne, red pepper extracts and glacier-fed Mt. Hood spring water to create a spicy sweet taste. Suggested retail price is $30 for a 750ml bottle, although it's available for about $25 on line.

The packaging carries red side accents and a shiny red neck wrap, with a spiraling dagon etched on the imported glass.

"Back-lit on a bar shelf, Yazi is sure to stand out among the usual tall thin bottles favored for many other vodkas," said designer Andrew Reed of Leopold Ketel & Partners, Hood River Distillers' marketing firm.

Hood River Distillers is marking its 72nd year in operation as an importer and producer of distilled spirits. Pendleton 10-Year-Old Blended Canadian Whisky, 20-Year-Old Pendleton Director's Reserve Whisky, Broker's London Dry Gin, Cockspur Rum, Knicker’s Irish Cream Whiskey and Spudka Vodka are among its nearly 50 different labels and brands.

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The Glenlivet's Cellar Collection a '72 this year

One of the most anticipated releases in the Scotch whisky world comes any time The Glenlivet unveils its Cellar Collection. The just-released 1972 case strength single malt doesn't disappoint.

Master distiller Jim Cryle, marking his 40th year in the industry, is personally responsible for selecting the annual release. The 2006 Cellar Collection is a vatting of just 10 cases from a single day's distillation, Aug. 24, 1972.

Just 800 bottles of the 2006 release will be made available to selected U.S. markets this spring, at a per-bottle price of $700, according to The Glenlivet's PR people. However, who knows what each bottle will go for on the competitive open market.

Each bottle is individually numbered and presented in a wooden box, as seen here. Once selected by Cryle, the casks were left to rest in the Cellar Collection Warehouse, one of The Glenlivet's oldest storage structures at the distillery.

"It is truly an exquisite single malt that has responded to patience and dedication with a complexity, quality and heritage that simply cannot be matched," Cryle said.

Of course, that is what one would expect to hear from the man who selected the distillation and is responsible for the distillery's reputation. In this case, though, he's not exaggerating.

In a sampling of the Cellar Collection, I found the whisky slightly sharp at first, but that quickly changed with the introduction of one ice cube in the tasting glass, a method I often use. Dropping the temperature and letting a bit of the melt help open the whisky made it utterly top-notch.

From its clear deep-amber color to its nuanced nose with notes of apricots and prunes giving way to a touch of citrus and heather, the '72 was a pleaser. The traditional Scotch whisky smokiness is subdued, allowing the rich, velvety taste to linger in the mouth and finish long and smooth.

If the $700 price tag seems a bit high for The Glenlivet, it's not. Last year's Cellar Collection, a 1964 distillation, went for $2,000 a bottle with the same 800-bottle limit for U.S. distribution out of a total run of about 1,800.

I sampled that one when Cryle visited Manhattan for a private tasting event. Never having experienced anything in that stratospheric price range before, I expected a socko experience, but it was just the opposite. There is a certain delicate layering and complexity of flavors missing in other Scotches, even those of the expensive sort, that coats the mouth.

The 1964 is a warm, satisfying distillation, wonderfully smooth with a balance of floral and plum notes and a long, spicy finish. It was excellent by itself, sublime with a crumble of Stilton from the nearby cheese board. Each sip revealed another nuance of quality. Worth $2,000? If someone else is buying, sure thing.

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Only the Best In the World

As Bogie might have put it, out of all the whisky joints in all the towns in the world, what makes The Pot Still the best?

Whisky Magazine has named the Glasgow, Scotland, establishment the best whisk(e)y bar in the world, a title announced at the prestigious magazine's Icons of Whisky awards in London.

The Pot Still, with a history that dates to the 1870s, features walls of just about every whisky imaginable, such as the one seen here, with 483 bottles and adding. Whisky lovers from around the world have traveled to The Pot Still, some for the pub fare and ales on tap as well.

Of course, calling something the best in the world isn't something Whisky Magazine shys away from. For some examples, click here.

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In Wyoming, bigger the town, bigger the bar list

Headed for the wilds of Wyoming? If so, and you like a drink with your meals, be aware of the latest legislation and select your destination communities accordingly.

The state's House of Representatives recently passed House Bill 83 to create a new type of liquor license for restaurants. Representatives earlier rejected an amendment that would have required those restaurants to be smoke-free.

Current Wyoming law favors smaller communities by giving them proportionately more liquor licenses than larger ones communities. The number of bar-and-grill licenses allowed to communities under HB 83's formula is:

Up to 7,500 population, one license; 7,501 to 15,000, two licenses; 15,001 to 27,000, three licenses; 27,001 to 40,000, four licenses; 40,001 to 52,500, five licenses; 52,501 to 65,000, six licenses.

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Cane Festival competition judges unveiled

The first International Sugar Cane Spirits Festival & Tasting Competition will set some benchmarks for sugar-based spirits when an international panel of judges renders it decisions later this month in Tampa's Ybor City.

Spirits will be judged in the following classes:

√ Overproof
√ Flavored / Spiced / Cream
√ White Rum, including those spirits aged less than one year.
√ Dark Rum
√ Premium Rum
√ Rhum Agricole Blanc
√ Rhum Agricole Vieux
√ Cacahça, unaged
√ Cacahça, aged

The judges, in alphabetical order by nation:

UNITED STATES

• Paul Artrip, Virginia
Rum collector, food and beverage writer for regional Parrot Head Clubs.

• Natalie Brown, Ybor City, FL
Owner, Good Luck Café, Ybor City.

• Robert A. Burr, Coral Gables, FL
Host of the "Gifted Rums" seminar in Coral Gables, FL.; editor of The Pedestrian Pocket Guide to Coral Gables and the "Coral Gables Pedestrian Guide" Web site.

• Christopher Carlsson, New York
Editor, Spirits Review.

• Peter Covino, Kissimmee, FL
Entertainment editor, dining critic and spirit connisseur at the Osceola (FL) News-Gazette.

• Gary Crowder, New York
Senior Vice President/Resort Operations at Mohegan Sun Hotel Casino, Uncasville, CT.

• Wayne Curtis, Maine
Author, ""And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World In 10 Cocktails," scheduled for summer release by Crown; travel writer and contributor to numerous Frommer's guidebooks.

• William M. Dowd, Albany, NY
Editor and publisher of Dowd's Bar Blog, a blog-ring of four online sites; associate editor and chief restaurant critic for the Times Union newspaper and its two Web sites; published in literally dozens of U.S. and Canadian newspapers and such national magazines as Sante, and on numerous Web sites.

• Catherine Eagles, San Francisco, CA
Rum connoisseur; president, Buzzbar Productions.

• Daphne Muse, Oakland, CA
Writer published in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury and Hungry Mind Review; commentaries have aired on WTOP-FM and NPR.

• Jack Robertiello, New York
Writer and Web editor for Adams Beverage Group, former editor "Cheers"; author of "Mangia, The Best Italian Food in New York City."

• Ed Schiller , Ybor City, FL
Sea captain and master mariner, has traveled the world sampling indigenous spirits in their local environs; owner of Gaspar's Grotto in Ybor City.

ENGLAND

• Ian Burrell, London
Owner of Cottons, an award-winning Caribbean restaurant in London with the largest collection of rums in the UK; rum expert for Taste & Flavour School for Spirits.

SWEDEN

• Duane Dove, Sweden
Proprietor/sommelier of Sjögräs, restaurant and bar with what reputedly is the largest rum collection in Sweden; roots in Trinidad & Tobago and Guadeloupe; known for his “Rum & Chocolate,” matching aged rums with chocolates made with Caribbean cocoa.

PANAMA

• Francisco Fernandez, Panama
Master distiller at Varela Hermanos, makers of Abuelo and other rums.

Following the March 22-25 festival, results will be distributed to the national alcoholic beverage media, the Caribbean travel media and posted on the Ministry of Rum and Polished Palate Web sites.

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New Zealand consumers have the spirit(s)

Think New Zealand and what adult beverage comes to mind?

Bourbon, of course.

Don't believe me? Just check with the Distilled Spirits Association of New Zealand and they'll tell you that their latest statistics show bourbon is the nation's drink of choice. Total per capita consumption of spirits and spirit-based drinks increased by 1.8% in calendar 2005, continuing the category’s steady growth trend over the last few years.

Other spirits in the top five for New Zealand consumers by volume in 2005 were (2.) Scotch, (3.) gin, (4.) vodka and (5.) dark rum.

Spirits' share of per capita volume has risen to 23% from 22% in 2000, while wine was 33% up from 30%. Beer, as is the case globally, dropped precipitously, from 48% to 44%.

Speaking of Kiwi land spirits, the country's only whiskey distillery is broadening its production and adding two lines.

Southern Distilling Co. is best known for its Hokonui Whiskey, a refinement of a basic moonshine recipe. It now will begin producing The Southerner, a whiskey liqueur sweetened with manuka honey, and a legal version of the irish moonshine known as Poitin (pronounced poteen or posheen), to which they may add a bit of sweetner

Owners Malcolm Willmott and Peter Wheeler say they expect to ramp up production to 50,000 litres a year. Willmott said Poitin would be released for St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

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Bruichladdich back with a 184-proof bang

Most Scotch distilleries have been working on ways to smooth out the peaty aromas and tastes of the popular whisky to broaden its market appeal. Virtually no one is trying to make it have more kick.

Except the Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland's west coast. It is reviving a centuries-old recipe for a 184 proof whisky -- which means an astounding 92 percent alcohol.

Why?, you may ask. Me, too.

Well, Bruichladdich Managing Director Mark Reynier is very straightforward about that: “We are only doing this because we have this ancient recipe and because we can. Our team can only get involved in the fun of recreating truly historic malts because we are independent -– and we can.”

The run began this week -- Monday, Feb. 27, at 11:30 a.m., to be precise -- and only 12 barrels of the quadruple-distilled single malt will be produced, with master distiller Jim McEwan doing the honors.

Martin Martin, a 17th Century travel writer of some renown, mentioned this particular whisky in his book, "The Western Islands of Scotland."

" … The first taste affects all the members of the body: two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose; and if any man should exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life.”

McEwan, a distiller of four decades' experience, said, "The whisky first ran at 92%, which will make an average of 90%. It is very similar to the whisky tasted by Martin all those years ago. It’s very floral, but most importantly it most certainly takes your breath away!”

Bruichladdich (pronounced "Brook-Laddie," Gaelic for a raised beach) was built in 1881 by William Harvey and his brothers. It was closed in 1994 by its then-owner, Jim Beam Brands. It was purchased in 2000 by Mark Reynier, a wine merchant who headed a group of investors and, after a spruce-up of the original Victorian equipment, resumed distilling on May 29, 2001.

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Return of a 'killer' drink

As his charcoal stick danced across the cloth napkin, capturing the slants and curves of the nightclub dancers and their lusty followers, the little man in the bowler hat began working faster and faster.

His vivid portraits of freewheeling cafe life leapt off the impromptu canvas, at once bold and graceful, revealing and enigmatic, acting as a guide for his later versions done in colorful oils.

A body of work fueled by a creative fire, of course, but perhaps just as much by frequent sips of the pale green liquid ever present on his table.

Such is the legend of the tragic 19th century artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (above), portrayed as a brilliant artist but a tortured alcoholic in several "Moulin Rouge" films and countless biographies.

While the work of Lautrec (1864-1901) lives on, his drink of choice -- absinthe -- receded into dim memory after it was banned throughout much of Europe and the United States around the time of World War I.

Absinthe, an herb-infused alcohol that began as a medicine, had been blamed for bad judgment, poor health, even outright madness. Nevertheless, it was the drink beloved of 19th century Parisian cafe society, enjoyed by such writers and artists as Baudelaire, Lautrec, Picasso, Degas and Manet. In fact, in those times the cocktail hour was referred to as l'heure verte -- the green hour -- in honor of absinthe.

There are those who theorize that the anti-absinthe forces were funded by the wine industry, which was losing ground in the marketplace to the "Green Fairy," as the drink was known. Any link, no matter how tenuous, between evildoers and absinthe was loudly proclaimed until enough of the public grew fearful of its continued availability to demand a ban.

Absinthe began its comeback several years ago in England, where entrepreneurs discovered no legal ban remained in effect prohibiting sale or consumption of absinthe. Its availability has spread to neighboring countries and even to the U.S., although consumption here is limited by the federal government's guidelines against the original-strength version.

Ted Breaux, a New Orleans chemist and microbiologist, has replicated the recipe used by Edouard Pernod for the premier absinthe of that Parisian heyday. According to the chemistry newsletter from England's Oxford University, "Breaux has spent seven years studying absinthe ... (He) owns two bottles of century-old premium Pernod's, which greatly facilitated his efforts. Breaux's absinthe, soon to be commercialized outside of the U.S., is believed by many to be the finest the world has seen since 1915."

Absinthe is made by steeping dried herbs in ethyl alcohol, then distilling the liquor. The main herbs are nothing unusual … anise and star anise, peppermint, wormwood, fennel, perhaps a few others, depending upon which recipe one prefers. Wormwood is the catalyst for a chemical change during the process that, combined with the very high alcohol content (usually in excess of 150 proof, or 75 percent), gives the drink its potency through release of the chemical thujone.

Absinthe today is manufactured primarily in Spain, the Czech Republic and France, the latter on a very limited basis. (It also is a popular bootleg product in Switzerland, with an estimated 15,000 gallons turned out annually, virtually all for domestic consumption.)

Hill's Absinthe, Deva Absenta and Pernod-Ricard -- the great-granddaddy of them all -- are the major brands. Although technically above the permissible U.S. strength, they are not impossible to buy domestically in very limited quantities. If you can't find them locally, you can always try ordering them through your favorite liquor store, or through an online source.

A no-strings-attached modern American version of absinthe is Absente, priced at about $40 and testing out at a comparatively moderate -- by absinthe standards -- 110 proof. It's also referred to as "petite absinthe" because of its lowered potency.

The federal government frowns on the original strength absinthe because it contains a high level of thujone. Thujone is believed to be the culprit in the bad things one hears about absinthe, although historically much of the mayhem and madness blamed on it doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Wormwood itself is not inherently bad. It has been used as a medicine for stomach ailments and as an herbal dietary supplement. Its medicinal uses crop up regularly in the Bible. The problem comes with the concentration ingested.
The Absente brand maintains the distinctive flavor by using the milder southern wormwood, which has a much lower thujone content than the 10 parts per million maximum dictated by federal law. In its heyday, original-style absinthe measured in the range of 30 or more.

Whether excessive consumption of absinthe produces murderous rages, melancholy ruminations or just a mild dysphoria remains up for debate. Even one of its most ardent admirers, the Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), was ambivalent on the subject. As he wrote on two different occasions:

"A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything in the world. What difference is there between a glass of absinthe and a sunset?"

And:

"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

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'Washington's whiskey' on the comeback trail

Back in the dark ages of my occasionally misspent youth, when the legal drinking age in New York was 18 and minimum wage was less than a buck an hour, 30 cents would buy you a nice highball. Really.

Highball. Then a common term for a simple mixed cocktail, now a quaint, anachronistic word. The highball of choice for my untrained young palate was rye and ginger. Four ounces of ginger ale and a shot of whatever rye the bartender poured into it. I wasn't into labels in those days. Even for the ginger ale.

Nowadays, worldly sophisticate that I am, rye rarely comes to mind. Which seems to be a rather common thing in the whiskey world. Rye -- a whiskey distilled from rye or rye and malt -- is far down the list of brown beverages, peering up longingly at the lofty perches occupied by a sea of bourbons, an ocean of scotches. That isn't stopping every rye distiller, however. After all, vodka wasn't always wildly popular. Bourbon had its down periods. So, there's hope for a rye rebound.

Such star bourbon makers as Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Old Overholt and Van Winkle have their ryes. Old Potrero, lesser known but a must-have with rye aficionadoes, has several styles. What all these brands have in common is a strong alcohol nose at first, followed by a spicy richness, then varying degrees of lingering warmth.

Another distiller putting a lot of its marbles on a rye comeback is Michter's American Whiskey Co., and mention of it becomes very topical in this month of presidential holidays.

Michter's is arguably the nation's oldest existing rye name despite a gap in its lineage. Most historians think it supplied George Washington's Continental Army during its bitter winter encampment at Valley Forge, PA. Although Michter's distillery today is located in Bardstown, KY, then it was in Schaefferstown, PA.

(Washington's own fondness for whiskey made on his Mt. Vernon, VA, farm has been the creative spark behind resurrecting the process on those very premises, as shown in the photo above with period-costumed distillers using Washington's original recipe. Visitors can see it all happen as part of the American Whiskey Trail tour.)

Michter's history can be traced to 1753, when a Swiss Mennonite immigrant named John Shenk began making whiskey in Schaefferstown, located in a triangle of Pennsylvania Dutch country defined by Harrisburg, Lancaster and Reading.

Christopher Carlson of Spirits Review notes that even though the Michter's name now is owned by the Kentucky distiller which is producing the rye there, the original distillery was designated a historic landmark but was partially scrapped. It is ... being restored by the present owner."

Despite Bardstown being in the heart of an area that produces 90% of the world's bourbon, Michter's now has a line of very nice ryes to complement its bourbon: Michter's Small Batch US 1 Unblended American Whiskey (83.4 proof), a grain alcohol that can be lumped into the rye category, aged in bourbon- soaked white oak barrels (suggested retail price $34.99); Michter's Single Barrel US 1 Straight Rye (84.8 proof), aged at least 36 months in charred white oak barrels (SRP $42.99), and Michter's Single Barrel Straight Rye (92.8 proof), aged 10 years in charred white oak (SRP $57.99).

I don't find, as a matter of course, that a higher alcohol content automatically means a better liquor. Usually quite the opposite, since many distllers tend to let alcohol's kick substitute for distillation subtlety. However, in the case of Michter's ryes, the higher the proof, the smoother and more complex the taste.

I particularly recommend the 10-year-old single barrel. It's excellent when smoothed out with an ice cube or two, or a few drops of cool water that help open its nose and afternotes.

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Cane Spirits Festival In Tampa

Wine festivals and beer festivals are available in abundance all across the country. But if you want to try something different, jot down March 22-25 and Tampa, FL. That's when the International Cane Spirits Festival will take over Tampa's Ybor City area.

For those not quite sure what "cane spirits" means, think cachaca (pronounced kah-SAH-shah) from Brazil, guaro from Costa Rica and rum from many countries. Anything made by starting with cane sugar. Even P51 from Sazerac in New Orleans. That's shorthand for its full name, pirassununga.

The competition, part of a four-day festival of ethnic-oriented activities that include food, drink and music, is being run by Edward Hamilton, author of several books on rum and whose Web site, the Ministry of Rum, is key to the event. I'll be among the judges in the event, with tastings scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Among some of the brands that may be new to consumers will be Beleza Pura Super Premium Cachaca, Guapiara & "Guap" Lemon Cachacas, and Australia's Inner Circle Rums.

Ybor City, which at one time was a separate entity until being annexed by Tampa, was a cigar-making center for several generations. Much of it has been restored and serves as a Hispanic cultural tourism area, replete with shops, restaurants and performance areas. The Florida Cuban Heritage Trail, a statewide route created to increase awareness of connections between Florida and Cuba, includes Ybor City.

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The high cost of keeping up

The rapidly escalating prices of cocktails and some whiskies has been well documented on this site and elsewhere, but it's getting difficult to keep up with the pricing gimmicks.

The last eye-popper is the Juber Cocktail at $3,000 a pop.

It's the new signature cocktail at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. The concoction uses Bombay Sapphire gin, Blue Curacao, dry vermouth and a blue-sugar coating on the rim of the martini glass.

Well, what you may ask, makes it worth $3,000? Especially considering that no drink on the casino's cocktail menu goes for more than $9, and many are just $7.

I forgot to mention that a pair of custom-made blue sapphire and diamond earrings, set in a sterling silver pick, comes with the drink that made its debut over the weekend at the casino's new Mezz Ultra Lounge.

What is it about all these gimmick drinks that are pushing establishments to become more and more creative as well as pricier?

"I think people are willing to spend more to have a premium experience so they're buying less but they're buying higher quality. It obviously makes a statement about status and the ability to afford it but I think it's also a spontaneous, celebratory thing," Brett Anderson said in an interview with Newsday, the Long Island newspaper. He is senior vice president and editorial director for the Robb Report, the luxury lifestyle magazine.

Location certainly will be paramount for good sales. The presence of high-rollwers at the casino might help, but we're now in Year 2 of the Diamond Martini offered at the Blue Bar in New York's legendary Algonquin Hotel -- $10,000 gets you the drink and a diamond from the hotel jeweler -- but only two have been sold.

Anderson is no stranger to high price gimmick cocktails. The Robb Cocktail created for the Robb Report in 2003 at the Rivoli Bar in London's Ritz Hotel, cost $87,600 then. It's no longer available, and the hotel is mum on how many sold, if any. But, at the time it was offered the cocktail was made with 22-carat gold leaf Eskalony vodka, Grand Marnier, peach liqueur and Ritz private label champagne. A 13.66 carat yellow diamond swizzle stick that doubled as a bracelet was plopped in it before serving.

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Hindu wrath over Southern Comfort poster

While thousands of Muslims the world over legitimately protested unflattering caricatures of the prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper -- and thousands more used it as an excuse to pillage, loot and riot -- a controversy over the use of the Hindu goddess Durga was resolved in a much more civilized manner.

Durga was used in posters (seen here) displayed at the Balon Oriental Disco Bar in Athens, Greece, to promote Southern Comfort whiskey. Hindus throughout Europe have been up in arms about the frivolous and insulting nature of the posters and demanded satisfaction.

Durga is the Hindu manifestation of supreme beauty and deadly power. Her name is synonymous with the triumph of good over evil. The Indian community in Athens tried unsuccessfuly for three months to have the posters removed as well as sending letters to Brown-Forman, the American manufacturer of Southern Comfort.

Finally, a Southern Comfort representative reacted after an intervention by the Greek Embassy in Delhi. The Southern Comfort vice president for media communications sent a letter saying, in part, "On behalf of Brown-Forman and Southern Comfort, I extend our sincerest apologies for the inappropriate use of the image of the Hindu Goddess Durga. I also promise that we will do everything in our power to prevent any reoccurrence of this offence in the future.

"Brown-Forman's marketing, advertising and promotional policy prohibits the use of any religious imagery in the promotion of our beverage alcohol brands. The use of Goddess Durga was in violation of that policy. This violation occurred because of human error -- our employees responsible for approving the promotion simply didn't know that the image was, in fact, a Hindu deity. We have already taken steps to amend our review process to ensure we don't make this mistake again.

"The offensive use of the image of Durga was used in one bar in Athens, Greece. The image was removed on Monday night, February 13. We took this action within hours of first learning about the complaints against the use of the image. ... We will make every effort to ensure that the offending display is burned instead of thrown away."

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Brits banning smoking in pubs, elsewhere

If you're a smoker headed for England, enjoy lighting up in a pub, restaurant or any other public place for now. That activity will be banned in a year or less.

Parliament has voted, 384 to 184, for a total ban on smoking in indoor public places, something that will end the tradition of the smoky British pub.

Neighbor Ireland instituted the same ban in March 2004. The same will occur in Scotland and Northern Ireland over the next year, and factions in Wales are debating the issue.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had supported a partial ban that still would have allowed smoking in private members' clubs and pubs that do not serve food.

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Russians crank up the stills again

The Russian vodka shortage I reported on earlier is about to end.

Major Russian distilleries began vodka production again today after a forced shutdown caused by a bureaucratic foulup that kept the tax stamps necessary to remain in operation from being distributed.

Kommersant, Russia's online daily, said such distilleries as Veda, Russian Alcohol and OST Group have confirmed that they have refired the stills. However, industry leader Kristall and majors Liviz and Ladoga have not yet resumed production, pending further paperwork.

The national tax service began supplying vodka producers with stamps first because vodka accounts for more than half the alcoholic beverages produced in Russia. Wine producers will have to wait until closer to spring to receive stamps, because their product is less popular in Russia in the winter, Kommersant noted.

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Sticker shock in the Big Apple

It was just a few years ago that the price of a Jim Beam Manhattan hit $14 in New York City. Shocking enough to make me call home from a comfy chair in the Library Bar at the trendy Hudson hotel on West 58th Street to share the astounding development with my wife.

Admittedly, it was a great Manhattan, but $14 seemed very steep even for New York.

Since then cocktail prices -- and even beer and wine prices in some places -- have been skyrocketing. Absurdly so, in the opinions of many.

The iconoclastic Village Voice newspaper has launched a campaign to out the overchargers, asking for anecdotes from readers. Even people from other publications are writing in. The latest roundup of outrage makes for excellent reading -- as well as being a good consumer guide.

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Lack in the (ex) USSR

Nyet, nyet, a thousand times nyet.

Yet, it's true. Russia is running out of vodka. Stock has been depleted at many distilleries.

”As of today, some branches of Rosspirtprom (the state alcohol company) have sold all product made (in the) past year. Moscow Cristall has terminated the shipment as well, as its warehouses are empty,” Rosspirtporm's Dmitry Dobrov told Interfax, the Russian business and general news service.

At the start of the year, the distilleries were selling vodka they had produced in late 2005. Very quickly, they ran through stocks. Production has been idled because of a controversy over government failure to properly introduce a revised act on the state control of alcohol turnover, which took effect Jan.1 of this year.

Desperate buyers, such as those seen here at the EuroSpar store in Nizhny Novgorod, have been snapping up whatever domestic vodka they can find.


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Martini & Rossi 'honors' Spirits Notebook

Really? Well, let's make that assumption. Otherwise, I'd have to say Martini & Rossi pilfered an original drink -- or at least its name.

M&R has sent out CDs to news media everywhere boosting a drink it calls the "Pom-Pom." It's part of a Winter Olympic Games-related push to remind consumers of M&R's Italian heritage. However, back on Nov. 26, 2003, I unveiled the "Pom Pomme," a drink I created for the holiday food section of the Albany (NY) Times Union. Here's the story, verbatim:

HERE'S A NEW DRINK TO CHEER ABOUT
By William M. Dowd

Traditions have to begin somewhere. It's often difficult to trace them to their origins, but this one is a snap. It's The Pom Pomme, and it's brand new.

Challenged to come up with a new cocktail for the holidays, I hit on the idea of combining the fruit of the moment -- the pomegranate -- with the alcohol of the moment -- vodka; in this case, Chopin, a quadruple-distilled Polish vodka made from Podlaise region potatoes.

Pom from pomegranate, pomme de terre from the French for potato. Thus, The Pom Pomme.

One could, of course, really get into the holiday spirit by adding a touch of apple juice and a touch of apple liqueur to create a Pom Pomme Pomme Pomme, pomme by itself being French for apple. Or, a drop of rum and it's Rum Pom Pomme Pomme Pomme for Christmas parties. But that would be silly.

The new cocktail has many elements of the holiday feasting table -- the bittersweet tang of the pomegranate juice reminiscent of cranberry flavor, the rosy pink of the mixed ingredients, a touch of orange from the fruit often found on Thanksgiving tables or in a Christmas stocking.

Putting together a Pom Pomme is easy. Just have a tall cocktail shaker on hand, with plenty of crushed ice.

Pom Pomme
( Makes 2 drinks)

1 ounce pomegranate juice
1 medium orange
6 ounces Chopin or other potato vodka (Blue Ice, Luksusowa, Teton Glacier)
2 teaspoons superfine sugar
2 ounces Triple Sec

Directions: Cut orange in half. Use fruit reamer to squeeze juice of half the orange into the cocktail shaker half-filled with crushed ice. Add 1 ounce of pomegranate juice and stir slightly. Add vodka, superfine sugar and Triple Sec. Shake briskly, then strain into a chilled, stemmed cocktail glass. Drop a couple of seeds into the glass and garnish with an orange slice. Note: Pomegranate juice is available in the produce section of most supermarkets.

Here's the M&R recipe for its version:

3 parts M&R Extra Dry Vermouth
1 part pomegranate super juice (sweetened, otherwise you will need to add sugar)
1 part POM Wonderful or fresh pomegranate juice.
Orange twist
Directions: Build ingredients over ice, garnish with orange twist.

Your choice on which version you prefer. But, for the benefit of cocktail historians, remember where you read it first.

By the way, I'm not the only "victim" here. When I whined about this travesty via e-mail to Doug Blackburn, a newspaper colleague who writes on beer (among many other things), he responded:

" ... and today the august paper of record, the nyt, introduces its readers to barley wine. maybe they're simply following up on ... (this).

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