All the booze that's fit to print
What's going on in the wild and wonderful world of cocktails?
The Long Island iced tea is going hipster!
No, really, it is.
The movement to make bad drinks better started when cocktail industry legend Jeffrey Morganthaler reimagined the amaretto sour. “We had reached the maximum density on cocktail snobbery,” at his bar Portland, Oregon bar Pepe Le Moko, he said. “People were getting fed up with the cocktail nerd who would judge your drink order.”
Fast forward a few years, and the idea of reinventing certain drinks that many people would be embarrassed to order has caught on at other bars around the US like the Holiday Cocktail Lounge and Up & Up in New York, the Automatic in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Trick Pony at Harlowe MXM in Dallas.
These new-and-improved drinks are fun, colorful, and unafraid of making light of themselves. They taste good, and they sell just as well as the classics!
They say everything’s bigger in Texas. With a 50-foot copper still, 19-foot doors, and 112 acres of land, the makers of TX Whiskey are continuing the tradition at their new Whiskey Ranch. Set at a former country club a few miles outside Fort Worth, Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co. will be able to significantly increase production and offer tours. Oh, and they kept the country club’s golf course for special events!
Check it out here – and don’t forget to click through the slideshow photos.
Specialty cocktails are making the leap from the world of dark bars with dapper bartenders to your house! Williams-Sonoma is now selling an innovative and easy-to-use smoking box to make your own professional-style cocktails in the comfort of your own home. The box was created in a partnership between leading hospitality equipment maker Fortessa and Charles Joly, a well-known mixologist from Chicago.
Aside from the fact that you won’t have to wait for your drink, you’ll feel like you’re having a cocktail from a real bar. As one reviewer said, “We did have to Uber everyone home…”
If you order one, let us know what you think of it. We're on Facebook (@Cocktailspy.com), Twitter and Instagram (@cocktailspy on both), or you can email us at thecocktailspy@gmail.com.
Sparkling water is decimating the soda industry, leaving the heavyweights to try to play catch-up by snapping up brands left and right. “Who will buy La Croix?” is a question which has become religion to many.
SodaStream was an originator of the current trend, allowing people to make their own sparkling water at home. The company has launched a new product that makes sparkling wine using water and your SodaStream machine.
The wine tastes like Riesling. It scored fairly well in an independent study last fall, with 76% of participants reporting they enjoyed the wine as much as they enjoy some well-known French champagne brands.
SodaStream’s new Sparkling Gold alcohol concentrate is currently only for sale in Germany, but we’re hoping that’ll change soon.
This edition of Booze News comes from Michael Gluckman, a food and beverage industry executive based in Dallas, Texas.
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