Birmingham local bartender fav Feizal Valli at The Atomic Lounge got a shout out in Playboy for bringing the Cosmopolitan into the modern era. Check out Atomic if you’re ever in town. The Atomic Lounge is the most unique bar in all of Birmingham. As best as I could describe, it makes me feel like being in a Fiona Apple music video.
Kevin Pilley at the New Zealand Herald had an opportunity to drink with Viktor Korheev, “Russia’s only full-time professional vodka sommelier,” which sounds like the greatest job in the world. Pilley was late to the meeting and forced to drink the penalty shot, a Russian custom dating back to the time of the Tsars. Korheev imparts so many short quips about Russian and vodka history, and how vodka is intrinsically tied to Russa, that I
Continue Reading Drinking With A Vodka Sommelier
Yahoo! News reports that Glazovskiy spirits factory bosses in Glazov, Russia removed a vodka sculpture, considered to be a landmark, due to concerns that it could be interpreted as a vodka advertisement under Vladimir Putin’s strict ban on alcohol advertisements. Oddly, the worry over the ban extends not only to alcohol, but items that are only remotely related to alcohol. Russian media suggested anti-drinking campaigners might have more work left to do in the region.
Continue Reading Russians Remove Vodka Sculpture
Well Preserved did a vodka infusion over the holidays. Unfortunately, they left the infusion in too long and the infusion went bitter. They didn’t want to throw it away, so they tried to revive the bitter infusion. The found the following to work: Don`t panic. Don`t throw it out. Keep calm. Carry on. Strain the entire lot through several layers of cheesecloth to remove any solids. This worked well and lowered the bitterness from battery
Continue Reading Saving a Bad Infusion
There’s a cool new company making spirits for bartenders. Via Forbes, 86 Co is making vodka, rum, gin, and tequila. Based on Larry Olmsted’s reviews, the gin is good and the rum is perfect for mixing, which is what a bartender would be doing. Unfortunately he didn’t try the vodka. The cool part about 86 Co is the attention they paid to the bottle design. With multiple gripping points and fluid measurements imprinted on the
Continue Reading 86 Co’s Spirits Are Designed For Bartenders
The Financial Post has an article on Stoked Vodka’s attempt to get funding from the reality TV show Dragons’ Den. Stoked failed to get funding, but it’s an interesting read of two ladies in Georgia deciding to start up a vodka company. If you ever wanted to start your own vodka company, give it a read.
Riverfront Times has an interview with Pete Kelly, founder of Salute American Vodka. Salute American Vodka was created with the goal of donating to veterans. In June 2011 I met some folks who had started a veterans’ charity. They were looking for a way to raise funds to help women and men who come back from serving reintegrate into society. Find a job, go back to work, start a business, whatever it might be. I
Continue Reading Salute American Vodka Supporting Veterans
BlackBook took a look at Exclusiv and wondered if a spirit can be too cheap to succeed. With a $10 price tag, they were quite pleased with Exclusiv over all, but worried that people would dismiss it as bottom shelf. If you’re reading this post, you probably know about some great cheap vodkas like Sobieski and don’t really care what you pay as long as the vodka is great. The real question is whether most
Continue Reading Blackbook Asks Can A Spirit Be Too Cheap To Win?
The Telegraph is featuring Konik’s Tail success despite running on a shoe string budget. The Polish vodka brand couldn’t get funding because the vodka market was saturated. Instead, Pleurat Shabani bootstrapped his brand with private funding from friends and family, ultimately being voted as the most loved vodka by 50 top bars. Interesting to note, the label was designed and written by Hugh Laurie as a favor to Shabani’s wife, Laurie’s former PA. The reason
Continue Reading Konik’s Tail Successful Despite Self-funding
Digiday talked with Ciroc Content Director Aubrey Flynn about the vodka maker’s content strategy. The growth in consumer demand for content is at an all-time high. We live in an age where people are checking their social network pages before they go to sleep and first thing in the morning when they wake up, scrolling and searching for something that will engage them.