The Sipping News

Wine Spectator's John Shanken buys Malt Advocate, thus added a whiskey title to his empire of wine and cigars. If this merger ends up increasing the number of issues of MA, I'd say it's a good thing. (I write for both Wine Spectator and Malt Advocate.) [Cowdery]

Is it difficult to name cocktails? It's difficult to name them well, that's for sure. [NY Times]

The latest in liquor packaging: single serve plastic wine glasses. Jesus God. Even more tacky than box wine. Get 'em at Marks and Spencer! [Dr. Vino]

Slate takes a long look at the rare wine world, which many believe has been utterly "polluted by fraud." [Slate]

Eric Asimov drinks some American Gewurtztraminers and is disappointed. [NYT]

Two Single Malt Scotches Go Kosher

Glenmorangie, the Highland Single Malt Scotch, has been at the forefront of a lost of Scotch movements in recent years, including the drive to experiment with barrel aging behind the usual regimen of used Sherry and Bourbon barrels.

Now, the distiller can crow about another first: Earlier this month, Glenmorangie became the first Single Malt Scotch to be declared kosher. The second to claim such a distinction, Ardbeg, a peaty Islay scotch, followed close behind. Both whiskies are owned by Moët Hennessy.

The distillery and every stage of the distilling progress was inspected by a rabbinical authority, one who will return every six months to make sure everything is on the up and up. The kosher certification is only for Glenmorangie original and Ardbeg original. Other expressions of Glenmorangie will never get the kosher nod, as they are aged in barrels that formerly contained wines and fortified wines like Sherry, Sauternes and Port.

Bombay Sapphire to Release New Gin Expression in Late 2010

Bombay Sapphire, the ubiquitous, blue-bottled, and wildly successful offshoot of Bombay Gin, will have a brother by the end of the year.

The Bacardi-distributed product will see its line extended by one in late 2010/early 2011 with a new brand featuring additional botanicals, as well as those found in regular Sapphire. The move follows rival Beefeater's recent efforts to expand its expressions, releasing both Beefeater 24 and Beefeater Summer in the past two years.

Bombay Sapphire was launched in 1987, and was one of the first premium gins to hit the market. It has long since outpaced in sales the original Bombay Gin—which, I'm convinced, many people don't even know exists anymore.  The flavouring of Sapphire comes from a recipe of ten botanicals: almond, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb, and grains of paradise. Unlike the distillation methods of other, more traditional gins, the botanicals are not steeped in the spirit. Rather, the spirit is triple distilled and the alcohol vapours are passed through a mesh basket containing the ten botanicals in order to catch the flavour and aroma. The result is a lighter—and, to critics, more vodka-like—gin.

The new bottling—which is, at yet, unnamed—will add a few ingredients to the regular botanical mix. What they are has not been revealed, but the result it touted to be a "crisp, vibrant flavor." Price will be about the same as standard Sapphire.

DIY Bitters in Brooklyn

The current issue of the ever-handsome-looking Edible Brooklyn has the first article I've written for the publication. Topic: folks who take their cocktail drinking into their own hands by making homemade bitters. Take a glance:

Sweet on Bitters

By Robert Simonson

 Mixologist Damon Boelte first saw the tall pear tree behind Frankies Spuntino in 2008 when the Carroll Gardens restaurant's owners, Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli (known collectively as the Franks), hired him as a cocktail consultant.

"The first string of meetings, it was summertime and we were sitting in the backyard talking about what we would do," recalls Boelte. "I looked over and saw the tree, and said, ‘Oh, cool-pears! Let's do that!' "

By "that," he meant: make bitters. By the time the Franks opened the bar at Prime Meats, two doors down from Frankies, Boelte had cooked up custom pear bitters made from the fruit of that inspirational tree. His take on the Old-Fashioned forsook the bottled Angostura bitters for which that classic cocktail calls, and instead featured his handcrafted backyard bitters.

Beefeater Summer to Be Followed by Beefeater Winter

Desmond Payne, the master distiller at Beefeater, is not done yet.

Payne, who has in the last two years added to the London gin's line by creating Beefeater 24 (tea notes) and Beefeater Summer (hibiscus and elderflower notes), is working on Beefeater Winter.

Like Summer, Beefeater Winter will be a limited release targeted at a certain time of year. It will build on the classic Beefeater botanical recipe by adding West Indian cinnamon, Indonesian nutmeg and Scotch forest pine.

The Summer, meanwhile, has proved such a hit that it's no longer being sold just in the U.S. market, as was the original plan.  I also learned that, while Beefeater Summer will return each year, the botanical recipe will change. So, if you like the way it tastes, better stock up now. Come fall, it's gone.

Julie Reiner Christens SoHo Bar Lani Kai

Lani Kai will be the name of Julie Reiner's upcoming SoHo bar.

"It’s a beach in Kailua on Oahu," Reiner, a native Hawaiian, told me for an item recently posted in the New York Times' Diner's Journal. "It’s a beach I spent a lot of time at as a kid. It’s a beautiful spot. It’s means ‘heavenly waters.’ For me, the name refers to both the beauty of the island, which I’m trying to capture in this new space, but also to the liquid form itself, which I’m always about." 

The 90 Day Sour

Here I am writing about aged cocktails and how the East Coast has some in the works, but we'll have to wait a bit to taste 'em. And all along Rye, the Williamsburg restaurant and bar, has beaten everyone to the punch.

Their 90-Day Sour has been on the menu for five months. It's the work of head bartender Souther. He puts brandy, orange juice, lemon juice and lime juice in a glass bottle (see below) and lets it sit for 90 days. He then pours it into a highball, floats a bit of Gosling's dark rum, and tops it with grated nutmeg. Souther intends the drink as his homage to tiki cocktails.

It's a beautiful drink, mellow and integrated, with the fresh rum adding an edge and the nutmeg adding spice. Only $10!