Industry Matters/News | Booze Business: A Blog Dedicated to the Business of Spirits and Wine

Blizzard Booze

February 8, 2013 2 Comments

What’s your favorite drink when it’s cold, snowing and you want to feel cozy?

I posed this question to friends on Facebook and via email all across the country. The answers ran the gamut from expected to exotic and everything in between including weather related, as in “Hey, I’m in the sunbelt, I don’t have that problem.”

Amidst the Sidecar, Hot Apple Pie, Hot Buttered Sorel (from my friend Jack at Sorel Liqueur), Manhattans, 25-year-old single malts, and a Cognac near a fireplace; I received some interesting comments –

My friend the blogger and foodie Mary Ellen Griffin, “I am just a simple, old fashioned girl who likes a very well aged (and properly decanted) vintage port in front of the fire.” Her blog is here. Hmm, Port gives me heartburn but I love the imagery.

From my daughter and former partner Michelle (the “M” in AM Shapiro), “Hot cocoa with a shot of Godiva liquor. I think u taught me that one!” Atta girl, but ever since Diageo got its hands on Godiva, we no longer speak of it.

For you ex-Seagram folks, here’s a bunch from Mark Levine in Seattle, “Gosh, hard to decide: Igor the invisible or Pasha with a touch of Cherry Swiss…. no, no wrong. It must be Sabra…no, no…I know it this time…without question, my favorite, and I wish I could get it…. Lochan Ora warmed in a snifter.” That’s a trip down Memory Lane (maybe Nightmare Lane).

Booze and Bullets?

January 27, 2013 1 Comment

Guns and wine

Buffalo Trace Newsletter reprinted a story from Decanter with the following headline:

“National Rifle Association starts wine club.” Huh?

Apparently the association has linked up with a wine club and is offering home delivery of wines for members and nonmembers.

The website offers these inducements: “Now you can support the 2nd Amendment with every wine you buy.” It also offers new members a “nine-piece custom NRA engraved wine box” when they join. A portion of the profits will apparently go into the coffers of the NRA as it battles gun control legislation.

One of my readers had the following questions about this link between the NRA and the wine club.

“Will the NRA recommend a cabernet to go with Moose?”

“Is it white or red while you clean your shot gun?”

“Is the wine box good for target practice?”

Actually, according to the Huffington Post, the National Rifle Association has hosted a wine club since 2007, but word of it only recently came out as a result all the current press. The story goes on to say that, an Australian winery is pulling its wines from the club in protest against the NRA’s views. Others have not objected.

What’s your take?

Booze Blues

December 28, 2012 2 Comments

The hangover – lots of interesting ways to describe it: “I have post party trauma”; “someone slipped me a bad ice cube”; “suffering the wrath of grapes”; “the high cost of low living” and my favorite, “I was over served.”

No matter how you describe it, over indulgence can be painful the morning after. So, as a public service effort on behalf of my readers, I scoured the web for solutions.

First, how does it happen? Aside from the fact that you drank too much (duh), alcohol in large amounts creates a diuretic effect. The body will try to replenish the loss of liquid, often sending a message in the form of dry mouth. According to a researcher at George Mason University, “the body’s organs will attempt to replenish their own water, usually stealing water from the brain…” Hence, the headache.

While there doesn’t seem to be a sure fire cure, there are lots of remedies. They work by providing chemicals your body needs. Eggs, for example contain cysteine, an amino acid that helps your liver. Potassium, fructose, sodium and, of course, water are beneficial the next day.