The Spirit World

Out pounding the virtual pavement, so you don’t have to…

The most important story of the week is a sad one: beer and whiskey doyen Michael Jackson has died at age 65. My own evolution from occasional social drinker to spirit and cocktail enthusiast began with my interest in single malt Scotch in the late nineties. Throughout that period, Michael Jackson’s Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch was my bible, and I’m sure he had an equal or greater impact on many more of our readers. See The Beer Hunter for complete coverage.

Announcements

Recall Notice: Massachusetts company Stirrings LLC is recalling its 3.5 oz packages of Rimmer® Brand Mojito Cocktail Garnish.

Bourbon lovers, your time has come… for a month. The US Senate has declared September National Bourbon Heritage Month.

Got what it takes to turn a pear into the perfect cocktail? There might be $1,000 in it for you if you do. Cocktail magazine Imbibe has partnered with USA Pears to announce The LiquidPearfection Cocktail Contest, entry deadline October 10th. (Links found via About.Com:Cocktails.)

And In Other News…

Robert Hess has a new episode of The Cocktail Spirit, detailing the whiskey sour, on The Small Screen Network. As usual, Robert’s treatment of the drink is historically well informed, and tells you just what to do to create hand-crafted perfection.

Donovan Hall, over at The Daily Catch, visits two Brooklyn beer bars that would be worth stopping in if you were in the area.

Back in June, our Robert Hess wrote a dandy post announcing St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. This week, the folks at A Dash of Bitters have used it in an intriguing looking concoction: The Flying Cucumber. I would be putting one together right now if I had St. Germain.

Most of us strive for a balanced cocktail when deciding how much alcohol to include in a drink, but a London bar has launched a series of vodka-based cocktails that take a novel alternative approach: the amount of vodka is determined by the current trading values of five Russian companies.

Coors Brewing Co. has announced that it will venture into the high end of the beer market, competing with microbrews and craft beers, with the formation of “a small brewing subsidiary called AC Golden Brewing Co. to cultivate above-premium products”. Other breweries such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Molson have recently experimented with similar marketing initiatives. A spokesman for Moslon says they’re “looking to replicate the success of its Blue Moon White Belgian Ale”. Sounds to me like the Coors marketing folks should give me a call and pay big bucks for my DNA and demographic info: I happen to have 11 beers in my fridge right now, six Coors and five Blue Moons. Call me Mr. Target Market.

OK, talk about niche marketing: Cognac-World has announced the development of “holographic shrink sleeves with 5 levels of protection for XO cognacs from Hennessy”. These aren’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, garden-variety holographic shrink sleeves, understand: four years of R&D led to “ability to remember deformations, relief and 3D effects, six-color helio-engraving, special effects such as multichromy, luminescence”.

Labor-intensive Drinks for Labor Day: New York’s Daily News has a nice little article on Drinks Worth the Wait. The drinks look intriguing; the unifying thread among the group seems to be lengthy lists of ingredients and rather involved mixing instructions.

Whisky magazine has announced the winners of this year’s World Whiskies Awards. You’ll need to subscribe to the magazine to get the full story, but William Dowd has posted a list of the winners at Dowd’s Spirit Notebook

That’s it for this week’s round up. If something on the Web catches your eye, and you’d like to see it highlighted here, feel free to drop a note: bradgad at gmail dot com.