Monthly Archives: February 2009

Pepsi and Mountain Dew to Offer Cane Sugar Versions

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

“Mexican Cokes” — imported cola sweetened with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup — are all the rage right now, mainly because they’re perceived as a healthier (or at least less full of chemicals) way to drink soda. Many believe they taste better, too, but side by side, tasted blind, the differences are nearly impossible to discern.

Either way, Pepsi now says it’s bringing a cane sugar-sweetened soda to the U.S. for real, no trucking bottles from across the border required:

This year also brings some new introductions, graphics and packaging innovations from PepsiCo, for which the company has high expectations. In CSD flavors, PBV will add Mountain Dew Voltage, which was the winning flavor in the brand’s Dewmocracy campaign. In the middle of April, PBV also will begin distributing Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which features those brands formulated with sugar. For the flagship PepsiCo brands, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist, PBV also is beginning to distribute the brands featuring their new redesigned graphics and packaging, which is part of a holistic campaign aimed at drawing in younger consumers. PepsiCo also is launching a new advertising campaign with the release.

Looking forward to trying Pepsi Throwback alongside Pepsi — a “Pepsi Challenge” for the ’00s — when it’s released in April. But seriously: a cane sugar-sweetened of the antifreeze-as-soft-drink known as Mountain Dew? What’s the point of that?

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Mixers

Review: Double Cross Vodka

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Nothing sinister about the name, I assure you. Double Cross refers two, well, two crosses, as seen on the label and on the coat of arms of Slovakia, the country from which this vodka hails. There are certainly other Slovak vodkas out there, but this is the only one I’ve tried to date.

Distilled seven times from organic winter wheat, and filtered seven times through diamond dust, charcoal, and limestone filters, you can’t argue with Double Cross’s top-tier pedigree.

The nose: Very much like a traditional vodka, with a moderate medicinal/antiseptic character and more distant notes of sugar and fresh bread. The body is quite similar – up-front with its medicinal notes, then fading away to a sweeter finish. There are highlights in the mid-palate of orange peel and exotic spice — cinnamon, cardamom, cloves — but these are subtle compared to the antiseptic character, which is always tough to knock down. Vodka purists will likely enjoy this one, as its complexities emerge with extended drinking. Unusually, I find it better on the rocks than straight from the freezer. Though it’s just 80 proof, a little water tends to help even things out.

By the way, the monolith of a bottle is both striking (in or out of the wooden case it comes with) and totally unwieldy. Never mind difficulty pouring from it — just holding the bottle is difficult. Amazing to look at, though.

Currently available only in New York and New Jersey.

B / $45 / doublecrossvodka.com

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Rated B, Reviews, Vodka

Review: Fever-Tree Ginger Ale

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Christopher Null| 4 Comments

Well known for its line of artisan mixers, Fever-Tree is definitely a brand to watch out for if you’re looking to elevate your simplest of cocktails (gin and tonic, scotch and soda, or whatnot) to something more impressive. After all, a tall gin & tonic is probably 70% tonic, depending on your glass, so the quality of the mixer is going to have a huge impact on how the drink tastes.

Fever-Tree’s ginger ale is, like all of the company’s products, flavored with all-natural ingredients (cane sugar, not corn syrup). Popping a bottle open, I was surprised to discover how light and fresh the drink tasted. Most “artisan” ginger ales are hefty with lots of pungent ginger, but Fever-Tree tastes more like 7-Up with a nice ginger aftertaste. It’s sweeter than most ginger ales, too (and slightly higher in calories, ounce for ounce), but overall really pleasant. Carbonation is on the lighter side, which makes it go down perhaps too easily.

This is exceptionally easy to drink on its own, but of course it’s a real winner in a cocktail. If you’re looking for a touch of ginger in your cocktail rather than overwhelming ginger character, Fever-Tree is the bottle to grab.

Incidentally, the company also recently announced a ginger beer — which I imagine will have a far stronger flavor — though I haven’t seen it on shelves yet.

A- / $5.69 for four-pack of 6.8-oz. bottles / fever-tree.com

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Mixers, Rated A-, Reviews

Review: Canadian Club 30 Year Old Limited Edition Whisky

Posted on February 14, 2009 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

Celebrating 150 years of whiskymaking, Canadian Club recently put out a very limited edition 30-year-old bottling. With just 3000 bottles produced (there’s no mention of it on the Canadian Club website), finding it might be tough. But if you track it down, here’s what you should expect the experience to be like.

Bright amber in color, the nose is surprisingly light and only hints at wood. The first taste of the body reveals light wood notes but lots of flavor beyond that. Dried apple and banana, caramel and honey, and a good amount of spice from the rye component here. The whisky starts out hot but soon mellows — you really don’t need water with it — and its character grows the more you taste it.

There’s a touch of bitterness on the finish that tarnishes an otherwise very interesting and fairly well-balanced whisky, but it’s not quite on par with Crown Royal No. 16, which still stands as my top ultra-premium Canadian (and runs half the price).

80 proof.

A- / $200 / canadianclubwhisky.com

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Canadian Whisky, Rated A-, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon 1999

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Christopher Null| 7 Comments

While Evan Williams may be best known for it’s $9.49 black label bourbon, the fact is the company makes a wide range of whiskeys spanning a range of price levels.

While not its most expensive concoction, this vintage-dated, single-barrel bourbon is near the top for the company, though at just $30 a bottle (sometimes less), it’s awfully affordable for what is the only vintage-dated single barrel Kentucky bourbon on the market.

EW’s been doing vintage single-barrel bourbon for at least a decade now, and the new 1999 bottling has yet to hit the market. I got a bottle from barrel #10, bottled on December 1, 2008.

The nose is immediately woody, a lumberyard aroma filling the room when you uncork the bottle. The initial taste bears that out as well, wood cut with some smokiness from spending almost 10 years in the barrel. More traditional bourbon character awaits underneath that thick layer of wood, with some light honey, vanilla, and even candy-like notes present. Still, this is a whiskey dominated by wood and smoke, and you’ll need to prepare for that accordingly. Some of that character fades as the whiskey opens up in the glass — improving the balance of the spirit considerably — so pour your after dinner quaff before you sit down to eat. It’ll be perfect by the time dessert arrives.

86.6 proof.

B+ / $30 / evanwilliams.com

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Bourbon, Rated B+, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Right Gin

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Christopher Null| 5 Comments

Who knew they made gin in Sweden?

Right Gin may in fact be the only gin from Sweden, but remember that gin is really just flavored vodka, which Sweden certainly knows from Adam.

The flavor choices here are largely traditional — juniper, coriander, cardamom, and a variety of citrus botanicals (including lemon as well as bitter orange, bergamot, and lime) — but the real surprise in Right Gin is the addition of black pepper — yes, black pepper like the stuff on your dining table.

First sip offers up-front citrus, and orange peel is strong on the nose, too. Juniper is moderate but fades away quickly. And then that pepper kicks in. It’s extremely strange, and so unexpected it’s difficult to place properly when you taste it in a gin. I’m glad Right told me they use pepper in the blend or I would have had a tough time placing it. But once you realize that’s what you’re tasting, you can almost taste nothing else in it, at least after the initial citrus punch fades away.

The pepper character makes Right — which, on the whole, is quite drinkable — somewhat inflexible as a cocktail ingredient. It might work better in a gibson than a martini, for example, and isn’t really cut out for fruit-oriented cocktails like a casino. Right’s best concoction? Probably a good-old gin and tonic, where pepper actually enhances the drink.

80 proof.

B / $40 / rightgin.com

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Gin, Rated B, Reviews

Taste the Rainbow, Then Pass Out Drunk

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Christopher Null| 2 Comments

How to make Skittles infused vodka. I love it!

Now I wonder… what other candies would make a good vodka?

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Vodka

Review: Firefly Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Christopher Null| 35 Comments

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is one of those drinks that can get you into a lot of trouble. No, not like this stuff. Like good whiskey, Firefly goes down absurdly easy, enticing you into drinking more and more and more and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz….. well, then you’re gone.

I was a skeptic: Vodka flavored with tea? Sounds ridiculous. Why not a sweet tea liqueur, I wondered? Or why not just drink spiked tea?

Firefly’s label quickly proves you wrong, offering a single, simple recipe idea to change your mind: Half Firefly, half water, on the rocks.

Take a sip and — my God — it tastes just like a really good cup of iced tea. The “sweet” on the label is misleading — this is not saturated in sugar like some cloying southern brews, though it is sweet enough to feel completely refreshing. Really it’s the tea flavor that comes through the strongest, just like well-steeped, very strong Lipton’s. (And rest assured, the flavor is legit, made with the only tea grown in the country, just five miles from the company’s Charleston distillery.)

The end result is very refreshing, and while I have no idea what else I might use Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka for, I don’t really feel like I need to: It’s great just like this, with water and rocks. But at 70 proof, even watering it down to double volume will get you a drink stronger than a glass of wine, but it goes down far, far more quickly. Be careful with this stuff. Just like an innocent southern belle, it’s got more fire under the surface than you’ll ever know.

A / $18 / fireflyvodka.com

→ 35 Comments

Posted in Flavored Vodka, Rated A, Reviews, Vodka

Who’s Drinking “The Sully”?

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

From an airline site:

Mark sends me his friend Sassy’s recipe for a new drink, The Sully, honoring Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the intrepid US Airways pilot:

Two shots Grey Goose
One splash water

Cute! Needs a garnish, though… not sure what.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Vodka

Review: Americana Vodka

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

Obama’s in the White House. Hope, change, and all those other buzzwords are on the tip of everyone’s tongue. The economy’s in the toilet, but hey, we’ll take the foregoing as excuse enough for a new “luxury vodka,” and one with a distinctly domestic focus.

With the possible exception of the military-focused Brave Spirits, Americana is the most patriotic spirit we’ve ever received here. Bottled in a red white, and blue bottle and bearing a name that you can’t mistake for anything but pride in one’s country, this is as close as it gets to marrying Rosie the Riveter and adopting a flock of bald eagles.

Oh, so you want to try it? Yeah, OK, sure. Overall, it’s indeed a premium spirit, created not from crushed apple pies but from a combo of wheat, barley, rye, and corn. Distilled four times, it’s then filtered in charcoal seven times and bottled for your approval. I needn’t mention the country of origin, right?

The nose is fainly medicinal, and the body very smooth. Moderate sweetness is surprising from a spirit with such a convoluted origin, and there’s only a hint of medicinality on the finish. It drinks very well straight but works exceptionally well in complex cocktails, where it doesn’t get in the way of whatever else you’re using in your recipe.

The bottle and branding may seem like a gimmick, but give this one a try anyway. I think you won’t be disappointed.

A- / $30 / americanavodka.com