The winemaking process continues over at Wired…

All of the hangover, none of the glory.

An experimental drug that blocks the euphoric feelings associated with drinking may prevent alcoholics from relapsing. The finding, the result of a mouse study at Oregon Health & Science University, could lead to human clinical trials within the next year.

Good news for alcoholics and fraternities who use the stuff to screw with pledges.

Like you, when I think “vodka,” I immediately think “Minnesota.” Wait, what? Shocking, but it’s true: One of the best vodkas going right now is from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, right here in the U. S. of A.

Strange, sure, but like Tito and Boomerang have proven, good vodka need not come from frozen, northern Europe. Distilled from organic, yellow corn (grown from a co-op of 900 Minnesota farmers, we’re told), this 80-proofer is one of the cleanest vodkas I’ve tasted. There’s a light, yet pleasant medicinal character to the aroma and the first sip, and then… nothing. The finish is bare of any aftertaste, and though I strained to taste the “melon and pear” hints that Prairie claims, I could detect nothing. Prairie wisps away like it was water, leaving you with a fresh and clean palate, ready for another sip. I’ve never finished off a shot of vodka so quickly… by sipping it, I mean. Works great in mixed drinks, too.

With a suggested retail price of $25 (it’s still hard to find), Prairie is practically a bargain in a world of ultra-pricey spirits. Snap it up immediately if you can find it.

And to think, they want to run cars on this stuff. The nerve!

A / $25 / prairievodka.com

In the world of wine gadgets, there are fancy thermometers, cool glasses, and high-end corkscrews. And then there is WinePod, which lets you make your own wine, 48 bottles at a time, from frozen grapes, year-round.

I installed a WinePod in my house last week, and my first 150 pounds of grapes go into it tomorrow afternoon.

This is too much for Drinkhacker alone, so Wired is letting me write about the experience on their hallowed website. Blog #1 is now live. Follow the adventure by clicking on over!

Wired: Winebloggin’ Episode 1

A: Landscape.

Broken glass, 900 tons of broken bottles, is the key ingredient for the project alongside the interstate.

“On the surface it may seem like a kooky idea,” said Caltrans spokesman Mark Dinger. “We’re putting it in an elevated area where pedestrians are not allowed.”

The new landscaping is carrying on the new color scheme through the I-5 corridor through downtown Sacramento. Over a clear glass base, backhoes are scooping a green and amber combination, topped off by a special layer of broken blue from Skyy Vodka bottles.

Intriguing… but broken glass makes me nervous no matter where it is.

Full story here.

This is from a press release from Anheuser-Busch, so take its findings with a grain of salt. But the upshot seems to be true: People, particularly 30-to-49-year-olds, are drinking more beer.

The annual Consumption Habits poll, released Friday through Gallup’s Web site, shows that in combined data from Gallup’s 2004 and 2005 Consumption surveys, drinkers between the ages of 30 and 49 were about as likely to prefer wine as beer. Now, drinkers in this age bracket have shifted back to beer, with an average of 47 percent in the combined 2007-2008 data saying they most often drink beer. Drinking preferences among adults ages 21-29 have remained stable in recent years, with the majority showing a wide preference for beer.

The unofficial well Bourbon at Drinkhacker HQ? Knob Creek.

It’s 100 proof, so it can get a little hot when drinking straight, but add a touch of water and KC mellows out nicely. “The Creek” has everything you want in a Bourbon without being too complicated. Mild vanilla and toasty oak notes, backed up with cedary spiciness and a grainlike character that calls out to the sour mash base from which Bourbon arises.

This isn’t a sweet whiskey like many modern, juice-cocktail-friendly blends. This is a Bourbon for simple drinks, retro and classic cocktails (it’s great in a Manhattan), and the occasional shot. Knob Creek is, to put it in terms as sexist as possible, a man’s drink.

Oh, and at $26 a bottle (and often cheaper), it’s not too expensive, though it is a step up in price from Jim Beam, JD, or Evan Williams. In fact, it’s a bit similar to Jack Daniel’s, and I often recommend it to JD drinkers who are looking to move up to something in the neighborhood… but better.

Also very cool: The Knob Creek folks sent me the bottle below with a custom label and my name on it. Now if that doesn’t make drinking fun, I don’t know what does. Order your own — the label is free; you provide the bottle of whiskey — by clicking here.

A- / $26 / knobcreek.com

Proof that you can turn just about any ingredient into a cocktail: The folks at Grey Poupon (yes, that Grey Poupon) have come up with a quintet of mustard-based cocktails.

While Monday morning may be a little too early for a concoction of honey mustard, pomegranate juice, and gin, maybe when I get really adventurous I’ll have to give one of these a try. Perhaps most intriguing is the idea of drinking coarse-ground mustard in a cocktail. To wit:

Tequila Maria
1 teaspoon GREY POUPON Harvest Coarse Ground Mustard
¾ cup (6 oz.) tomato juice
¾ cup (6 oz.) beer
2 tablespoons tequila
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 CLAUSSEN Kosher Dill Pickle Spear

Mix all ingredients except pickle. Serve over ice. Garnish with pickle.

Drink while watching this…

The four Cognacs reviewed below represent $1,150 worth of booze (in 750ml bottle formats)… and compared to the latest entry in Delamain’s collection, that’s pretty much nothing.

Delamain’s latest — Le Voyage — costs $7,000 a bottle, which includes a Baccarat decanter and leather “traveling box.” I haven’t tried Le Voyage (that’s on tap, I’m promised, in September, when Delamain brings a bottle to town in that leather box), but the company was kind enough to send minis of its four most widely available spirits (all are 80 proof) in advance of the grand arrival. Here are some thoughts.

Delamain “Pale & Dry” XO - It’s rare that a brandy maker’s cheapest bottling is an XO, which is the top grade of brandy for most mainstream manufacturers. (”Extra Old” typically entails a minimum of 6 1/2 years in cask and often climbs well into the double digits.) Delamain doesn’t indicate a cask time for its XO, and it’s the lightest in color of the four tasted here. Vanilla is strong in this one, with a lot of alcoholic heat. The floral notes present are overpowered by the vanilla, ultimately, leaving you with an intriguing spirit that is reminiscent of good bourbon. Very good. B+ / $149

Delamain Vesper - No relation to the Vesper cocktail, Vesper is older than the XO and different in style. Vanilla is still strong here, but the spirit is heavier, with a caramel apple character that’s really enticing. Oaky and hefty in the mouth, this is a very smooth brandy that goes down so easily it’s silly. A- / $199

Delamain Tres Venerable Cognac de Grande Champagne - How venerable? Tres venerable. This “extremely old” Cognac tastes, quite frankly, too old, picking up perhaps a charcoal-like character from all that time in the cask. Very woody and a tad bitter, it’s not my favorite of the line. B / $399

Delamain Extra de Grande Champagne - Woody, but with a curious secondary set of characters of apples, butter… maybe mushrooms and escargot. Call me crazy. Great blending job on this… the perfumy notes stays with you for minutes… you can smell hints of the Extra long after you swallow your last drop. Really impressive. Comes in a fancy, squat decanter. A / $399

Here’s what the minis look like… though you won’t see them available for sale, sadly.

le-cognac.com/delamain

If Bourbon & Branch is SF’s “east side” kingpin, Alembic represents the west side. Nestled in the heart of the Haight-Ashbury, it’s another Mecca for drinking junkies looking for innovative cocktails using unusual, and in some cases, home-made, ingredients.

The Alembic Bar is a dainty small place, mostly just counter service with only a few small tables for those who arrive early. My pal Alexei and I were lucky enough to get one, and we were taken care of by a stellar waitress who was zippy and helpful throughout the night.

The cocktail menu is daunting: Two pages of mixed drinks and scads of straight liquors, wine, and beer. It’s the only bar I’ve been to that has both Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose on the menu.

Naturally we started with cocktails, which Alembic separates into “the canon” and the “new school.” From the canon came The Vieux Carre: A Manhattan-like libation with rye and Cognac instead of Bourbon, which I found nicely sweet but maybe would have been better as a straight Manhattan. Best part: The home-made brandied cherries as a garnish.

Surprisingly similar was the new school “Vow of Silence,” a more bitter concoction of rye, Benedictine, Creme de Griotte (a cherry liqueur), and bitters. The wide swath of orange peel garnish really made the drink, but by the end I was ready for something far less bitter. My next cocktail was a likely downfall (more on this later): The Macanudo looks good on paper — tequila, apricot eau-de-vie, agave nectar, and black tea liqueur — and the smoky-sweet combo was pretty good, but again I found myself wishing I’d just had a regular shot of tequila instead of such a complicated blend.

We finished up the night with a dessert wine and, at Alexei’s urging, a very sour Belgian beer which we both agreed was not to our taste and left mostly unconsumed.

One big thing in Alembic’s court over B&B is that it serves food: A complete menu, in fact. The bacon cracker jacks (exactly what it sounds like: caramel popcorn, cashews, and bacon) is a must-order, and the shishito peppers were a knockout. I was less thrilled with the Moroccan-spiced lamb sliders, which were totally overpowering for anything other than knocking back with plain beer.

I didn’t feel like I drank very much that night (two cocktails, really), but boy did I pay for it the next day with an awful hangover. I blame that Macanudo, and will never follow up whiskey with tequila again. But even more disconcerting is that the three cocktails (all three served unimpressively in boring, oversized coupe glasses) just weren’t much to write home about. All three were perfectly fine, but nothing better than drinks I’ve come up with on my own and nowhere near the masterful creations on display over at Bourbon & Branch. In this battle of the bars, there’s really no question who’s the champ.

alembicbar.com