Filed under: Food and Drink, Word on the Street | Tags: american dry, craft, gin, press, spirits
We’ve been saying for years that if you want to make a superlative cocktail from a white spirit then there is no where else to go except for Gin. And how fortunate are we today that the panoply of Gin choices today is better than its ever been in AMERICAN HISTORY, thus we are at the nascent edge of a Gin Renaissance and it’s a glorious time to imbibe cocktails.
A little back-patting is at hand. We released Small’s American Dry gin six years ago and have been dedicated to spreading the word and the love of Gin to our peeps behind the distribution wheel, the dedicated bartenders that work hours that are harder and longer then most realize and to the craft retailers who toil 7 days a week, speaking, sharing and selling craft: without whom we could not produce, exist and grow…thank you all!!! That you could know how grateful we are of your help, your consistency to quality as opposed to “deals,” that you share our story and love our product. Our success is only a shadow of your work and persistence.
Two great articles for Small’s that came out in the last 10 days. So stoked!
12 Great American Gins You Should Absolutely Know!
http://liquor.com/slideshows/new-american-gins/#EPpQ6k36VQoBvuD6.97
Peter Field:
The Consumption of Style: The Betty
http://peterfieldcustom.com/2015/05/01/the-consumption-of-style-the-betty/
By the way Peter, you never looked better with a bow tie!!!!
Filed under: Word on the Street | Tags: Local Wine and Spirits, ransom, spirits, The Hooch Life
The Hooch Life publishes lifestyle articles for enthusiastic drinkers that want to find out what’s happening in the wonderful world of craft. They took a day to hang with Tad Seestedt at what we affectionately call “the farm,” and Emily Hutto created this awesome video. Check out the video.
Ransom Spirits, What’s in a Name Video – Click Here?
Filed under: Making Cocktails, Word on the Street | Tags: Cocktails, local, spirits
Thursday, May 31, 7-8:30 $50
Join us in welcoming back Christophe Bakunas, all-around great guy and Proprietor of Local Wine and Spirits Company, which produces fantastic wine (see the “Sweet Spot” Cabernet our current list) in addition to artisanal, boutique spirits. Christophe will teach us how to shake, stir (and drink!) perfect summer cocktails, and “cocktail kits” with booze and recipes will be available for purchase after class. Cocktails will include Christophe’s signature John Collins, Rosemary Vodka Spritz, White Wine Refresher, Hemingway Daiquiri, and his Whiskey Daisy. Not to be missed!
Home Page – The Chopping Block
Filed under: Libations, Travel, Word on the Street | Tags: american history, flappers, old tom, prohibition, spirits
Did you know that women were not allowed in bars in the 19th century? Really? That seems like a serious flaw in the social fabric of attempting through swagger, humor or dumb luck to pick up girls at the local tavern. God bless the generation of our great, great grandfathers who persevered until we arrived at the age of Liberalism.
The term “flappers” comes from the 1920’s during the Prohibition Era and connoted women who eschewed rigorous social standards and did crazy things like drink alcohol in bars (speakeasies) drove cars and wore shorter skirts. I guess if you have to look for something positive in the failed social experiment of American Prohibition, flappers should be at the top of your list. The dawning of the age of Liberalism is deeply entwined with our American history and the founding of this nation, the pursuit of liberty and equality, which takes social roots in women’s right to vote, right to drink and right to drive. John Locke, the earliest philosopher, political proponent of Liberalism, and a major influence on the founding fathers of America, said, “New opinions are always suspected and usually opposed without any other reason but because they are not already common. ”
America is and will always be a nation of invention, perseverance and leadership. Will we make mistakes? Of course. Will we have prohibition again? Absolutely not. And now that women drink with men (depuis circa 1920), America has exported the concept of cocktails to the world, craft distilleries are on the climb, and classic cocktails are du rigueur.
It was only a few years ago that a bar in middle town anywhere USA would have the same five beers, Bud, Bud Light, Corona, Heineken, Amstel and if you were lucky Sam Adams. Today it is nearly impossible and improbable that you will walk into the same sort of establishment, your local watering hole, neighborhood restaurant, liquor store (excluding the gas stations and 7-Elevens of the world) and not find it replete with micro brews from around the world.
As we experienced a tremendous downturn in our economy an interesting phenomenon occurred. The Federal and State governments were and are in a budget crisis, so what do they loosen up? The right to own permits to brew and distill. Today there are nearly 450 micro distilleries across this great nation. That’s a rocketing 300% growth in the last decade. And good for us the consumer. Our choices for distilled beverages is rapidly increasing and with the increased competition the quality of spirits across the board is getting better and better. Now it’s our job as consumers to ask for more and interesting spirits. I’ll know the day that Main Street has beaten Wall Street when I can walk into an airport in Dallas, Texas or Raleigh, North Carolina and ask for a martinez cocktail, and they’ll not only have Old Tom gin, but they’ll know how to mix this elixir.
Drink well, and ask for the good stuff.
Filed under: Travel, Word on the Street | Tags: chicago, spirits, trade shows, US, wine
Trade shows are the ubiquitous gathering of wine and spirit professionals in regional areas where one distributor takes three or four hours to highlight all their wares and invites their entire customer base to attend. In major markets these events get very large. The question is how do distributors differentiate themselves in this rather cookie cutter style event; how do they position themselves to their customers; and how do the wineries and distilleries that attend make an impact amongst dozens to hundreds of other colleagues vying for the small attention of the buyers? And let’s be honest, palate fatigue sets in rather quickly, there is always a high percentage of consumption which clouds the rational mind (but makes the event a helluva lot of fun) and beverage professionals tend to have short attention spans, especially when coming from the fast paced and hectic environment of restaurants.
I believe that one way to stand out in the crowd, as a producer, is to be honest, humble and sincere (be yourself) and to offer better product and better prices than your competitor. Of course if you have a product that is completely unique, like the only Old Tom Gin produced in America, that makes a huge difference, but if you are making California Cab or Chardonnay, why are you unique? Not saying that you can’t be, but what is it that makes you unique in this over burdened supply side world of domestic and international wines?
And as a distributor, what are you doing to separate yourself from the crowd. Cream Wine Company in Chicago is doing a very interesting thing this year at their annual Small Batch portfolio tasting. And remember, this is one of the top five markets in the US. Only owners, winemakers or distillers are allowed to present at this years tasting. That means no regional sales managers, no marketing interns, no national paper pushers will be pouring and entertaining the beverage professionals. I have not seen this done anywhere else in the US and I love the idea. It gives separation from their peers (distributors) and offers the highest level of quality information to the buyers who attend this tasting because the get to speak directly with the man or woman who is responsible for making the wine, the whiskey, the vodka, etc.
I hope to see more innovations in trade tastings over the coming years. It’s all to easy to fall into conformity and do what the other guy is doing. Let me know what else you’ve seen out there that is unique and wonderful.
Ahhh, gin and cocktails. My friend Neil Loomis of Rendez Vous Bistro in Jackson Hole, WY has been playing with gins and concocted a couple of fantastic cocktails. Try these out tonight or this weekend when you’re entertaining family and friends (heck, I’d do it for myself and have a party of one, chez moi).
A nice twist on the classic Gin Rickey
Basil Rickey-
Lightly muddled basil, with 2 oz Small’s Gin, 1 oz fresh lime juice, splash of simple syrup and filled with club soda served over ice in a high ball
The Presbyterian is a three component cocktail made for parties and church revivals. The classic Presbyterian uses whiskey of one sort or another, but since Ransom Old Tom gin draws from early 1800’s gin distillation techniques which had a kissing cousins relationship with American whiskey, this works great.
Old Tom Presbyterian-
Equal portions of Ransom Old Tom, ginger ale and club soda with orange squeeze garnish served in a high ball.
Enjoy and Sláinte
Ever wonder how many bottles of wine come from an acre of vineyard? Or how many gallons of wine are in a 12 btl case? Even perhaps how many bottles come out of a wine barrel? Of course these numbers may fluctuate based on tons per acre, angel’s share (evaporation), what size barrel or bottle you might be discsussing but here are some interesting numbers you might want to bookmark or download onto your hand held for those evenings that you play Wine Trivia or when you need to impress your father in law while dining out at a fancy restaurant.
California Spring Vineyard
One bottle of wine = 750 ml or 1/5 of a gallon
One case of 12 750ml bottles = 2.4 gallons
One Barrel = 60 gallons – 25 cases or 300 750 ml bottles
One Ton of Grapes = approximately 700 bottles of wine
One Acre of Vineyards – Low yield for high quality wines = 2-4 tons
One Acre of Vineyards – High yield for less expensive wines = 10 tons
Bottle Sizes and Names
Piccolo = .1875 liter (also known as a snipe or a split)
Chopine = .25 liter
Demi = .375 liter (half bottle)
Jennie = .5 liter
Standard = .750 liter
Magnum = 1.5 liter
Jeroboam = 3.0 liter
Methuselah = 6 liter
Salmanazar = 9 liter
Balthazar = 12 liter
Nebuchadnezzar = 15 liter
Filed under: Libations, Travel | Tags: artisan, craft, distillery, gin, spirits, vodka, whiskey
Great article from Kansas City Star. Thanks to ANNE BROCKHOFF, McClatchy Newspapers. And my rants on why craft spirits are superior to big brands.
Two excerpts: “Spirits are also flowing from the country’s more than 200 craft distillers, which make small batches of everything from vodka and gin to whiskey, absinthe and eau de vie. Some bars are sporting bottles from Ransom Spirits of Oregon, producer of Ransom Old Tom and Small’s gins and WhipperSnapper whiskey.”
“The range of new bitters, too, is startling, especially since even the Peychaud’s required for a New Orleans-style Sazerac weren’t distributed in some areas until a couple of years ago. The list now includes everything from lemon, orange and grapefruit to celery, rhubarb and Xocolatl Mole Bitters, which delivers a hit of cacao, cinnamon and spice.
Bars don’t stop at what they can buy, though. Grunauer garnishes drinks with cherries macerated in bourbon, Demerara sugar, pomegranate juice and Fee Brothers Old Fashion bitters. North, in Leawood, roasts fennel seeds with orange and lemon zest and then steeps the results in hot water to make fennel syrup for its Succo di Bacca, a long drink with rum, strawberries, lemon juice and Moscato d’Asti.”
To read the full article: Kansas City Star Bar Stars
From our distillery and copper pot still in Oregon
I’m seeing excitement for cocktails spring up all over the country and in places that you would think are behind the curve. The internet and all the social media that we have access to is spreading trends and information across the country like wildfire, I’ve never seen anything like it in my nearly 20 years in the beverage industry. It is so fucking exciting to watch craft cocktails and spirits bloom and feel the enthusiasm from the street level percolate up. Consumers are in for an intense and mind-blowing decade as more and more high quality spirits spread across the corners of our beautiful country. The most amazing thing here is that the quality of product you can find from spirits, to liqueurs, to bitters is increasing so rapidly that the big companies are going to have to start looking over their shoulders. A movement is a foot by many savvy bartenders to eschew the large, mass-produced brands for the craft and local spirits because they frankly are better and cost the same. When you can give your customer a superior product for the same price and also know that you support a real family (or families that you might even know personally) it does something inside of you that simply makes you feel good.
One of the major reasons why craft spirits are often superior is because artisan distillers don’t operate on the same business model as the Megalodon companies do. We take lower profit margins, work with the sweat of our brow to make something we are extremely proud of and travel coach and economy to get around the country. We don’t have marketing budgets for TV, sexy show girls, full-page color adds in Sports Illustrated and radio plugs, thus we spend our money on raw ingredients and get the word out one person at a time. That might be old school to some, but I know that the personal relationship and handshake means a helluva lot more than razzle dazzle glitz that costs millions.
Eat and drink large
Local Wine Co's Blog 