Oooooo, Beverage Scientist Stuff.

I got a press release today and felt as though I should share in the silliness.

WORLD’S FIRST COMPLETE RECOVERY BEVERAGE LAUNCHES
Code Blue Hydrates, Replenishes and Detoxifies to Help You Feel Better Faster

New York, NY – January 15, 2009 – Code Blue™, the world’s first complete recovery drink, launched today and is available for purchase on www.drinkcodeblue.com. Designed by beverage scientists to revive your body, Code Blue’s powerful ingredients help you feel better faster by combating dehydration, replenishing vital nutrients and removing harmful toxins.

Code Blue was created for people who enjoy going out at night but need to wake up feeling refreshed the next morning. Code Blue can be consumed before, during and after a night out to speed the recovery process and bring the body back into balance.

Michael Sachs, former brand manager of Grey Goose Vodka, joined brothers Jeffrey Frumin and Steven Frumin, who led winning beverage campaigns with their marketing company UCG, to found Code Blue. The founders combined decades of experience in the beverage and nightlife industries to develop the concept, filling a need in the marketplace for a complete recovery beverage.

“We’ve seen people turning to any beverage available hoping for a complete recovery solution, from sports drinks to vitamin-infused waters to Pedialyte®, but nothing is as effective as Code Blue,” said Michael Sachs.

Code Blue’s revolutionary formula is backed by some of the biggest names in the beverage industry including: Jack Belsito, Former CEO of Snapple; Hank McInerney, Former CEO of Tetley Tea; and David Kanbar, Former EVP and Director of Skyy Spirits.

“Every ingredient in Code Blue performs a specific task in restoring the body to its natural condition and promoting healthy liver and kidney function,“ said Sumner Katz, the Tufts University scientist behind Code Blue’s formulation and a veteran in the food science industry.

Code Blue is the first ready-to-drink beverage to include Reduced Glutathione, one of the most powerful antioxidants available. Reduced Glutathione helps to neutralize free radicals and is a key mechanism in the body’s purification process.

Code Blue is also the first beverage to contain a proprietary blend of Prickly Pear Juice and Agave Nectar. Prickly Pear acts as a natural anti-inflammatory that boosts the immune system. It has been used for centuries by indigenous Mexican tribes to treat a variety of ailments and conditions.

The drink is sweetened with natural Agave Nectar, which also serves to replenish the body by providing essential vitamins and minerals. Natural citrus flavors combined with Agave Nectar and Prickly Pear Juice create a great tasting, functional beverage.

Code Blue contains the optimal amount of electrolytes to help consumers stay hydrated and a potent vitamin and mineral complex, including high levels of Vitamins B12, B6 and Vitamin C, as well as Vitamin A, Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium. Code Blue has only 60 calories, contains no caffeine and is low in sugar and carbohydrates.

Code Blue is packaged in a fully recyclable 12 oz PET opaque blue bottle. Its cutting edge design utilizes “LiquidMetal” technology to replicate a polished metal look, and a 3D Holographic Ink label which provides a strong shelf presence.

The recovery beverage will be available in select nightclubs, restaurants and hotels beginning in September 2008, with retail establishments to follow.

Chugging a MGD with a few aspirin always seems to work for me.

Flame up on Bauer's Blog

Yes, I read Michael Bauer's blog.

No, I have never and probably won't ever comment on it.

Holy Schnikies, did cocktail culture catch some flames on the most recent post

Another Completely Un-Booze Related Post

I love San Francisco.

Someone took it upon themselves to relabel most of Bush Street last night in honor of our new President.

I thank them...hilarious.

I wish Mr. Obama the best of luck, this ain't gonna be easy.

Glorious, Digital Cocktail-Geekery

The right proper Mr. Simon Difford of the eponymous guide sent a release today unveiling his new iPhone Ap, Cocktails Made Easy.

I pronounce it good. Very good in fact. But as with the original Difford's Guides (actual paper is so 2006) the real value for me is not the spot-on recipes and meticulous technique. It's the pics.

Absolutely beautiful, clinically clean images of pristine cocktails.

Inspiring.

Also, the shaking option which just brings up a random drink his a blast.

I Thank You V.

One of the truely great things about being a bartender, or more specificly, running a bar program to be proud of, is the chance to turn deserving and appreciative guests on to special products. My bar is lucky in that we have more than our fair share of foodies, wine geeks, spiritists, hop-heads and mixies that are quite happy to listen to us when we are jazzed those beautiful things that make our world fun.

One of our favorites in this area is V. (he happens to be a doctor, but we just call him by his first name.) V. is game for anything, as long as we believe in it. I have poured him everything from aged Chacaca, to the Brora 30, to Scaldis Prestige. On top of this, his wine knowledge is vast and regularly shares the most serious bottles on our wine list with the staff. I used to feel guilty about drinking these quater glasses he would pour for me until I realized just how important it is for him to share. I believe that have the enjoyment he gets out the good stuff is knowing that others are enjoying it as well.

V. went over the top this month.

Our Wine Director loaded up on some incredible bottles from Heredia Reserva line. Most notablely a 1970 Todonia, a 1976 Todonia and a 1976 Bosconia. V. Jumped at the chance, bought a 76 Bosconia (Tempranilio, Grenache, Graciano & Mazuelo) and shared it. I was stunned at how lively and bright a 3 decade old wine could be. I will not review it more than to say this was a wine I could easily drink every day...a friggen miracle.

Well, a couple of days after this, I had 3 guys wander in kind of late and ask for the bottle list. I sell them a mid-priced Rhone I am fond of, they dig it and it is gone in about 20 minutes. They look over the list again and ask about the reserve section with the Heredia Reservas.

"It just so happens that I got a half glass of one of the 76's a few nights ago," I say and I relate to them the experience and my surprize at how lively it was. I am little stunned when they say 'let's go for it.'

They love it so much they follow it with the '76 Todonia and share some with me. This one tasted much more mature (as weird as that it is to say about such equally old bottles) and was the prefect follow up.

The next week when V. comes back in, I tell him that I owe him a thank-you for the initial tasting he shared with me as it allowed me to sell two more bottles and I give him my notes on the Todonia. He immeadiately orders our last remaining bottle of that vintage and shares it again. As a matter a fact, he is so happy with it, that he buys our last 1970 Todonia ($325) to lay away so that it didn't get bought before he had a crack at it.

We opened it tonight.

Amazing.

I thank you V.

Shot of Hope

One of my very generous regulars dropped one of these guys off for me last week.

I love it.

Get one.

Master of Time and Space....and Spanish wine.

I have had a big couple of months (moving sort of hindered my regular blogging groove, but I am back) on every front of my life.

Professionally, I won a couple of competitions that I am pretty excited about. Firstly, the Vinos de Jerez invitational which meant cash, a trip to Spain and most important of all, a full scholarship to the BAR. Secondly, a cava cocktail contest I entered months ago just ended and I won a hand-painted porron to celebrate with! I know, I know, it says Chris D. won, he was kind of enough to alert me to the contest and submit the recipes for me.

Just waiting for Rioja and Portugal to get on board with cocktail contests so I can wrap up the whole of Iberia and get on with world domination. Look out Andora, I got my eye on you too.

Look where Josie Landed.

Sometime San Francisco Bartender Josie Packard packed it and moved to Boston with her love this year. We were all sort of wondering where she would end up. You see Josie is in it purely for the love of the cocktail. She is (or rather was) not a career waitron who found solace and inspiration behind the bar like so many of us. Instead, she came to game as a result of her fascination with vintage drinking.

Today's New York Times shows that she has found a bar with the same values.

I congratulate Josie, John Gertson (the head barman I believe) and the rest of the crew. Your bar looks wonderful.

Camper breaks into Environmental Design.

Today on Alcademics. Camper gets his architecture on.

Really?

The New York Times had an article on the 12th exposing the recent explosion of cocktail culture.... Wow, they really have their hand on the pulse with this one. I mean really, cocktails? Who has read anything about cocktails recently?

Aside from the redundancy of the piece, I was struck by the picture included. It is of a bartender at the new Apotheke in Manhattan setting up Absinthe drips over flaming sugar cubes. I am quite surprised that a program of that stature would follow this relatively recent Czech tradition. I know it looks cool and all (it must really be crazy in the opium den aesthetic of Apotheke) but I was under the impression that this was total sacrilege. I am no big fan of the Wormwood Society (I ran afoul and scored a heap of vitriol for being photographed with a bottle of an unfavored Absinthe in the foreground) but I will defer to them as far as procedure goes and they could not be more clear that burning is wrong. I think I even saw a 'Friends don't let friends burn the sugar' T-shirt.

I would love to know what is going on there.

Huh?

Jamie Boudreau is cool.

I have only met him a couple of times and never really got down to chat, but he is cool. He is a great writer, a brilliant photographer and I assume a great bartender as his knowledge and taste are both becoming legendary.

The latest update on his blog (put it on your feed...now) leaves me a bit twisted.

I have both the urge to lay down some snide comments and to congratulate him as well as thank him for saving a program in an historic bar.

I will do both.

Tini Bigs!?! That's just great. I hear Todd Smith is teaming up with Jimmy Meehan and pulling some shifts at respective local Cheesecake Factories.

Seriously, what a great opportunity to evangelize and make a beautiful bar respectable again. Good luck.

How'd that come off?

I declare that I now own the word 'cool'.

This is Absolutely retarded.

It is no secret that I am not a vodka fan. I bad mouth it quite a bit, rarely reach for it and do my damnedest to talk it's drinkers into trying something else with more character. It is not that I actually dislike the spirit when it is well made. I do not have a vendetta against the tradition itself...vodka did not ruin my life or kill my family. But it did lie to me.

It started (in my opinion) in the 80's with those Absolut print ads. They were undeniably cool and got us thinking of liquor as fresh, hip and current. Unfortunately they got the category pumped up with the notion that the outside of the bottle is more important than what's inside. Sidney Frank took it further in the late 90's with the creation of Grey Goose and the lies grew from the little white variety (bottles are worth more because of the 'art' involved) to some serious bullshit (French vodka?)

Now Absolut wants to own the word the co-opted for their name.

Screw you Absolut. Good luck getting on any back bar I put together ever again.

Liqurious

Liquious is fast becoming my favorite bar-related feed. I know absolutely nothing about it other than it seems to be a juried user-driven clearing house of articles. All of the feeds I subscribe to have popped up and I have discovered quite a few new ones through them.

Check it out.

Whiskyfest!!!!

Whiskyfest is coming to San Francisco for it's second year this week. I am actually missing the event itself, but have been having some some fun with the auxiliary events that it has spawned.

Here is a iphone shot of the Rye producers I would be harassing if I was in town on Friday.

High-Tech in DC

I found this video on Washingtonian.com in a piece morning the passing of an underground cocktail event called Hummingbird to Mars (here is where the name came from..not bad). While I personally have found that sous vide is unnecessary for infusing alcohol unless you are super pressed for time, I respect those that are into reaching out for new techniques. This may not be the most informative video out there, but I enjoyed it am taking a few ideas from it.

Cherries and Glass

Cherry Heering is one of my favorite bottles to pull out when I want to give a cocktail a little twist. I can't think of any drink that doesn't work with the addition of a quarter ounce or two of the stuff (seriously, try anything.) I was recently turned on to the very unique contest they are running for both fashion and drinks designers. I am trying to resist the urge to enter something, but could not help but bounce around the site as it is put together so nicely.

The best thing about it for me was the glassware. Just where the hell has Orrefors been my whole life anyway? The pic above is from a line I could never hope to afford where each stem is encircled by an engraved silver ring.

Just beautiful.

Forbidden

My main rum guy, tiki expert and somtime personal taxi driver (that's twice now buddy) is a gentleman name Martin Cate, proprietor of Forbidden Island on Alameda. His cocktails are righteous, his mastery of our lore and history is unrivaled and whats more, he is just a plain nice guy.

Eric Felton wisely featured Martin in his WJS article on Tiki recently, you should read it.

The Octomore Bottle

The Whiskey Exchange is a tremendous source of news and knowledge for those interested brown liquor. Today they published the first look we are getting at the Octomore bottle (see my early posting for more info.)

How cool does this thing look?

Holy Crap, Morgenthaler is One Smart Cat

Jefferey Morganthaler is in Berlin for something called a Bar Convent. He has been posting about his experiences leading up to his presentation and it all looks pretty fantastic.

However, the recount of his presentation is truly informative. It makes me want to quit this blog and pick up another shift.

Speakcheezy!?!

Jason Wilson wrote a great piece for the Washington Post on the Speakeasy/Prohibition theme that modern cocktalians are so obsessed with (myself included.) Just check out the matching outfits Marcos Tello, Eric Alperin and I just happened to put together.