Inventory for November 29th, 2015
Hello friends! We’re delighted you’re here. This week’s news brings donations for Berlin’s refugees via cocktails, Time Out gets a sneak peek at the newest venture from the team behind London’s Nightjar, Sazerac and Jack Daniels are deeply entwined in a lawsuit about cinnamon whisky, Diageo continues to work on getting rid of Angel’s Share, and Marian Beke and Rusty Červen open a bar with the perfect premium pickle: The Gibson bar.
Sometimes you have to give fads a try. And who are we to say no to to cereal cocktails? Let those childhood memories flow through you (bonus point: you’ll be viewing them through rose-tinted, alcohol tainted glasses!) and tip your morning cereal into some Aperol to make a “Bedrock Fizz” (a Fruity Pebbles-infused Ramos Gin Fizz, as seen in The Eddy in NYC). Best weekend breakfast ever? It might just be …
1) Five Drinks/Three Bars/One Rum – One Common Goal
The refugee topic is a huge one in Europe, and one that shouldn’t go ignored. A couple of weeks ago we introduced you to the gin that donates its profits to refugee centers. Now three Berlin bars have joined forces with Bacardi to support the non profit “Gastronomie gegen Rassismus e.V.“ (gastronomy against racism). The bars are offering five special drinks (Popcorn Old Fashioned, Periodista, Late Autumn, Celery Daiquiri, and Ocho Cuba Libre), of which three Euro per sale will go to the above mentioned charity. Purchase them at Amano Bar, Bar Tausend, Sodom & Gomorra until December 13th. All cocktails are made with Bacardi Ocho and will help refugees survive the cold German winter.
2) Time Out’s Sneak Peek of Oriole
The team around Nightjar has done it once again: last week Oriole opened in London’s Farringdon area. Before the space was made available to the public, Time Out magazine was able to get an exclusive preview. Expect live music, leather seats, and excellent cocktails. Definitely worth a visit on your next London trip! See all the pictures here.
3) Fireball and Jack Daniels in Cinnamon Whisky Lawsuit
Here we go again. In September of this year Sazerac settled a lawsuit with a North Carolina brewery about its Fire Flask mal liquor. This story reads similar. The Spirits Business reports that “Sazerac has accused Jack Daniel’s of using Google search advertising to ‘confuse’ consumers and ‘divert’ Fireball sales to its own Tennessee Fire variant. The firm has accused Brown-Forman of using Google AdWords to purchase keywords that caused consumers searching for Fireball to instantly find pages for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire”.
Apparently JD bought ad words such as fire-ball and fireball to redirect Googlers to their Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire website, instead of Sazerac’s Fireball. Now Sazerac is pissed. JD’s response? “The lawsuit is about common digital marketing practices and we will contest this legal action vigorously”. Just another day in the digital marketing world of spirits.
4) Diageo Continues to Work on Angel’s Share
While a whisky ages in its barrel, up to a fifth of its volume can evaporate. Diageo is now working with a research team at the Napier University in Edinburgh to invent a barrel that minimizes exactly this loss. According to Professor Adby Kermani the team has succeeded! Whisky Experts points to an article published in Harpers which references the success of the project even though and that fact that barrels like this have existed for a long time. Made without the use of glue or other chemical substances of course.
After speaking to Ian McWilliam of Glenfarclas it sounds like the 100% proof barrels are a rarity and exist by chance, and not purpose. Diageo’s on the other hand, is absolutely purposeful and, if successful, will save the company a ‘hella lotta money.
5) The Gibson
A new bar in London? Not the first time we’ve heard that, and it certainly won’t be the last. But this time, it’s special. Marian Beke, formerly the head bartender at the Nightjar and Rusty Červen, previously head mixologist at The Connaught bar in Mayfair have teamed up to open a new bar on Old Street. They found that more and more patrons asked for the Edwardian cocktail and yet no bar in the British capital had mastered it. The two believe that the problem lay in the pickled onion. So they put their heads together, invested in “premium pickles”, and are now set to open their new bar. The name? It could only be one: The Gibson.
