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Exclusiv name, not price, for this vodka

Becky Sue — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:23:27 +0000

I’ve had some of the the Exclusiv Vodcas for some time now, and I’m glad I waited and sampled them over the course of several weeks, in different ways.
Exclusiv is a wheat vodka made in Moldova, a tiny country tucked between Romania and Ukraine.
First, I want to mention that the bottles’ design is lovely; they make a very attractive presentation.

Nobody drinks vodka neat, at room temperature – except samplers like me – so Exclusiv is obviously made to be consumed chilled. This was most apparent with the unflavored version. Adding citrus, either lemon or lime, was a plus for the unflavored. But it proved unnecessary with the flavored versions.

With any flavored liquor, the manufacturer has several choices. This producer chose to use an orange oil type flavoring which has two advantages: it’s not too sweet, and it holds up well when chilled. However, it’s not so easy to get this type of flavoring for other fruits, so the raspberry is somewhat sweeter, even when chilled.

Also interesting is the price: a premium vodka, only around $13 for a fifth, or $20 for 1.75 liters.

17-year-old+ ice balls = The Macallan

Becky Sue — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:22:53 +0000

The Macallan. Why does “the” sound so pretentious at first? And now it just rolls of my tongue. Actually, I haven’t had any tonight. Recently I sampled several (again), from ten- to 25-year-old.

My favorite? The 17-year-old, which was elegant, smooth, with good body. I’d prefer to sip that one in the evening with its hints of flowers and fruit, whisps of peat and smoke.

The Macallan is single-malt, which means it’s all made in one distillery. Sort of like estate-bottled wine. At that tasting I also learned that the US is the #1 market for The Macallan. The second is Taiwan, which surprised me. And, apparently every country has their own preferences for aged scotch. In Italy they drink 5-7 year old with tonic. The UK likes 10-year-old. In Japan it’s 17-year-old, which I think has something to do with the symbolism of the number. And in the US, our favorite is 18-year-old.

That same day I met the new Northeast Brand Ambassador, who was just being broken in – I mean introduced – to the market. His name is Charlie Whitfield and he’s British, which means we love his accent. Actually, he’s Scottish. Or is he Scotch? Anyhow, we were in Boston that day and though he’s based in NYC, he had sense enough to talk about the Red Sox (though he mentioned he thought NY had a baseball team too).

Whitfield got to do the ice trick at this event. Somehow, he took a large block of ice and compressed it into the shape of a ball with a special copper machine. It doesn’t take long, maybe a minute or less, and it’s a great bar trick. If I had a bar, I’d get one of those machines from The Macallan people.

What you end up with is an ice sphere that fits perfectly into a glass, and melts slowly to create the perfect melding of The Macallan and water at a cool temperature. I wonder who in Boston has an ice ball machine?

Dinner Party hosted by a great Scot

Clear, Non-fat Chocolate Dessert

Becky Sue — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:41:57 +0000

It’s Godiva. The Vodka, not the truffles.
Well, we might have had the truffles, if there had been any left. But we ate them as soon as we opened the box. The Godiva people sent over chocolate and chocolate-raspberry truffles with samples of their chocolate infused and chocolate raspberry infused vodkas. Often, when a company does this – sends over fruit to match the flavor of their new vodka – it backfires, highlighting the differences between the real thing and the flavored vodka. This time, it worked. We sipped the vodkas, we nibbled the truffles, and it was great.

So when I was looking for a chocolate dessert the other night, preferably non-fat, I poured small shots of the two clear Godiva vodkas, on ice. How to choose which one we wanted – the chocolate or the chocolate raspberry? We couldn’t choose. So we each had two glasses in front of us as we sat back and watched a hometown movie: Ben Affleck’s The Town.

Lobster that melts in your mouth — with wine — from Navarra, Spain

Becky Sue — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:59:19 +0000

The KINGDOM of Navarra: a blend of super-chef, medieval castles, good to great wines and it’s green, too: 38 windfarms generate 65% of their energy.

An ancient tradition of wines and spirits, and very modern hearty but beautifully balanced red wines, often temperanillo and temp blends. And a few lyrical sauvignon blancs, too.

We had all this recently with the inventive yet simple food from noted chef Enrique Martinez of Hotel Maher in Navarra – who cooked at Boston’s Estragon Restaurant.

To sample each dish was to uncover surprises in the infusion of mushrooms, sprinkling of toasted chopped nuts, ribbons of herbs. But most of all it was about texture: perfectly cooked lobster nearly translucent as tender as possible. And fish with firmness that spoke of being taken off the heat just as it came to the exact moment of doneness. A meal memorable for the mouthfeel as much as the taste.

For dessert, the piquant Ochoa 2007 moscadel, made from the “petits grains” muscat: aromas of flowers, orange and mint; not too sweet, balanced with a touch of citrus peel and finishing nearly dry.

After that, a sip the ancient custom of a digestif of relatively Pacharan, sometimes poured over ice, the red liquid glowing in the glass. In September and October, people pick sloe berries and add them to some anisette liqueur they’ve bought. Tradition says the Pacharan is ready to drink for the July fiesta, when the berries are a red carpet at the bottom of bottle, having given their color and flavor to the liquor.

Wine glasses, ancient and modern

Drink and save [the planet]

Becky Sue — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:08:56 +0000

If you want to save the planet while imbibing — responsibly, of course — you might like to know that Tru Organic Vodka is not only tru-ly [sorry] organic they they are so responsible they have a tree-planting program. (Vodbox in Beverly Hills has already helped plant over 1,000 trees.)

360 Vodka claims to be from “the most energy efficient distillery in America.” AND when you’ve finished, they want to you to “carefully remove the closure and drop it into the prepaid envelope” that hangs from the bottle’s neck by an eco-friendly piece of brown string. OK, I’m almost to the end of the bottle…

Root beer vodka: most fun drink this summer. Really.

Becky Sue — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:57:38 +0000

Decades ago, after spending a year abroad I got on a flight back to the US and asked for the most American drink I could imagine: root beer. I was shocked when the flight attendant told me they didn’t carry it. I love root beer. My father loved root beer. Whenever I see artisanal root beer, I try it – and generally savor my way through it.

But I was skeptical when a bottle of Three Olives Root Beer Flavored Vodka recently came my way. “Is this a good idea?” I asked myself. When my friend Kathy came over to watch a chick-flick, we decided to try it. She is, admittedly, not a drinker but she knows food. When we cracked open the capsule, a lovely, very authentic root beer-y aroma came wafting out. Cautiously, we poured a few drops into a glass. Hey – it’s not even sweet, we marveled. It tasted like root beer in the most appealing – and surprising – manner. We poured out a little more of the stuff, slipped in a few ice cubes, and the evening was off to a great start!

Tasting in a Box of Vodkas

Becky Sue — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:16:03 +0000

Ever found yourself in a frozen room full of high end vodkas? With sculptor/potter Peter Shire and a few friends? And one of you – not sure which – is wearing a leopard skin pillbox hat? Well, it happened to me a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills. Oh, yeah, I think I was the one wearing the Russian-style white fur coat with matching tall hat. The (faux) furs — provided by the restaurant — are necessary when you enter the refrigerated VodBox for a tasting of luxury vodkas from around the world, some so rare even I had never heard of them.

I don’t usually have much of a tolerance for the cold, but my appetite for vodka seemed to go way up when I was in that fun room. Sipping and tasting. It was one of those “what’s not to like?” moments.

By the way, anyone can sign up for the VodBox experience, dreamed up by long-time L.A. restaurateur Larry Nicola for Nic’s on Canon Drive.

Drink and save [the planet]

Molecular Mixology at Absinthe

Becky Sue — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:20:24 +0000

Have you noticed the beginnings of the molecular mixology movement trickling into bars in the US? Following the molecular food revolution that began in Spain, bartenders here are moving into their kitchens to concoct tinctures and other flavorings for their cocktail inventions. But these aren’t the fruit-based infusions of the past decade: these flavors are vegetable and even meat-based. And the cocktails are savory, not sweet.

Have we finally grown up and evolved away from childish things? Some of us have, finally. And the very grown up rye whiskey is one of best bases for these new cocktails, according to Jeff Hollinger at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar and Restaurant in San Francisco. He showed me a bartender’s new “Garlicky Tomato Tincture” so intense that the bartender’s wife told him to throw it away immediately. (He didn’t, but the bottle is still pretty full so I wonder how much of it is getting used?) Jeff himself is in the midst of creating a new perfect flavor: smoky bacon, to be used for an upcoming cocktail event. Is this a great idea?!?

Absinthe, to drink
And for the perfectly served Absinthe drink? Just ask Jeff — the elegant turn-of-the-century Absinthe Fountain and other paraphernalia are right at his elbow.

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