If there was ever a luxury beer made for food pairing, my South African buddy Rui created it with Collective Sao Gabriel. And damn, they did such an incredible job with packaging. Wonder how it tastes? Stay tuned.
Idyllic summer nights in Brooklyn leave little to be desired–unless you’re Q Tonic founder Jordan Silbert, that is. The gin and tonic lover discovered that the tonic water he was drinking four summer ago was chock full of artificial flavors and high fructose corn syrup, and in the name of not standing up for something so undignified, he set out to create a crisper tonic. After pulling together quinine from South America, organic agave and lovingly designed floral-inspired glass bottles, Silbert’s concoction can now be found at Gramercy Tavern and the Four Seasons in New York and NOPA in San Francisco. “One of the things that excites me most about Q Tonic is that it enables you to actually taste the difference between and gin and tonic made with different gins–a gin and tonic made with Plymouth and Q Tonic tastes very different than a G&T with Hendricks and Q Tonic,” says the drink maker, who slaved over the recipe in his Brooklyn kitchen for more than a few seasons. “Unlike when you use mass produced tonic waters, you can actually taste the different botanicals that make different gins great in their different ways.”
Since I started up cycling again, I’ve been thinking about how to help my body recover not only after, but during the ride. I drink a ton of water when I am doing cardio, but lately it occurred to me that if I’m going to be drinking anyway, I may as well bring electrolytes into the mix. Enter nuun (pronounced noon), a startup by a professor and student duo from Darthmouth’s business school. Nuun comes in five different flavors (such as orange ginger, lemon-lime, and citrus fruit) and is packaged in convenient tubes that hold 12 tablets each. Each tablet, when mixed with 500ml (16 oz) of water, forms the perfect hydration tool. It’s effervescent and two minutes after dropping it in (no stirring or shaking required) the tablet is completely dissolved. I love that once it’s dissolved, it’s not fizzy (harder than it sounds); the last thing I need to drink during my workout is something carbonated.
You are going to have to manage your carb intake because nuun has none. It is strictly sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. It contains no sugar nor does it leave a powdery residue at the bottom of your bottle. If you give nuun a try, tell us what you think!
When you’re watching over a city, it’s imperative that you’ve got enough caffeine to get you through the night. So, put down the decaf and pick up a 10 oz. can of “Veidt Enterprise’s Nite Owl Dark Roast” created by celebrity photographer Clay Enos’s charitable coffee company, The Organic Coffee Cartel. Inspired by the coffee Dan and Laurie drink aboard the Night Owl, this limited-edition java blend is guaranteed to have you staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m — which, would be an ideal time for you to thumb through Watchmen Portraits, a book of photographs from Enos, the official photographer on the Watchmen set.
In addition, any customer who purchases a collectible blend before February 26 will have a chance win two tickets to the Los Angeles premiere and after-party for Watchmen from the OCC.
After Oprah endorsed açai — the Amazonian berry that’s making a sensation on the grocery aisles and likely in your tummies in your part of the world right now — it was only inevitable that cachaça, the Brazilian rum made from sugar cane and the main happiness ingredient in a caipirinha cocktail, would follow. Brazilian cachaça maker Sagatiba is one of the first companies making a pointed foray into the U.S. market and are bringing the contagious fever that is Brazilian culture with it: art, music, fashion and even culinary. I want to point you to their website, which gets two superb street artists on board, Flip and Bruno 9li, starring in their own short movies about their work. They’re super insightful, inspiring, and as a marketing strategy, seem like the authority on Brazilian culture within their market. Sagatiba might have hit it on the head. As great as the whole idea is, am I the only one who finds it curious that a street artist would lend his name to an alcohol company? Are these artists any different than, say, an Inc. partnering with another Co.? Is this a new proposal that Brazil is opening for other artists? Send in your comments.
Normally we would say that weaponry and drinks don’t mix but there are those unforeseen events in which you might feel the need to call in the heavy artillery. For refreshment aficionados looking to add an arctic blast to their mixed drink but prefer the novel or militaristic approach over cold cubes, there’s now the AK Ice Tray. Fill your glass with 12 rounds of beverage piercing bullets that will turn your cocktail into a chilly, yet dangerous delight.
The Apple iPhone has many practical uses. Owners employ their magical machine for just about everything from taking photos or surfing the Internet. Many treat their jack-of-all electronics with the tender loving care they would treat a newborn babe. In other words, they would never use it as a coaster. (You wouldn’t balance a beer on an infant either.) Luckily, Brazil’s Meninos Design has the cure for such slightly inhumane inklings. Their iPhone Icon coasters allow fans of the phone to place their drinks on their favorite applications — without the touch screen getting all freaky.
To briefly recap our progress with the Veuve Clicquot recipe this week, we added one part design on Tuesday, one part ambiance on Wednesday, and one part expertise on Thursday. Today, there’s one last ingredient to add, and we’re going to be pouring a little bit more of this one into the mix than usual. The reason the recipe calls for two parts family is that the Veuve Clicquot family is the glue that holds the rest of the dish together.
The strength of the VC family not only serves to keep the internal workings of the brand humming along, but it’s also a strong, effective, and natural customer draw — I think it’s the authenticity people perceive when they feel a strong sense of family associated with a brand. It was certainly what made me feel relaxed, welcomed, and inspired during my days in France — a refreshing, tradition-bound experience amongst the hoards of Johnny-come-lately brands out there these days.
And as a special bonus today, I’ve put together this photo/video montage of my Veuve Clicquot experience. In all honesty, it was inspired by my new, adopted family. I hope you all enjoy watching. (I recommend viewing the montage in high quality on youtube )
And what “family†post would be complete with out a few family photos? You'll find several after the jump…
Last week, a perfect storm of luck, timing, karmic repayment, and a unforeseen hiccup in Josh’s schedule had me whisking off to Paris on an Open Skies flight to join some other bloggers as guests of Veuve Clicquot (think bold yellow label). In the past few years I’ve been noticing a stronger presence of Veuve Clicquot in the states — I think this is probably due to a combination of my own personal maturation, taking a notice in their various thoughtful forays into the world of design, and an increased marketing outreach on VC’s part. From a branding standpoint, I always thought that VC “got it,” and was doing a nice job reaching out to the U.S. market, but I was excited to get behind the curtain to see what that wonderful wizard was all about on a more nuts-and-bolts level.
In the States, we tend to treat champagne (”bubbly”) as a celebratory mechanism — our approach is decidedly habitual and formulaic, drawing cues from holidays like New Years and pop culture icons Jay-Z and 50-Cent (who drink lots of bubbly in the ‘cluh’ and show us in their videos just how that process works). A romantic portrayal of champagne? Sure, why not? But champagne has different significance in France. In its homeland, champagne is an integral component of French society, its heritage, and frankly, its style. Indeed, what I came to find out during my week with Veuve Clicquot is that, to the French, champagne is a way of life deeply rooted in tradition, rich soil, and most of all, family.
Some of these press trips can be nightmarish — following PR people around like puppy dogs for days on end, as a corporate agenda is shoved down your throat — and in which something (a certain advertorial something) is invariably expected of you in the end. This trip was of the more natural ilk — the nice people at Veuve Clicquot simply wanted us to experience their brand and their culture, and by adopting us into their family (literally), they created a truly enriching setting whereby I became inspired to share my experience with you all. Our aim as contributors on Joshspear.com is to continue the tradition upon which Josh founded the blog: to write about things we like — things that inspire us. Well make no mistake, my experience in France with Veuve Clicquot inspired me deeply.
Over the course of this week, I will endeavor to provide you, the readers, with the Veuve Clicquot recipe. I hope you will enjoy the ingredients on their own, and as a harmonious whole. But just remember, as with haute French cuisine, there are nuanced ingredients which can only be discovered through first hand experience — I will hold these ’special’ ingredients in my mind and in my heart, with a hope that someday you will discover them for yourselves.
So, here’s a simple list of the ingredients in the Veuve Clicquot recipe. If you want to know how they all come together, stay tuned this week!
- 1 part design (Tuesday)
- 1 part ambiance (Wednesday)
- 1 part expertise (Thursday)
- 2 parts family (Friday)
Mix together for a little over 200 years, and enjoy.
Michael Mina’s Clock Bar is the newest collaboration between Mina and the Westin St. Francis, paying homage to the San Francisco hotel’s century-old tradition in Union Square. While the namesake — the Magneta grandfather clock — proudly stands outside the bar, the interior (designed by the Rockwell Group) is a modern throwback. Hand-woven metallic screens allude to the gold from the face of the clock, and the “speakeasy†cubby bar proudly shelves an amazing selection of premium alcohol. The aesthetic is phenomenal, but it’s the drinks that really steal the show. Head bartender, Marco “Cocktail Geek†Dionysos has created a deliciously complex cocktail menu. My favorite creation is also one of the most innovative. The refreshing “Chartreuse Swizzle†showcases the mastery of the very complicated ingredient: green chartreuse. The emphasis here is on local purveyors, with in-house preparation of the drink elements that use old school ingredients like egg whites. Marco's research spans his personal library of over 300 cocktail books, bringing classic cocktails back to their roots. Order the Aviation — a gin, maraschino liquor, lemon drink with crème de violette — and bask in its Lindberg-era glory. The Clock Bar just opened, but be certain that it’s only a matter of time until it’s the hottest spot in S.F.
One way to get the key to New York City is to get on Mayor Bloomberg’s good side. But if sucking up to politicians isn’t your style, might we suggest checking out Urban Daddy’s new Keys To The City microsite? If you really want to get the lowdown on the all of the secret nooks and hottest spots (and more than a bit of product placement) in “the city that never sleeps” from the people that know it best, then look no further. The site contains exclusive interviews from nightlife impresarios and famed restaurateurs such as David Sarner, Jeffrey Chodorow, Kyky and Uniq, who provide insight to the city as only they can. So if you’re looking for a hot evening of dancing or just the perfect place to get a clam pizza, we suggest letting Urban Daddy unlock the door.
Got milk? Chocolate Flavored Straws, recently released by The San Francisco Chocolate Company, are a great example of fun, functional packaging to bring out the kid in all of us (milk drinkers). Within a sealed, wider than normal straw, chocolate beads are encased. You simply put it into a glass and sip. We tried it with organic non-fat milk and soy milk. The straw is definitely for casual as well as hardcore chocolate milk enthusiasts. It's not overwhelming, but a healthy balance. I've been waiting for an accessible version of the overseas flavored milk straw product to make it to the U.S. – and it finally did! What do you think of the concept? Have you tried the Australian or European versions?
NYC has culinary gems like I have never seen. The best part is, there are the great classic restaurants, but there are also always new diamonds in the rough popping up to challenge the classics– keep em honest if you will. The art of creating a sublime cocktail is, in my book, a very culinary, focused, and difficult process to master– a truly astute cocktail is every bit as impressive as the plated delights. Mike Arauz has transferred his appreciation of finely crafted adult beverages into his newly launched site, The Lush Life: Guide to Manhattan’s Best Cocktail Bars. It looks like Mike is setting his site narrowly and with the utmost discretion, focusing on only his all star team of establishments, probably chosen through some sort of secret scientific method he’s concocted. But who knows, maybe he’ll add some others after we flood his inbox with tips of our own favorites. May I start with my own recommendation? The Randolph at Broome– most insane cocktails I encountered in the city.
Idyllic summer nights in Brooklyn leave little to be desired–unless you’re 
When you’re watching over a city, it’s imperative that you’ve got enough caffeine to get you through the night. So, put down the decaf and pick up a 10 oz. can of “
The Apple iPhone has many practical uses. Owners employ their magical machine for just about everything from taking photos or surfing the Internet. Many treat their jack-of-all electronics with the tender loving care they would treat a newborn babe. In other words, they would never use it as a coaster. (You wouldn’t balance a beer on an infant either.) Luckily, Brazil’s 
