Good alcohol

Malibu

2007-09-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Johnnie Walker

2007-09-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

Originally known as Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky, the brand is a legacy left by John ‘Johnnie’ Walker after he started to sell whisky in his grocer’s shop in Ayrshire, Scotland. The brand became popular, but after Walker's death in 1857 it was his son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing the whisky as a popular brand. Under John Walker, whisky sales represented eight percent of the firm’s income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent.[3]

Prior to 1860 it was illegal to sell blended (malt and grain mixed together) whisky.[4] During that time John Walker sold a number of whiskys — notably his own Walker’s Kilmarnock. In 1865 John’s son Alexander produced their first blend, Walker’s Old Highland.

Alexander Walker first introduced the iconic square bottle in 1870. The other identifying characteristic of the bottle is the label, which is applied at an angle of 24 degrees.

From 1906–1909 John’s grandsons George and Alexander II expanded the line and introduced the colour names. In 1908, when James Stevenson was the Managing Director, there was a re-branding of sorts. The whisky was renamed from Walker's Kilmarnock Whiskies to Johnnie Walker Whisky. In addition, the slogan, "Born 1820 – Still going Strong!" was created, along with the Striding Man, a figure used in their advertisements for around fifty years.

They dropped Johnnie Walker White during World War I. In 1932, Alexander II added Johnnie Walker Swing to the line.

Johnnie Walker continues to be blended in Kilmarnock, with a large plant just north of the town's railway station. The historic bonded warehouses and company offices (now local authority) can still be seen in Strand Street and John Finnie Street.

Absolute Vodka

2007-09-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

The origins of vodka (and of its name) cannot be traced definitively, but it is believed to have originated in the grain-growing region that now embraces Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, and western Russia. It also has a long tradition in Scandinavia.

The word is a diminutive of "water" (voda, woda, вода) in some Slavic languages (such as Upper Sorbian), although it is not clear whether this is related to vodka.

The word can be found in the court documents from Sandomierz in Poland dating to 1405.[citation needed] A number of Russian pharmaceutical lists contain the terms "vodka of bread wine" (водка хлебного вина) and "vodka in half of bread wine" (водка полу хлебного вина).[2] As alcohol had long been used as a basis for medicines, this implies that the term vodka could be a noun derived from the verb vodit’, razvodit’ (водить, разводить), "to dilute with water".

Bread wine was a spirit distilled from alcohol made from grain (as opposed to grape wine) and hence "vodka of bread wine" would be a water dilution of a distilled grain spirit.

While the word could be found in manuscripts and in lubok (лубок, pictures with text explaining the plot, a Russian predecessor of the comic), it began to appear in Russian dictionaries in the mid-19th century.

Another possible connection for "vodka" with "water" is the name of the medieval alcoholic beverage aqua vitae (Latin, literally, "water of life"), which is reflected in Polish "okowita", Ukrainian оковита, or Belarusian акавіта.

Peoples in the area of vodka's probable origin have names for vodka with roots meaning "to burn": Polish: gorzałka; Ukrainian: горілка, horilka; Belarusian: гарэлка, harelka; Lithuanian: degtinė (prior purification of lithuanian language belarusian loanword arielka was used); Latvian: degvīns; Finnish: paloviina; Danish; brændevin; Swedish: brännvin; Norwegian: Brennevin (although the Swedish and Norwegian terms refer to any strong alcoholic beverage); in Russian during 17th and 18th century горящее вино (goryashchee vino, "burning wine") was widely used.

Tequila

2007-09-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Tequila is a spirit made primarily in the area surrounding Tequila, a town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, 65 km northwest of Guadalajara and in the highlands of Jalisco, 65 km east of Guadalajara. It is made from the blue agave (also known as Agave tequilana azul, Weber's blue agave, and also called Maguey by the local people), part of the lily and amaryllis families, which is native to Mexico. Tequila is most often made at a 38–40% alcohol content (76–80 proof), but there are also several varieties of Tequila produced with 43–46% alcohol content (86–92 proof)

Martini Commercial - George Clooney

2007-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

The martini is a cocktail made with gin and dry white vermouth, although substituting vodka for gin is now common. It is often described as being "crisp" or "astringent". Over the years, the martini has become perhaps the most well-known mixed alcoholic beverage.[citation needed] H. L. Mencken once called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet",[1]and E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude".[2] It is also the proverbial drink of the one-time "three-martini lunch" of business executives, now largely abandoned as part of companies' "fitness for duty"[3] programs.

The martini is one of six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury's classic The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

Vodka Wyborowa

2007-09-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Wyborowa is a popular brand of vodka originating in Poland. Its production started in the 1920s in the Poznań distillery. However, it took over 40 years until Wyborowa was exported. In the 1950s and 60s, Wyborowa became known in all major European countries - it constituted over 60% of the total volume of vodka imported to the United Kingdom.

Bacardi Mojito

2007-09-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Originally founded by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó on February 4, 1862, Bacardi is headquartered today in Hamilton, Bermuda. The Bacardi company also owns several other brands including Grey Goose vodka, Dewar's scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Eristoff vodka, Martini & Rossi vermouth, Cazadores tequila, and the U.S. version of Havana Club.

Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, a wine merchant, emigrated from Spain to Cuba in the early 19th century. During this period, rum was cheaply made and not considered a refined drink, one rarely sold in upscale taverns. Don Facundo began attempting to "tame" rum. After experimenting with several techniques he hit upon filtering the rum through charcoal, which removed impurities. In addition to this, Facundo aged the rum in oak barrels, which had the effect of "mellowing" the drink. The final product was the first clear, or "white" rum in the world.

Moving from the experimental stage to a more commercial endeavor, he and his brother José set up shop in a small distillery on February 4, 1862. Their first copper and cast iron still produced 35 barrels of fermented molasses per day. In the rafters of this building lived fruit bats. Hence, the Bacardi bat logo[3].

The 1890s were turbulent times for the company. Emilio Bacardi, eldest son of Don Facundo, was exiled from Cuba for having fought in the rebel army against Spain in the Cuban Independence War. Emilio's brothers, Facundo and José, and his brother-in-law Henri Schueg, remained in Cuba with the difficult task of sustaining the company during a period of war. The women in the family were refugees in Kingston, Jamaica. After the Cuban War of Independence, and the American occupation of Cuba, "The Original Cuba Libre" and the Daiquiri cocktail were both born with Bacardi rum. In 1899, US- General Leonard Wood appointed Emilio Bacardi Mayor of Santiago de Cuba.

In 1912, Emilio Bacardi traveled to Egypt where he purchased a mummy for the future Emilio Bacardi Moreau Municipal Museum in Santiago de Cuba (still on display). In Santiago, his brother Facundo M. Bacardi continued to manage the company along with Henri Schueg, who began the company's international expansion by opening new bottling plants in Barcelona and New York City. The New York plant was soon shut down due to Prohibition, yet during this time Cuba became a hotspot for US tourists.

In the 1920s, Emilio opened a new distillery in Santiago. During this decade, the art deco Bacardi building was built in Havana and the third generation of the Bacardi family was entering the business. Facundo Bacardi was known to have invited US-Americans (still subject to Prohibition) to "Come to Cuba and bathe in Bacardi rum." A new product was introduced: Hatuey beer.

The 1930s brought a new bottling plant in Mexico City and a new distillery in Puerto Rico under the leadership of Ron Bacardi. (Which is the name of the rum, not a person). Several trademark disputes went to court during this time regarding uses of the Bacardi name on rum produced outside of Cuba. The company's leadership then fell to Henri Schueg, who managed to keep the family name on the bottles coming from Puerto Rico. Another case was won by Bacardi which allowed that "…a Bacardi Cocktail is only a Bacardi Cocktail when made with Bacardi rum."

During the World War II years the company was led by Henri's son-in-law Jose Pepin Bosch. Pepin founded Bacardi Imports in New York City, and was named Cuba's Minister of the Treasury in 1949.

Ernest Hemingway mentions Hatuey beer in two of his works: To Have and Have Not and The Old Man and the Sea. In 1956, Bacardi held a festival in honor of Hemingway's winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Bacardi has made several acquisitions to diversify away from the eponymous Bacardi rum brand. In 1992 Bacardi acquired Martini & Rossi S.p.A. the famous Italian producer of Martini vermouth and sparkling wines. In 1998, the company acquired Dewar's scotch and Bombay gin for $2 billion. In 2001, the Cazadores tequila brand and in 2004 Grey Goose, a French made vodka, from Sidney Frank for $2 billion. In 2006, Bacardi purchased New Zealand vodka brand 42 Below. Other associated brands include Drambuie Scotch whisky liqueur, DiSaronno Amaretto, and B&B and Benedictine liqueurs.

Heineken Commercial

2007-09-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Heineken International is a Dutch brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2006, Heineken owns over 130 breweries in more than 65 countries and employs approximately 57,557[1] people. It brews and sells more than 170 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers, including Cruzcampo, Tiger, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, Birra Moretti, Ochota, Murphy’s, Star and of course Heineken Pilsener. Heineken claims that the original Heineken recipe has not changed since the beer was first produced nearly 150 years ago.

Pilsner Urquell - Czech National Revival

2007-09-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Pilsner Urquell (German and international title, Plzeňský prazdroj in Czech) is a bottom-fermenting beer produced since 1842 in Pilsen, Bohemia (now Czech Republic).