liqueur

L’Chaim Vodka is distilled no less than 18 times. In an excellent website (www.theendofvodka.com), VeeV Acai Liqueur pokes fun at the vodkas distilled 3, 5, 23, 570 times. The site is funny, pretty, and makes a good point. It tends to suggest that after the first couple of distillations, and after pushing the spirit past 190 proof, it’s a fairly pointless exercise to distill it more. Virtuoso Distillers, of Mishawaka, Indiana, is undaunted. In box 19 of the L’Chaim approval, Steven Ross patiently explains that the vodka is distilled 18 times. TTB frequently asks for such a confirmation, when the label sets forth the number of distillations or filtrations. This is odd because the label already claims it under penalty of perjury, the certification doesn’t seem to make it any more likely to be true, and it would seem to be a minor point in any event (for the reasons suggested by VeeV). Mr. Ross has a lot more going on, on this label. He further explains that L’Chaim (or, “To Life”) is similar to “cheers,” carefully avoiding any suggestion that it’s about health. This is not a small matter because, prior to this approval, the term was rarely used in a prominent way on US alcohol beverage labels. Mr. Ross explains that the letters...

Slowly but surely, more “functional packages” are coming to town. I don’t mean packages that serve the function of storing booze, or acting as a paperweight or a vase. I mean packages that do something beyond that; beyond what is traditional; beyond moving the beverage from producer to consumer and making it look good. Ty-Ku is a simple example. It’s a pretty bottle, and it lights up when lifted. This video shows the bottle in action. In the days to come, we should be able to come up with a few other examples, including some that go a bit further down this road. If you know of others, please let us know.

In recent days a few industry veterans expressed concern about a new distilled spirits specialty with the flavor of bubble gum. Here are two. The newer one is Three Olives Bubble. The label and website don’t mention gum, but this blog confirms that it tastes like Bazooka, and the packaging certainly reminds me of bubble gum. The other one is Bubble Gum Liqueur, bottled by M.S. Walker of Somerville, Massachusetts. This one does not eschew the use of the word “gum,” and refers to Bubble Gum at least half a dozen times. It strikes us as reasonable to evaluate whether gum and candy are so irresistible to children that they are inappropriate on alcohol beverage labels or as main flavors. But in the next post we will show that these two products are not so unusual. There are a great many alcohol beverage products referring to candy — even without counting the hundreds or thousands of chocolate products.