Maybe N. Bergman or L. Fogelman can explain why there are so many distilled spirits plants in New York, all of a sudden. Here are three, and all are distilling vodka from apples (rather than the much more common and less expensive distillation from grain). Tuthilltown Spirits makes Heart of the Hudson Vodka (above). It is distilled from 100% New York apples. Eighty miles up the Hudson River, Harvest Spirits makes Core Vodka. They purport to distill only from Hudson Valley apples, in small batches. Third, there is Beak & Skiff Vodka, also distilled from apples, over near Syracuse. Larrie Laird (the dean of distilling apples in the US) once explained that it is immensely expensive to produce high-proof spirits from apples or any other fruit. It can take well over 25 pounds of apples to make one bottle.

More than six years in, many labels reflect the US at war. Above is Jim Beam “Operation Homefront” Bourbon. The idea is to “provid[e] physical and emotional support for military families in your community.” The label doesn’t really say how, but the website does. Brave Spirits was early to link spirits with supporting the military. TTB approved their Valor Vodka back in 2007. Brave donates $2 per bottle toward the military. Valenzano Sangria is the only one that outright shows the American flag; TTB does not usually allow it, but this one is restricted for sale in New Jersey only. Valenzano donates $1 per bottle to “Operation Troop Aid.” The Intoxicologist recently said this form of marketing is tacky. What do you think?

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No. It’s not banana flavored wine. It’s wine fermented from bananas. By contrast, the beer is beer flavored with bananas and banana flavor. The banana wine (link above) is made by Florida Orange Groves, Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida. This retailer tends to confirm it’s fermented from bananas, and this hobbyist among many others explains how to make it. Does anyone else find it surprising that he uses half a pound of banana skins? The Banana Bread Beer is made by Wells & Young, in England, and imported by Belukus Marketing of Houston, Texas. Wells explains:

Wells Banana Bread Beer partly takes its name from the Saxon phrase for beer – ‘Liquid Bread.’ Combining a traditional ale recipe with the flavour of ‘Fair Trade’ bananas it creates an intriguing and flavoursome pint.

Today we have dandelion wine. This piqued our interest because we have heard faint murmurings about dandelion wine for many decades but never really tasted it or knew much about it, so we thought it was time to get a handle on the situation. As it turns out, the murmurings seem to have more to do with Ray Bradbury’s 1957 novel of the same name, and less to do with the popularity of this wine. We find very little information about the history of this wine. Bigger Than Your Head describes it as well as anyone else we could find:

The closest I have come to a glass of dandelion wine was reading Ray Bradbury’s evocative novel about Midwestern small-town life, Dandelion Wine, about 50 years ago. … One expects a flower wine to be sweet, and this was, but it wasn’t as sweet as I had anticipated. In fact, I found it delicate, finely structured and just balanced by clean acidity. Aromas of spiced pear and fig wafted from the glass, with hints of dusty meadows. In the mouth, those spiced pear and fig qualities persisted, with touches of something wild and foxy, a little weedy, all of this encompassed by a texture that was almost oily. The finish brought in cinnamon and hay....