dairy

Congratulations to Clever Imports for propelling ChocoVine into one of the biggest trends across wine and spirits in recent years. The brand seems to be growing at well over 100% per year, and at about 1 million cases per year, may just be getting going, in view of the recent deal with The Wine Group. ChocoVine is wine with chocolate and cream; it is produced in Holland by DeKuyper. At first, many people spoke snidely of ChocoVine, suggesting that grape wine is not the best match with chocolate flavors. But, to a large extent, this condescension has been overshadowed by admiration, purchasing, and emulators. Chocolais is one example of a chocolate flavored wine that has hastened down the path cleared by Steve Katz at Clever. But there are well more than a handful of other, substantially similar examples, such as this one. TTB approved the first ChocoVine label in 2007. Three years later, TTB approved the first Chocolais label and the first Choco Noir label, both in November of 2010. A bit further afield from ChocoVine, hundreds of other examples continue to accrue, further showing tremendous momentum behind a trend toward the dessertification of beverages. Here we have Pineapple Upside Down Cake Liqueur, various alcohol infused whipped...

Whipahol must be doing well, because now along comes another “Alcohol Infused Whipped Cream.” It apparently is packed in an aerosol can. The back label says “CREAM is completely shelf stable and DOES NOT need to be refrigerated even after use.” The qualifications suggest that TTB wanted to check out this claim. This is canned by Temperance Distilling Company in Temperance, Michigan. For other advances in things whipped, there is Pinnacle Whipped – Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka. November 30, 2010 Update:  here is a good CNBC clip on Whipahol, from yesterday. It is hard to believe that this light and frothy product can be portrayed as something sinister, and whipped up into the next “controversy in a can.” December 8, 2010 Update:  the whipped booze products get so very much attention (including our extensive on-air interview with CBS radio) that TTB issues a statement, to explain how such products are regulated.

After seeing this vodka distilled from cow’s milk, we didn’t expect to see too many more beverages distilled from milk. Despite all, here is Chinese Milk Liquor. The label is fairly sketchy about how it’s made. A very good website, teaching about Asian alcohol beverages, explains that this type of spirit is called Lai Jiu:

Literally “milk liquor,” it is made by taking cow’s milk, fermenting it, and distilling it. It is around 40% alcohol and it is as clear as water. I absolutely love the stuff. It has a sweet after-taste to it, like evaporated milk … . It gives one such a lovely high (much better than bai jiu). To my knowledge (and I’ve looked), it can ONLY be found in the province of China called Nei Meng Gu (Inner Mongolia).

The same website also covers Bok Bun Ja Ju (“man who pees in a pot”) but we’ll leave that topic for another day.