Filed under: Whisky , British Isles At Luxist , Deidre reported that a new scent called the Spirit of Scotland is to go on sale soon. Following in the footsteps of another unusual scent , the Spirit of Scotland is supposed to smell like malt whisky. While people have sample the scent and given it positive reviews, not everyone feels that it actually smells like whisky. Apparently, it has smoky, peaty notes with floral overtones. Honestly, it seems like you wouldn't want to walk around smelling like whisky all day, so it's probably just as well that the perfume is not an exact match for the spirit. Of course, if you already walk around smelling like whisky and are looking for a way to hide that, this could be the perfect product. 

Filed under: Vodka , Newspapers , Spirits After lamenting the sweetness of the energy drink + vodka combination over drinks at a Los Angeles bar in 2004, David Mandell wondered whether he could caffeinate vodka itself. It turns out that you can caffeinate it, as Mandell has just introduced p.i.n.k. , a plain vodka infused with caffeine and guarana. The trick in developing it was not just to mask the flavor of the guarana and eliminate its color, but to remove all flavor from the vodka. The end product is intended to produce the same energizing affect as a drink like Vodka Red Bull without any of the extra sugars. One drink of p.i.n.k. contains the same amount of caffeine as a 3/4 full cup of coffee, or about 80 mg. By way of comparison, one can of Red Bull contains that much caffeine as well, so it is easy to see how much more concentrated p.i.n.k. is.

Filed under: Science , Cocktails , Spirits Those of you that are familiar with the Jell-O experiments of MyScienceProject.org will be glad to know that a new batch of tests was added this month. Apparently the folks at MyScienceProject got lots of responses from their previous attempts to pack as much booze into a Jell-O shot as possible. On the new page , they're testing the benefits of using unflavored gelatin (yum), blooming it first, and then cutting it with grain alcohol or Bacardi 151 instead of vodka. After producing plenty of barely palatable Jell-O shots, the only logical thing to do was set them on fire. It's a shame there wasn't a buffet nearby. As a side note, NPR recently featured a story about wine-infused gelatin . [Photo: MyScienceProject.org ] Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Whisky , Recipes , How To , Southern States , America , Spirits We've seen mint juleps here on Slashfood before. There's a mint julep flavored soda  and the 132nd Kentucky Derby will serving ooh-la-la $1,000 mint juleps on Derby Day . If you'll be betting on watching the races from home, you can mix up a proper mint julep at your own home bar. But first, a little bit of historical trivia, or trivial history.

Filed under: Wine , West Coast , Farming , Fruit , America Yesterday, the Chronicle food section focused on organic foods . Today, their wine section does the same, looking at organic wines and why they are so difficult to find . Many vineyards grow certified organic grapes, but the wines themselves are not organic. The reason? The USDA prohibits added sulfites in organic wines.

Filed under: Wine , Champagne , Cocktails , Stores & Shopping , America , Spirits I don't know what it is with me, but if something, even as useless as a garlic peeler, is pink, I want it. This set of pink stemware isn't quite useless, but it certainly isn't necessary for my bar that is already equipped with Champagne flutes, a whole family of wine glasses, shot glasses, martini glasses, and margarita glasses.

Filed under: Trends , How To , Spirits Some of us may have sworn tequila off the last time we spent four hours in the bathroom as punishment the morning after a long night somewhere in Tijuana. However, tequila is fast-becoming known as a "fine" liquor, with some rare and "boutique" imported tequilas going for as much as $1,700 a bottle. Cuervo 's 1800 Collecion is $1,000 a bottle.

Filed under: West Coast , Restaurants , Recipes , Fruit , Rum , How To , America We posted recently about the new developments over at the Beverly Hilton . The new owners have proposed tearing down parts of the property in order to build new luxury condos. Part of the tear-down strategy includes Trader Vic's , the old-school Hollywood hangout and original creator of the island-inspired  Mai Tai .

Filed under: Wine , Trends , On the Blogs , America , Europe Americans are en route to surpass the French as the world’s biggest wine drinkers. Not only is French consumption of wine dropping, but Americans are drinking more wine than ever, with an average consumption of 2.7-gallons per person per year. Some attribute the increased popularity of wine to its much touted health benefits, particularly in the area of heart health, but it actually appears that appreciation of wine is a much larger trend, gaining widespread acceptance in the culture. This is most evidenced by the fact that far more people are enjoying wines younger – while in their 20s – than ever before, possibly as a result of having grown up with baby boomer parents who were more affluent and more likely to drink wine on a regular basis than their parents were. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Parties , Dessert , Recipes , On the Blogs , Spirits Chandra over at Lick The Spoon has posted links to all of the entries of last Friday's Sugar High Friday event, "Candy is Dandy...But Liquor is Quicker." The idea, as you can probably guess, was to create and blog about a sweet recipe that involves alcohol. According to Chandra, there were 40 entries in this, the 18th round, of SHF. As some of you may remember, I submitted a sweet potato pie with bourbon, pecans and maple syrup. Some of my favorites were the gelled sparkling wine from Pint and Fork , the Frangelico honey panna cotta from A Blithe Palate , and the chocolate sake cakes (right) and raspberry spumante spoons from a belly in the wind . Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments