Iconic Spirits by Mark Spivak

The concept of organic spirits is relatively new, at least in the popular or commercial sense. Even though Americans have gained an appreciation of natural, organic and sustainable products in recent years, many consumers might still regard organic spirits to be an oxymoron---how, exactly, can booze be good for you?

Organic spirits aren’t likely to turn up in health food stores anytime soon, but there’s a wide gap between them and their mass produced, high-volume cousins. They are more likely to be made from carefully grown and selected ingredients; production tends to be small-batch, allowing the distiller to devote more attention to detail; they are usually marketed from the ground up, relying on bartender education and targeted retail placement rather than multi-million dollar ad campaigns featuring rappers or supermodels. (more…)

National Daiquiri Day is July 19, one week from tomorrow. I usually remember the date because it happens to be my wife’s birthday (or perhaps I remember her birthday because…).

Like many of the classics, the origins of the daiquiri are mysterious. We do know that Daiquiri is the name of a beach located near the Bacardi home town of Santiago de Cuba. The most-repeated story is that the cocktail was invented by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer working in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898. However, it’s curious to note that the daiquiri also bears a close resemblance to a drink served to sailors in the British Imperial Navy from the mid-19th century onward, which consisted of rum, water, sugar, and lemon or lime juice (a friend of Jennings Cox, who was present when the drink was created, confirms that this was the origin of the daiquiri). (more…)