"absolut" news and stories

Absolut Vodka is holding casting calls around the country for the third season of its reality show "On the Rocks: The Search for America's Top Bartender," which will be shot on location in Las Vegas and will air this fall on select NBC stations across the country.

Previous seasons included traditional bartender challenges involving accuracy of free pouring, flair behind the bar, knowledge of classic cocktail recipes, speed, and how many tips you can collect. Not so typical competitive rounds have included trying to pair total strangers romantically while serving them two different cocktails and pairing a cocktail to a costume during a masquerade ball. The first two seasons also challenged participants to match cocktails with food that you might not normally have a cocktail with, like a big piece of beef, which would usually be paired with red wine. (That winning drink was a play off a Bloody Mary with pepper vodka and a black peppered rim.)

Out of 10 competitors in the first season, Las Vegas' smiling beauty Amanda Gager was declared the winner after she created a signature recipe for the debut of Absolut Mango. She then served as a judge for the season two and traveled around promoting Absolut, appearing on the Today Show and in various magazines.

Recipes and the trailer to "The Search for America's Top Bartender" after the jump ...

For many years Absolut vodka has had a knack for marketing their products with celebrities and artists. Now Spike Lee's name has been added to their creative collaborations list. He assisted with the marketing of the newest addition to the Absolut family -- Absolut Brooklyn -- which is infused with ginger and apple flavors.

This is the fourth city in a annual series of limited-edition flavors: it was New Orleans in 2007 (mango and black pepper), Los Angeles in 2008 (açai, acerola, pomegranate, and blueberry), and Boston in 2009 (black tea and elderflower). Brooklyn native Spike Lee partnered with spoken-word artist Lemon Andersen to capture the spirit of Brooklyn in both bottle and videos, including a behind the scenes video about Spike Lee's involvement as well as a trailer of Lemon Andersen's attempt to sum up Brooklyn in a minute.

The bottle's design features a Brooklyn stoop with the address of Mr. Lee's childhood home and phrases on each step like "Brooklyn in da house." For the first time in Absolut bottle-design history, the seal on the shoulder of the bottle was altered, giving Lars Olsson Smith glasses and a cap resembling the look of Spike Lee.

Absolut has added another variety to its line of flavored vodkas: Mango. With its tropical taste and groovy, painterly swirls on the bottle it's a bit surprising that it took until No. 10 for Absolut to add this one to their repertoire.

Or not. After I ordered a mango 'n' tonic at a bar recently, the bartender looked slightly askance and asked if I was "sure," explaining that "a lot of people don't like it."

One taste had me in agreement: As a straight-up shot or with a non-masking mixer like tonic water, Absolut Mango has a peculiar taste. It starts fruity-mango and ends fruity-mango, but there's some strange bit in the middle that sort of flops on the tongue like mango detergent.

This is especially odd since Absolut so adroitly used mango in its New Orleans flavor, but perhaps the hit of black pepper that elevated that vodka above its peers also helped disguise the troubling mango notes (not to mention its super-cool design).

Absolut Mango does work nicely when blended into a cocktail or combined with juice: She's just not a sipper.

Over the past few years, as premium vodkas have come into vogue, I've heard more and more about the taste of vodka. Suddenly, reviews have been overflowing with comments like "a nice, caramel finish," "a buttery nose," and "an insouciant grin underlying pearly orange tones." Okay, I made the last one up, but am I the only one who sometimes wonders if professional liquor tasters have been dropping acid?

At any rate, the irony of this is that the ideal vodka shouldn't have any flavor at all. In fact, I'd argue that the ultimate mark of a good vodka is that you can pull it out of the freezer, pour yourself a shot, and taste absolutely nothing except for the quick death of a few thousand brain cells. This, by the way, is why a traditional vodka tasting often has savory items like caviar, blini, fresh dill, and preserved herring. Since it doesn't impart flavor, vodka makes a good, inoffensive base for other flavors.

While most of the top vodkas on the market cost upwards of $30, there are a few classic and lesser-known vodkas that offer premium quality and (lack of) flavor for very reasonable prices. For example, Svedka is a first-rate, mild-flavored vodka from Sweden. Like Absolut, it has an great ad campaign; unlike Absolut, however, it is a very tasty, very reasonably priced vodka.

Absolut Vodka is the number three selling brand in the world and, unlike its competition, is not owned by the type of corporation you might expect. It is owned by the Swedish government - for now, at least. The parliament just approved a plan to sell the vodka brand, as well as its parent company, V&S Vin & Sprit AB, and several less well-known brands, to the highest bidder. The estimated price tag is $5.7 billion.

Absolut is quite a prize for other liquor companies because it is the top imported vodka in the US - a market that is one of the largest in the world - and is rapidly increasing in popularity in countries like Brazil, Canada, Britain and Germany. There are already several interested buyers. Bacardi, which also owns Grey Goose Vodka, has thrown its name into the hat, as have Pernod Ricard, Brown-Forman and Fortune Brands. Time will tell where Absolut's ownership ends up, but the state is confident that its Swedishness will remain intact, as the vodka will still be produced in Sweden.

Source