"liquor cabinet" news and stories

As several media sources have noted, there has recently been a surge in vodka sales. While these increases have occurred across the board, there has been a particularly large spike in so-called "value" and "popular" brands, which cost less than $9 per bottle.

In addition to the obvious price benefit, there is also the matter of flavor. As The New York Times noted, the premium vodka fad was largely an artificially created phenomenon, and the cheap stuff often tastes just as good as brands that cost five or six times as much.

Of course, as the comments in last November's Top Shelf Vodka post demonstrate, Slashfood's readers have known this for quite some time.

While you may not want to resort to Popov, as the Times seems to suggest, it's worth noting that Smirnoff, Luksusowa and Svedka are all outstanding, low-priced tipples. And, just in case the Times decides to copy us yet again, remember that you heard it here first!

One of the best things about being an adult is having a liquor cabinet.

Not just a few pints stashed away atop a refrigerator, but a proper piece of furniture -- or at least a designated shelf -- to keep one's array of bottles, glassware, shakers and swizzle sticks. However, many of us shove and stack and forget about that old quart of Kahlua or the sticky shot glasses and ruin the whole effect.

In order to reap the full Nick and Nora je ne sais quoi from your liquor cabinet, you also must do a little maintenance at least every six months.

Slashfood's tips to cleaning up your liquor cabinet after the jump.

We all saw Sideways -- heck, to some of us, it's not just a movie, it's a manifesto. So we know that we're supposed to admire Pinot Noir and barely tolerate Merlot (it's not the demon grape it's made out to be).

The folks at Castle Rock winery are contributing to the dialog on Pinot Noir, and they put their answer in bottles.

Castle Rock currently bottles juice from seven species of grape, each chosen by informed vintner magic from its own West Coast microclimate with the appellation noted on the bottle.

Thus Castle Rock Chardonnay drinkers are choosing bottles from either the Russian River Valley or the Central Coast, Syrah drinkers choosing between Columbia Valley and Sonoma, and so forth.

In the wine as in the geography, the star grape is Pinot Noir, which for the 2007 vintage offers bottles from eight appellations. Some are easy to come by and some are selling out, and I can't pretend to have tried all eight (though I'm working my way through the list).

But I can pass along a few notes on those I have tried, which perhaps will inspire you to consider these sturdy, poetic Pinots the next time you're looking for a bottle to open with dinner.

My suggestions after the jump.

When it comes to naming drinks after people -- whether they be real or fictional -- what comes first? Do you decide to honor a personage and then make the appropriate cocktail, or do you mix it up and then go, "Hmmm... who does this remind me of?"

For the Suzanne Sugarbaker, it was definitely the latter. A cocktail made with sweet tea vodka and rose petal nectar seemed rather Southern belle-like and, given that there is already a Scarlett O'Hara, this seemed the way to go.

While my mother was something of a gourmet adventurer, the Northern Virginia suburbs in the 1970's weren't exactly a hotbed of culinary experimentation. To find new, unexplored foods, Mom spent an inordinate amount of time driving around to small markets and out-of-the-way eateries. To her credit, she also tried a lot of weird things that might have frightened lesser adventurers. In terms of wine, for example, we had to travel to Washington DC to find a decent wine store, so she worked her way through the meager offerings in our local grocery stores. From Ernest and Julio to Lancer's, Mateus Rose to Almaden, she gave everything a shot. One day, she came home with what my sisters and I immediately dubbed "Astronaut Wine": bright red Franzia in a handy cardboard box. While she and my father were dubious about the taste, I loved the cool mylar bag and the convenient container. Maybe it wasn't the best wine, but Franzia definitely had the coolest package.

I don't consider myself a wine snob, but I have long since banished Franzia to the ranks of wines that I wouldn't even use to de-grease my engine. Still, I can remember the wonder of those cool boxes, and have often imagined how great it would be if a vintner came out with a top-notch wine in a really cool box. With this in mind, I was excited to learn that a box wine, Corbett Canyon's 3-liter Premium Cask Merlot, won Best of Class for Merlots under $15 in the San Francisco Chronicle's Wine Competition.

Priced at $10, Corbett Canyon's boxed Merlot is well within my price range; unfortunately, the wine shops in my area have yet to stock it. Has anybody given it a shot?