Posts from the ‘NYC’ Category

Jun 13

Rum & Riesling Peach Sangria

With every restaurant, bar and nation crafting their own recipe for Sangria, we though we’d make the most of our own in-house ingredients and create a recipe that’s ideal for any beach, BBQ, bar or taqueria. Steering clear of Ab Fab’s Pats and Eddy, who lived on Boli-Stolis (1 part Stolichnaya, 1 glass of Bollinger Champagne) for our afternoons of summer stoop sipping in the city, we opted for something light, local and non-lethal, featuring Owney’s Original Small Batch Rum from The Noble Experiment NYC in Brooklyn.

Jun 5

Billecart-Salmon Rooftop Party at the Thompson Hotel LES

Big thanks to everyone who came out to play at the Billecart-Salmon Rooftop Party at the Thompson Hotel Lower East Side, with Alexandre Bader and Geoffrey Loisel . The bubbles were flowing while the skies kept dry. It was a lovely night to celebrate the oldest continuously family owned and operated house in Champagne – in the Big Apple. Cheers!

Jun 3

Txikifest 2013 at Txikito

As warm and sunny skies finally came to NYC this weekend, Txikifest took Chelsea by storm! For the third year in a row, Eder Montero and Alex Raij the owners and chefs of Txikito packed the back alley behind their famed Basque Country restaurant with Txakoli wines from 15 different producers and pintxos (Basque-style tapas) from ten different restaurants. With proceeds benefitting Sanctuary for Families, this celebration of Basque Country culture was not to be missed! (For Txikifest 2012, read here.)

May 30

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Dispatches From The 2013 Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Scott Rosenbaum, our Spirits Strategist, attended The 2013 Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which he writes about here. Thanks Scott!

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This May, New York played host to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, a multiday event that celebrates all forms of mixed drinks and spirited libations. While the kick-off gala relied heavily on theatrics (let’s just say that many parties at the New York Public Library don’t have stilt walkers), the next four days maintained a fantastic balance between the educational and the celebratory.

May 2

TEW Craft Spirits Portfolio Launch

Max Hames, Rich Watts, Dave Kyerejko, Zac Bruner and Peter Simon of Industry City Distillery, Bridget Firtle of The Noble Experiment NYC, Ted Palmer of Roundhouse Spirits and Laurence Spiewak of Suerte Tequila

On Tuesday we debuted our Craft Spirits Portfolio at Lafayette, with each of our distillers hosting round table tastings and talks, holding court when four mixologists arrived to present the cocktails that they’d created, specifically for the launch. And though the sun was blazing spring on the streets above, there was no lack of warmth or shine being generated in the cave below. With a selection of spirits-inspired tunes curated by PC (and printed on the cover of our tasting book), the room was abuzz with pleasured palates and realized connections. “The first thing I learned making cocktails,” said Tiffany Short, Bar Manager at The Library at the Public, “[is] you can’t have good cocktails without great products. It’s our first priority, so it’s great when people like this make it easy for us.”

Apr 29

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The Noble Experiment – NYC

Bridget Firtle of The Noble Experiment NYC

In honor of our Portfolio of Craft Spirits Launch tomorrow, we introduce Bridget Firtle, the master-mind/proprietor/distiller/labeler of Owney’s Original Small Batch Rum at The Noble Experiment NYC in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Be sure to come by tomorrow to meet Bridget, who will be pouring alongside our other craft distillers.

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1. What made you decide to distill rum, as opposed to any other spirit?

I love rum. I want to teach people how cool rum is.

I think it’s an extremely versatile spirit of rich historic importance to the US. Rum is also generally under appreciated and I believe there is an opportunity to educate consumers on how rum is made and how to use it in different ways than they’re used to seeing it. Since rum is made in lots of different countries around the world and there is little regulation on how to make it, I’ve had fun making a unique product that I believe to be distinctive to NYC. The first distillery on record (c. 1664) in this country was located on present day Staten Island and rum was distilled there — it’s time for a rum to come back to the 5 boroughs!

Mar 25

John Ragan’s DeVine Intervention

“We wanted to do more than take food to the Rockaways,” said John Ragan, the Wine Director of the Union Square Hospitality Group, and the man behind DeVine Intervention. An online wine centric auction to raise funds to benefit the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, the auction begins today and runs until April 7, 2013. With 250 lots up for grabs, including a trip for four to the Robert Sinskey guest house in Napa, a Team Machine SLR01 Full Carbon bike signed by 17-time Tour de France rider George Hincapie, and a number of private dinners with wine writers, DeVine Intervention hopes to raise at least $250,000, with every penny going directly to the Mayor’s Fund, who will handle all of the credit cards used for bidding.

When setting up the auction, Ragan had four goals in mind: to get the food and wine world involved, to make it easy for participants to say yes, to make their efforts painless, and for there to be no expenses so that “every penny could get to the end point.”

Beginning today, these lots are open for bidding. With bottles of DRC, Krug, Laroche and a selection of large format etched bottles up for bidding, most of which have been donated by members of the local restaurant community, this is the first online wine auction ever conducted for the Mayor’s Fund.

Dec 4

TEW on Extra Virgin with Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos

After two seasons of the Cooking Channel’s Extra Virgin, Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos moved from L.A. to Brooklyn for the start of season three. A marriage between a native New York actress–of Entourage, Ugly Betty and Goodfellas fame–and a musician from Tuscany who learned the traditional ways of the kitchen from his grandmother and mother, Extra Virgin offers the viewer a place at the couple’s kitchen table. And because every Tuscan table would be incomplete without bottles of wine, TEW joined forces with this dynamic duo for Episodes 6, 7,8 and 9.

Oct 31

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The Aftermath of Sandy

Morningside Park, Tuesday 10/30

As Manhattan (and the outer boroughs) lost power south of 39th Street, so did our TEW home base in downtown Manhattan. With a full-moon flooding of the East and Hudson Rivers, streets and tunnels and ground floors were under water. Cars floated down downtown streets and on Tuesday, the rain stopped as our offices remained unaccessible.

Not since Hurricane Bill in 2009, has Central Park seen such tree devastation; 7,000 were felled by Sandy. Not since ever, has the MTA been so weathered with damaged.

We hope that you and yours have weathered the storm safely.

We hope our electricity and servers to be up and running again by tomorrow, Thursday.

Jul 30

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Partying with Chateau Coussin at Blue Ribbon Izakaya

On Thursday night, Chateau Coussin hosted a party at Blue Ribbon Izakaya on Orchard Street, where we ate and drank on the balcony awaiting the impending storm. It was a fabulous evening that inspired dancing in the rain, followed by a few hours of karaoke, whose images will remain unshared…