We covered several sparkling spirits products about three years ago, here, and so it may be about time for a redux. There is quite a bit of action on this front, in recent months, perhaps due to the high profile of Nuvo Sparkling Liqueur.

Here is a Sparkling Vodka under the brand name Le Grand Saint. Technically, it is a distilled spirits specialty more than a “vodka” or a specific class/type. The statement of composition (“vodka infused with carbonation”) appears in gold letters near the top of the front label.

Another good example is Prévu. It is unique in the sense that it is sparkling, and liqueur, and organic. It is made with vodka and Cognac, and imported by Simont Enterprises of Los Angeles, California. Prévu also happens to have a great looking website and bottle. If the product is even half as good as what is shown there, I should step away from the computer and go get several bottles.

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Here it is. What all the controversy is about. EtOH. It is quite possibly the most popular psychoactive substance in the world, running neck and neck with caffeine, at least among substances that don’t require a prescription or jail time.

EtOH is otherwise known as ethanol or alcohol or ethyl alcohol. Ethanol is a contraction for ethyl alcohol and ethyl derives from “ether.” This particular EtOH is bottled by Ballast Point Spirits of San Diego, California.

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L’Chaim Vodka is distilled no less than 18 times. In an excellent website (www.theendofvodka.com), VeeV Acai Liqueur pokes fun at the vodkas distilled 3, 5, 23, 570 times. The site is funny, pretty, and makes a good point. It tends to suggest that after the first couple of distillations, and after pushing the spirit past 190 proof, it’s a fairly pointless exercise to distill it more.

Virtuoso Distillers, of Mishawaka, Indiana, is undaunted. In box 19 of the L’Chaim approval, Steven Ross patiently explains that the vodka is distilled 18 times. TTB frequently asks for such a confirmation, when the label sets forth the number of distillations or filtrations. This is odd because the label already claims it under penalty of perjury, the certification doesn’t seem to make it any more likely to be true, and it would seem to be a minor point in any event (for the reasons suggested by VeeV).

Mr. Ross has a lot more going on, on this label. He further explains that L’Chaim (or, “To Life”) is similar to “cheers,” carefully avoiding any suggestion that it’s about health. This is not a small matter because, prior to this approval, the term was rarely used in a prominent way on US alcohol beverage labels. Mr. Ross explains that the letters that spell L’Chaim also “add up to the number 18.”

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Here are two recent spirits products with an unusal and unusually large assembly of flavors. On the following list, the first 13 flavors are on the Root label, and the next 11 are on the Pink Spruce label.

1. Birch bark
2. Smoked black tea
3. Cinnamon
4. Wintergreen
5. Spearmint
6. Clove
7. Anise
8. Orange
9. Lemon
10. Nutmeg
11. Allspice
12. Cardamom
13. Pure cane sugar
14. Spruce oil
15. Cucumber
16. Juniper berries
17. Angelica root
18. Orange peel
19. Lemon peel
20. Coriander
21. Ginger
22. Orris root
23. Grains of paradise
24. Tangerine oil

The Pink Spruce Gin label also mentions that the product is made with “free range coastal water,” it is “Seasoned in Oregon Pinot Barrels,” and distilled from grain. The Root product strangely does not mention the commodity from which distilled and probably should. It was “inspired by a potent 18th century… recipe. … It is an alcoholic version of what eventually evolved into Birch or Root Beer.” There is almost no overlap in the list of flavors from one to the other.

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Flying Dog has their “Good Beer, No Sh*t” Road Dog Porter as chronicled here.

The Dog is not to be outdone by the Weasel. Whereas Road Dog, apparently, has no sh*t whatsoever, this ingredient is the centerpiece of Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch. It is made with weasel excrement. Literally. The label explains that:

This imperial Oatmeal stout is brewed with one of the world’s most expensive coffees, made from droppings of weasel-like civet cats. The fussy Southeast Asian animals only eat the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system help to break down the bean. Workers collect the bean-containing droppings for Civet or Weasel Coffee. The exceedingly rare Civet Coffee has a strong, distinctive taste and an even stronger aroma.

Lest you be scared away by the “droppings,” here is at least one connoisseur who can vouch for it.

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Once upon a time, the federal government prohibited the disclosure of alcohol content on malt beverage labels. The rationale was to protect public health by discouraging brewers from competing in “strength wars,” to sell more product. It took years of persistence by Coors Brewing Company and a ruling from the Supreme Court in 1995 to persuade TTB (then ATF) to allow the practice.

Did the strength wars ever materialize, once the rules changed? Among the major brewers, not really. In fact, we noted that there is war of a different kind — increasingly lighter beers (in alcohol and caloric content) from Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors.

But the craft beer movement appears to have its own strength war.  “Extreme beers” — beers with intense flavors and alcohol contents at three, four or even five times the amounts in a typical American lager — help small brewers stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And yes, they have many more calories too.

Boston Beer Company offers one of the strongest beers available for sale in the United States, with their Utopias, at 24% alc./vol. and a whopping 732 calories per 12 ounce serving (as per Skilnik).

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s 2002 release of World Wide Stout is listed at 23.04% alc./vol. and has approximately 666 calories per 12 ounce serving.

Although the offerings from Boston Beer and Dogfish Head top 20% alc./vol., the labels do not disclose the actual alcohol content. Sonoran Brewing Company’s Sonoran 200 is not so coy. It weighs in at 19.37% alc./vol. and has the highest alcohol content we’ve seen listed on a TTB-approved beer label. No caloric content details are readily available, but one might reasonably expect this 13.2 ounce bottle to be roughly equivalent to a Big Mac (at a scant 576 calories).

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One is filtered through diamonds and the other has gold flakes in the bottle. Double Cross Vodka is made in the Slovak Republic, where it is “filtered with diamond dust.” The small red strip label says so. Thanks to The Intoxicologist and Emily Haile for bringing this to our attention. Luxist explains:

The seven-times-distilled spirit uses only 100 percent organic, estate-grown winter wheat and mountain spring water drawn from aquifers located 200-feet below ground level. Double Cross’ diamond dust filtration system is said to provide unprecedented filtration capability because of the “unique shape and sub-micron size of the diamond dust particles.”

Rather than filter through the costly substance and leave it at the distillery, Gold Flakes Vodka puts the 24 karat gold right in each bottle. Luxist says it will retail for about $60 per bottle.

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Sparkling wine has been around a long time. Drew Lambert says the English invented it back in the 1600s, before the French. Beer got its fizz around the same time.

It took another 400 years for spirits to acquire a fizz, and now sparkling spirits are here with a vengeance. Nuvo was early, first approved on December 11, 2006. It is a sparkling liqueur made with vodka, sparkling wine and fruit nectar, in France. Three days earlier, TTB approved O2 Sparkling Vodka. It’s currently made in England and imported by Admiral. Topless is a third example of this trend. It is vodka with natural flavors and CO2 added. Topless is made in Holland and imported by Drinks Americas of Wilton, Connecticut.

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Rogue Spirits makes a Dead Guy Whiskey “Ocean Aged in Oak Barrels for 1 Month.” Is it a gimmick or a good idea? Let’s just say they are not alone in searching high and low to make innovative products. Ocean Vodka “uses deep sea water from Hawaii” according to Luxist. “The water is drawn from 3,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean … to be devoid of surface pollutants.”

Montanya Distillers is headed in the other direction. They make Mountain Rum in Silverton, Colorado, where it is “altitude aged” far from the seas.

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There is a lot going on with this label. First and most obviously, it’s in the style of a cream liqueur, but it’s classified as a wine. The back label is in the style of a front label. And it’s made with whey neutral spirits. Wikipedia says whey is “the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained; it is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein.” It is further evidence that wine and spirits can be made from a huge number of commodities. Dr. John Murtagh was an expert on converting whey into spirits:

Since 1979 John has been retained as a consultant to Carbery Distillers Ltd. of Ireland, on the development and operation of their process for the fermentation of cheese whey, to produce very-high-quality neutral spirit for beverage and industrial uses. He has also been responsible for the commissioning of three whey-alcohol plants for Carbery licensees in New Zealand and the U.S., and continues to visit and assist these plants.

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