Zarb. That’s French slag for “bizarre.” It’s also a good adjective for describing the bottle designs for Zarb Champagne. A Zarb bottle may have mini scaffolding climbing up its side or flowers sprouting from its base. It may depict a mermaid swimming amongst bubbles or a close-up of a sweaty bellybutton. It may resemble a ray gun or a fire extinguisher. Each design is the brainchild of the Dutch branding company They, which might have succeeded in its creative mandate a bit too well—Zarb bottles are so vondrous-looking that it is difficult to feel good about opening one and drinking the contents inside.
The Woodinville Age Your Own Whiskey Kit is not a make your own whiskey kit. But your house guests needn’t be told of that distinction. To them—and perhaps to you too—the whiskey you’ll produce from this kit will seem like your creation.
The process is simple enough: Pour some of the un-aged whiskey into the wood barrel, which accelerates the aging process. Then wait three to six months (preferably six). Then pour and enjoy. The whiskey which started the process clear will end it a golden brown.
The $150 kit comes with two 750 ml bottles, a pouring funnel, two tasting glasses and the wood barrel that can be reused five times.
Salmon: It isn’t just for eating anymore.
Flavored vodka is in. And not only with vanilla or fruit. Previously we sampled bacon-flavored vodka. In this post: salmon-infused vodka from Alaska Distillery. It’s brewed using glacier ice and, yes, real salmon. Drink a glass of this lox on the rocks and you get a fishy taste, nebulously described by most people who have tried it as “interesting.” Mixed into a Bloody Mary, however, this offering is a truly wonderful way to start out a lazy day.
BYOBB. That second B is for bacon. As in Bakon: the bacon-flavored vodka.
Bakon is, in fact, distilled using bits of real of peppered bacon. Take a straight shot of it and you’ll really get a semi-subtle taste of fried pig fat.
Though Bakon can be enjoyed straight on the rocks we like it best as part of a carnivorous cocktail. The more savory (as opposed to sweet) the drink the better the Bakon fit. A Bakon Bloody Mary is especially vondrous. So too is a Bakon oyster shooter and a Scottish Bakon (one part Bakon, one part Scotch). Pouring Bakon over a lettuce and tomato sandwich, not so much.
Can tea be geeky? It can when it comes in the form of the Think Geek Tea Sampler. The sampler includes four vondrous varieties of premium looseleaf tea—looseleaf being the only kind of tea a self-respecting connoisseur would be caught dead over crumpets with.
Our favorite of the four varieties, and the favorite of Star Trek’s preeminent Captain, is the “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.” Check out the video after the jump.
