QCM News

The World's Best Ever features Spodee

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Wine and Moonshine together again. Mix it with some cola, and you have yourself the American version of the calimocho, which I like to refer to as the ‘CaliMacho.’

Drinking in America: Spodelicious

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

You may know Steven Grasse as the man behind Hendrick’s Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum, and the historically minded Art in the Age Spirits Root, Snap, and Rhuby. His latest creation is Spodee, a concoction we tuned into recently at epicurious.com.

“Spodee is an unexpected blend of fortified wine and high-proof white whiskey (commonly called moonshine). As with Root, Snap, and Rhuby, Spodee looks to the past and is based on the Depression-era practice of combining country wine with strong homemade liquor plus whatever else happens to be on hand, such as fruit and spices.”

Combining wine and liquor might gross you out, but it warms our cockles just thinking about it.

Love the cute old-fashioned-looking milk bottle packaging (perfect for picnics, points out epicurious.com). Love the beautiful deep purple hue and just a little fizz.

“Flavor wise it’s reminiscent of port, but herbier and spicier, and with a hint of caramel.” Spodee can be enjoyed au natural, but the creators also recommend adding Coke for a Spodee and Sody — kind of like a Rum and Coke but more “nuanced and satisfying.”

For more on Spodee, check out Spodeewine.com. Bottles are on shelves in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and can be ordered online for just $9.

Will you Spodee? If so, are you a wine or a whiskey drinker?? We’re a little bored with wine lately, so we’re ordering a bottle today.

BigBite: Spodee sponsors Wing King IV

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Paying homage to the depression era concoction called “moonshine”, the makers of Hendricks Gin bring us Spodee, a tasty new wine beverage. Don’t be fooled by the cute retro milk glass jars, as the horse on the logo hints, this wine has a kick! At 36 proof Spodee is great for mixing, enjoying on the rocks or even in food recipies!! Above all, it tastes good. Spodee has a full bodied grape flavor with a very notable chocolate presence. Many can’t help but compare it to raisinets or or tootsie rolls but its quite a bit more sophisticated. Rather than add more adjectives, I’ll see you at Wing King IV and let you be the judge! We give a hearty Big Bite thanks to Spodee for being such a gracious sponsor and look forward to sharing its yumminess with all of you! Until then, learn a little more about our new friend in the clip below.

Bon Appetit greets Spodee, the Fancified Wine

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Earlier this week, Epicurious picked up on a new kind of hooch being made by Steven Grasse, the guy behind the impeccably-promoted Hendrick's Gin and Sailor Jerry Rum. For our Great Recessionary times, he's trying to bring back something called Spodee, a spiced mix of fortified wine and moonshine that was born during the Depression.

The Epi team managed to taste some, describing it as "reminiscent of port, but herbier and spicier, and with a hint of caramel." At 18% ABV, it sounds to us like an image-conscious hipster-friendly version of Night Train (though we're hoping, at $9 per half-liter, it won't give you quite the same headache the next day). If nothing else, the milk bottle packaging does look pretty cool.

Main Line Dish highlights Spodee, "a Wine with a Kick"

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Wine or moonshine? Wine or moonshine? If you find yourself trying to make this decision more often than not, then you’ll be happy to hear that Spodee has just hit the Philly market! Spodee isn’t your average wine; it is a wine fortified with high proof moonshine, that you mix into cocktails, like a spirit! Don’t fear the unusual because it’s said to be delightful and refreshing, unlike any drink before it.

Historically inspired Spodee harkens back to a Depression era hooch that was a deceptively strong, sweet, easy-to drink beverage made from a mix of country wine and whatever else was lying around the farm-fruits, herbs, spices and of course moonshine. Typically, it was made in trashcans or bathtubs and served at parties and backwoods get-togethers. This version is a potent 36 proof and comes in an old timey milk bottle. The kind the milk man used to deliver!

Besides the taste and various ways to enjoy this unique beverage, the bottles, with recycling in mind, make Spodee even greater! The trendy company that bring us this one of a kind drink encourages users to let the Spodee bottle be everything to you. Fill your cupboards with Spodee bottles as glassware, use it as a home for fresh picked flowers from the yard, have your pens and pencils sit somewhere other than all over your office desk and if worse comes to worse and one of the zillion uses don’t apply…make sure to recycle. You can even head over to the Art in the Age store and trade your clean, empty bottle in for a t-shirt!

Spodee will became available for purchase in PA and NJ stores in early May. Surprise all your friends and be idolized as the hippest person at the party when you show up with Spodee. Cheers!

Epicurious: "Spodee is Perfect for Summer Sipping"

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Steven Grasse is the man behind Hendrick's Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum, and the historically minded Art in the Age Spirits Root, Snap, and Rhuby. His latest creation is Spodee, an unexpected blend of fortified wine and high-proof white whiskey (commonly called moonshine). As with Root, Snap, and Rhuby, Spodee looks to the past and is based on the Depression-era practice of combining country wine with strong homemade liquor plus whatever else happens to be on hand, such as fruit and spices.

Some might be turned off by the notion of a drink that combines wine and liquor, but Spodee's cute old-fashioned-looking milk bottle packaging (perfect for picnics) will hopefully overcome any hesitations. The beverage itself has a beautiful deep purple hue and just a little fizz. Flavor wise it's reminiscent of port, but herbier and spicier, and with a hint of caramel. Spodee is sippable on its own, but the creators also recommends adding Coke for a Spodee and Sody, which is not unlike a Rum and Coke but more nuanced and satisfying.

For more on Spodee, including a video detailing its Depression-era roots, go to Spodeewine.com. Bottles are on shelves in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and can be ordered online ($9/500mL).

Thrillist's Recommendation for Spodee Enjoyment

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Coming from Philly's boozy renaissance man -- who's behind everything from AITA's retro hooch to Sailor Jerry -- Spodee is a 36-proof resurrection of a backwoods concoction of country wine, moonshine, and garden herbs made popular enough during the Great Depression that Jerry Lee Lewis later wrote a song about it, then set his piano on fire. For the new version, which tastes like high-end Raisinets with notes of cocoa and grapes, he's mixing sweet vino from Brotherhood (America's oldest winery) with his own "legal" moonshine, and packaging the stuff in old school, cork-topped milk bottles… sans delivery via the dude who's probably your dad. Because you'll no doubt be all, "But bro, how in the world could this white whiskey wine benefit me more than normal wine?", here's a situational guide that highlights Spodee's superiority:

A Romantic Picnic

Outcome with wine: Enjoy an enchanting, ants-free outing.

Outcome with Spodee: Enjoy an enchanting, pants-free outing?

Communion

Outcome with wine: You're filled with the lord.

Outcome with Spodee: You're filled with the lord... and grain alcohol that tastes like the candy you were eating during Lords of Dogtown.

Informal Wine Tasting

Outcome with wine: Spent an evening with pretentious wine drinkers who're likely just making up what they taste anyway.

Outcome with Spodee: Spent an evening with edgy, tattooed hooch drinkers who are also really into history, and are also likely just making up what they taste anyway.

Cooking

Outcome with wine: Your girlfriend enjoys a delicious coq au vin.

Outcome with Spodee: Your girlfriend enjoys a delicious coq au vin that evokes high-end Raisinets, with notes of cocoa and grape!

Meeting The Girlfriend's Parents

Outcome with wine: Dad gives you an aggressive handshake goodbye with extended eye contact.

Outcome with Spodee: Dad hugs it out, then gives you tacit permission to take his daughter on a romantic picnic.

Home Speakeasy Attends Spodee Launch Party

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

This past week, we were invited to check out the newest invention of Steven Grasse, the guy that came up with Hendrick’s Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum, Root, Snap and Rhuby. This time around, he’s got a sort of fortified wine called Spodee, made with grape wine, moonshine and spices, and it’s definitely interesting.

We hit this one at just the right time, since we’ve been on a bit of a fortified wine kick and finding an excuse to have some Sherry after every meal. The event at the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym was a lot of fun with Rival Brothers Coffee, The Smoke Truck, Cookie Confidential (a long-time favorite of ours), and Little Baby’s Ice Cream. A few variations of the Spodee were being passed around, from a coffee concoction to the Spodee and Sody [cola], and I have to say it’s more versatile for mixing than most wines. I’m not a big coffee drinker to begin with, so the Spodee Coffee Cocktail didn’t do much for me other than taste like coffee, but I did enjoy the unfortunately named Spodee and Sody (which will join “Moons Over My-Hammy” on the list of things I may want but will never order by name). I was also able to grab a glass of Spodee on its own so I had a point of reference on what I was tasting elsewhere. It’s got a very unique flavor: very sweet, with chocolate flavors and grape that leans more toward raisin and black cherry flavor than what you generally think of when you imagine wine. At 18% alcohol, it’s not going to put anyone on their ass, but it’s got a flavor powerful enough to stand up to mixing. The chocolate undertones give me hope for using it as a vermouth or sherry sub, or even swapped for a sweeter amaro.

The long and the short of it is that it’s different, which is almost never bad. We’re looking forward to messing around with Spodee in some cocktails, and picked up a bottle just this weekend in Old City (at a surprisingly affordable $8.00 for a 500 ml bottle). Some of the stores seem to have it behind the counter on account of its small size, so don’t give up looking for it too quickly.

Foodist Files: Spodee Reinvents the Wine and Milk Bottle!

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Steven Grasse is a maverick. A Marketing Mad Man of the Modern Age. He's an entrepreneur, artist, ad guy, author and all-around cool dude who happens to operate a successful business in Philly, for which residents should be thankful. His shop and gallery space Art in the Age of Mechanical Production in Olde City promotes local culture and sustainable products, which include his well-known line of spirits ROOT, SNAP & RHUBY marketed under his PR Agency Quaker City Mercantile. It seems whatever he touches turns a golden hue, which doesn't just happen by some stroke of luck. I'd call it strokes of genius really. Foresight. Creative edge. He purchased the intellectual property rights to the estate of WWII-era tattoo artist Norman Collins for a mere $20,000 and turned it into a multi-million dollar operation under the name "Sailor Jerry." A clothing line and a series of products were developed around the style and tattoo imagery of the man, including a successfully distributed rum. The power of the label pushed Grasse to brand Hendrick's Gin, the premium spirit that is poured from a now iconically-shaped and designed bottle that feels more late 1800s than today. Take a look at a bottle of ROOT and you'll notice the classic curves and appeal. William Grant & Sons, the Scottish distiller that produced the rum for Grasse as well as Hendrick's floral gin, bought the Sailor Jerry brand in 2008, retained Grasse as its ad agent, and made him a treasure chest of bullion, all of which brings us to today.

This past Wednesday I was invited to the Preview Party for Spodee Wine, whose tagline is "Wine with a Kick" and whose bottle reveals a mule with its hind legs high in the air. Imagery tells a story. This says it all. It's part of that unconventional approach for which Grasse is known. Spodee is cursively written on old-time milk bottles and contained in wooden crates one would expect to be delivered on a doorstep in the '50s. Mix modern marketing with old-fashioned concepts. It's another indication of Grasse's "grass-roots" campaign layered with color and Rock-N-Roll undertones. So what is Spodee exactly? It's a 36-proof spirit whose name is from a Depression-era "hooch" that was mixed with fortified wine, herbs, spices and moonshine and poured into containers that were readily available at the time. Hence, the re-invented milk bottle. Hooch is a derivation of "Hoochino," which was an Alaskan tribe that made a distilled liquor of the same name in the late 1800s that became a favorite of gold rush miners. So you see, there's that mix of history again. And GOLD. I am sensing foreshadow here. Of Success.

The launch party, held at the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym in Fishtown, mixed Southern style with farmhouse charm and Prohibition-era cocktail ingenuity. A bluegrass band called Sour Mash (a befitting name for cheap whiskey) played tunes one would expect on a porch in the middle of Appalachia, transporting one to a setting and time when moonshine shone brightly (and still does!). Mark Coates, the talented chef behind the now-closed Italian Market Bebe's, brought along his roaming BBQ vehicle The Smoke Truck, which infused each offering with Spodee, including braised pork cheeks, applewood smoked chicken drumsticks, and killer mole-rubbed angus short rib sliders sporting Spodee BBQ sauce. Rival Bros. Coffee conjured up a Spodee Con Leche, featuring its namesake coffee brew served cold with sweetened condensed milk and Spodee. My Jello Americans playfully blended gelatin with alcohol in jello shots along with dark chocolates encasing liquid Spodee centers. Little Baby's Ice Cream concocted a Red Velvet Spodee Chocolate Swirl that cooled things off. It was clear that Spodee could enhance both food and sweets.

At the center of it all, though, was the bar, where Spodee really sparkles. On its own, Spodee on the rocks is syrupy and sweet, with chocolate undertones, slightly reminiscent of port wine, Kahlua and a hint of Frangelico. It can be drunk post-meal as a dessert-ending digestif, but its real draw is as a centerpiece in cocktails. Its versatility was expressed through fun recipes like the Southern Storm, an homage to the Dark 'N' Stormy, which blended Spodee with Sailor Jerry rum, ginger beer and lime juice. The Spodee & Sody, offered to guests as they entered the vast space, showed off equal parts of the hooch and cola, similar to a Rum and Coke but sweeter. The idea is that the product, marketed as a spirit from White Mule Farms, shines when it plays with others in the glass. Pour a bourbon over ice, then add some Spodee, a dash of bitters perhaps. Stir. It's that easy. Make up your own recipes or follow those provided on the neck of the bottle. Be adventurous. It's a message Steven Grasse has been following and passing along his whole career. After all, one doesn't arrive at this spot in life without kickin' things around a bit.

Spodee is now available in PA and NJ, at liquor stores and restaurants. It's worth seeking out. Take a Walk on the Wild Side.

DrinkNation calls Spodee, "Very Fine and Fortified"

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Steven Grasse is a liquor pioneer of sorts. Hendrick's Gin took juniper spirits into a new realm of light, flowery flavor, and his rum, Sailor Jerry, evolved from a line of tattoo-oriented clothing. Under the moniker Art in the Age, he’s led the development of Root, Snap and Rhuby liqueurs, based on colonial recipes and old-time ingredients. But none of these are as unique as his latest offering: Spodee.

Spodee is a fortified wine, ringing in at 36 proof, which is based on the hooch that helped keep many Americans sane during the Great Depression. People would combine country wine with homemade moonshine and assorted fruits and herbs from their struggling gardens, creating a potent, pungent sip. Branded as hailing from White Mule Farms, this new combo-liquor is “wine with a kick.”

Packaged in a corked milk bottle, Spodee is now available to be shipped nationally (where legal) for as low as $8.99 per 500-ml container. It’s also on shelves and in restaurants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Grasse’s home state. Is it worth a try? Our take: definitely.

Though the spirit is meant to be mixed, a sip straight on the rocks brings a very original flavor, full of fruity grape with undertones of cocoa. If you took the highest-end chocolate-covered raisins you could find — the gourmet kind, not Raisinets — and somehow pressed liquor out of them, Spodee is what you’d get.

A surprisingly tasty combination comes when the strong vino is added to iced coffee with cream, adding richness and bite and paving the way for a future brunch standby. “Spodee and Sody” is an option if you like sweet cocktails, as cola adds few other notes to the concoction. Substitute it for sweet vermouth and you have a very unique Manhattan.

With its nuanced flavor profile, Spodee is also suited for use in cooking, adding sweet tang to barbecue sauce, or showing it’s chocolate side in desserts. Spodee will keep for months, even opened, so find a way to snag at least one milk bottle to experiment with sometime soon.