At Tamworth Distilling & Mercantile, which opened earlier this year on the grounds of a dilapidated New Hampshire inn, high-proof grain alcohol embodies the anachronistic, utilitarian charm of something you might have once found at a general store — or today, at the Vermont Country Store. According to its label — printed with, according to… Read more »
Diageo, the alcohol giant behind the likes of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, and Captain Morgan, just put out its full-year results, and one of the few bright spots is Guinness. The iconic Irish stout has an association with history and heritage, but Diageo is trying to reinvent it as “innovative” — and the plan is working. Here’s… Read more »
How traditionalists and innovators are revolutionizing — and lifting — America’s spirits. Steven Grasse, founder of Tamworth Distilling & Mercantile on the edge of New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, told me that his goal also is to simultaneously “restore tradition and innovate.†Grasse is a spectacularly successful former advertising executive. Among his… Read more »
It’s not often that a 125-year-old brand can reinvigorate itself without a complete reinvention. But that’s what Narragansett Brewing Company has been able to do. With a shoestring media budget of just $100,000 and guerilla-style word-of-mouth marketing, the brand has been revived, even moving past its New England roots and expanding to markets in the southern… Read more »
The 125-year-old Rhode Island lager is having a comeback and is now winning over New York’s cool kids When Mark Hellendrung bought the Narragansett beer company in 2005, close to nobody drank the 125-year-old New England lager. Gone were the glory days of the 1960s, when the beer was the official sponsor of the Red Sox,… Read more »
In response to the mundane ease of modern travel, Hendrick’s Gin has developed the world’s only flying cucumber—a 130-foot dirigible that clips along at the civilized speed of 35 mph, just slow enough not to blow off your steampunk hat. They are whipping out their big cucumber in 13 cities across the nation and giving… Read more »
“It bugs me when people say I’m driven by money,” Steven Grasse says, racing past the rustic barns and ice-fishing shacks of rural New Hampshire, trying to outrun the coming February blizzard. “I’m driven by wanting to make things.” A former Philadelphia adman, Grasse, 49, employed a singular mix of crass humor and punk-rock aesthetic… Read more »
Steven Grasse is profane, wildly successful and more than happy to sell you a $33 bottle of artisanal Durt. Is he a spirits genius? Writer Alex Halberstadt visits him at his forthcoming New Hampshire think tank. Steven Grasse, the prolific ad man and spirits architect, doesn’t suffer from false modesty. In fact, he manages to… Read more »
