Monday, August 1, 2022

What is the Biltmore Habanero Cocktail August 1, 2022

I recently came across the following ad from the New York Times dated May 4, 1934 which advertised a cocktail known as the Biltmore Habanero Cocktail which was sponsored by Mexican Habanero. I wasn't quite sure what Mexican Habanero was. Was it an infused type of agave-based spirit like Tequila or Mezcal? And why at the Biltmore? As you can see, I wasn't quite familiar with both the cocktail and its location. I decided to jump down the New York City History rabbit hole for some more information. First, I wanted to do quick history on the Biltmore Hotel.

The New York Biltmore Hotel was built in 1913 across the street from the recently built Grand Central Terminal. Located at East 43rd Street and Madison Avenue, the Biltmore was a part of a grand complex of hotels and office buildings that would be built over the train rails and be interconnected with the Grand Central Terminal was known as the Terminal City Development. 

According to the article Biltmore Hotel from the New York Preservation Archive Project website:

"The 26-story neo-classical hotel featured a “stone base with arched openings, a gray brick mid-section and terracotta loggia and projecting cornice.” Its H-plan allowed almost all of its rooms outside exposure and it was one of the first buildings in New York City to use air rights, making the hotel significantly taller than surrounding buildings at the time. Among its well-known interior features was a direct connection to Grand Central Terminal, one of the first indoor swimming pools and Turkish baths, rooftop gardens on the sixth floor setback, and a Palm Court with a golden timepiece made famous in popular culture by the saying, “Meet me under the clock.”"

The Biltmore Hotel is to the left of Grand Central

The hotel fell into disrepair and after failed attempts to designate the exterior as a landmark. On August 14,1981, work began to strip the building down and it was reconverted into an office building made of red granite and glass which is now known as 335 Madison Avenue. The famed clock and connecting tunnel to Grand Central still exist. The clock is in the building's lobby and the tunnel connects the building to GCT.

Now on to the Mexican Habanero.

I was doing a quick search online to find out more about what Mexican Habanero is. Nothing really concrete came up. I found many pages for the obvious habanero peppers, Mexican restaurants and other recipes that showcased habanero peppers. I decided to go to one of the main sources of cocktail and spirits history: David Wondrich. I picked up the book The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails which is edited by him with Noah Rothbaum. I wasn't disappointed. This is how Habanero is described on page 340 of the book:

"Habanero is an aged aguardiente from the Mexican state of Tabasco that is blended with small amounts of sherry or other sweet wines to create what is essentially a cane-based version of Spanish brandy." 

The spirit's popularity was from the 1900s to the 1950s, especially during the Prohibition era in the United States from 1920-1933. It was during this time that tourists to Mexico picked up on this spirit. Once Prohibition was lifted, the producers of Habanero tried to make in-roads into the United States market. It wasn't very successful. According to Wondrich, Habanero is still made and sold locally in Tabasco but not exported.   

Now on to the Biltmore Habanero Cocktail.

After a quick search, I came up with contemporary cocktails which have either muddled habanero peppers in the drink, habanero peppers as a garnish or habanero infused spirits. It wasn't quite what I was looking for. Luckily for me the ad had the recipe for the cocktail. It calls for the following:

Biltmore Habanero Cocktail

1/2 Mexican Habanero
1/4 Italian Vermouth
1/4 French Vermouth
Twist of a Lemon Peel
Almond on a toothpick. 

The dimensions of the cocktail resemble those of a Perfect Martini, though a Perfect Martini would have about 2oz to 3oz of the base spirit of either Gin or Vodka. Well, at least if I was making it. I'm not quite sure what the Biltmore Habanero Cocktail would taste like. Is the Mexican Habanero sherry forward in terms of flavor?  

Please let me know if you have had any. Drop me your thoughts in the box below. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 

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Monday, July 18, 2022

Foster's Australian For Beer? July 18, 2022

What's up peeps. I like to live by the adage of "When in Rome..." For today's post, I'm at the Outback Steakhouse in Pelham Bay Mall and referring to the "When in Rome..." I'm ordering a big frosty mug of Foster's with a side of the Bloomin' Fried Shrimp. 

Delish. But ordering the brew made me wonder...Is Foster's really Australian for beer? Well its a bit more complicated than that.

The origins of the beer that we know today as Foster's Pale Lager start in the Australian city of Melbourne. In 1889, a pair of Irish American brothers William and Ralph Foster's started brewing and selling a European style lager. By 1909, a series of mergers of breweries in Australia, the Brothers Foster's brewery was now under the Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) Umbrella.


By the 1970s Foster's was made available in both the UK and the US. Now here is where it gets complicated. In 1981, Foster's started being brewed in the UK. A series of mergers and purchases of the brand led to SABMiller (2011,) Anheuser-Busch INBev (2016,) and then Asahi Breweries (2020) owning the Foster's brand. The beer is predominantly brewed in the city of Manchester, UK but also brewed here in the U.S., Fort Worth, TX to be specific. Basically Fosters is an Australian brand not an Australin product. I know, that's one confusing origin story. 🤔🤷🏽‍♂️

But you might be asking yourself...The commercial said "Foster's...Australian For Beer" and "How to speak Australian."


According to sources, the two main popular beer brands that are consumed in Australia are the Carlton Draught and Victoria Bitters beer brands. There was even a lawsuit in 2015 where a man from New York sued that he was deceived into thinking Foster's was an Australian beer though it was brewed in the aforementioned Fort Worth, TX brewery. in 2020, CUB announced that they would be reintroducing Foster's in Australia as Fosters Classic. 

While Foster's roots lay in Melbourne, it has more international reach and legacy in a number of countries. Now obviously I'm simplifying things for the sake of the post. There's more information on the whole Foster's brand saga depending on the market that each brewing conglomerate is located in.

For me it doesn't matter. I find that its hard to find Foster's Pale Lager on draft. But I know where I can find a nice frosty mug of it...Outback Steakhouse.

Whatcha think about Fosters. Like it? Hate it? Don't really care about it? Let me know. Drop me a comment in the box below. See you around for the next post.
Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 

#SiscoVanilla
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For Further Reading: 





Thursday, June 30, 2022

What is Isinglass June 30, 2021

What's up peeps. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather. I came across something that I found curious while playing the Elder Scrolls Online MMO. I've done a prior post based on something that I came across in the game: What is an Oenophile September 25, 2021 and this one is in the same vein.

The game has crafting missions ranging from making armor, jewelry, potions and for the sake of this post provisions (food and drink.) One such recipe is for a Clarified Syrah Wine:

Looking at the recipe ingredients I see that Isinglass is needed to make the in-game wine. Obviously the product making is simplified for the game but the listing for the ingredient Isinglass left me thinking: what is Isinglass and what is it used for.

I found a couple of sources concerning what Isinglass is, what its used for and the origin of its name.  First the what. Known as "fish glue", Isinglass is made from the membranes of swim bladders of such fish as sturgeon, cod and hake. Next is the what is it used for.

In brewing and vinification, Isinglass is used as a filter. According to the article Isinglass; or, The Many Miracles of Fish Glue by Matthew Wills from the JStor Daily website dated August 23, 2020 

"It has been used for centuries as a fining, or clarifying agent, in alcoholic beverages. Finings remove particles like the yeast used in fermentation. Today, there are other ways of doing this, but isinglass is still being used by some producers of beer, wine, and hard cider."
In terms of its use with beer, the article The Oxford Companion to Beer definition of finings 
from the Craft Beer and Brewing website states:
"Finings are processing aids added to unfiltered beer to remove yeast and protein haze. During fermentation yeast cells and beer proteins largely derived from the malt form a colloidal suspension that appears as a haze. A colloidal suspension forms when very small, charged particles are suspended in a liquid. An electrostatic charge, known as a zeta potential, repels one particle from the next and serves to impede the settlement of the solid particles from the liquid phase.

In unclarified beer, yeast cell walls carry a negative charge. Isinglass and gelatin solutions are proteins that carry a positive charge. When added to newly fermented beer, the charged finings interact with the yeast and neutralize the zeta potential present on the cell wall. This eliminates the repulsive forces and sticks the yeast cells together to form a larger particle called a floc. These larger particles settle considerably faster than they would otherwise, as dictated by Stokes’ law."
Many times an Isinglass is used right before the filtration of a beer.

In terms of wine, I refer to the article What is fining in wine? Ask Decanter by Chris Mercer from Decanter.com dated May 31, 2019:
"It is part of the clarification and stabilisation process and involves adding a substance to the wine that will flush out certain elements that may cause a wine to look hazy or affect its aroma, colour or bitterness.

Fining removes ‘colloids’, which are molecules that include tannins, phenolics and polysaccharides.

The fining agent binds to the unwanted particles in the wine, which means they become sizeable enough to be filtered out."
Ok then. Vinters that produce natural wines do not use any kind of filtering agent made from fish or otherwise. Now on to the origins of the name.

According to both sources, the word Isinglass comes from the Dutch and German word word huizenblaas, which translates to sturgeon (huizen) bladder (blaas). The substance has been used throughout the centuries as not only a filter, but as a preservative, medicinal uses such as bandages, as a restorative agent in paintings and even in cement.

In today's climate of veganism and vegetarianism, Isinglass has been replaced by other methods to filter out beer and wine. Who would have thought that playing an MMORPG could be so informative?

Any thoughts on the use of Isinglass in beer and wine production? Drop me your thoughts in the comments box.

I'll keep grinding and crafting both in and out of the game. Hasta the next post.

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 

#SiscoVanilla
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For Further Reading:

- What is Isinglass and how is it related to Caviar? by Dana C. Leavitt from the Caviar Star website dated January 2, 2018 https://caviarstar.com/blog/isinglass-what-is-it-and-how-is-it-related-to-caviar/

Monday, June 20, 2022

Rums of Puerto Rico Ad from the June 18, 1953 New York Times June 20, 2022

I was recently going through the New York Times from June 18, 1953. While scrolling through the pages, I came across an ad for the Rums of Puerto Rico

Unfamiliar with the organization The Rums of Puerto Rico? According to the article How the Rums of Puerto Rico Program Works: An Interview with Director Alexandra Salgado by Will Hoekenga from the American Rum Report website dated October 4, 2019: 

"...since the mid-20th century, Puerto Rico has had its own standards that rum must meet in order to call itself a “rum of Puerto Rico.” 

It started in 1948, when a government-owned corporation called the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company established the Rums of Puerto Rico program to promote the Puerto Rican rum industry and help it maintain certain production standards." 

At the time of the ad, some of the rums that made up the group were Bacardi (1862 in Cuba/1936 in Puerto Rico), Don Q  (1856), Ron del Barrilito (1880.) 

Without further ado, here is the ad from the Rums of Puerto Rico June 18, 1953.

Have any of you ever had a taste of the then named Cocktail X and Cocktail Y? Whatcha think of them. Yea? Nay? Meh? Let me know,

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 

#SiscoVanilla
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Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Who Was Stella Artois June 7, 2022

While at the Yankees game this past Sunday, I had a nice cold 25oz can of Stella Artois to combat the heat in section 430. Normally I would try to find a beer that I haven't had before. But the stadium was jammed packed, lines super long and the game was close. So to avoid any of the action, it was easier to get one from the beer vendor that was walking around in our section. Looking at the can got me to thinking about two things: Who was Stella Artois? And Is Stella Artois reallt from from 1366? 

First off, Stella Artois wasn't a real person. The name for the beer comes from a couple of sources. The beer that is Stella Artois was initially brewed in 1926 as a Christmas beer. The brewery decided to create this beer in honor of the town of Leuven, Belgium and their historical brewery The Den Hoorn Brewery that was founded in 1366. In Dutch, the term Den Hoorn translates to The Horn which explains why there is a horn on the can with the year "Anno 1366" across the top with a star in the middle. 


Here comes the meaning behind the star.

Anno 1366 is Latin for the year 1366. The name Stella comes from the Latin word for Star. Since the beer was a Christmas beer, Stella (and the star on the can) commemorate the reason for the brew...Christmas and the Star of Bethlehem aka the Christmas Star. And now for Artois.

Artois brings the name full circle. In 1708 the Den Hoorn Brewery was purchased by their brew master for the Den Hoorn Brewery by the name of  Sebastian Artois. To honor his legacy, the town of Leuven, the Den Hoorn Brewery and the occasion for the beer, it was named Stella Artois. And there you go. 

If you ever wondered who Stella Artois was, now you know.

Feel free to let me know if you're curious of the origins of other beer brands. I'm game to dive down the proverbial rabbit hole to find out.

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 
#SiscoVanilla
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For Further Reading:

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Heineken Silver April 21, 2022

What's up peeps. Today's post concerns an ad for a beer that I recently saw during the UEFA Champions League broadcast. On the ticker, I saw an advertisement for Heineken Silver. I had no idea what Heineken Silver is, so I decided to look it up. Here is what I found out. 

Heineken Silver is their low abv entry into the beer market that is focusing on a larger beer drinking demographic. Here is how Heineken Silver is described on the website

Heineken® Silver has a smooth and refreshing finish, with a fruity aroma and balanced, bitterness at 4% ABV. 

And how do they produce a lower ABV beer? 

Heineken® Silver isn’t an extra-cold version of Heineken® Original; it’s a completely different proposition that aims to appeal to a broader range of consumer tastes. Brewed at -1°C, Heineken® Silver has a more accessible, easy-to-drink finish. Lager beers experience a cold storage period to allow a ‘cold haze’ to form, which can be filtered out to leave a crystal-clear beer. The lower the temperature, the more cold haze forms and the more can be filtered out. Because cold haze is made out of proteins and rough-tasting tannins, a beer lagered at a lower temperature results in a more accessible flavour profile. 

The website states that Heineken Silver is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. As of now it seems that Heineken Silver is available in 19 European markets. No word if this brew will make it to the U.S..
 
Any of my overseas peeps have a taste of the Heineken Silver yet? Yeah? Nay? Meh? Let me know. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla 

#SiscoVanilla
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Monday, April 18, 2022

McKenzie Rye Whiskey from Finger Lakes Distillery April 18, 2022

Hey peeps, what's up. For today's post I'm staying in the New York Finger lakes region. In my last post I did a quick profile for the Hildick Applejack Brandy brand. Now I'm focusing on one of the new school distilleries in the area that produces an interesting Rye Whiskey. 

McKenzie Rye Whiskey from the Finger Lakes Distillery (4676 NYS Route 414 Burdett, New York [607-546-5510]). Finger Lakes Distillery is designated as a New York State Farm Distillery. What does that mean? According to the post What Can You Do as a Craft Beverage Manufacturer? from the New York State Liquor Authority website: 
Farm Distilleries are required to use at least 75% New York grown or produced fruits, vegetables, grain and grain products, honey, maple sap or other agricultural products. Farm distillery licensees may only produce New York State labelled liquor. 
So based on that, here is how McKenzie Rye Whiskey is described on their website:
McKenzie Rye Whiskey is made from local rye grain and is distilled using old-time techniques. We age this whiskey in new charred oak casks and finish in sherry barrels from local wineries. The sherry balances the spiciness of the rye and also gives a nod to the wine region where this whiskey is produced. 750 ml   |  91 proof   
The label also states that it is aged a minimum of 3 years in American Oak casks.

Now I'm very much not drinking any hard liquor these days. But for the sake of this post I poured my self a very teeny teeny amount of McKenzie Rye Whiskey to wet my palate. Its been a while since I've had any brand of rye whiskey but I have to say that I like what McKenzie brings to the table. 

I found it to be sweet with a subtle spice on the back end. It isn't as spicy as other ryes that I've had and enjoyed. But it was just enough spice. It was also very aromatic to the nose. It also left me with a nice tingle on the lips that I have to admit that I've missed. 

I highly recommend that you try some. We have it available at Finns Corner (660 Washington Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 [347-663-9316]) for your drinking pleasure. Roll on in. 

For my next post I'm focusing on Heineken's newest offering, a low ABV brew known as Heineken Silver. Keep your 👀 peeled for it. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 
SiscoVanilla 

#SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanillaServesAndDrinks 
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