Hey there, sorry for the long delay in writing - I've been a very busy little liquid pusher! Check out these H-O-T accounts that are featuring Charbay... Thank you to all specifically Monica, Ethan, Bryan and Andre for your tremendous support and all the good times I've had this week.
BLT Steak on Sunset... Gorgeous. Dan and I sat down and talked booze for quite awhile the other morning. For all of you into fresh ingredients, Dan gave me this super cool fresh fruit-vegetable calendar... it tells you when fruits-veges-herbs are ripe throughout the year... cool stuff! Will be a great addition to our flavor chart. I just tried to find this calendar online, but no such luck so Ill see if Dan can track it down for me. Anyway, you should certainly check BLT Steak out - they are not messing around... There menu is here, let me know how it goes :-) Enjoy Charbay Whiskey here, and keep an eye out for a Charbay cocktail, Dan is working on it right now...
XIV - the new Michael Mina concept in LA is stunning! Just opened this week - they are pouring Charbay Whiskey (need I say more?) as well as four of our vodkas. Noah was amazing, as he spent 15 minutes or so with me when it was their first Friday of being open! The phone was ringing off the hook, Chef Mina was in the house, last minute touches were being put on the dining room... It was great energy in there - I have no doubt that this will be an extremely successful addition to the Michael Mina empire :-)
When we ran out of Tahitian Vanilla Bean Rum awhile back, among many disappointed people was Bobby Bognar of the Getty Center. And I don't blame him, after all - wouldn't you be a little upset if you had created the best mojito of all time built with blackberries and Charbay Tahititan Vanilla Rum? Well, great news people - the new batch is ready to ship!!! And let me just tell you it is tasting really great. Anyway, I called Bobby when I had a window of time to go see him and he was awesome enough to show me all the way to the top of the hill. I brought him a taste of the liquid love in hopes for forgiveness and hopefully it was a success. If you Los Angels haven't yet gone up to the top of the Getty yet for a cocktail, get your booties up there... Ocean view - check. LA skyline view - check. Tasty cocktails - check. Yummy food - check. Added to the to do list - check.
Paperfish is a really cool Patina Group concept - right off of Sunset... Chris Kulow (the GM) was at Crustacean in Beverly Hills for quite some time before heading up Paperfish, so it was great presenting to someone already familiar with Charbay. Paperfish has a very focused cocktail menu featuring what is fresh now. I know Charbay will be a perfect fit here and I look forward to tasting the winning cocktail. We appreciate Crustacean in San Francisco majorly - they are one of our very first accounts in SF and continue to support us every day. Thank you Ken!!
So Paperfish has an heirloom tomato salad with watercress, white balsamic sorbet and tahitian vanilla... does that call for a Charbay Tahitian Vanilla Bean Rum cocktail or what??
I was super duper lucky to be able to meet Phil Adler and Matt Raftree of Cheesecake Factory, Rock Sugar and Grand Luxe Cafe... Amazing guys working their tails off... I can't wait to see where we take this one!!
Would you like to join me for an incredibly unique event? If you are in SoCal Oct. 30th, let me know - you won't want to miss this. Charbay is partnering with Wine House (on Cotner right off the 405 in LA... I am working on updating the Charbay portion of their website...) and Saltistry to feature a super unique pairing... don't miss it!
If you are lucky enough to be hanging out in Santa Monica, and you love oysters with your martini's, you should certainly check out Ocean Avenue Seafood. Not only can you sip on Charbay Whiskey, but Jerry Garbus is an awesome mixologist and features super fresh cocktails on the list. I spent over an hour with Jerry and let me tell you - he is dedicated to your satisfaction. Check out the fish tanks too, they have all kinds of cool water dwellers. Doesn't hurt either that you are right across from the beach and I myself enjoyed quite the sunset through the windows :-)
When you are in Westwood you have to stop in to Napa Valley Grille on Glendon. You can enjoy any of the following mouth watering libations (It's not even 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm salivating just thinking about it!): Charbay Blood Orange Drop, Charbay Pomegranate Cape Cod, Charbay Green Teani, or a Charbay Clear Martini. And, when the dessert menu comes, you can enjoy the one and only Nostalgie Black Walnut Liqueur. You might even see some Nostalgie on the dinner menu somewhere, as chef requested a bottle for the kitchen also :-) PS Their grilled cheese is insane!
More hotness to come, I need to review my notes :-)
I just arrived in Santa Barbara (9:30pm) after about a 3 hour drive from OC, thanks to lovely LA traffic... geeeeez!
Anyhoo, on a personal note - I had a wonderful weekend. After a long and hugely successful week I got to spend some down time with my SoCal family :-) Ryan and Tyana (who is downright adorable at 5 months pregnant) were waiting for me with plenty of ice and tasty mixers (including hand squeezed pomegranate juice, amen!) and smiles and hugs. Then Jen showed up and we started shaking and drinking... Not only did I enjoy some tasty cocktails (among them a Vanilla Rum, ginger, raspberry number) but catching up with old friends. Besides the fact that I was missing the dickens out of Marko (this is a 9 day trip, I'm on day 7) it was really great to just hang out. After a couple of tequila shots and a couple of martinis I was finally able to calm down a bit... Don't look at me like that! I know you know what I mean...!
We got to sleep in Saturday, which was fabulous, and then we were off to celebrate Dallas and Marissa's engagement... After enjoying Rye's famous coffee and Tyana's tasty strawberry shortcake (as you may know, that's my favorite - how spoiled am I?). We had a great time with them at the party, then all 5 of us hopped in our cars (don't worry, Tyana was driving) and went to the horse races - a first for me - and proceeded to win a whole lot of $0.00. Doh! We had a blast though, and by the time we were back at Rye & Tyana's house and started our on-demand movie I was asleep faster than you could say "are you thirsty?".
Today was lovely as well, with a slow start - caught up on some email... then a massage (the therapist also went to college at PUC, small world!), some tasty dinner and hit the road. And here I am, catching you up before I hit the hay.
Tomorrow is the SB SWS Trade Show - so if you are in the area come by my table and enjoy Charbay Aperitifs! I'll also be saying hello to Dougie and Andy at Wine Cask, as well as hanging out with Brandon from the Canary Hotel (formerly Hotel Andalucia)... Tues I will see as many accounts as I can before hitting the road to go home!!!!!
Nighty night folks - hope you are well, liquid smiles to all... And as a wise man (Marko Karakasevic... did you see the link above?) says: "thanks for the op-"pour"-tunity"!!
No comments:
Post a Comment