Guess which Southern Hemisphere region is manufacturing a popular vodka — so popular they’re exporting 50,000 bottles a year to Russia? Hint: region’s most famous citizen appears above. (Here’s a link to the distillery. Good luck, mates!)
The Baltimore Sun asks, “Who is Osima?” Hell if we know. But if you want to know where vodka was invented, just visit our “Legend” page. Na Zdorovye!
First, he plastered Times Square with billboards. Then he offered every New Yorker a cab ride home on New Year’s Eve. But that wasn’t enough PR for Sean (”P. Diddy”) Combs, whose Ciroc vodka is not made in Russia although some people like it anyway. Combs also asked New York City to name Ciroc as the “Official Vodka of New Year’s Eve” and paint the Times Square ball blue in its honor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, though no doubt tempted by Combs’s invitation to assume proprietorship of an entire holiday, said no dice, and that was that.
In Russia, it is the holiday. We refer, of course, to New Year’s, which has an aura of family, festivities, wishes, and nostalgia which is like Western New Year’s squared. During the Communist era, both Christmas and New Year’s were suppressed as holidays, but New Year’s, which lacked the religious meaning of Christmas, lived on, as generations of Russians treated it as the emotional focal point of winter. The holiday has centuries of tradition. Happy New Year from White Birch and Old Russian Vodkas! Drink well.
The owner of Swedish vodka brand Absolut has launched legal proceedings against Absolute Radio, for infringement of its trademark.
A spokeswoman for Absolut said:
“The reason for this is that we consider there is a risk of confusion,” she said. “We have a well known brand and there is an obvious risk of confusion between Absolut vodka and Absolute Radio.”
In a related action, Absolut vodka has also announced a lawsuit against the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for its use of the term “absolute zero” to refer to the temperature 0 Kelvin.
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If you know what 5-star restaurant we’re referring to, fill out our online survey (it’s on our website). Include the name of the restaurant in the “Name” field and fill in your e-mail address. We’ll contact you to let you know whether you were right. All correct entries will win a White Birch tank top or deck of playing cards. Entries must be received by midnight November 13, 2008.
The scene: Narva, Estonia, across the Narva River from Ivangorod, Russia:
The problem: Local taxes make Estonian vodka three times costlier than imported vodka.
The solution: Run a secret vodka pipeline under the river from Russia to Narva.
The end: Smugglers arrested, pipeline dredged. The vodka was just moonshine anyway.
The moral of the story: Only authentic Russian vodka is worth smuggling drinking.
P.S. If this is your coat of arms, fighting for your food is in your blood:
We’re seeing this a lot — you buy a vodka martini, and it comes with a diamond inside. The cocktail in the photo, in the process of being mixed at Harvilles Cocktail Lounge in York, England, costs 5,000 British pounds (that’s $12,736) and contains an individually cut diamond.
No doubt, this is one surefire way to impress a date. We do recommend that extra caution be used, lest the diamond, with the vodka, go down the hatch. The owner of Harvilles, David Hattersley, put it best when he said that he is impressed by the Diamond Martini, but a little wary of it. “I am trying to keep Mrs. Hattersley out of there because knowing her she would order it as a chaser,” he said.
El Caminito del Rey (”The King’s Pathway”), is a narrow walkway clinging to the sides of a steep gorge in the Andalusia province of Spain. Seven hundred feet above ground, the walkway winds along limestone rock formations, leading to a base popular with climbing. It was built between 1901 and 1905, as a path for workers at a nearby dam. The concrete and steel platform, never more than one meter wide, sinks deeper into decrepitude with each passing year. Wikipedia:
“Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most the path. One can latch onto the wire to keep from falling. Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances; however, adventurous tourists still find their way into the walkway.”
A different video, which travels further along the same path, is here.
Awesome!
Update from Atlanta, GA, May 8, 2008 — Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle now says he’s willing to let the state Senate act on a referendum that would allow voters to decide whether stores may sell alcohol on Sunday. Brief story here. Good coverage on the issue here.
If you agree that the current statewide ban on Sunday alcohol sales is an inappropriate intrusion into the lives of Georgians, and want to help change it, please consider signing this online petition urging the General Assembly to pass S.B. 138 and Governor Sonny Perdue to sign it. You might also consider contacting your Georgia state senator to let him or her know you support the bill, want your right to drink free of state interference, and don’t want to live in a nanny state. Finally, consider a telephone call to Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle’s office at 404-656-5030. More information on the Vote Sunday Sales website as well as this group on Facebook.
Agitate Atlanta, Dance or Die Records, and White Birch Vodka present:
KREMLIN KRUNK
May 10, 2008
Aiko Lounge
128 East Andrews Drive
Buckhead, Atlanta, GA
10 p.m.-3 a.m.
The White Birch Girls appearing 11 p.m.-1 a.m., mingling with guests and giving out prizes!
Ladies free until 11 p.m.
Free White Birch Vodka from 10-11 p.m. courtesy of Agitate Atlanta
Sushi served until 1am
Large outdoor patio open all night
Complementary valet parking until space runs out
Strictly 21+
До встречи!
International Women’s Day is a day to honor the women in our lives, for their inherent grace, beauty, and wisdom — and to celebrate their economic, social, and political accomplishments. The day is a major holiday in Russia, home of White Birch Vodka. White Birch proudly sponsors the Kremlin Krunk party at Aiko Lounge in Atlanta, Saturday evening, March 8, 2008 honoring International Women’s Day. Full details here.
“Americans wake up to cold vodka”, Houston Chronicle, Mar. 3, 2008.
Amy Walker is the real name of an actress, whose video introducing herself in 21 accents is going viral. It’s a good video. We could quibble with some of the accents, but the poise and presentation are just too damned good. Hear it, especially if you love accents as much as we do! (Here’s Amy’s website, and more here.)
Because we’re based in Atlanta, Georgia, we thought we would comment on an issue of concern to all Georgians. Georgia is one of only three states that still prohibit sales of alcohol on Sundays for off-premises consumption. In other words, liquor stores and other stores may not –by law — sell alcoholic products on Sundays. (Here’s a chart summarizing alcohol regulations for each state.)
Laws such as these — known as blue laws, have been around since time immemorial. Originally conceived as a method of encouraging (and even enforcing) church attendance, the laws were put to Constitutional challenge 1961. In that year, the United States Supreme Court decided McGowan v. Maryland, which held that Maryland’s Sunday closing law violated neither the Free Exercise Clause nor the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The court reasoned that, although the laws had their origin in promoting attendance at Christian religious services, the contemporary Maryland laws were intended to promote the secular values of “health, safety, recreation, and general well-being” through a common day of rest. That this day coincided with the Christian Sabbath neither reduced its effectiveness for secular purposes nor prevented adherents of other religions from observing their own holy days.
As a result of the McGowan decision, each state may decide for itself whether and how to prohibit Sunday sales of alcohol. In particular, it is the purview of the legislature of each state to make these decisions.
A movement is afoot in Georgia to repeal the state’s ban on Sunday alcohol sales. Senate Bill 138 would repeal the statewide ban and allow each county or municipality to decide the issue for itself.
Many members of the alcoholic beverage industry oppose S.B. 138 and seek to keep the current ban in place. Essentially dropping the argument based on a day of rest, these industry members argue that they should not be obligated to be open on Sundays — as they would be forced to do if grocery chains, already open on Sundays, were allowed to sell beer and wine, and if large liquor superstores decided to take advantage of the extra day of sales by staying open on Sundays (aided by their more bountiful cash flows and labor pools).
We respectfully demur from the views of our fellow industry members, and we wholeheartedly support the liberalization of Sunday alcohol sales. Even accepting McGowan as the law of the land, the government has no more legitimate right or interest in promoting a “day of rest” than it does in promoting Sunday church attendance. How to spend one’s time on Sunday, or any day, is a matter for free and independent citizens to decide for themselves. As for the supposed threat from grocery chains and liquor superstores — well, that’s competition for you. If Sunday alcohol sales were allowed, no one would “obligate” any particular store to remain open. If a store remains closed but is economically penalized in the form of business lost to stores that stay open, that is no more an instance of “coercion” than losing business because you carry unpopular brands or keep your prices too high.
If you agree that the current statewide ban on Sunday alcohol sales is an inappropriate intrusion into the lives of Georgians, and want to help change it, please consider signing this online petition urging the General Assembly to pass S.B. 138 and Governor Sonny Perdue to sign it. You might also consider contacting your Georgia state senator to let him or her know you support the bill, want your right to drink free of state interference, and don’t want to live in a nanny state. Finally, consider a telephone call to Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle’s office at 404-656-5030. More information on the Vote Sunday Sales website as well as this group on Facebook.
The debate is neverending over how to mix the perfect martini. Personally, we follow a few simple rules:
1. If it contains actual berries, or other fruits or vegetables that might get pulverized from shaking, leaving a detritus of atomized plant matter floating in your glass, stir it.
2. If it contains juices or creams or other liquors that don’t mix well with vodka, shake it.
3. If you don’t want it cloudy (which comes from “chill haze”), stir it.
4. If you don’t want tiny bits of ice cluttering up your tongue and distracting your taste buds, stir it.
5. If, above all else, you want it cold, shake it.
Our recipe for an ideal martini? Chill a bottle of White Birch or Old Russian to a steady 32 degrees. Pour into a vodka flute or martini glass, and add your favorite garnish. Voila! No need for any decision trees. And your date will thrill to your smooth, fluid presentation of a delicious potable without all the martini-tumbler cacaphony, arm-flailing-induced neuralgia, messy strainings, and dirty bar ware sitting in the sink.
Remember “beer goggles,” the magic spectacles that make everyone else look more attractive after you’ve had a few beers? Well now, from the weekly newsletter for Harvard Business School students, comes this compendium of other, hitherto unknown, alcoholic accessories. Our favorite:
Sambucca Sense: . . . the extrasensory perception allowing you, when very drunk, to tell that although the guy in front of you just said something fairly reasonable, what he actually meant was something very offensive about your mother. Obviously this deserves a punch in the mouth.
Hilarious video on how not to conduct a blind vodka taste test. True, it was just some guys out having fun, but it could also be a case study on alcohol testing protocols. See how many mistakes you can spot. Or don’t.
Check out this groundbreaking article from L.A. Times reporter Charles Perry.
Perry cuts through the hype about what makes vodka good and how to drink it. For inspiration, he went right to the source: conoisseurs of Russian vodka.
Perry’s interviewees confirm what we’ve been saying all along:
1. Drink vodka chilled, neat, with Russian appetizers.
2. Yes, vodka does have a flavor you can taste — but it’s subtler than wine and takes practice to appreciate.
3. When choosing a vodka, go for taste, avoid “gimmicks and come-ons,” and be open to new experiences. Do you buy the same wine every single time? Why do so for vodka?
4. Don’t fall for the “distilled seven times” trick. Three times is plenty; anything more just washes away whatever flavor the spirit had in the first place.
За Здоровье! – Cheers!
Who is this man? George Washington, of course, the man without whom America could not have achieved independence (or kept it). To honor our first president, we have chosen the above image, which is a life mask made of Washington and makes him come alive in the way that his many portraits (now irreversibly iconic in our minds) cannot, as well as this editorial in the Manchester Union Leader. For the best short book about Washington, we urge you to read Founding Father by Richard Brookhiser.
The White Birch Girls are the vanguard of White Birch Vodka, the spirit of a winter’s night.
You never know where you might find us. We might be at a club or lounge, or at an exhibition or convention. You might even find us at a hockey game or your local pub…
Our mission?
To mingle with customers and potential customers of White Birch Vodka (and its sister, Old Russian), present the brands in a fun and wholesome way, and spread good cheer throughout the communities of which we are a part.
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For more information, see our page on the main website, or our group on Facebook. |
What to expect? Put on your walking shoes and be ready to load up with information, products, and of course free samples! Have chefs show you how to use their cookware and test their food, cosmetologists transforming your appearance in the blink of an eye, and hear stories that will inspire you to improve your life.
Samples of White Birch Vodka will be poured in a special booth on the main floor. Also, White Birch will present Sunday at 3 p.m. on the main stage.
When:
Saturday, March 1, 2008 10 AM - 6 PM
Sunday, March 2, 2008 12 PM - 5 PM
Where:
Gwinnett Center
Sugarloaf & Satellite Blvd
Duluth, Georgia
Cost:
General Admission: $6.00
Senior Citizens: $5.00
Children 12 years and younger: Free
Directions: http://www.atlwomensexpo.com/Directions_Hours.htm
For information about the event, go to: http://www.atlwomensexpo.com/
SCHEDULE:
Saturday
11:00 AM Shopping Queen
Learn insider secrets that save you money!
12:00 PM skirt! Presents BORBA
Learn about the latest in skin care
2:00 PM AWE Awards
Come celebrate the accomplishments of Jovita Moore and our surprise Woman Entrepreneur guest
3:00 PM John Gidding
Learn how to improve the Value of your home with HGTV’s Designer/Host of Designed to Sell
4:00 PM Fabulous Makeovers
See the transformation of 3 women and learn how you can do your own Fabulous makeover at an affordable price
5:00 PM
Zoey Simone Boutique
Fashion Show
Sunday
1:00 PM
Warm Spirit
Bring out the spirit in you!
2:00 PM
Tomboy Tools
Learn how create great walls - Fast! & Easy!
3:00 PM skirt! Presents White Birch Vodka
Don’t Miss this Fun and Festive Event!
4:00 PM
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Be a participant and win prizes!
Something newish and Jewish is coming to Atlanta. It’s Limmud Atlanta + Southeast, March 1-2, 2008, at Oglethorpe University. Limmud is a festival, a learn-in, a place to explore. Now spreading across the globe, Limmud is a gathering, a happening, a way to connect with Jews of all ages. And it’s run entirely by volunteers.
What’s the Schedule?
Join us at Oglethorpe University on Saturday evening after Shabbat for a magical havdalah, see the play “Walking in Memphis,” a one-man play about growing up Jewish in the South and stay for drinks and dessert at our Another Night at Ballyhoo party. Old Russian Vodka will be served!
The next day come back early to Oglethorpe University for morning exercise programs and a full day of presentations, workshops, performances and more running from 7:30 AM until 6:30 PM. For more details, see the schedule.
Choose from these and more than 50 other Sessions:
Moses in a Megachurch
Digging Your Jewish Roots with Farmer D
Joseph, Phone Home
What Madonna Doesn’t Know
Gefelted Fish: A Hands On Workshop
Is What’s Ours Really Ours?
The Race Beat: Press and Civil Rights
From Addis Ababa to Atlanta
Food as Sacrament: A Glutton’s Tour
Prayer for Jewish Agnostics
Is it a Mitzvah to Get Drunk on Purim?
What does Limmud Mean?
In Hebrew Limmud means “learning,” and that’s what this is all about. Using local teachers, artists, thinkers and writers — plus some special out-of-town guests — Limmud is blazing a fresh new path to make Jewish learning informal, inspirational, and unforgettable. Limmud’s unstuffy and experimental spirit explores the vibrancy of Jewish life through song, text, film, discussion, and hands-on workshops.
White Birch sponsors Trivia Night at the Madison Grill, 1375 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA. Tues., Feb. 19, from 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
Free admission. Vodka on the house from 6 p.m.-7 p.m.
The White Birch Girls will mingle with guests and demonstrate the product.
The Madison Grill’s website is: www.madgrill.com.
Opened in 2001 in the building that houses EarthLink’s worldwide headquarters, the Madison Grill is the brainchild of EarthLink president Mike McQuarry (who named the restaurant after his young daughter). Co-investors include members of the bands Sister Hazel and Collective Soul. The grill has accumulated quite an avid lunch following, attracting nearby office workers with its comfort food and spectacular people-watching opportunities. The modern decor matches dark hardwoods and copper light fixtures with contemporary art and huge arched windows, creating a warm, surprisingly low-key vibe for such a corporate environment. The food is equally homey, with simple dishes like meatloaf and a cornucopia of sandwich choices dominating the lunch menu. Dinnertime, though a bit slower, also offers a more expansive entree selection, including lasagna, pasta, and an array of vegetarian items, including eggplant Parmesan and a Mediterranean salad with grilled veggies, hummus and tofu.
We look forward to sipping you there!
In Russia, “moderation” and “vodka” are not often thought of in the same sentence. But now, more Russians than ever are choosing to control their drinking.
Kudos to our friends in Russia! We wholeheartedly support responsible drinking, not least because we want you to remember the experience of our vodkas!
