lunes, 31 de mayo de 2010

Corona extra

Corona Extra, better known as Corona, is a brand of pale lager owned and produced by Cerveceria Modelo at a number of breweries in Mexico. It is the top-selling beer in Mexico and is one of the top selling beers worldwide. Corona beer is available in over 150 countries.
Outside of Mexico, Corona is often served with a wedge of citrus fruit, usually lime, occasionally lemon, inserted into the neck of the bottle. Within Mexico, especially in the south, Corona served with lime is not uncommon, but is not considered mandatory.
In the United States, Corona Extra is the top selling imported beer.
Since February 2009, Corona has been available on tap in Australia and New Zealand through Carlton & United Beverages.[citation needed]

Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka was established in 1879 by Lars Olsson Smith and is produced in Åhus, Sweden. Smith introduced fractional distillation that produces liquor without fusel alcohol in Sweden in 1877, under the name "Tiodubbelt Renadt Brännvin" (Tenfold Purified Vodka). Brännvin literally means "burning wine" and is analogous to the German "Branntwein". The term is also used in Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. ("Vodka" was not used for Swedish liquor until 1958, with the potato-based Explorer Vodka.) The name was changed to "Absolut Rent Brännvin" (Absolutely Pure Vodka) by Smith to market his much improved product. Smith challenged the city of Stockholm's liquor marketing monopoly with his vodka. It was sold at a lower price than the monopoly's product, just outside the city border. Smith even offered free boat rides to the distillery and "Rent Brännvin" made Smith a fortune. In 1917, the alcohol industry in Sweden was monopolized by the Swedish government. Vodka was then sold nationwide under the name "Absolut Rent Brännvin". The name changed with intervals, Renat Brännvin or Absolut Rent Brännvin. In 1979, the old name Absolut was picked up when the upper-price range Absolut Vodka was introduced. Renat is still a euphemism for spirits in Sweden, and the name of another vodka product by Vin & Sprit.
Absolut Vodka was introduced to the global market in 1979. Since its launch, Absolut has grown from 90,000 liters to 96.6 million liters in 2008. It has become the fourth largest international spirit and is available in 126 countries. The vodka is made from winter wheat. Approximately 80,000 metric tons (2,900,000 bushels) of wheat is used annually to produce Absolut Vodka. Over one kilogram of grain is used in every one-liter bottle.

viernes, 28 de mayo de 2010

Cristal

Cristal is the brand name of a Champagne produced by Louis Roederer. Cristal has a flat-bottomed clear, "crystal" bottle, anti-UV cellophane wrapper, and gold label. Due to its high price and status, it is considered a Veblen good
Cristal was first created in 1876 for Alexander II of Russia, and is viewed by many as the first prestige cuvée. As the political situation in Russia at the time of his rule was unstable, the tsar feared assassination. He ordered that bottles containing the drink be made clear to prohibit hiding a bomb within them, as could happen with a typical dark green bottle.[citation needed] Louis Roederer commissioned a Flemish glassmaker to create a Champagne bottle with a flat bottom. Typically, bottles made from common glass have a bell-shaped bottom (the punt) to make them strong enough to cope with Champagne's pressure. A flat-bottomed bottle needed to be made from stronger, clear lead crystal. The Champagne has since become known as "Cristal".
The wine was not commercially available until 1945. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the brand became increasingly associated with rap and hip-hop culture, with several artists referencing the drink in song lyrics and as part of their public image. In an interview with The Economist in 2006, Louis Roederer managing director Frederic Rouzaud said he viewed the attention from rappers with “curiosity and serenity”. Asked if he thought the association would harm the brand, he replied, "that's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."

Jack Daniel's

According to the Jack Daniel's website, founder Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel was born in September 1850, although seemingly no one knows the exact date because the birth records were destroyed in a courthouse fire. If the 1850 date is correct, he might have become a licensed distiller at the age of 16, as the distillery claims a founding date of 1866. Other records list his birth date as September 5, 1846, and in his 2004 biography Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel author Peter Krass maintains that land and deed records show that the distillery was actually not founded until 1875. Daniel was one of thirteen children to Calaway Daniel and his mother Lucinda Cook. Jack Daniel's grandfather, Joseph "Job" Daniel emigrated from England as did his Scottish wife to the United States. He was of Scots-Irish and Scottish descent.
Jack died in 1911 from blood poisoning which started from an infection. The infection allegedly began in one of his toes, which Daniel injured one early morning at work by kicking his safe in anger when he could not get it open (he was said to always have had trouble remembering the combination).
Because Jack Daniel never married and did not have any children, he took his favorite nephew, Lem Motlow, under his wing. Lem was very skilled with numbers, and was soon doing all of the distillery's bookkeeping. In 1907, due to failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to his nephew. Lem Motlow then gave the distillery to his children, Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner, and Mary, after his death in 1947.


Jack Daniel's safe
Tennessee passed a state-wide prohibition law in 1910, preventing the legal distillation of Jack Daniels in the state, and as a result Lem Motlow moved the distillery to St Louis, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama, though none of the production from these locations was ever sold due to quality problems. The introduction of prohibition In 1920 (until 1933) through the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution stopped production in St Louis; production in Alabama having been stopped earlier by that state's prohibition laws. All production then ceased. Even the Twenty-first Amendment enactment did not allow production in Lynchburg to restart as the state prohibition laws were still in effect. Motlow, as a Tennessee state senator, helped repeal these laws, allowing production to restart in 1938. The five year gap between national repeal and Tennessee repeal is commemorated in a gift pack of two bottles, one for the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition and a second commemorating the 70th anniversary of the reopening of the distillery
The U.S. government banned the manufacture of whiskey during World War II and a little beyond, from 1942 to 1946. Motlow resumed production of Jack Daniels only in 1947 after good quality corn was again available.
When the company was later incorporated, it was incorporated as "Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Prop., Inc." This has allowed the company to continue to include Lem Motlow, who died in 1947, in its marketing, since mentioning him in the advertising is technically just citing the full corporate name. Likewise, the advertisements continue to say that Lynchburg has only 361 people, though the 2000 census reports 5,740. This is allowable because the entire label was trademarked in the early 1960s when this figure was the actual population cited by the Census Bureau; changing the label would require applying for a new trademark or forfeiting trademark protection. However, the census population includes all of Moore County, as the county and city governments are consolidated. Moore County, where the Jack Daniel's distillery is located, is one of the state's many dry counties. Therefore, while it is legal to distill the product within the county, it is illegal to purchase it there. However, a state law has provided one exception: a distillery may sell one commemorative product, regardless of county statutes. Jack Daniel's now sells Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel at the distillery's White Rabbit Bottle Shop.
Tennessee whiskey is filtered through sugar maple charcoal in large wooden vats prior to aging, unlike the process used to make Kentucky bourbon. Tennessee whiskey is not bourbon whiskey, as defined by Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 1, Part 5, Section 5.22.

Heineken

Heineken Brewery (Heineken Brouwerijen) is a Dutch brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. Heineken owns and manages one of the world's leading portfolios of beer brands. The principal international brands are Heineken and Amstel. Heineken is positioned as a premium brand, except for their home market in the Netherlands. Heineken is the leading beer brand in Europe and Amstel is the third largest. In Europe, Amstel is positioned in the mid-priced mainstream segment, the largest segment of the market, and is available in more than 90 countries around the world.

jueves, 27 de mayo de 2010

José Cuervo

José Cuervo is a brand of tequila produced by Tequila Cuervo La Rojeña, S.A. de C.V. The José Cuervo Especial brand has the highest sales of any tequila brand in the world.
In 1758, Antonio de Cuervo received a land grant from the King of Spain in the Mexican state of Jalisco. He built a small factory on this land. His descendant, José María Guadalupe Cuervo, used the land to build a distillery for tequila production in 1795. The distillery was later named Fabrica La Rojeña. The tequila was exported to the United States for the first time in 1873. In 1900, José Cuervo Labastida decided to brand the tequila as José Cuervo. The company is now owned and run by heirs of the Cuervo family, the Beckmann family.

Chivas Regal

Chivas Regal is a blended Scotch whisky produced by Chivas Brothers, owned by Pernod Ricard. According to the brand packaging, Chivas Brothers was first established in 1801 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Chivas brand's home is Strathisla Distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland.

The House of Schivas, a large mansion, was built at Schivas in Aberdeenshire in 1640. The name is derived from the Gaelic 'seamhas', meaning narrow place.
Chivas Brothers traces its roots to the opening of a grocery store at 13 King St, Aberdeen in 1801. The store sold luxury foodstuffs such as coffee, exotic spices, French brandies, and Caribbean rums to a wealthy clientèle. In 1842, Chivas Brothers were retained to supply provisions to the royal family at Balmoral Castle upon Queen Victoria's first visit to Scotland.
In 1843, Chivas Brothers were granted a Royal Warrant to supply goods to Queen Victoria. Chivas Brothers was described in 1890 as 'undoubtedly the finest purveying business in the north of Scotland' by 'Scotland of Today' magazine.
During the 1850s, James Chivas decided to respond to his affluent customers' demands for a smoother whisky, by beginning to blend whiskies to create a proprietary blend to Chivas Brothers. Their first blended Scotch whisky named 'Royal Glen Dee' was launched, followed in the 1860s by their second blended Scotch whisky, 'Royal Strathythan'.
In the early 1900s, Chivas Brothers decided to create their most aged blended Scotch whisky to export to the U.S, where the booming economy after the turn of the century was fueling demand for luxury goods. The whisky was named Chivas Regal.
Chivas Regal 25 Year Old was launched in 1909 as the original luxury Scotch, and became a leading brand in the U.S. Chivas Regal continued its success until prohibition in the 1920s.
Chivas Regal was purchased by Seagrams in 1949, which provided a much wider distribution and marketing system.
Chivas Regal was re-launched as Chivas Regal 12 year old in the US following the disruption of both Prohibition and World War II. Chivas became a fashionable brand of the era, and became associated with Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack. Chivas Regal was the Scotch whisky requested by Sinatra, along with other spirits brands backstage at performances, and Chivas sponsored Frank Sinatra's Diamond Jubilee Tour in 1990.
In 1950, the company Chivas Brothers was able to buy the Strathisla Distillery which produces the Strathisla Single Malt, which is used within the Chivas Regal blend.
The Chivas Regal range was expanded with the launch of higher aged whiskies, in 1997 with the launch of Chivas Regal 18 year old, and in 2007 with the launch of Chivas Regal 25.
Chivas Regal was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2000 upon the break up of Seagrams Group.