Branding and bars have long gone hand in hand. But the days when cocktail napkins, swizzle sticks, cardboard coasters and matchbooks were the last word in tactile advertising are over. In today’s distracted culture, cocktail bars need something a little flashier to chisel their names into the drinker’s consciousness. Bars are now using stamped ice cubs to remind drinkers where they are but I am sure after the 2nd drink you will not remember. 
There’s something intriguing about whiskey that makes us revere it with awe — its name, after all, comes from the Gaelic uisce beatha, which means “water of life.” If it’s in fact the “water of life,” then let’s drink up! But before you lift that glass, you need to either A) buy the right kind of whiskey for your home or B) know what to order at the bar! There are several different whiskeys around the world and all are slightly different — made of different ingredients, and even given different names, like Scotch or Bourbon. So sidle up and find out what you should be looking for …
SCOTCH WHISKYS can only be produced in Scotland and are generally made from malted barley, distilled at least twice and aged for at least three years in oak barrels. Scotch typically has a smoky taste because peat (basically dirt) is used in the malting process.
There are two main types: single malt Scotch (made from malted barley) and single grain Scotch (made at a single distillery of malted barley and other grains, malted or unmalted).
Furthermore there are three blends: blended malt Scotch (a blend of single malt Scotch whiskies from different distilleries), blended grain Scotch (a blend of single grain Scotch whiskies from different distilleries) and blended Scotch (a blend of single malt Scotch and single grain Scotch).
IRISH WHISKEYS can only be produced in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and are aged for at least three years. Unlike Scotch whiskies, Irish whiskeys have a cleaner taste since peat is not used in the malting process. Most Irish whiskeys are distilled three times from a mixture of malted and unmalted barley and other grains. This produces a whiskey that is much lighter and more neutral than most others.
AMERICAN WHISKEYS are generally aged in new charred oak barrels. Some of the most popular American whiskeys include Rye whiskey, Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey.
Whiskey is really best served “neat“ in a snifter at room temperature with no ice. This type of glass with its particular tulip-like shape helps the drinker enjoy the aroma and flavor. The heat of your hands also helps bring out more flavors in the whiskey.
When you get your whiskey, smell it, but be careful not to inhale abruptly as the alcohol will deaden your senses — it’s best to leave your mouth open as you smell the whiskey. Watch the video below for exact tips on drinking whiskey.
If you order a whiskey “on the rocks,” which means with ice, it will be served to you in an old-fashioned glass. It’s also quite common to order whiskey with water, which some drinkers say helps bring out the flavor of the whiskey. It’s a good idea to taste the whiskey first before adding water to see if it’s even needed. Try to use spring water instead of tap water, which contains chlorine that may react with the whiskey.
Grain whiskey refers to whiskey made from grains other than malted barley that’s distilled in a continuous column still, which produces a light-tasting whiskey. Grain whiskey is usually mixed with malt whiskey to create a blended whiskey.
Blended whiskey contains both malt whiskey and grain whiskey. It’s the most common kind of whiskey available. Brands include Dewar’s, Johnnie Walker, Seagram’s Seven Crown, and Chivas Regal.
Single malt whiskey is made from a single malted grain, traditionally barley, that is made in one distillery. The term is most often applied to Scotch whisky.
Single barrel whiskey means the entire bottle came from one barrel of whiskey instead of a blend from many barrels. This term is most often applied to Bourbons.
Straight whiskey is a term used for an American whiskey that is aged for 2 years or more in new charred white oak barrels.
PATRON LALIQUE TEQUILA
Fine crystal makers Lalique collaborated with premium tequila producer Patrón to create an impressive handmade limited edition decanter. Bottles are numbered and within each of the 500 bottles rests a blend of some of Patrón’s oldest and rarest tequilas, hand-selected from their barrel aging room in the hills of Jalisco, Mexico.
Pre- order by emailing: INFO@MELANROSE.COM
release date November 2015
$7,950.00
1. The custom of bumping glasses with a “cheers” greeting came from old Rome where they used this method to make sure no one is trying to poison the other (bumping glasses makes the drink spill from one cup to the other). This tradition started even earlier in ancient Greece – where the host was to drink the first cup of wine to show his guests he does not intend to poison them.
Happy friends toasting red wine glasses
2. And if we mentioned Rome – In ancient Rome it was forbidden for women to drink wine. If a husband found his wife drinking wine he would be allowed, by law, to kill her.
3. An ancient civilization that did not like wine was Egypt. The old kings avoided wine from the belief that the red alcoholic beverage is actually the blood of men who tried to fight the gods and failed. This is why, according to the egyptians, what makes people act irrationally while drinking it (alcohol).
4. Do you like wine AND living extreme? If you visit Vietnam, ask your waiter a glass of cobra wine. This extreme beverage is rice-wine covered with snake blood that is killed on the spot. if you’d like you can add the snake’s heart to the mix as well.
5. During the prohibition period in the United States, grape juice concentrate manufacturers took advantage of the big drinking lust Americans had and put a great warning sticker on their product saying “After you mix the concentrate with water, please do not keep the mix in a barrel for 20 days – as it will turn into wine.”
6. The world champion of recognizing wine by smell was crowned in 2003. Richard Juhlin, a sport ed from sweden, was able to recognize 43 wines out of 50. For comparison – second place was only able to recognize 4 of them.
7. Although the temptation is great – try not to keep your wine in the kitchen. The heat there is too much and may damage the wine’s quality. the fridge is no place for a wine either since it is just too cold. Find a cool dark closet somewhere in the house where you can keep all your bottles, or just get a wine cellar.
8. If you own a collection of bottles – don’t keep them standing up – this can cause the cork to dry, shrink and oxygen\air might get in the bottle. always keep the bottles lying down (Unless its an artificial cork.)
9. A survey that was being held in said that women that drink 2 cups of wine a day tend to enjoy relationships more than women who don’t drink at all.
10. People who have wine phobia are called Oenophobia – and they really do exist. It might sound funny, but this phobia – just like others, cause them a lot of suffering, especially if they go out to restaurants a lot.
Now you can raise your glass be Happy!
Now that summer is well and truly upon us, (and in fact, has been for some time,) we at Mel & Rose thought it appropriate to take the time to talk about that oft-ignored member of the wine family: the Rosé. In that liminal space between red and white, the pink wine is rarely mentioned when discussing wine. (After all, when was the last time you went to a restaurant and saw a “Rosé” section on their wine list?) But, to discount this entire category of wine is to miss out on some of the most enjoyable libations that wineries have to offer, and it is the perfect accompaniment to a backyard barbeque, a pool party, an evening on the porch: basically, anything that has to do with a hot summer’s day.
A little background on rosé wine. Like red wine, it is made from red grapes, but receives much less color from the grapes during its making. It can be made using three separate processes: skin contact, saignée, and blending.
The skin contact method is the most common, and is the closest to the way red wine is made. After the grapes are picked, they are crushed to extract the juices, skins left on. Then, the skins and juice are left to soak together for a short time, usually around a couple of days, in a process called maceration. The pigments and tannins in the skin impart some color to the juice, but not nearly the amount that a red wine would receive. (A red wine would have the skins soak with the juice for weeks or even months before fermentation.) After the short soak, the process is the same for most other wines. Like white wine, the lack of extended maceration means that the wine is less oxidized and has less potential for aging. Rosés should be drank soon after they are made and ought to be enjoyed right now.
The other process is the saignée method. When making a red wine, the winemaker may wish to create a richer, deeper color and flavor than a normal maceration would allow. So, he will “bleed” off a portion of the juice from the must (the mixture of juice, stems, skins, and leaves created after the grapes are crushed) to intensify the remaining juice. This pink juice can then be used to make a rose. While amazing rosés can be made with this method, it is traditionally considered to be inferior to the skin contact method, in that the rosé made is created from the “leftovers” of the “primary” red wine.
Finally, the blending method is exactly what it sounds like: a red and white wine are blended together to create a “pink.” This method is very rarely used and is in fact illegal in the prominent rosé-producing regions of France.
Though you might not think it, rosé is most likely the oldest style of winemaking. The ability to cleanly skin grapes (in order to make white wine) and to concentrate the must sufficiently (in order to make red wine) takes a lot of technical know-how that the earliest winemakers simply didn’t have. They mostly likely were only able to crush the grapes by hand is barrels and then shortly after made wine out of the juice, which is essentially an early version of the skin contact method. As winemaking progressed, rosé has always been present. France, that great winemaking country, has been making rosés for hundreds of years in virtually all its winegrowing regions. Provence, in the south of France, currently holds the reputation for the greatest roses in the world, but Rhone and Champagne are also known to make fantastic roses. Italy makes rosé versions of many of their wines, including their Proseccos, while the Spanish make “Rosado” wines, some of which are made by a process called “dolbe pasta” (double paste), which is basically a reverse saignée method. (The rosé is made by the skin contact method, and then the dry remains of the must is added to a macerating red wine must to concentrate the red wine.)
Rosés are made in the New World as well, though their reputation has been marred in the wine community by something called a White Zinfandel. Also often called a “blush” wine, a White Zinfandel is a much sweeter version of a rosé made by a different process called a struck fermentation. Often when making wine, a struck fermentation mean disaster. After the juice has been drained from the must, it is mixed with yeast, which digest the sugars in the juice into alcohol. The yeast, though, requires a very particular concentration of alcohol and sugars in order to thrive. If the concentration is off, the yeast can die before they transform all the sugars into alcohol, leaving the remaining wine much sweeter than usual. In 1972, a Californian winemaker named Bob Trinchero managed to salvage a struck fermentation of Zinfandel, which had resulted in a sweet, pick colored wine. He marketed this as a new style of wine, dubbed “blush” by wine writers of the time, and reaped the benefits of its remarkable success in the 1980s. Unfortunately, most wine connoisseurs did not enjoy this very sweet wine, and the reputation of rosé was swept along with it. Now though, and in fact, throughout its wine making history, New World rosés of all styles, from bone dry to dessert sweet, can be found and enjoyed, whatever your taste.
Now, for some actual recommendations. Although we have rosés of most every style and origin available, we have a particular fondness for those from Provence. Of the rosés of Provence, our favorites would have to be from the Chateau d’Esclans Winery. They have a range of four wines, starting with the entry-level Whispering Angel, followed by the mid-range Rock Angel and Clans, and ending with the luxurious Garrus bottling.
But, our favorite, both for its flavor and its value, is the mid-range Rock Angel. Their newest bottle, Chateau d’Esclans wishes for this to be their flagship offering, and it is certainly worth that title. A bright and crisp wine, with soft red-fruit notes on the nose and front of the palate, it matures nicely to a dry, refined finish that leaves one exceedingly refreshed.
If you are looking for something a little sweeter, Provence has another fantastic offering with Domaine Ott. Their Chateau De Salle rosé is a pale pink color with gold highlights, that starts fruit forward, with notes of peach and lemon, before giving way to warm red fruits and soft vanilla notes, all wrapped up in the sublime terroir that only Provence is capable of.
So, now, as summer is winding down, if you ever are looking for something to drink that is cool and refreshing, while bright and flavorful, don’t forget about Mel & Rose and that dark horse of wines, rosé. We promise it won’t disappoint.
Spirited Father’s Day Gifts for Dad
If you think Pop cherished the paperweight you got him for Father’s Day last year, just wait till his eyes light up when you set a bottle of Herredura Anjeo and a shot glasses on the table and silently pour out two fingers. Nearly every dad who drinks would prefer a tasty snifter to a new necktie on the third Sunday of June, making it one of the easiest holidays of the year to shop for. Thus far no two fathers are the same when it comes to spirit preferences. Your elbow-patched head may be happiest with a sophisticated Scotch he can show off to his sports buddies. Adventure-seeking fathers straight from their latest 5K might dig some innovative Rum from a small-batch. And DIY dads who dream of building man caves and grilling the perfect New York Steak might enjoy mixing it up with a versatile Gin and a book of classic cocktail recipes to try out. After all the point is, Father’s Day is all about making your Papa feel extraordinary, so we’ve taste and recommend our way through a selection of new and noteworthy spirits in a variety of categories and distilled them into a manageable collection of delicious bottles. One of them is sure to be right for your old man. If you’re not lucky, to deliver it yourself-our website is ready for to do that for you: http://www.melandrose.com Whiskey 
We might think of whiskey as a liquor steeped in history, but this corner of the booze world has plenty of new ideas to offer when it comes to gift worthy bottles. If you have deep pockets, you may want to explore the best of Islay, but if Dad finds those peaty, smoky single malts a little too for his taste, consider Haig Club an easy-to-embrace single grain whiskey made at Cameronbridge distillery in Fife using a mash bill of 90% wheat and 10% barley. It’s a lighter spirit, each sip a playful mix of apples, pears, and tropical fruit, with a dusting of cinnamon and white pepper flavors, and a kiss of caramel. A celebrity endorsement by David Beckham makes no difference to Dad, of course, but the handsome, blue glass bottle might remind him of the Aqua Velva you didn’t give him this year, and that’s a good thing.
Tequila
Herredura has continuously produced tequila since 1870, and the roughly 25 million agaves it maintains are propagated from the original plants of that era. More than any other huge-scale producer, Herradura has found a way, though, to maintain quality while scaling up. (Way, way up – its fermentation tanks hold more than a million gallons.) Rather than rely on commercial yeasts to hasten fermentation, the company uses only naturally occurring airborne yeasts and lets the juice ferment for up to a week. The hacienda has a knack for aging: Herradura introduced the reposado category in 1974, and it remains one of the best examples of the style, with classic vanilla and butterscotch elements that come from a long (for reposado) 11 months in American oak. Its blanco spends 45 days in oak, giving it a bit of color and smoothness, though without overpowering the base agave flavor.
Gin
In a world filled with a myriad of mediocre, mundane and wholly unremarkable things, Hendrick’s exists as a shining beacon of unusualness. As many have been known to say, no other gin tastes like HENDRICK’S because no other gin is made like HENDRICK’S. Our unusual distillation process combined with our oddly delicious set of infusions of rose petal and cucumber yield a one-of-a-kind gin that is passionately loved by a tiny, yet growing, handful of individuals all over the world. Hand made in tiny batches, our tender approach is what makes Hendrick’s so divine. As many a gin drinker has been known to say, no other gin taste likes Hendrick’s because no other gin is made like Hendrick’s. HENDRICK’S is clean and dry, yet the marvelous complexity of the botanicals comes through in the taste. Take note of the citrus and juniper with a subtle, lingering finish of cool and refreshing cucumber and rose.
When any business manages to reach its 250th anniversary, let alone one in the increasingly mercurial spirits industry, it is cause for celebration, and Hennessy is celebrating in rare form. To commemorate their sestercentennial, Hennessy has released 250 Collector’s Blend. Seventh-generation Master Distiller Yann Fillioux carefully selected 100 eaux-de-vie, aged for 15-35 years in specially commissioned 250-liter Limosin oak barrels. Only 250 such barrels were filled, allowing for only a few thousand bottles of this amazing cognac. And unlike many other collector’s edition bottles, which can cost thousands of dollars, primarily because of the costs of the crystal it is bottled in, Hennessy has decided to keep the focus on what is in the bottle, and it shows. A rich amber color in the glass, the cognac has a spicy aroma, with herbal notes and bitter orange, with a palate consisting of fresh nutmeg, licorice, dried peppermint, and a touch of saffron. It is a powerful, bold cognac, but it retains elegance, with a lasting finish and supreme balance. This would be great bottle to put on a shelf and save, but even more so, it is a bottle for drinking, and sharing in Hennessy’s rich history as the world’s premier cognac distiller.
It is not often that a distiller can happily say that they forget about several barrels of their product. But exactly that happened to 30 barrels of Patron Tequila, and they couldn’t be happier. After going through their usual tequila production process, starting with only the best blue agave hearts which are baked in stone ovens and then distilled in in small copper stills, 30 barrels worth of tequila was put in French Oak barrels, an unusual choice, to be aged for a typical period of one year. But, as Patron shifted around the barrels, taking old ones out and bringing new ones in, these 30 barrels remained untouched for not two or three, but a staggering seven years. Then, only just this spring, the master tequilero cracked open a barrel and discovered something extraordinary. Extraordinary enough, it turns out, to warrant Patron’s first ever limited-release bottling.
Patron 7 Anos Extra Anejo tequila. Beautiful to behold, it is an intense amber color with gold notes, stunningly displayed in a replica bottle based on the very first hand-blown Patron bottle and stopper. In the glass, it has an intense woodsy aroma, with notes of vanilla, light butter, and caramel. It tastes smooth, sweet, with dried fruits, citrus, light caramel and vanilla, offset by smoky wood character. This is a truly remarkable bottle in extremely limited quantities, so get it while you still can. After all, Patron 7 Anos was a happy accident, one that will never be replicated again.
Wine-making has been around nearly as long as human civilization itself. So when the first English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, they brought wine-making along with them. They soon found two kinds of wild grapes growing on the island, which helped sustain them and the natives they soon encountered. Though it would be a while before wine-making began in earnest in the New World, a 400-year-old strand of that grape still grows on the island, a clipping of which will soon be planted at American Pioneer Wine Growers new vineyard in Geyserville, California.
To commemorate this, they are releasing four bottles of wine to reveal the name of the vineyard. The second of those bottles is Manteo, named after the Native American chief who helped the colonists and later became a trusted diplomat. A rich Sonoma County red blend crafted with 28% Syrah, 16% Petit Verdot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 13% Petite Sirah, 6% Merlot, 4% Malbec, and 2% Zinfandel, Manteo debut vintage offers depth and balance along with rich, flagrant flavors of boysenberries, black cherries and cassis; featuring aromatic spices of pink peppercorns and notes of earthy minerals, tobacco leaves and smoky, toasted oak.
A truly remarkable bottle with a rich back story, Manteo is a bottle history won’t soon forget.
It’s not every day a champagne can elicit audible cries of “Wow!” without even being opened. But this not every day. Today, we have the Veuve Cliquot Rose Megafone. Not only is it a truly memorable gift containing one of the best non-vintage champagnes available, it is also one of the most interesting pieces of engineering ever made related to a bottle.
On first glance, the gift case brings cheer-leading and old movies to mind: shaped like an old-fashioned megaphone, it is a striking image that conjures a sense of classic fun. Unscrew the base, and the megaphone shell lifts up to reveal a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Rose Champagne. A blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Veuve Cliquot’s own reserve wines make up a delicious rose champagne, with bright fruit notes front and center, but a carefully balanced acidity and lingering finish to keep you entertained glass after glass.
But wait! We’re not done yet. We’ve only cracked the surface of the Megaphone. Picking up the shell again, we can take off the cap at the top, and voila! It is now a fully functional megaphone, perfect for when you want to play director at your next party. And that’s still not all, because, when you’re finally ready to pop that champagne, simply screw the top end of the megaphone into the base, inverting it from its original orientation, and now, it’s an ice bucket.
Three fantastic uses from just the case: an eye-catching gift, a party-starting megaphone, and a practical ice bucket, not to mention the champagne inside the whole thing. A better gift, I couldn’t imagine.
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