On Saturday, February 11, one of the most heavy hittingest wine events in the Valley will take place and you might want to consider a ticket if you’re the kind of person that wants to add some blockbusters to your wine collection.

It’s called the First Press Wine Auction, and this event is not only a Who’s Who of society and corporate donors, it’s a Who’s Who of badass wines. The silent and live auction helps fund the Youth Media Center for KJZZ/KBAQ/Friends of Public Radio. The ticket might sound steep at $250, but signed on to play a big part in the event: Frank Family Vineyards, Robert Craig, Jarvis, David Girard, Chappellet, and Mondavi wines.

The event takes place at 6pm at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa. You’ll be seated at a round for 10, with a bonafide vitner at your table. Throughout the five-course dinner, Peter Segal from Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! will entertain the crowd. Fight off the bidding vultures with your paddle to score your faves, then hit the dance floor to Alice Tatum and the Alice Tatum Band.

Pick up tickets online at http://firstpressarizona.com/firstpress or call 480-774-VINO.

Click above to get your education on.

Remember the last time you tried to learn something about tequila?

Exactly.

You remember nada because it usually involves, well, shots of the thing you’re trying to learn about. To solve this inherently human problem (drinking tequila if it’s in front of you) our friends at Tres Agaves Tequila created something meant to school you while entertaining you while keeping you sober enough to learn: a video series called Tequila Academy.

Parked on YouTube and the Tres website (www.tresagaves.com/tequilaacademy), Tequila Academy is an eight-part series that follows the adventures of two gringos as they go deep into the culture of Guadalajara, exploring everything from the harvest of agave plants, to distillation, to how good tequila is actually drank by the people who make it. They learn about tradition, why tequila only comes from one region in Mexico, and what differentiates the good from the bad.

We first heard about this project from Tres Agaves’ man on the ground, Chris Galante, who’s like our own personal agave whisperer, helping to build the past two years’ sponsorships with our Arizona Taco Festival. Galante called to tell us that one of Tres’ partners, Eric Rubin, was in town and wanted to lunch with us to discuss the fun goings-on over at Tres Agaves. Usually, those lunches go down with Chris Alvarez, another Tres partner that’s now deeply focused on some Jim Beam duties in Las Vegas. But Rubin, like Alvarez, is one of those guys that sees beyond his brands’ success–his focus is split between keeping his house in order while keeping the overall industry moving forward. They’re true tequila altruists.

Hence these videos.

Episode one and two launched last week and they’ve already racked up a staggering 40,000+ views collectively. Check them out here: www.youtube.com. Each video is one part funny and two parts educational with a splash of good camerawork. Sounds like a great recipe to us!

Here are three signs that cocktails are the new food:

1) Last week, Chef Jose Garces of our very own Distrito and Old Town Whiskey chose Master Mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim as a team member in a Food Network showdown. Who needs a sous chef when you’re presenting Abou-Ganim originals with your competition food? It was an industry first.

2) Inside of this whole Shit Anyone Says trend, montage videos making fun of everyone from Asian dads to chicks who yoga, bartenders recently got one and the subject is… you guessed it: mixology. Check it out here: www.youtube.com

3) Even Arizona gets a Cocktail Week. See, our Arizona Cocktail Week was announced a few months ago with the shell of a website and very little buzz. But now, in the 11th hour, the thing is picking up momentum. Hosted by the Hotel Valley Ho, Arizona Cocktail Week is aimed at both members of the beverage industry and consumers alike, and it takes place practically tomorrow, February 19th-ish.

From an overall vodka discussion for bartenders led by Dale DeGroff and Don Lee, to a discussion about gin’s resurgence with folks from Hendricks, Tanqeray, Aviation, and the Juniper Society, this thing is shaping up to be a decent inaugural effort. Although not a week (it’s more of a Monday-Tuesday type of affair), what a great way to book a couple rooms at the Ho, learn about booze, sample tons of it, and then do it all again the next day.

Seminars run about $25 each, and cover ground on everything from trends (farm-to-table drinking) to, well, more trends (whiskies of the world). There’s a Grand Tasting each day for $25 each, and all-inclusive passes that go from $200 to $600, depending on how many amenities you want to pack in. Lots of big name cocktail people are coming in for the events, so this is a great opportunity to meet the people you see on Food Network or read about in cocktail books. It’s also a great way to drink.

Take a look at the ticket levels here: http://arizonacocktailweek.com/tickets. And then, count how many phrases you actually hear from Shit Bartenders Say. We bet it will be around 6,472.

2012 is barely a week old, and already our will power is inches from being compromised on a daily basis … We stopped into Cartel Coffee Lab yesterday morning and found that their liquor license is officially in full swing.

They’re now serving beer and wine along with all the funky coffee creations that have been getting people amped up since they opened the original Tempe location years ago. Six beers on tap, including Tripel Karmeliet, Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, Green Flash Hop Head Red, and San Tan Hef, will be served along with about a dozen cans and bottles. There’s about 10 wines, including Haras Carmenere, Black Stallion Cab, Amberhill’s blend, and Laetitia pinot noir.

Anyone who’s been to Cartel, knows that the place truly is a lab of coffee – you can get X bean brewed in Y method at Z temperature or change things around to experiment with different flavors. The process can take a while (it’s definitely not a quick cup kinda place) so we wonder if they’re serving beer and wine as something to keep customers occupied while each cup is painstakingly brewed. “I’ll have an Americano … and a Four Peaks while I wait.”

Although their web site still says the hours go ‘till 6pm every day, they’re actually open ‘till 10pm. Other locations should be serving up booze soon as well.

With places as small as Cartel and Lux and as big as Starbucks and the other Starbucks across the street now starting to integrate alcohol sales into the coffee equation, we wonder … will it all work or are they biting off more than they can chew? Aren’t there places you go for coffee and then places you go for a drink? Do you want them to be the same place? Guess we’ll know by the end of 2012.

Cartel Coffee Lab Scottsdale
7124 E. 5th Ave.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
480-779-7652
www.cartelcoffeelab.com

Your t-shirt might be made in China, your car from Germany, and your IKEA desk from Sweden (or China), but there’s one part of your life we know you know that it’s good when it comes from locals–when you drink a beer.

Local craft beer is a hot topic right now, no matter where you live. And everyone who reads EATERAZ knows that we believe you should only support local when local is actually better. Thankfully for us Arizonans, our locally brewed brews usually are. But the brands are often small, and can use all the marketing help they can get. So, the folks who distribute a fair amount of the top local beers have devised a way to tap the “drink local” buzz while moving kegs and cases.

Alliance Beverage Distributing Company recently launched the ‘Made in Arizona’ campaign. Devised by Troy Slicker, ABDC’s Beer Business Manager, and his team, they felt the best way to drive local beer sales is to tell a collective story about where these beers are brewed. “The program markets all of ABDC’s local beers simultaneously, tapping into a sense of hometown pride,” says Slicker.

Represented in the program are Four Peaks from Tempe, Phoenix Ale Co. from Phoenix, Nimbus Brewery from Tucson, Oak Creek Brewery from Sedona, and Lumberyard Brewery from Flagstaff. Basically, these beers appear on banners, signage, and promo ads together, as one group. Restaurants and bars can work with their ABDC sales rep to craft their twist on the ‘Made in Arizona’ program, so if a place only serves ales from each of these breweries, the marketing will communicate that. If it only carries three of the five breweries, the marketing will communicate that. And if a bar wants to run specials leading up to the Arizona Centennial in February, the marketing can communicate that.

In light of this Made in AZ success, Slicker’s group has recently launched a second campaign, grouping together ABDC’s Asian beers. Built around the word “Cheers!,” the program started with a new ABDC client, Chang beer, imported from Thailand. And since Arizona is one of the top Sapporo markets in the country, this campaign practically writes itself. It displays the word “cheers” in different Asian languages. “Similar to how the word ‘prost’ became a popular marketing jingle for German beers, words like ‘kanpai’ and ‘gān bēi’ are used in this campaign,” says Slicker. “It’s a little more educational and interactive than the ‘Made in Arizona’ program, but it works.”

Other beers in the Asian push include Yanjing from Thailand, Singha from Thailand, Export 33 from Vietnam, San Miguel from The Philippines, Taj Mahal from India, Himalayan Blue and Kingfisher from India, and of course Sapporo from Japan and Chang. However, similar to the Arizona campaign, point-of-sale merchandising and advertising can be customized.

So if you’re not drinking local, drink Chinese. It’s kind of like buying a desk from IKEA that’s made in Switzerland, but actually made in China.

Let’s just say, hypothetically, you were about to hit the back nine at Troon. And let’s just say that a civilized nip off a bottle of pinot helped your game.

While the other players enjoy their brews, you’re caught out there drinking Dan Goldfield’s finest pinot out of a plastic cup or, worse, you broke your glasses on the way up because they were crystal, and crystal is what the French call, “fragile.”

Enter Govino wine glasses. Made with a special polymer in the shapes that show off wine properly, Govino glasses are unbreakable, reusable, recyclable, and crystal clear. In fact, they’re able to fool aficionados from at least a medium distance. They’re a perfect mobile glass for anyone who needs to travel with real stemware. (Or someone who just drops things a lot.)

Available in wine, cocktail, and flute shapes. Go shopping: www.govino.com

Why order a bottle of wine, when you can get four different glasses? And why order a glass, when you can order a flight? And why order a flight if you can just keep getting the bartender to pour you a taste?

If you’re the type that loves to try new wines all the time, then Phoenix Wine Parties is just what the oenophile ordered.

Here’s how it works: Get a group of any size together, set a budget, call up Peter Juneja, and he’ll show up at your house (or wherever) to throw you your very own wine party. Does the group want to explore the difference between French and Italian wines? Does the group want to learn why a Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley is vastly different than one from Oregon? Or maybe you just want five killer bubblies.

Whatever you choose, Juneja will show up with all the requisite glassware, wines, and speaking points to keep your group trying new stuff and learning something along the way. Juneja even arranges for anything from cheese pairings to charcuterie boards to full catering. You might even be able to schedule something last minute for the holidays, so give him a buzz to find out: 602-810-1040.

Web: www.phoenixwineparties.com

Vampires are so hot right now. We have no idea what PR & Marketing Agency helped turn their image around, but whoever it is, they’ve done a fantastic job making vampires a top tier aspirational demographic. Everybody wants to be one.

Well now just like you carry that Louis Vuitton bag even though you can barely afford it, you can drink blood straight from the bottle even though you’re not the living dead.

Tru Blood Beverage debuted just before Halloween, but we think the stuff would make a great holiday gift for any one of your HBO True Blood, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Robert Pattinson-obsessed friends. Tru Blood is actually a blood orange soda that’s meant to add “bite” to any cocktail (hahaha). Ensconced in recyclable plastic bottles (hey, a vampire’s got a future to worry about, too), Tru Blood is available at BevMo! stores and online here: https://securestore.hbo.com.

We must admit, it doesn’t taste half-bad, with a tart and lightly sweet tang. There’s a bevy of cocktail ideas online, but we recommend this one, with a Belvedere base:

Lovin in the Coven
2 oz Belvedere Citrus
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
Dash egg white
1/2 oz Tru Blood Beverage
Shake all ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Charge with Tru Blood Beverage. Invite some vampires over for cocktails and crudites. They love crudites.

Everyone knows the best way to get though the holidays is to drink your way through them (responsibly, of course). But the best best way to get through them is drink with fine wine, beer, and spirits accoutrements that you’ve won! How can you do that? “Like” the SIPS Magazine Facebook page and you’ll be eligible for a weekly giveaway of great stuff – but not just any stuff–stuff from the fine wine, beer, and spirits companies distributed by Alliance Beverage Distributing Company.

They’re calling the program “Holiday Cheer,” and they’re looking to spread a little comfort and joy in the form of great brands, accessories, and more. Last week, some dude named Gregory won a Bailey’s gift basket. You could be next! There’s one giveaway per week until the end of the year, with a Grand Prize giveaway on December 29th. Make sure you “Like” them by then – they’re giving away a New Year’s Eve night on the town. Should be pretty sweet.

Here’s the link to Like: www.facebook.com/SIPSAZ

Unless you are somehow tied to the food and beverage industry, you’ve probably never heard the word “Diageo,” yet you interact with it almost every day (assuming you drink as much as we do). Diageo is the group that supplies a huge amount of your favorite spirits and gets them local distributors who then gets them to bars, restaurants, and your house.

Next Tuesday, November 29th, the folks from Diageo are giving some of their finest spirits to Citizen Public House bartenders Richie Moe, Kris Korf, and Kaitlin Tedhams and asking him to craft some incredibly imaginative cocktails. Then CPR’s chef/owner Bernie Kantak will present paired dishes to go with each Diageo brand-based cocktail. The evening is called “Diageo Loco” and it includes six enticing courses, each with a cocktail pairing, for only $65 per person (plus tax and grat).

Sound amazing? Take a look at the menu below, and you’ll be calling 480-398-4208 lickety-split for a reservation. Check out this page for more info.

Course One
Scallop cake lettuce wrap, Korean pear/baby ginger salsa, ponzu
Cocktail: Pimms No. 1, lime zest, lemon zest, cucumber essence, Fevertree ginger beer, Asian pear juice

Course Two
Apricot dusted calf’s belly, black tapioca, tea pan jus
Cocktail: Ciroc Peach, orange liqueur, fresh lemon juice, prickly pear syrup, fresh brewed tea

Course Three
Lemongrass-curry pumpkin soup
Cocktail: Tanqueray Rangpur, tamarind syrup, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, curry/thyme/juniper berry tincture

Course Four
Root beer braised Tender Belly bacon, steel cut oats, red eye gravy
Cocktail: Don Julio 70 añejo claro, clear root beer, bacon-espresso foam

Course Five
Tender Belly Berkshire pork belly butt, dried cherry sauce, sweet potato risotto
Cocktail: Bulliet bourbon, spicy chile infused bitters, muddled blood orange, Marasca cherries, seltzer

Course Six
Tracy Dempsey Originals spice cupcake, salted caramel frosting, orange/fig compote
Cocktail: Zacapa 23 años solera dark rum “Egg Nog”