Super Bowl Sunday is the year's prime spot for advertisements and companies like Coca-Cola will spend immense amounts of money to make sure their ad stands out. This year, the beverage company is sticking to their lovable polar bears who are the stars of Coca-Cola's Super Bowl commercial. The bears will be watching the game with the rest of America, but this ad goes far beyond a 30-second commercial. 

Viewers can actually watch Coca-Cola's polar bears watching the football game in real-time. Each bear supports an opposing team and they will react to the game with yells, jumps and punches in the air. 

People who do plan on tuning in with the bears can RSVP to the event on Facebook. For each RSVP, Coca-Cola will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund to help preserve the homes of polar bears. 

Andrew Zimmern has tasted some pretty weird delicacies on his travel show, Bizarre Foods. But when it comes to his daily routine at home in Minnesota, Zimmern says his meals are pretty normal. 

"I go home at night, I pick up the dry cleaning, and I make a roast chicken and some crispy potatoes and my wife and son and I sit down to a nice dinner," he said. 

However, the television host can't always escape his Bizarre Foods life, even during his off-season. "The disaster for me is when I'm with my wife and son and we stop at a burger bar or something and the chef decides to send out a month-old pig head from the freezer. I just want to eat a burger with my son!" 

While he lives in Minnesota, Zimmern manages to travel to his hometown of New York City quite often. He was there just last week and documented his days, including all the different types of food he ate. From duck testicles, calf's brains, and a bagel and coffee for breakfast, check out a week in the life of Andrew Zimmern here. 

Claire Danes was in Boston this past week and she joined her husband for lunch at Upstairs on the Square, which is known for serving local and organic food. 

The couple's menu included butter lettuce with red grapefruit and avocado, half a cider-glazed acorn squash, and warm farro with tuscan kale and quince. For dessert, they had a vanilla white chocolate cake with passionfruit caramel and creme legere. 

A New York Sports Clubs (NYSC) ad that ran in the January 25th edition of the New York Times pokes fun at Paula Deen, who recently announced she has type 2 diabetes. A lot of people have been criticizing the celebrity chef for hiding the diabetes for three years before finally announcing it after she made a deal with a drug company. All the while, Deen was continuing to promote unhealthy foods through her television show. It seems that NYSC is non-too-pleased with how the celebrity chef handled the situation.

"Paula, you made a fortune off of fat. Call us if you want to be around the enjoy it," the print ad read. 

Some are arguing that the advertisement is tasteless for joking about Deen's death. Do you think the ad is appropriate? 

Whether you are rooting for the Giants or the Patriots, these beer cupcakes from Sweet Tooth are the perfect Super Bowl dessert.  The cupcakes were inspired by the author's, Erica, two favorite Super Bowl beers- Blue Moon and Corona.  They are topped with citrus infused cream cheese frosting, lime for the Corona and orange for the Blue Moon,, to compliment the flavors in the cupcake.  Any football fan will drool over this unexpected sweet treat.

It is a lot of work to create artisanal hard cider, and no one know that better than Keith Kisler, one of the owners of Finnriver Farm and Cidery on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Living and working on the farm for the past month, I've had a chance to learn more about Keith's interest in, and passion for, cider. My interview with him follows:

How did you get first interested in making cider? Was there a cider you tasted that was your "A ha!" moment that changed your perception of it?

In college my friends and I experimented with homebrew beer making and then that hobby went mostly idle post-college, until moving here to Finnriver where our neighbors Lige and Kay had planted several heirloom and true cider apple trees and exposed us to the virtues of hard cider. The farm crew and I started making hard cider in 5 gallon batches. Some were wonderfully complex and rich in tannin with a full and round mouthfeel. But some of those first batches were better suited for vinegar making.... But my first "a-ha!" cider was a bottle-conditioned cider made by Lige. It was light, bubbly, with a bracing acidity. It was clean and refreshing and perfect for the moment, on that summer evening while BBQ-ing at a friend's house. The next cider that caught my attention was Wandering Aengus' Dry Oak cider. It's got a subtle oak spice and the balance of acid and tannin was perfect.

What issues and challenges do you face being a small, artisanal producer in terms of both production and sales?

Economy of scale. The infrastructure and human power required to produce, market, and sell cider on a commercial scale is extremely expensive. We've been lucky in many ways that craft cider is seeing a revival, especially in the Northwest. The increased popularity of cider over the past few years has allowed for the growth of our company. Our initial business plan was very modest and simple, but it quickly became apparent that it would take a significant jump in production to cover the costs of equipment and labor required to grow our capacity so that it could be economically viable. But even with our growth we are still a very, very small producer in the grand scheme of things. Whenever my wife is describing our cidery to someone and she uses the term craft or artisan scale I always feel compelled to remind them that we are truly a nano-cidery

.

Tell me a little about the cider conference you will be attending in Chicago next month and what you and other artisanal producers hope to achieve.

This is the 2nd annual national conference geared specifically to commercial cider producers. We'll focus on how to define our growing industry so that hard cider has a strong footing within federal code of regulations. The code currently doesn't relate in many ways to how many of us are wanting to produce, market, and generally conduct our businesses. Much of what is written is geared towards beer or wine, or is serving the few very large domestic cider producers or importers. And many times the code just doesn't make any sense for modern production. Also, we as a growing number of craft scale producers are poised to have an impact if we build a strong, cohesive foundation on which to propose changes, and for those regulatory bodies to take notice. Strength in numbers...

What do you want people to experience when they are drinking your ciders? What do you want people to take away from a visit to the farm and tasting room?

I want their taste buds to say- yes! I love it when people are surprised by how refined, or complex, or delicate a cider can be. I like when people come into our tasting room as self-proclaimed beer or wine drinkers and leave as self-proclaimed cider drinkers.

Please also see my interview with Keith's partner, Crystie, for her view on the challenges and rewards of owning an organic family farm.

The Don't Call Me cocktail has only one thing to say.   Don't call me.

It is woven from Lovage.  What is Lovage?  Well, it kind of tastes like Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray.  What?  Hey, get a can and try a Dr. Brown's, then you know what Lovage tastes like.

Lovage Syrup.  Or Love-ache syrup is the base syrup for this fireball of a cocktail that weaves Bulldog Gin, Tenneyson Absinthe and Perrier Lemon with Bitter End Curry Bitters, Lovage Syrup and Cardamom Clove Syrup from Royal Rose. 

The Don't Call Me Cocktail

Anton, over at P&H Soda sent me six bottles of soda magic the other day.  Lovage, Lovage, running through my brain.  Like the famous song, you take Sally and I'll take Sue, there ain't no difference between the two.  Absinthe.. Running all around my brain. That and Bulldog Gin.  Mmmmm.  Royal Rose is responsible for the Cardamom-Clove syrup.  Then Bitter End Bitters with their fire driven Curry Bitters.  Bulldog Gin for their botanicals and the Tenneyson Absinthe for the healthy 106 proof heat and mysterious properties.

Why do I get myself into so much trouble?  

This is a fantastic way to lose an entire afternoon.  The Don't Call Me part?  Well, I think that speaks for itself. 

From Wiko-pedia:

The name 'lovage' is from "love-ache", ache being a medieval name for parsley; this is a folk-etymological corruption of the older French name levesche, from late Latin levisticum, in turn thought to be a corruption of the earlier Latin ligusticum, "of Liguria" (northwest Italy), where the herb was grown extensively.^[10] In modern botanical usage, both Latin forms are now used, for different, but closely related genera, with Levisticum for (culinary) Lovage, and Ligusticum for Scots Lovage, a similar species from northern Europe, and related species.^[5][10] In Germany and Holland, one of the common names of Lovage is Maggikraut (German) or Maggiplant (Dutch) because the plant's taste is reminiscent of Maggi soup seasoning. Italian levistico, French livèche, Romanian leuştean, Hungarian lestyán, Russian любисток lyubistok, etc. In Bulgaria it is known as девесил deveseel. The Czech name is libeček, and the Polish name is lubczyk, both meaning 'love herb'. The name in Swedish is libbsticka. The official German name is Liebstöckel, literally 'love sticklet'.^[11]

Sure, you can mix this cocktail without the Lovage syrup or the Royal Rose, but I must insist that you use Absinthe- your choice- Tenneyson or Nouvelle Orleans- or even St. George come to mind.  My mouth begins to salivate thinking about all the flavors available to me from the liquor cabinet.  Bulldog Gin is my choice, but you can use the Gin of your choice.  What you feel is the best for these purposes. 

Ingredients for two extremely enlightening cocktails:  And if anyone calls, just say the magic words...' Don't Call Me!'

3 Shots of Tenneyson Absinthe (or your choice)  I'm rather fond of the Nouvelle Orleans and the St. George- they all are unique and offer different flavor profiles to the careful drinker.

Absinthe I'm on record as saying is the razor's edge between lucid dreaming and insanity.  Be careful.  This drink is for two interesting drinkers- if you want to drink this alone, the latter may find you.

1 Shot Bulldog Gin

1 Tablespoon Royal Rose Cardamom Syrup

2 Tablespoons P&H Lovage Syrup

1 shot freshly squeezed lime juice *strained*

Perrier Lemon

Bitter End Curry Bitters  (exactly two drops in each cocktail)

Preparation:

To a cocktail shaker fill 1/2 with ice

Add the liquors, then the syrups and the lime juice

Shake

Strain into rocks glasses with ice.  Top with Perrier Lemon

Add exactly two drops of the Bitter End Curry Bitters to finish and garnish with a hunk of lime!

P&H Syrups can be contacted at...

Anton Nocito:  Anton@PandHSodaCo.com

What They Do...

P&H Soda Co. is an all natural soda syrup company. They sell retail bottles to stores as well as bulk syrup to restaurants, cafes and bars for making soda. Contact them for a price list.

They also do private events such as birthday parties and weddings. Please feel free to contact them with any questions you may have.

About Royal Rose

At Royal Rose, we have a passion for delicious cocktails. We believe that using the best-quality, whole ingredients in our syrups makes the difference between an ordinary drink and a superior cocktail. We hand-make every ounce of our syrup in small batches, using only whole ingredients, 100% organic and fair-trade sugar, and filtered water.

• We use only 100% organic, fair trade cane sugar made from evaporated cane juice.
• We make our syrups by hand, in small batches, using whole ingredients.
• All of our herbs and spices are organic and fairly traded.
• Royal Rose sends all of its products to an independent laboratory for analysis to ensure a consistent, high-quality product.

contact us

email us at info@bitterendbitters.com