Nothing says summer like a nice cool glass of something sparkly. Well, now you can make anything bubbly!

The SodaStream is a DIY home carbonating machine with no electrical parts, nothing too tricky or messy, and a small splurge price of around $100. The Fountain Jet Start-Up Kit, with which I had the pleasure of experimenting, is currently on sale for $89.99 (normally $139.99) -- and it's perfect for both you and your dad for Father's Day.

How it works: You get the lightweight Fountain Jet, two BPA-free bottles, and a 110-liter Carbonator which makes approximately 110 liters of seltzer. You can select from a number of flavors for sparkling water, or buy their syrups in all kinds of varieties: cola, diet cola, root beer, orange soda, diet grapefruit, tonic, and more.

You put cold water in the bottle, then the bottle and the Carbonator in the Fountain Jet, and press the button on the top to infuse the water with seltzer. Like sparkling water? You're done. If you want soda pop, you add syrup -- which I can honestly recommend; it truly tastes like root beer, cola, or whatever it says -- and you have soda pop!

Not only is it fun to make yourself, but their syrups have no high-fructose corn syrup or aspartame, and you're also doing the planet a favor by not adding cans and bottles to landfills -- and the servings come out to pennies-per-glass.

So what's luxurious about this? You can use it on anything -- turn your whites and even reds to sparkling cocktails or make the most alcoholic gin and tonic ever (by mixing a little tonic syrup into sparkling gin). Look through the gallery to see, and click here to shop for a SodaStream.

Tres Generaciones tequila is made from 100% Blue Weber agave in Jalisco, Mexico. It's been around for awhile but it's now proud to have a new bottle design, with inspirations that cover everything from three medallions that represent the three family generations to the artisans rendition of beaten metal on the top of the bottle that represents traditional Mexican art and craftsmanship. The tequila itself is triple distilled and based on three generations of wisdom grown from running a family business, and it's said to be smooth and clean with a slightly spicy finish. The new bottle design is also clean and classic, and seems to perfectly showcase the three available flavors of Anejo, Plata, and Reposado.

Via acquire

Usually finding an insect in your drink is a bad thing, but in the case of SKORPPIO Vodka it's meant to be a special treat... like getting the worm from the bottom of a bottle of tequila. SKORPPIO is five times distilled single-grain vodka produced in England that has a special woody flavor that comes from the addition of food-grade edible, farm-raised scorpions.

Although eating a large, vodka-marinated insect isn't something I'm interested in, I can appreciate that it's a delicacy in some cultures and a unique experience I'm sure. Check out the gallery below for more edible scorpion treats.



Via Book of Joe

Fans of the hot stuff rejoice. Heaven Hill Distilleries is now making Tabasco brand Spicy Tequila. The new brand launches this month in five markets and sells for $21.99. The product website includes recipes for margaritas, versions of a Sea Breeze and a Tequila Sunrise and even a mojito with the spicy liquor. It would probably be great in a Bloody Maria and maybe a fun shot but I'm not so sure about mixing the Tabasco and the fruit juices behind the bar.

[via Brandweek]

I wavered on this post for a while but decided that although it's an inexpensive wine the fact that it is something new to Spain's wine market outweighs its less-than-luxurious price tag. So here it is -- a wine that may be appropriate for pregnant mothers, bad drunks, and the religiously-restricted. Miguel Torres recently launched Natureo which is Spain's first wine with only 0.5% alcohol! Sure we have heard of or tasted Martinelli's sparkling cider (a favorite in my family for the youngsters at holiday gatherings). But Natureo sounds a little more interesting to me -- it is a white wine made from the Muscat grape which may mean it is more of a sweet wine. The sales are limited to their own country for the time being and cost about $10 per bottle but I think it isn't such a bad idea. At least it is more akin to the real thing than sparkling apple juice.

Mekhong is a golden spirt that has been available in Thailand since 1941 ad is now ready to compete for attention on the world stage. International Beverage Holdings Ltd.,is importing from Thailand and selling it in the U.S. Mekhong, named for Thailand's Mekhong River is made mostly from sugar cane and rice and infused with a blend of Thai herbs and spices. The Mekhong recipe was developed to complement the taste and flavor of Thai food and has hints of ginger, honey, toffee, vanilla, floral, herbs and citrus.

The most popular Mekhong cocktails are the Sabai Sabai, the Thai welcome drink, which seeks to compete with mojitos and margaritas in the U.S. Sabai Sabai calls for 1.5 shots of Mekhong, 1.5 shots fresh squeezed lemon juice, .75 shot simple sugar syrup, a finger pinch of sweet Thai basil and club soda. More Mekhong recipes and its history is available at the Mekhong website, The Spirit of Thailand.The importers are hoping that Mekhong might be the next cachaca.

Maestro Dobel, just launched this month, is the first ever diamond tequila. What does that mean? Apparently it means that it's incredibly clear, incredibly strong, and incredibly expensive. It's a blend of 3 different types of tequila, and in keeping with the diamond theme the creators of Maestro Dobel measure its superiority according to 4 C's: clarity, complexity, crispness, and craftsmanship.

Look for Maestro Dobel starting this month in select establishments in Los Angeles, Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta with a suggested retail price of $74.99.

For a while it seemed that vodka flavors were stuck on the sweet. We saw just about every fruit under the sun get an infused vodka of it's own while the few savory flavors like Absolut Peppar became harder and harder to find. But lately thing seem to be shifting. Recently Square One came out with a cucumber vodka and now Three Olives has launched a tomato vodka. The vodka includes the tastes of tomatoes, pepper, horseradish and spices.

I haven't tasted it yet but the Intoxicologist tried it out and found that while it has heavy tomato flavor but is a flat and lacks proper support from the other infused flavors. If you love tomatoes though, this might be the one for you to try out.

For the last few years wine has been steadily gaining on beer but it looks like that trend has ended. A recent Gallup poll revealed that U.S. adults now prefer beer by a double-digit margin over wine. As you can see from the chart above, wine briefly surged above beer in 2005 but has since slipped further from favor. Beer still is not as widely preferred today as it was in the early 1990s but wine's popularity is now at 31% down from a high of 39%.The poll revealed that it's mostly among Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 that have switched back to referring beer. The drinking preferences of younger adults have remained stable in recent years, with 18- to 29-year-olds still showing a wide preference for beer and drinking liquor more often than wine. The survey doesn't ask where the people drink but I suspect the younger drinkers are indulging in their cocktails out in bars more than the more mature drinkers.

Wine remains the preferred beverage of older drinkers. Sixty-two percent of Americans say they drink alcohol and the average drinker reports having consumed 3.8 alcoholic drinks in the past week. Daily drinking is more common among Americans of higher socioeconomic status: 41% of drinkers with incomes of $75,000 or greater say they have had a drink in the past 24 hours, compared with 36% of middle-income respondents (those with household incomes between $30,000 and $74,999) and just 23% of those residing in lower-income households (with incomes of less than $30,000).

More and more spirits also doing charitable work. England's Whitley Neill Gin has created "The Whitley Neill Top of the Tree Challenge" cocktail competition to raise money for UK-based charity, Tree Aid, which supports African communities. UK bartenders will be creating cocktails involving the gin and at least one other ingredient which has derived from a tree. The cocktails will be available until August 1 and the bars will donate money from each cocktail sold to the Whitley Neill Planting Project in Africa.

Whitley Neill Gin already donates five per cent of the proceeds of each bottle sold to Tree Aid. Tree Aid focuses on the poorest sub-Sahel villages where 90 per cent of the population depends on trees including the Baobab, which is a signature botanical in Whitley Neill. The gin was launched in 2005 and is produced in small batches in an antique copper pot still and contains two African botanicals, baobab fruit and Cape gooseberries. It sells for around $30.

The new Diamond Standard vodka takes a concept I first saw with Diva vodka, a step further, using just diamonds rather than all precious stones to filter their vodka. Their process uses over 600 cut diamonds of up to one carat in size. The grain used is from Poland. The bottle is produced by Saver Glass and is made of perfume bottle grade glass with a 25mm Swarovski Xillion Chaton crystal as its centerpiece embedded within its neckline. The vodka is now being test marketed and sold in Massachusetts with plans to expand into New York and New Jersey and has a retail price of $100.

There has been a surge of new gins on the market but what about the other half of the summer essential G&T? Now there is a new premium tonic water, Q Tonic. Q Tonic has no high fructose corn syrup and has 60% fewer calories than regular tonic water. The brand uses hand-picked quinine from the Peruvian Andes and is sweetened with organic agave. The tonic water has been launched in selected restaurants and retail outlets around the country and online. It generally costs around $10 for a pack of four bottles.

[via Notes on a Party]

With the passing of Memorial Day, gin and tonic season officially begins, a different option from the usual suspects is No. 209 gin which is made by Distillery 209 in San Francisco. Instead of relying on juniper, this gin has notes of citrus and cardamom. No. 209 also includes bergamot, using the whole peel for a fresh citrusy taste. Quoted in the Globe and Mail, Arne Hillesland, technical director and master distiller at Distillery 209 says: "It's not a big, giant Christmas tree of a gin." This begs the question, when does gin stop being gin and start being just another flavored spirit? The word gin is a derivation of a word referring to juniper. N0. 209 does contain juniper, it just brings up the levels of the other flavors traditionally used in gin. It can be found for around $30. The No. 209 website includes a variety of cocktails that are not traditional options for gin including a basil gimlet, several mojitos and a recipe for making a huge batch (30 cocktails) of the 209 Sno Kone which includes the gin, frozen orange juice concentrate, frozen lemonade concentrate and sugar frozen into a slushy concoction.

Liqueurs from LOFT Liqueurs appear to have it going on from all angles: they come in decadent and unique flavors (i.e. Lavender, Lemongrass, and Spicy Ginger), they're handcrafted in small batches, and they're the first liqueurs in the country to be 100% certified organic.

Just two years ago LOFT Liqueurs was started by two women, Lisa Averbuch and Sabrina Moreno-Dolan, and was originally born through Lisa's experimentation with a random limoncello recipe. Besides the 3 standard flavors LOFT is looking to expand, starting with seasonal flavors like Tangerine and Blueberry. Look for LOFT Liqueurs in restaurants in California and you can buy them online here for $29.99/bottle.

Via Mighty Foods

I've tried the O2 sparkling vodka but I'm intrigued by the new Camitz vodka because it's topped with a champagne stopper (the O2 has a screwcap and was only mildy fizzy). The Camitz Vodka comes from Sweden and is made from water from the underground springs of Töllsjo and grains from the fields of Västergötland near the distillery. The vodka is distilled five times before carbonation.I haven't tried it yet but The Strong Buzz reports that it delivers a satisfying pop when opened and has a nice fizz with a bit of acidity and needs to be chilled before serving. It sells for $45 and will soon be appearing in key markets in New York, Florida, Nevada and California.

[via Wine & Spirits Daily]