Indiana and St. Germain - a rep for the largest distributor in Indiana was out telling people about St. Germain today and I crossed paths with her at a nice restaurant in the NW corner of the state. Only thing is, she told the restaurant owner and bartenders that it was a PEAR liqueur (and her boss, who was with her, reiterated it). When I asked her if there was elderflower in it (trying to give a hint but be nice about it), the response was "it tastes like pear, and besides, no one knows what elderflower is anyway." Interesting.St. Patrick's Day in Chicago - a relatively new Irish bar in the River East/Gold Coast area of Chicago was charging a cover charge just to get into the bar and drink/eat after the downtown parade on Saturday March 14th. No band, nothing special going on, just doing it because they could, I guess. As a restauranteur, maybe it's smart - work less for the same money, perhaps. It seemed a little exploitive to us, given the economy and the occasion, so we moseyed on down the street and found another place that just wanted to take our money for our beer and food, thankyouverymuch.
4 comments:
The pear/elderflower thing is weird. (1) Yes, St. Germain tastes sort of like pear, but it isn't *pear* and (2) at least for me a big reason I had to try it was the whole idea of it being elderflower, and therefore unique. Isn't that part of their original marketing scheme? It certainly worked on me, though I also happen to like the stuff.
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Their marketing pitch is definitely about the elderflower, and the process they use to get the flowers and infuse them, so I doubt they told the Indiana salespeople to say that. I like St. Germain too, and honestly was trying to help out the folks that make the lovely liqueur by asking her about it - I figured they'd want their reps to describe it accurately and highlight it's uniqueness.
Hi Sonja, I'm not really into the St. Germain. It tastes too sweet / synthetic for me... yet it seems to be popping up on the cocktail menus of even the most respectable places. I also ran into one of their reps at Sam's and she didn't know what the base spirit was... It seems to me they are spending more money on their bottle than it's contents. Oh well.
Great blog! I'm a fellow Chicago tippler / blogger and just did my first MxMo. Did you do this months? I look forward to seeing your entry.
Best,
Dave aka the Captain
Thanks for the comment, Captain. I like the St. Germain, but in small doses - it's potent and sweet, but can add a nice element to a drink where it's in balance (see my latest post about a drink with it and Malort).
Unfortunately I missed this MxMo, I am way behind on blogging right now. Looking forward to reading your blog!
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