STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

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MERCEDES-AMG GT S ROADSTER BREAKS COVER FOR SOME TOPLESS FUN

Mercedes-AMG have debuted their latest variant of the AMG GT line with the AMG GT S Roadster which slots nicely between the standard GT and second highest specced GT C.

Striking a fine balance between performance and cruiser, the new model brings with it the proven 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine which is capable of making 384kW of power and 670Nm of torque. Drive is sent through a 7-speed dual clutch transmission which connects to the rear wheels

Those figures are enough to see the car reach 100km/h from stand still in just 3.8 seconds before topping out at 308km/h – and remember, this one isn’t even the fastest variant. Upgrades to the GT S Roadster sees adaptive suspension, electronically-controlled limited slip differential, a variable note exhaust with the inclusion of a ‘RACE’ mode. It’s the same features found on the GT C minus the rear-wheel steering. It also runs a narrower body when compared to the GT C and balls-out GT R model.

Interior-wise the car is pretty much the same as the GT. This means sports seats wrapped in Artico faux leather and Dinamica microfibre with the optional extra being nappa leather.

The GT S Roadster should land on Australian shores in 2019 with pricing to be confirmed at a later date.

MIKA: One can only dream...  

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‘The House That Jack Built’ Trailer Reveals Lars Von Trier’s Controversial Serial Killer Movie

You just knew Lars Von Trier was going to stir up some drama with his grand return to Cannes (the filmmaker was banned for seven years as a “persona non grata” after making Hitler jokes while promoting Melancholia). And guess what, the reactions to his latest piece of provocation, the gruesome serial killer drama The House That Jack Built, did not disappoint.

The film premiered at Cannes today and apparently theater-goers just weren’t having it. Cannes audiences are known for being, let’s say passionate, prone to booing and standing ovations, but the social media reports out of The House That Jack Built describe a next-level sea of walkouts. This is not surprising considering it’s a serial killer movie directed by the guy who gave us Antichrist, which might just be the actual grosses, hardest to watch movie of the 21st century. Or at least it was, because it sounds like this one is even rougher. Those mass walkouts were trigged by brutal sequences of mutilation and torture, including children, and of course women (it’s Von Trier, after all). Von Trier told The Guardian “The House That Jack Built celebrates the idea that life is evil and soulless,” so yeah, it’s probably not going to be super fun to watch.

If that sounds like your bag, get a glimpse in the trailer below. Matt Dillon stars as the super creepy guy doing all the killing alongside Uma Thurman, Riley Keough, Bruno Ganz, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Jeremy Davies, and Ed Speleers.

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AFTER WATCHING THAT LAST TRAILER, YOU NEED THIS: BEN MILAM TEXAS WHISKEY

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is held every spring to commemorate distilleries both large and small on a grand scale. Awards range from Best in Show to Best Vodka to a series of Best Whiskies. There were plenty of standouts this year, however, for the second year in a row now a small distillery from Blanco, Texas won Double Gold for their bourbon. And odds are, this is the first time you’re hearing about them.

The distillery in question here is newly-founded Ben Milam Whiskey – located in the wild west that is Texas Hill Country – and currently offering three spirits for the taking (a single barrel bourbon, barrel proof bourbon, and straight rye). Not to be outdone, their rye even won silver last year as well. Production is still a bit limited at the time of publishing so be sure to drop them a line if interested in scooping up some for yourself.

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HARLEY-DAVIDSON ‘BLUE EDITION’ CRUISER

It’s not that weird to see a motorcycle brand and a watchmaker work together on a special edition bike. It is, however, uncommon to see one with such extensive work done that it becomes the most expensive brand new motorcycle in the world, as is the case with the Harley-Davidson ‘Blue Edition’ cruiser by Bucherer.

Bucherer, for the record, is a Swiss watchmaking brand responsible for making some of the most finely crafted timepiece in the world. So, when Harley called them up to work on a custom bike, they pulled out all the stops. In fact, the ‘Blue Edition’ bike took over a whopping 2,500 hours to create – completely by hand. Upgrades include the addition of 350 diamonds, gold-plated screws, dual integrated kinetic-winding safes with a one-of-a-kind watch and finely crafted rings inside, an iridescent blue engine, and so much more. All told, this opulent bike is selling for $1,882,090.

 

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Australian Badass Sets Speed Record For Climbing Tallest Mountain On Every Continent

Four years after enduring an accident that nearly left him paralysed, Aussie mountaineer Steve Plain is now the fastest person to reach the top of the tallest mountain on each of the world's seven continents, shattering the previous record by eight days.

Earlier this morning, Plain, along with his guides Jon Gupta and Pemba Sherpa, reached the top of Mount Everest, completing the seven-summit tour in just 117 days, as AFP reports. Plain's GPS tracker confirmed the achievement, showing his location at the top of the 8,848m tall mountain. Soon after reaching the summit, Gupta tweeted the news:

Since January, the Australian climber has reached the tops of Mount Vinson in Antarctica (4,892m); Mount Aconcagua in South America (6,9614m); Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa (5,894m); Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea (at 4,883m it's the tallest in Australia - more on this in just a bit); Mount Elbrus in Europe (5,641m); and Mount Denali in North America (6,189m). The previous record was held by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski, who reached all seven summits in 126 days.

This incredible feat is all the more incredible considering Plain broke his back in a horrific swimming accident in 2014. In addition to multiple fractures along his vertebra, Plain suffered a contorted spinal cord, a ruptured disc, a dissected artery, and torn ligaments. Doctors told him there was a good chance he might never walk again. It was during Plain's recovery that he set upon the task of conquering the seven continental summits.

"Lying in that hospital staring at the ceiling with the thought that I may not be able to walk again and do some of the things I wanted to do, I decided right there to give myself some focus in the rehab process," he said a year ago.

There's some debate as to which mountains belong on the list, specifically the tallest in Australia. Technically speaking, the Carstensz Pyramid is in Indonesia, and not the Australian continent. That distinction goes to the 2,228m Mount Kosciuszko. But nitpickers needn't worry: Plain climbed that one as well, just for safe measure.

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STAR WARS CRIMSON STORMTROOPER HELMET

In the Star Wars universe, there are a lot of different kinds of Stormtroopers that appear onscreen. Some of the coolest, however, were never actually featured in any of the movies. Take, for instance, the Crimson Stormtroopers. These elite operatives, done up in all-red, were deployed to conquer and control active volcanic regions throughout the galaxy. And now, their iconic helmet can be yours.

Of course, this is not actually a functional helmet – in the sense that you can’t wear it in a volcano and expect to be protected. It is, however, wearable as a costume (for, say, members of the 501st Legion), if not just an excellent collectible. And, made by ANOVOS (an officially-licensed replica manufacturer), it’s exactly accurate to Lucasfilm on-screen standards. This badass piece of movie memorabilia can be yours for $310.

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Spice up Your Bar Cart with George Dickel Tabasco Whisky

George Dickel might have never been a distiller, but he’s still one of the most notable men of American whiskey because his name is on bottles of Tennessee whisky all over the world. That iconic brand has teamed up with another you might have heard of, Tabasco, to create a new barrel finish whisky that will spice up your at home cocktail options. Basically it’s Dickel whisky finished for a month in the same barrels used to age tabasco peppers for three years before they get turned into the delicious hot sauce we all know and love. They say it’s “best enjoyed as a shot with celery salt on the rim, pickle juice, or an ice chaser,” but we can’t wait to use it to make a Bloody Mary variant. “Hot Dickel,” as they’re calling it, is expected to be landing on shelves at your local liquor emporium this month for around $25.

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Carry Your MacBook in Style With a Harber London Leather Sleeve

If you want a sleek, slim and stylish way to get your MacBook from place to place, you need to check out this slim leather MacBook sleeve case from Harber London. The simple and understated case is handcrafted using a combination of full grain vegetable tanned leather for a svelte exterior and 100% wool felt interior to protect your laptop without extra bulk. With seven different sizes available that are all tailored to fit like a glove, it can accommodate whatever MacBook you plan to put inside. 

 

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Pappy Van Winkle Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup

Normally we wouldn’t advocate bourbon for breakfast, but this is a delicious exception. Pappy Van Winkle Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup is the pancake and waffle dressing of your dreams. Aged in Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels, the syrup is bursting with notes of vanilla, butter, and oak, just like the mythical hooch that’s nearly impossible to get. While it’s great as a breakfast addition, the flavors also lend themselves well to cocktails, so feel free to get creative with a bottle. We can’t help you track down some 23-Year-Old, but we can bring loads of insane flavor to your next short stack.

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Craft Beef: A Revolution of Small Farms and Big Flavors

People have bastardized the word “craft,” transforming it into something that brings to mind ultra-hipstery products that cost a fortune. Craft, in its true form, is about quality and care, which is something I’ll always support. That’s why I'm all in for Craft Beef: A Revolution of Small Farms and Big Flavors, a coming book from Joe Heitzeberg and Ethan Lowry, the founders of Crowd Cow, along with author Caroline Saunders. The book is a deep dive into the farms, butcher shops, and restaurants across the country committed to better steak. If you’ve only ever purchased cheap cuts of meat from your local grocery store, you probably don’t understand the difference. Let this book explain it to you and then hit the right butcher shop armed with knowledge. $13.00

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Lum-Tec Combat B42

Ohio-based watchmaker Lum-Tec have introduced the upcoming Combat B42, a military-inspired field watch that mixes a technical look with classic pilot watch aesthetics. Powered by a Miyota Japan OS20 Chronograph movement with 5 year battery, the rugged 43mm watch features a shock-absorbing mounting system, a threaded solid caseback, and a double curved sapphire crystal with military grade anti-reflective coating that protects a dial with the watchmaker’s proprietary luminescence technology. It also boasts a 200m (656ft) water resistance, and comes with two nylon military straps, black and desert tan. $420.00

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Escape Plan 2 Trailer: Sylvester Stallone Teams with Dave Bautista

Escape Plan 2: Hades is coming this summer to showcase another high-tech prison break caper with Sylvester Stallone, who’s joined this time by former wrestler-turned Guardians of the Galaxy team member and Avengers: Infinity War wisecracker Dave Bautista.

A sequel to the 2013 film, which paired Stallone with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Escape Plan 2: Hades will see Steven C. Miller (Marauders, Arsenel) step in as director (replacing the first film’s Mikael Håfström). Miller works off a script by Miles Chapman, who wrote the original. The sequel is produced by Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.

The Escape Plan 2 trailer shows Stallone’s returning Ray Breslin – the security specialist who designed the first film’s ultra-secret, high-tech prison facility, called “The Tomb” – attempting to free one of his cohorts, Shu (Xiaoming Huang), who he believes to be secretly stowed away in yet another super-secret high-tech prison for major players – this time in China – called “Hades.” Thus, he’s putting a team together, notably with Trent DeRosa (Dave Bautista) and a returning original film character in the hacker, Hush (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson). However, the effort will prove tougher than anything Ray's ever attempted, battling the technology of Hades.

The cast also consists of Jesse Metcalfe, Jamie King and Alphonso A'Qen-Aten Jackson. Additionally, the role of the prison’s ruthless overseer, and film villain, is played here by an uncredited Titus Welliver (Bosch, Lost).

Escape Plan 2 will spring itself to freedom when it premieres on Blu-ray, Digital and On Demand on June 29.

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Japan Is Running Out Of Whisky

Today, Suntory announced officially that sales of the Hakushu 12-year-old single malt and the Hibiki 17-year-old blend would stop for the time being. The reason? Some of Japan’s most beloved whisky releases are vanishing.

Yesterday, George Koutsakis at Forbes first reported that Hibiki 17 would no longer be on sale starting this September. Today, according to IT Media, Suntory made it official, adding that sales of Hakushu 12 are ending next month.

These are not the first Japanese whisky bottlings with age statements to no longer be offered. They probably won’t be the last, either.

One of the great things about writing a book on Japanese whisky is that you have to drink it for research! However, as someone who’s also a customer, it’s depressing to see whiskies you love to vanish from shelves. Hibiki 17 is one of my favorites, striking a terrific balance between flavor, aroma, quality and price.

It’s also what Bill Murray drank in Lost in Translation, for whatever that’s worth.

So, how did we get here?

In 2014, Japan experienced a domestic whisky boom thanks to a TV drama about Nikka’s founder and father of Japanese whisky Masataka Taketsuru. Since Taketsuru also helped set up the Yamazaki Distillery and later established Yoichi, the boom caused Nikka and Suntory whiskies to fly off the shelves. This came as Japanese whisky was increasingly recognized globally for its quality, being hailed as world class. It was a perfect storm, and for a brief period, Japanese whisky makers must have been thrilled. Then, reality set in.

All of Nikka’s single malts with age statements vanished. The Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malts were revamped and only no age statement versions were released. Not listing an age statement allows whisky makers more freedom in how they put a release together because they can use a wider range of whiskies. Even without the age statement, the youngest whisky in those single malts could be at least three years old, but there are also older whiskies to balance things out. Those older whiskies are vanishing.

The reason, of course, is that ten to fifteen years before that people weren’t drinking much Japanese tipple. During the early 2000s, the Japanese whisky business was bottoming out after decades of declining sales. It was a knock on effect: whisky wasn’t selling, so production slowed and less spirit was put in wood to mature. The result was less old whisky.

With the current demand, the only choice is for whisky makers to halt sales.

Unlike gin or vodka, whisky-making requires maturation, so it will be years until certainly releases become widely available again. No doubt, this is one reason why in the meantime Japanese distillers like Nikka have increasingly been releasing clear spirits.

In the meantime, Japanese whisky prices have been shooting up, as Nikkei pointed out earlier this month.

There have been positives. For example, Nikka’s no-age-statement Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malts are not only excellent but affordable. Well, at least right now. As of this minute.

Known for its ability to manage casks and stock, Suntory seemed like it would fare better against the onslaught of new Japanese whisky customers, which continued to grow around the world. I’ve heard that Suntory is holding stock for the Olympics. But don’t expect the draught to end anytime soon.

In 2016, Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami said Japanese whisky shortages might last as long as ten years.

Nikka, however, is bound to have a harder time, because the 2014 boom really cleaned out their maturation cellars. Since Nikka fires its coal-powered Yoichi pot stills by hand, increasing production is difficult. It could take Nikka even longer to recover from this sudden popularity spike.

According to IT Media, Suntory is planning on increasing production capacity, including expanding its maturation abilities. It’s TBA as to when Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 will return. You have until September to snag any remaining bottles. Stock up now.

 

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MICHAEL JORDAN’S LEGACY TO BECOME A BINGE-FEST ON NETFLIX & ESPN

The legend of the court is back, but only for ten hours on screen to make for a welcoming binge session. ESPN Films and Netflix have announced a ten-part documentary series on Michael Jordan called The Last Dance.

The series will focus on the rise of Michael Jordan’s stellar career alongside the proliferation of the Chicago Bulls and the NBA during the 90s. At the helm of the director’s chair is Jason Hehir who also directed the documentary on French wrestler, Andrew the Giant.

The series should make for some authentic viewing since it has the backing of Michael Jordan himself along with other key figures from the Bulls’ championship era.

The Last Dance will premiere on both ESPN and Netflix in 2019 and will feature more than 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from the Bulls’ 1997 – 98 season.

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Stellina Smart Telescope

Stellina is a completely new generation of telescope, with its main goal to make astronomy accessible to everybody. Astronomy is a very complex hobby, but with this device everything becomes easy, it is connected to your smartphone, tablet or computer, and every image your are seeing you can share instantly on social media, or just save them for a rainy day. It uses GPS and robotics to locate the stars you want to see, positioning itself automatically, saving you hours of time searching. Compact, lightweight and superbly designed, Stellina is the perfect companion to take with you to a remote location, and take wonderful pictures of the night sky. $3K

 

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From Gold Rush to Cocktail Boom

The gold found at Sutter’s Mill transformed San Francisco and its bar culture.

Around this time of year, I always get to thinking about John Sutter and how he unwittingly fathered San Francisco’s vibrant cocktail culture.

In the middle of 1847, Sutter, a Swiss-born adventurer, found himself in possession of large tracts of land around Fort Sacramento in California, a territory then in the process of being transferred from Mexico to the United States. Sutter was a forward thinker, and was willing to bet that the rich soil and generally temperate climate there would attract a significant number of immigrants from back east. Those immigrants would need things and pay good money for them.

Sutter already had a tannery and a distillery, where he turned the wild grapes that grew along the banks of the Sacramento River into brandy. A flour mill would be good, but for that he needed lumber—as would any newcomers for anything they wanted to build. Of course, there was no Home Depot nearby. If he wanted boards and posts, he’d have to cut them himself, or have his people do it. After some search a good location was found, on the south fork of the American River, some 40 miles to the east. Coloma, as the place would be known, was surrounded by tall timber and the river’s current was swift enough to drive a mill wheel. Sutter dispatched James W. Marshall, who knew how to build sawmills, and a crew of Mormon workmen, and they set to work. By the end of the year, the mill was well advanced and Marshall’s men were digging out the millrace that would divert water from the river to the mill wheel that would drive the huge saws.

On January 23rd, 1848, as he had been doing, Marshall had water let into the millrace to deepen it and wash out the loose soil his men had dug. When they cut the water off again, it had exposed a seam of rock that Marshall believed might contain gold. He let more water in and at the crack of dawn the next day hammered the flood gates closed again and climbed down into the empty channel.

Five days later, Sutter wrote this diary entry: “Marshall arrived in the evening, it was raining very heavy, but he told me he came on important business. After we were alone in a private room he showed me the first specimen of gold, that is he was not certain if it was gold or not, but he thought it might be; immediately I made the proof and found that it was gold. I told him even that most of all is 23 carat gold.” By then, Marshall’s workers had already begun pulling nuggets out of the river wherever the current slowed.

Within a couple of weeks, word had leaked out all over the region. Word reached Hawaii in July: “A gold region has been discovered…and all California is rushing thither to dig. Half the population of San Francisco has already gone,” the Honolulu Polynesian reported. By August, the news had begun reaching the great population centers of the East. In December, President Polk addressed Congress, confirming even the wildest of rumors. The race was on. By the end of 1849, San Francisco, a ramshackle village of 1,000 people when Marshall made his find, was now home to some 25,000, most of whom had arrived in the last six months of the year. More were pouring in every day.

A CITY LIKE NO OTHER

San Francisco at the end of 1849, when the Gold Rush really got into gear, was like nowhere else on earth. Six months earlier, the place was practically deserted, with much of the population off panning for gold. But now the harbor was packed with ships, most of them drifting aimlessly at anchor or run aground against the muddy shore, their crews having run off into the hills. The streets were rivers and sloughs of mud on most days (the sidewalks were “made of sacks of flour and boxes of Virginia’s finest tobacco,” as one ‘49er recalled), but still they were thronged with people: dour Yankees, proud Virginians, Mexicans, Chileans, Chinese (who brought their own prefab houses with them), wild “Sydney Ducks” from Australia, “Kanakas” from Hawaii—half the world was there. Men were rushing around trying to assemble the necessary knowledge and equipment for becoming an instant millionaire—that is, if they weren’t standing around waiting for a sucker to pass by.

Panning for gold is hard work, you see, and even in the richest strikes—and California’s was certainly one of those—for every day you pick up a gold nugget there are two or three days where you end up with mere flakes of the stuff. Sure, you can get lucky, and many did, but you can also work your ass off in the most primitive, even miserable, conditions and end up with less than you would have made if you had stayed home stocking shelves or pressing trousers or mixing drinks or whatever it was you did before the gold fever bit you. In fact, by the end of 1849 a significant number of would-be millionaires had realized that the most surefire path to riches wasn’t to mine the hills, but to mine the miners.

You could do that in an endless number of ways. San Francisco was both the jumping off point for new miners and the earthly heaven, such as it was, for successful old ones; where they went to splash some gold dust around before they boarded a ship headed back to civilization. In either case, there was little to do in the city but drink: even if one were intellectually inclined, the only art on public display was in barrooms and the only music in liquor-drenched dancehalls. There were no schools, parks, museums, libraries, reading rooms or any other cultural institutions that didn’t involve either cocktails or praying.

SALOONS

The El Dorado saloon and gambling hall, on the other hand, had a female orchestra and the bartenders, as close to artists as you would find in the city, used a solid gold muddler to crush the sugar in their Whiskey Cocktails and Mint Juleps. So, what if the roof of the place was canvas tenting—it still charged a dollar a drink, gold dust accepted. Back east, that drink would cost you a dime.

By 1851, after a couple of hairy years—the heart of the city burned to the ground several times over—things started to get a little better organized. Brick and stone buildings replaced wooden shacks. All but the largest of the hills that studded the city were leveled to the ground or were on the way there. The streets were paved, at least in the heart of town. Many of those abandoned ships rammed up against the shore were reworked into buildings or filled with rocks and dirt from the leveling of the hills and used to extend the shoreline.

By 1853, there were even a few bars that had achieved permanence. The El Dorado wasn’t one of them, having burned down too many times, but Hoff and O’Brian’s White Hall bar was going strong, even after the fires, and so was Barry and Patten’s. In fact, the bar, which a pair of young men from Massachusetts, Theodore Barry and Benjamin Patten, founded in 1850 at the corner of Montgomery and Sacramento streets, right in the heart of the newly solidifying business district, would last until 1878, holding for most of that 28 years the title of fanciest saloon on the West Coast. When the bar’s fixtures were auctioned off after Patten’s death at the end of 1877, they included “fine wines and liquors,” “walnut bar racks and fixtures” and “fine cut glassware,” as any elegant saloon would stock. Even the “photographs and busts of prominent men” and “elegant oil paintings by eminent masters” were standard high-class saloon fixtures. But there was also history there, in the form of “autographs of the pioneers of California,” a “large lot of curios, collected since ’49,” and “other articles and relics of interest collected during the early days of the city.” In fact, five year before, Barry and Patten had written one of the most useful first-hand accounts of Gold Rush-era San Francisco.

That should be no surprise: more than any other American city, San Francisco was built around its saloons. They were its meeting houses, its civic centers, its museums, reading rooms and concert halls.

That museum quality was shared by the legendary Bank Exchange, the home of that legendary San Francisco drink, Pisco Punch (ships sailing for California around the bottom of South America tended to stop in Peru and Chile, where they stocked up on the clear grape brandy that fueled the drink). On Montgomery Street, just a couple of blocks from Barry and Patten’s, the bar occupied one of the corners of the new Montgomery Block, alias the “Monkey Block,” a hulking, fortress of an office building that was built to withstand fires and earthquakes and whatever else California had to throw at it. Named after the bar that had previously occupied the site and apparently somehow connected to it, the new Bank Exchange inherited that bar’s fancy oil paintings and added to them a $1,500 mahogany bar, a black-and-white marble floor and every other fancy fixture that could be loaded on a ship and sent around the Horn.

Everyone with pretensions to being somebody in San Francisco went to the Bank Exchange, at least until the city’s administrative center moved to its current location, a mile and a half away from the establishment. After that, the clientele became a little less business-driven and a little more Bohemian. As the city grew other institutions took their places in the first rank of San Francisco saloon society. I won’t produce a laundry list of them, but such a list would have to include the coffee saloon kept on Montgomery Street by Vincenzo Squarza. Squarza, who had fought with Garibaldi for Italian independence and then become his business partner when the Italian liberator was in exile on Staten Island, was famous for many things, including his clever mechanical inventions and his colorful dress, but his pre-bottled clarified Milk Punches, in many flavors, were a West Coast institution. Another on the list would be Louis Eppinger’s bar on Halleck street. It might have been tiny—it was made by putting a floor and a roof and front and back walls on a sliver of a lot left vacant between two loft buildings—but it was always thronged. Eppinger’s Bamboo Cocktail, a full-flavored but light-punching mix of sherry and vermouth, is still a part of the discerning tippler’s repertoire. The others—well, let’s just say that San Francisco’s “Cocktail route”—the progression of bars through which a town’s sporting gents would make their nightly rounds—was among the longest and most luxuriously appointed in the country.

HOTALING’S WHISKY

That Cocktail route took a lot of supplying. The city’s biggest whisky supplier—San Francisco was always a whiskey town, at least when it wasn’t drinking brandy, Champagne, gin, rum, tequila or pisco—was Anson Hotaling. A New Yorker, Hotaling came west in 1852 to mine gold. Apparently, he found that work uncongenial; by 1854 he was a clerk in the Sansom Street establishment of one Peter Christie, a liquor importer. Two years later, Christie had cashed out and returned to wherever he had come from and the establishment was now known as Hotaling & Co., “importers and jobbers of liquors.” The “& co.,” Patrick Riley, split from the business in 1858, to be replaced by John W. Griffin. By 1867, when Griffin retired, Hotaling had had it with partners. From now on, he was on his own. That same year, he moved the business to a new, substantial brick building on Jackson Street, in the heart of the infamous and very, very wicked Barbary Coast, where his wares were in constant demand. He took over the building next door in 1874 and the one across the alley by 1878. The reason he could do that was J. H. Cutter whiskey.

While Hotaling sold all the popular drinks of the day, from British ale to Holland gin to Sazerac de Forge et Fils’s Cognac, as popular on the West Coast as it was in New Orleans, San Francisco was a whiskey town, and that was the bulk of his business. Hotaling wasn’t a distiller, or even a “rectifier,” who aged and blended whiskey. But he knew a very good one.

Charles P. Moorman was a native Kentuckian who, like his late business partner John H. Cutter, knew just where to buy the best whiskey, how to age it and how to blend it (he used all straight whiskies, not a blend of straight whiskies and neutral spirits, as later became the norm in the United States). From 1866 or so on, Hotaling was his exclusive West Coast agent (before that, the Bank Exchange had handled the brand).

While “common” whiskey retailed for $2 a gallon in San Francisco, J. H. Cutter went for $4.50 to $5.50. I don’t know what Hotaling was wholesaling it for, but it made him rich, even against stiff competition from “J. F. Cutter” whiskey, pushed by J. H.’s son. By the time of his death in 1899, Hotaling’s was the largest, most luxurious whiskey warehouse in town.

That is worth mentioning because of the events of April 18, 1906, when San Francisco was shaken nearly to pieces and the ruins burned to smoking ash. The fancy new hotels, such as the St. Francis and the Palace, whose fashionable bars had recently established themselves as milestones on the Cocktail route, were destroyed, as were most of the lesser bars along the way. Indeed, along with the rest of the city’s institutions, that night and the subsequent day saw most of the city’s drinking institutions destroyed.

There were, however, two survivors: The Bank Exchange, then under the management of Duncan Nicol, a dour, unflappable Scot, and Hotaling’s warehouse, saved with the help of a mile-long pipeline from a Navy ship, a bucket brigade, and buckets of sewage and slop from a lot next door. This miracle inspired a modern commemorative bottling of Old Potrero Hotaling’s Whiskey as well as caused local wit Charles K. Field to utter the following verse:

Quote

 

“If, as they say, God spanked the town

For being over frisky,

Why did he burn the churches down

And save Hotaling’s whisky?”

 

Field’s verse always brings me back to old John Sutter. The Gold Rush, of which he was the proximate cause, saw him try to parlay his land holdings into a fortune, only to lose almost all of them in the legal—and general—chaos that ensued. What if, I wonder, he had taken that early gold and invested it in his distillery, expanding it, perfecting his brandy, perhaps adding whiskey to his product line? What if he, too, had invested in a strong warehouse in the heart of San Francisco? Would God have spared Sutter’s whiskey along with Hotaling’s? God loves those who help themselves, they say, and going into the booze business in Gold Rush San Francisco has to be the dictionary definition of helping oneself.

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JAGERMEISTER MANIFEST

For the first time in their more than 80-year history, Jägermeister is releasing a liqueur that looks to shake up its previous reputation as a bombing college-aged shot. It’s called Manifest, and appears to serve as a finer base for both mixing cocktails and sipping neat.

At its core, Manifest is an herbal behemoth with more than 58 herbs roots and flowers packed into its recipe – utilizing a wheat distillate from Northern Germany and spending more than a year aging in oak casks. What results is a full-bodied 38% ABV liqueur boasting notes of fruit, mint, dark chocolate, vanilla, and baking spices. The aging process also softens the spirit a bit, while adding some depth, which could very well make Manifest a big hit at your next cocktail party. Set to retail for $60 in select locations in the US and is housed in a new 1 liter rebranded glass bottle.

[MIKA27]

‘City of Lies’ Trailer

It’s been over 20 years since The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered, and those years have produced more questions than answers. City of Lies, a film based on a true story, shares a part of the puzzle you may never have known about. The film is based on Randall Sullivan’s book LAbyrinth, and it centers on L.A.P.D. detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) along with a journalist (Forest Whitaker) who team up to try an uncover what the hell is going on with the case, only to find a web of lies and corruption that could shatter the L.A.P.D. The film hits theaters September 7, and looks worth your time. 

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Star Wars Insects

If you’re an entomologist fanatical about Star Wars, holy crap have we found the perfect prints for you. Richard Wilkinson, a UK-based illustrator, created pieces of art that imagine insects as Star Wars characters. Roboduobus Deoduobus looks like R2, Volatus Trimotoria gets its look from Darth Vader, and Consocius Potiorpoetapolitus is a little like C-3PO. A personal fave, however, is Arthropoda Iconicus, a bug that looks a lot like Greedo. Take a deep dive into Wilkinson’s work at his Instagram and then buy a print of your favorite at his site, as he sells them for $67 a pop. If Star Wars isn’t your thing, Wilkinson plans on tackling Marvel characters, Pokemon, and others in the near future. $67

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Boba Fett's Solo Movie Is Moving Forward With The Director Of Logan

The galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter may finally be making it to the big screen.

The Hollywood Reporter says that James Mangold, the writer and director of Logan, is in talks to write and direct a Boba Fett-focused Star Wars standalone film. It's unclear if Simon Kinberg, who has been attached to the film since 2012, is still involved.

Star Wars faithful will recall that the Boba Fett movie was originally going to be the 2018 Star Wars Story, but when director Josh Trank was removed from the project days before the announcement in 2015, it was shelved. Rumour was, there was even a concept trailer that was going to be revealed at Star Wars Celebration that year. With the Boba Fett project on hold, Lucasfilm then greenlit Solo for the 2018 spot.

Mangold is currently casting a film about the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari, so it seems unlikely this would be the next Star Wars film after Episode IX... but, this is Star Wars we're talking about. It can change a lot of things. We still don't know what the planned 2020 Star Wars film will be; rumours persist of an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie in development by director Stephen Daldry, as well as two new film series, one by Rian Johnson, the other by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

As for Boba Fett, the character was originally only in a few scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, hypothetically dying in that final film. But after he was inserted into A New Hope via the Special Editions, we learned in the prequel trilogy that Boba was an unaltered clone of Jango Fett, his father and fellow bounty hunter. We don't know if this film will follow Boba in the years before the original trilogy - or if he'll get out of the Sarlacc Pit and terrorizes the galaxy anew.

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BANG & OLUFSEN BEOVISION ECLIPSE OLED 4K TV

Bang & Olufsen have long been one of the most prominent names in audio manufacturing and design for decades. Having mastered one fifth of the sensory perception sphere, they’re taking aim at vision – or rather, tele-vision – with their BeoVision Eclipse OLED 4K TV.

B & O’s foray into television tech has produced a beautiful, wood-covered television that sits in any room like a work of art. The dazzling structure is no surprise, as the audio company has accrued plenty a design award over the years. While it may seem like B & O is going out on a limb by making the leap into televisual territory, they are really returning to their roots – Bang & Olufsen manufactured televisions as early as the 1950s. What is definitely far from surprising, is the brawny sound system  for which B & O is known, and with which the Eclipse comes equipped: a 450-watt, 3-channel speaker system built into a handsome wooden soundbar, promising to produce foundation-shaking sound. The Eclipse will be available for purchase at the end of this month.

 

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‘The Sisters Brothers’ Official Trailer

 

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New York City in 12K

We remember attending the Consumer Electronics Show not too many years ago when 4K was all the buzz. You couldn’t turn around without seeing a new television or computer monitor with a giant “4K” sticker on it. Now, here we are, some four years later, and we’re scrolling through YouTube only to find the video above. It’s New York City in… wait for it… 12K! While we urge you to watch it on the newest, nicest monitor you have, you really just need to watch it. It’s stunning. 

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Alila Yangshuo Hotel

Beijing-based studio Vector Architects, has transformed a 1960s sugar factory into a spectacular luxurious hotel in China´s beautiful Yangshuo county. Surrounded by the dramatic karst mountain landscape, the Alila Yangshuo Hotel is composed of restaurants, a library, spa,177 rooms, suites, and villas that occupy a number of heritage buildings among the vaulted mountains. The luxury resort celebrates the rich history of its industrial past while seamlessly blending into its stunning surroundings. Comparable but contemporary materials and construction methods are used in order to achieve continuity and complement the historic architecture. The end result is mind-blowing as you can see by the images below. 

 

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A Burger To Believe In

Upgrade your burger game with this new book that takes a deep dive into the philosophy, magic and art of the burger. Written by Chris Kronner (famous for his Bar Tartine burger), a burger fanatic that has dedicated years to understanding what makes the perfect patty, A "Burger to Believe In" shares his knowledge starting with an unerring focus on the sandwiches core components. The book includes more than just recipes, it explains everything from what constitutes a great bun to creative toppings that actually enhance the burger experience, and teaches you how to create all of the elements of a perfect burger at home. $15