Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/29638
Fuzzy Zoeller may in fact be the World’s Best Drinking Buddy. The Masters- and U.S. Open–winning golfer is a bit like that gruff, wry uncle everyone seems to have, who is so much fun to be around despite his constant ribbing. “Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless,” is what Zoeller declares my golf swing after he agrees to give me some pointers when we meet up at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel before a Champions Tour event. Once he shows me how to improve my grip and stance, though, things improve signifi cantly, and he whispers that he could have me in good shape with an hour of work, after I loosen up. “Would a drink help?” I wonder aloud. “Absolutely!” he says, proffering a bottle of Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka. Introducing Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Though Fuzzy is an inveterate joker on the circuit, there is still one thing he takes seriously. Faced with several offers to put his name on a wine or spirit he didn’t even enjoy, Zoeller instead decided to fi nd something he actually did, and sell it himself. Hence, Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka, a proudly all-American corn-based spirit, fi ltered no less than ten times for maximum smoothness. After testing several formulas, Zoeller liked this product best, made by Bend Spirits in Oregon using pure spring water from the Cascade Mountains. But he didn’t just trust his own opinion. “I took it over to the Covered Bridge Club,” says Zoeller, referring to the golf club he designed in his Southern Indiana hometown, Sellersburg, “and did a blind taste test of this and other premium vodkas with six of the girls there.” They all voted the same. “Women understand the nuances of vodka,” he says with some understatement. “Then I blind tasted eight guys—some of my fellow players. And seven of them also picked this, blind.” That was enough to tell Zoeller all he needed to know. The crisp, clean spirit mixes well in a number of twists on classic vodka cocktail recipes posted on the offi cial website (www.fuzzyvodka.net), my favorite being the Hairy Navel, though the Fuzzy Palmer Ice Tea also has its charms. Zoeller himself prefers his drink with only ice and tonic. With an eye-catching interior-image design (and a bottle that can also be used as a tee, as Fuzzy demonstrates for us), Fuzzy’s is undeniably focused on watering every 19th hole lounge, but with a grass- roots-style marketing plan focused on bottle signing events and tastings rather than slick gimmicks. Says Zoeller simply, “There’s no better advertisement than people talking.” Zoeller offers some advice on Editor-at-Large E. C. Gladstone’s golf swing. april 201 1 / the tasting panel / 7