Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10329
THE MESSAGE TY KU’s Newest Ambassador brand teams up with the celebrated chef/owner of Blue Ginger and host of Simply Ming to create a partner- ship combining the strength of the award-winning TY KU portfolio with the James Beard Award–win- ning chef. In celebration of this new partnership, TY KU and Chef Ming paired up to present Dim Sum & Disco on February 27 during the South Beach Wine & Food Festival 2010 at the Setai Hotel. Guests were treated to delicacies by Chef Ming Tsai and TY KU cocktails created by Master Mixologist Tony Abou Gamin. Trenton Ulicny, co-founder of TY KU, says, “With Chef Ming, TY T Chef Ming Tsai. KU will have the ability to educate even more individuals on the wonderful culture, cuisine and spirits the East has to offer.” Blue Ginger, Ming’s celebrated restaurant in Wellesley, MA, was one of the fi rst restaurants in the country to carry the entire TY KU portfolio, including TY KU White, an ultra-premium junmai daiginjo saké. uproot: Created from the Ground Up T HE TASTING PANEL has its eyes on New Jersey this month (see our salute to “Joisey” retailers on page 105), and our restaurant pick for the Garden State is uproot in Somerset County’s city of Warren. Executive Chef Anthony Bucco collaborates with owners Cathy and Andrew Farro to create an experience of natural elements on the plate, a “top- to-bottom integration of Modern American cuisine, design and sensibility.” Bucco’s cuisine Executive Chef Anthony Bucco of uproot in uproot in Warren, NJ, with GM/Somm Jonathan Ross. has been described as “streamlined and focused.” “I like to create dishes that seem simple on the surface, that people think they can create at home, but are actually not,” he states. GM and Sommelier Jonathan Ross, who was groomed on-premise in Manhattan at Anthos and Porter House, now engineers uproot’s wine program and a clever seasonal cocktail menu. The Tree (gin, lime, Douglas fi r and thyme) features an evergreen scent; now that’s something to root for. 1 / the tasting panel / may 2010 Lorena Vasquez of Zacapa. “house in the clouds” facility uses a solera system for aging, producing rich rums that are aged in barrels from 6 to 23 years for Zacapa 23, the premium rum, and from 6 to 25 years for the ultra-premium XO. “I like things to have a structure, to be complex,” says Vasquez, “so when you sip a rum, you’re going to discover it, and it should surprise you.” Blended in American oak casks previously used for bourbons, sherries and Pedro Ximenez wines, the pre- mium rum has notes of toasted wood, vanilla, hints of chocolate and an exceptionally long length. XO takes it a step further; blended in French oak, the light-colored spirit—Vasquez calls it the “cognac of rums”—gives complex fruits: orange peel, mango, raspberry and intense dried fruits. Vasquez sees herself as a rum ambassador, proving to the market that rums don’t have to be aggressive or relegated to mixers. Zacapa’s careful blending will ensure it will never be a rum for the masses. SRP for the Zacapa 23 is $45 (available in Miami, New York, L.A. and TX); $99 for XO (available in FL and NY). –Lana Bortolot Y KU has a new Ambassador, renowned Chef Ming Tsai. The premium Asian spirits Zacapa’s Feminine Touch E njoyed by pirates, captains, admirals and smug- glers the world over, rum’s real and imagined history has given it somewhat of a bad-boy repu- tation. But thanks to Lorena Vasquez, rum is no longer just for the boys or revolutionaries. One of only three female master distillers in the world, Vasquez has, in the course of 22 years, given the pirate spirit a softer side in Zacapa, the premium rum from Guatemala. Vasquez says making spirits is “a man’s world, but I think women are more sensitive in smell and taste and can make their mark.” The feminine touch? First-crush virgin sugar cane honey and high-alti- tude aging at 8,000 feet above sea level. Vasquez’s