Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/113109
And then it was time for another nod to the past. The label on the Hophead bottle was hand-drawn by Jim Stitt, the same man who has been doing artwork for Anchor products since the beginning. The same Sausalito houseboat-dwelling bohemian who draws the special labels that adorn the Christmas beer bottles. The same guy, now in his 80s, who did the Junipero, Potrero and Genevieve bottles, too. ���It���s not the way any other company would have done it,��� says Rusti Porter, who supervised the brand���s development. But there���s the label, old-timey and harkening back to the Summer of Love in San Francisco, adorning a bottle of liquor so new that the government had to igure out what to call it. This kind of history, and this kind of respect for what has come before, may be what distinguishes Anchor Distilling. The company doesn���t have a mission statement (���We���re not that kind of company,��� King says), but all the key players in the irm seem to share a common goal���spread the word about distillers who are making excellent product, and get it into the hands of people who will make the best use of it. That means mixologists and restaurateurs and distributors who want to meet the rising demand for inely crafted spirits. The West Coast Vesper Famed distillery equipment makers Bavarian-Holstein Partners made the copper pot stills that are still in use at Anchor Distilling. of aroma, and to have the equipment to produce an eau-de-vie or a liqueur of some kind, and not to be doing something with it seemed a lost opportunity to King. So he and the Anchor distillers started experimenting again. In the end, they found two particular hops that were key���one is quite vegetal, almost asparagus-y; the other is more neutral, a bit mineral. Individually, they are . . . uninviting. But together, they have produced a beautifully balanced spirit with the whimsical name of Hophead. ���We didn���t really know what we had,��� King says. Even though Anchor had followed Maytag���s exacting methods for making gin, when it came time for Anchor to get the necessary licenses to sell the product, the government decided that the liquid had to be called a vodka because, for one, there is no juniper, and for two, it���s a distilled spirit. So a vodka it is, and it rounds out Anchor���s line of spirit offerings. David King came to Anchor Distilling from a distinguished London irm, so maybe it was only itting that the cocktail he made us using Hophead vodka had a very British pedigree. The West Coast Vesper is an interpretation of the classic Vesper cocktail, which secret agent James Bond drank in Casino Royale. ���Ian Fleming [the author of the Bond spy novels] used to enjoy these at Dukes bar in London, King says. ��� Here���s the relevant passage from the 1953 novel: ���A dry martini, [Bond] said. ���One. In a deep champagne goblet. ��� ��� ���Oui, monsieur. ��� ���Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon���s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it���s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?��� ���Certainly, monsieur. The barman seemed pleased with the idea. ��� ���Gosh, that���s certainly a drink, said Leiter. ��� Bond laughed. ���When I���m . . . er . . . concentrating, he explained, ���I never ��� have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink���s my own invention. I���m going to patent it when I can think of a good name. ��� Bond eventually called the cocktail a Vesper, named after the novel���s lead female character, Vesper Lynd. The West Coast version substitutes Hophead for the vodka and uses No. 3 Gin. There���s a bit of vermouth in place of the Lillet, and a slice of lime replaces the lemon. march 2013 / the tasting panel / 51