Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/164544
PHOTO: FRED MINNICK Chain Restaurants Get In on the Act A Bulleit Bourbon World Brand Ambassador Hollis Bulleit (left) joins her father, Tom Bulleit, and Helen Mackey, Senior Director of Menu Strategy, Beverage & Culinary for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. PHOTO: FRED MINNICK Tony Dalton, National Accounts for Southern Wine & Spirits; Melisa Reed, National Account Manager for Diageo; Helen Mackey, Senior Director of Menu Strategy for Ruth's Chris; and Misty DeFlitch, National Sales Manager for Ruth's Chris. s the cocktail becomes more engrained into the fabric of American life, chain restaurants have redoubled their beverage efforts. These days, it's nearly impossible to walk into a largescale chain without seeing a classic cocktail or a take on the classics. But, let's be honest, many are just feeble attempts at cocktails, with packaged mixers and cheap ingredients. That's not the case with Ruth's Chris Steak House, a high-end chain taking its beverage program seriously. At this year's Tales of the Cocktail, Ruth's Chris unveiled its strategic partnership with Bulleit Bourbon at a media and sponsor luncheon. "Bulleit Bourbon and Ruth's Chris Steak House are perfect partners for many reasons— on the plate, bourbon and a great sizzling steak are the perfect American meal," says Helen Mackey, Senior Director of Menu Strategy, Beverage & Culinary for Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc. "In American history, their stories both start in New Orleans and build true American legacies based in entrepreneurship and personally. It makes me smile when I take a sip of bourbon knowing that it was Ruth's favorite drink." —Fred Minnick stral Tequila made its debut at Tales of the Cocktail in July. The brainchild of Master Sommelier Richard Betts, former Wine Director at Aspen's The Little Nell, who for years has been one of the industry's top influencers. In recent years, Betts has found an audience for his particularly deft palate as a producer with his Betts & Scholl wines. A follow-up to his first spirits endeavor, Sombra, an intensely rustic joven, espadín-based Oaxacan mezcal, released to critical acclaim in 2007, Astral is the culmination of Betts's quest to re-create a truly traditional blue agave spirit. "After the success of Sombra, which I launched after spending time consulting with mezcal guru Ron Cooper, I realized I wanted to make a tequila in the same way: like they did 150 years ago, before making tequila became an industry," says Betts. "However, it took awhile to find a partner," he adds; "most distillers I spoke with considered it a stylistic step backwards. All of them thought I was crazy." Crazy or not, with a distilling partner finally secured, Astral is that spirit: single-estate agave grown at a 5,500-foot elevation in far western Jalisco, traditional stone oven–roasted piñas, native yeast fermentation and doubledistillation in small batches to 92 proof. A singular tequila not just in its flavor profile, but also for its sense of history and it projection of agave terroir. SRP $35. —David Ransom PHOTO: DAVID RANSOM A Tales Debut A Devin Duntz, National Brand Manager for Sombra Tequila, with founder Richard Betts, MS. september 2013 / the tasting panel / 111 TP0913_104-156.indd 111 8/22/13 10:31 PM