Sippin' on Cognac with Snoop Dogg
• They are not long, the days of gin and juice. Hip-hop eminence Snoop Dogg has teamed up with Cognac house Landy for—as W.J. Deutsch & Sons general manager of spirits Stephen Lewin puts it—a “digital marketing and social-media program with posts and videos from Snoop Dogg featuring Landy Cognac on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube." The agreement also provides that Mr. Dogg and Landy appear at and enliven each other’s events. Deutsch and Landy approached Snoop for the job because they felt he reflected their brand—“fashionable, innovative, social and representative of modern luxury.” Also, there is a dog featured prominently on the Landy bottle. Unfiltered offers the following rhymes for use in Snoop’s surely forthcoming single: candy, handy, dandy, randy, Tristram Shandy and contraband-y.
• Always one to stay abreast of the hustle, Atlanta rapper T.I. has announced his own Cognac partnership this week, with Rémy Martin (“game recognize game,” as the adage goes). As a “global correspondent” for the brand’s “Things Are Getting Interesting” campaign, T.I. will help promote, market and drink the Cognac. As a brand representative told AllHipHop.com, “Rémy Martin recognizes the similarities between the art of producing fine cognacs and blending music and words to create hit songs.” Indeed: T.I. also made a visit to the famous region of France, where he put his tasting and enological skills to work in helping develop a new signature Rémy V.S.O.P. Your move, Hennessey.
Enjoy a cocktail and clean up the Gulf in the Big Easy.
• Seafood lovers can still find plenty of safe, fresh Gulf seafood on menus around the country, as state and federal officials have enacted strict rules since the BP oil spill began, closing some fishing areas and requiring extensive seafood testing. But one business that's been hit badly is oyster shuckers. Many Louisiana oyster bed areas have been closed off, leaving shuckers out of work. To help them out, the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society will be selling a limited-edition bar towel during next week's Tales Of the Cocktail, the annual mixology convention that has rapidly grown into the nation's largest excuse to drink mixed beverages. The towels read, "Cleans up bars, tables and the Gulf Coast," and will sell for a minimum donation of $5, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to laid-off shuckers. The towels probably clean up wine spills nicely too.
