Since 2007, the beginning of each new year has brought a new X.O limited edition cognac from Hennessy, featuring a unique blend and a designer bottle. This year’s release, called Odyssey X.O, may just be one of the most overdesigned bottles of booze we’ve seen in some time.

Hennessy’s designs aren’t exactly minimalist to begin with, and the higher end they go, the more ornate they get. The X.O bottle is a heavy, curvaceous cornucopia covered with grapevines.

For the Odyssey X.O, multi-disciplinary artist Arik Levy (best known for his furniture design) has stuck the X.O bottle – in shades of silver, rose and gold – on top of what appears to be a piece of silver kryptonite. You can see what we mean at right.

Levy has referred to this year's X.O. limited edition design as an “uncontrolled muscle.” We think someone perhaps should have tried to control his muscles before he got his hands on the Hennessy bottle.

Hennessy also launched Hennessy V.S.O.P Helios at Dubai Duty Free in December. It’s the first of the “Privilège Collection by Hennessy,” which will release an exclusive new bottle each year. 

The V.S.O.P Helios bottle has been varnished in a layer of silver, colored to resemble pink gold, and in case you didn’t catch the reference to the sun, the box in which the bottle is packaged features rays that look like they are coming out of the bottle.

While this pink, blinged-out special edition isn’t as hideous as the Odyssey X.O., subtlety is certainly not one of its charms.

Regardless of the bottle designs, since these are Hennessy and they are limited editions, expect them to get snapped up. At least that will get them out of public view.

After sitting on ice in Antarctica since 1907, three 115-year-old bottles of Scotch whisky recently arrived back in their homeland. The bottles, which were found under the hut of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, were sent back to Scotland's Whyte & Mackay, the owner of the Mackinlay distillery that originally made the whisky, which is no longer produced. 

Whyte and Mackay will analyze the whisky, and if the ingredients can be identified and confirmed, it could result in a replication of the old blend. "Given the original recipe no longer exists, this may open a door into history,” Richard Paterson, master blender at Whyte and Mackay, told the Associated Press.

We can see the tagline now: "Mackinlay Whisky: Worth the Wait."Continue reading...

Actress Scarlett Johansson has been tabloid fodder since her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, filed for divorce last month and has been spotted on the arm of Sandra Bullock. A new photo shoot for Moët & Chandon Champagne may divert the public’s mind away from Johansson’s relationship woes and back onto her luscious lips. 

The campaign capitalizes on Johansson’s classic bombshell style and include a particularly Marilyn-esque shot of her holding a bottle of Moët. Another shows her in an elaborate blue strapless gown, poised on a ladder with one leg exposed amid pyramids of champagne flutes.Continue reading...

Drinking Up (Wine) Down Under

Forget the image of the typical Aussie with a big Foster’s in his hand. These days, he’s more likely to be quaffing a glass of wine. According to national Bureau of Statistic figures, beer now makes up just 44% of the alcohol consumed in Australia, down from 76% in the 1960s. Meanwhile, wine consumption is at record highs. But watch, out, wine. Cider consumption is growing at about 15.7% annually, and is now the fastest-growing alcoholic beverage in Australia.Continue reading...

Among whiskey aficionados world over, single-malt Scotch consistently ranks high in cachet. But in the UK itself, drinkers can’t seem to get enough American bourbon, and the American invasion shows no signs of stopping.

Bourbon sales in the UK rose by 25% between 2005 and 2009, and are forecast to increase by another 22% up to 2014, according to International Wine and Spirits Research figures. Meanwhile, Scotch whisky sales have fallen off by 11% in the UK between 2005 and 2009. Criticism in some quarters has focused on Scotch brands’ marketing strategies.

It’s not all bad news for Scotch: Global sales are still three times that of American whiskies and growing.

Looks like some Canadians, too, increasingly prefer their American cousins’ hooch: While overall whiskey sales in British Columbia fell 2% in the year that ended November 2010, American whiskey grew 9%. High-end American whiskey, which sells for more than $30 Canadian per bottle, grew by a whopping 35%.

Craft beers have been rising in popularity worldwide − and now they're even coming to Antarctica. Think it's too cold down there for a cold one? Think again. At Scott Base, the New Zealand crew drinks 30,000 cans of beer a year. Up until now it's all been mass-produced brews.

Now New Zealand's Moa Brewery is looking to slack some of that thirst with a contract to provide three types of Moa Beer to Scott Base, the first craft beers available at its bar, The Tatty Flag. The beers include Moa Noir, a dark brew designed for winter.Continue reading...

In this very digital space, intrepid reporters that we are, we have brought you the latest news on the latest alcohol brands.

We've covered Four Loko, which went from silly sorority drink to national health crisis; alcoholic whipped cream, which never was much of a threat to anything except your waistline; new ways to humiliate yourself with vodka; holiday-ready booze-soaked turkeys; and now, we present Adult Chocolate Milk.

That's right — Adult Chocolate Milk, 40-proof and vodka-based with a cartoon-like logo, which launched just the way you might think: A mom had some of her kids’ chocolate milk after they went to bed, and added some vodka, something that’s probably been done by a few moms before her.Continue reading...

What is poor Smirnoff to do for 2011 now that the big craze of 2010, Bros Icing Bros, is dead? How about "Vodka Eyeballing?" No, seriously.

In a story that seems like a satire of Chicken Little news reports on teen trends, Britain's Daily Mail headline reads, "How 'Vodka eyeballing' drinking game is 'bad as pouring bleach in your eye'."

Of course the photo accompanying the breathless headline features a bottle of Smirnoff, label turned prominently toward the camera (above).Continue reading...