Booze News: Introducing Wine in Plastic; Beware Coffee in Booze

Awatere Valley, N.Z. winemaker Peter Yealands bottles his wine in plastic bottles, which he's sure will become the convention, just as Coca-Cola went from glass to plastic. He's not the first to sell wine in plastic -- Wolf Blass in Australia does it, as do British supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury.
[Stuff]

One of the most quintessentially American spirits is not rye or bourbon, but apple brandy. It is hardly still made, but a handful of producers in Northern California are reviving the practice of distilling apple juice.
[NY Times]

Millions of dollars worth of wines and spirits sold at three auctions in New York over the weekend may signify a recovering economy. At Christie's, almost $3 million worth of booze was auctioned, including three bottles of single malt Islay Scotch for $21,600.
[Reuters]

The FDA is cracking down on caffeinated alcoholic drinks like Joose and Four Loko, and may pull them off the shelves unless manufacturers can prove they are safe to drink. It sent letters to some 30 companies that make caffeinated boozy drinks.
[Wall Street Journal]

Shocker: apparently, wine reviews are completely unreliable. Psychologists have been skeptical of wine judgments because context and expectation influence the perception of taste. In a blind tasting, a wine may be rated 91 in one instance and 87 or 95 in the next.
[Wall Street Journal]