Thursday, August 21, 2014

Diageo Breaks Ground on New $115 Million Kentucky Distillery – The Bulleit Distilling Co.

SHELBYVILLE, Ky., August 21, 2014 – Diageo broke ground today on its new Shelby County, Kentucky distillery, which the company announced will officially be called "The Bulleit Distilling Co." after the distillery's flagship brand. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and a number of other elected officials and Kentucky dignitaries, joined Diageo executives and Bulleit founder Tom Bulleit to celebrate the milestone.

This May, Diageo announced its intention to invest an estimated $115 million to build the 1.8 million proof gallon (750,000 9-liter cases) distillery and six barrel warehouses. In June, Shelby County's Triple S Planning Commission unanimously approved the distillery project. Along with Bulleit Bourbon, the facility will distill a number of current and future Diageo bourbon and North American Whiskey brands.
"Tom Bulleit has a genuine passion for his bourbon that he shares with everyone he meets. The growth of the Bulleit brand is the result of many years of investment and the relationships Tom has built," said Larry Schwartz, President, Diageo North America. "We are proud to be breaking ground on the new home of Bulleit Bourbon in this wonderful location in Shelby County. We look forward to becoming a valued member of the community for many years to come."

"When I walked away from my career as a lawyer to revive my great, great grandfather's high-rye bourbon recipe, people thought I was crazy," said Tom Bulleit. "Twenty-seven years into this entrepreneurial journey, it's humbling to know this amazing facility right here in Kentucky will bear my family's name. It's an honor I'm not sure I will ever fully be able to describe."

Diageo aims to have the distillery operational in late 2016. Diageo expects the construction phase will provide a significant number of jobs and anticipates employing approximately 30 people for whiskey distillation and maturation.

"Kentucky proudly welcomes The Bulleit Distilling Co. to the family of distilleries that comprise our state's signature bourbon industry," said Governor Steve Beshear. "Diageo's investment will not only contribute to Kentucky's thriving bourbon business, but will create quality jobs and offer an economic boost to Shelby County."

About The Bulleit Distilling Co.

Founded by Tom Bulleit, the Bulleit Distilling Co. was started more than 20 years ago with Bulleit Bourbon, and in March 2011, Bulleit Rye, a straight rye whiskey, was added to the portfolio with critical acclaim. The brand's newest variant, Bulleit 10-Year was introduced in 2013. Bulleit ranks as one of the fastest-growing small batch whiskeys in America, which Tom largely credits to word of mouth recommendations. Using only the finest ingredients available – the best grains and special strains of yeast – the 150+ year-old family recipe uses a large amount of rye grain, which gives Bulleit a distinctive taste.

About Diageo

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Buchanan's, Windsor and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO). For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice.
Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.
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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Winery asks the Internet its opinion

Ste. Michelle opens decision making to crowdsourced votes

By
Published:
KENNEWICK — If you've ever dreamed of making award-winning wine, but didn't have the grapes, equipment or space, here's your chance.

All you'll need is a computer or smartphone.

Virtual winemakers will make about 1,000 cases of Crowdsourced Cabernet Sauvignon for the largest wine producer in Washington.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates officials said it is the first time crowdsourcing will guide winemaking from vineyard to finished vintage.

The fate of a quarter of the grapes typically used to create Columbia Crest's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon will soon be in the hands of the online community.

Wine drinkers and others will see how the vines look in real time and then vote on decisions the professionals would normally make.

Their votes will guide Columbia Crest's head winemaker Juan Munoz-Oca and vineyard manager Juan Uribe on one acre of the Paterson winery's Cabernet Sauvignon estate vineyard.

Virtual winemakers cast their votes at www.crowdsourcedcabernet.com. The site launched this week, and already they have 165 email subscribers from across the U.S. and 245 votes cast on the second winemaking decision.

Munoz-Oca, in his third vintage as Columbia Crest's head winemaker and 13th vintage with the winery, said the online decisions are going the way he would have advised, but he expects that to change.
Still, he's prepared to do whatever the majority decides. "It's going to be a collective wine," he said.
The idea of crowdsourcing wine sprang out of a desire to be more interactive with Columbia Crest's consumers.

Munoz-Oca said it's a chance to educate them on what goes into making Washington wine and introduce them to some of the nuances.

For example, there's information about temperature, humidity, precipitation, dew point and weather forecasts.

The website compares the current situation with past vintages, Munoz-Oca said. Hopefully, that will help the crowd make more educated decisions.

"At the end of the day we make wine so we can enhance people's experiences," he said.
Columbia Crest's estate vineyard was chosen because he said they have absolute control over it. They chose an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon because it is within walking distance of the winery, giving them easy access to the live camera in the vineyard.

They also want to use the best grapes they can, Munoz-Oca said.

Grapes from the vineyard created Columbia Crest's 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which was ranked the top wine in the world by Wine Spectator magazine in 2009.

It was the first time a Washington wine had topped the list since Wine Spectator began it in 1988.
Typically, Columbia Crest makes 4,000 cases of Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

Munoz-Oca said he's been impressed with how much consumers and fans already know about wine, and the kinds of details they want to know.

They also are trying to make it accessible, no matter how much knowledge someone is starting with.
Munoz-Oca said it's a challenge to be accurate and to present the science behind making wine at a level where it doesn't take a master's degree in viticulture to participate. They are trying to keep decisions to ones that can be answered with yes or no or by picking one of a couple options.

For example, the current decision is whether to remove unripe grape clusters. So far, about 65 percent of the votes favored thinning the clusters, but voting won't close until today.

Typically, Munoz-Oca said they've picked that block of grapes Oct. 20. But this year's harvest will depend on viticultural decisions voters make in the next few weeks.

The five to six weeks after harvest will be packed with winemaking decisions.

He said he might divide the grapes into a couple different wines, based on how voting goes.

For example, tanks come in different shapes and are made of different materials including concrete, oak and stainless steel. And the wine could be aged in newer or older oak barrels. Munoz-Oca said he can easily come up with three to four different decisions each day.

"We are going to try to make it as much of the real thing as we can," he said.

He hopes some of the virtual winemakers will visit the winery.

The 2014 vintage will age for 12 to 18 months depending what the crowd decides, so it won't be bottled until early 2016, Munoz-Oca said. It will be sold online and at the Columbia Crest tasting room in Paterson — and submitted to leading wine publications.

Munoz-Oca wants to be able to continue crowdsourcing for a 2015 vintage. Voting would start in December as Columbia Crest prepares to prune the vines.

CLINTON FOUNDATON LAUNCHES SECOND CODEATHON SERIES
Atelier Ace, Ace Hotel New York, Jawbone, and SELF Magazine partner with Foundation;
Events in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles; Series will focus on women’s health

New York, NY – Building on the success of its first health-based Codeathon series, the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Initiative, Atelier Ace, Ace Hotel New York, Jawbone, and media partner SELF Magazine will launch a second series of three Codeathons focused on women’s health. The Women’s Health Codeathon series will challenge female developers and designers to design and build original apps around three key areas: nutrition, mental health and physical activity. Female leaders from the technology, innovation, and health fields will mentor participants during the Codeathon events, and will also judge final presentations. Previous Codeathon winners include Automatic and Moro. Codeathon events will be held in New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles with the series kicking off on August 15-17 at Ace Hotel in New York City.

Judges and speakers for the competition include Joyce Chang, Editor-in-Chief of SELF Magazine; Sarah Holoubek, CEO of Luminary Labs; Robin Berzin MD, Functional Medicine Doctor; Danika Laszuk, Vice President of Marketing at Jawbone; and Ruthe Farmer, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at National Center for Women & IT. The winning team will be announced in a feature story in SELF Magazine’s November issue, on newsstands October 28.

Jawbone, Atelier Ace, Ace Hotel New York and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative will assist the winning team in further developing their application. In an effort to combat the unique health problems faced by women, The Clinton Health Matters Initiative will take ideas produced in the Codeathon from inception to action by applying the solutions produced from this series to their programs.

The public is invited to attend final presentations at Liberty Hall on Sunday, August 17th at 4:30pm. If you are interested in covering this event, or have questions for the Clinton Health Matters Initiative or our partner organizations, please email press@clintonfoundation.org.

Social media: @ClintonFdn @SELFmagazine @acehotel @Jawbone #Code4Health

About the Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation builds partnerships of great purpose between businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals everywhere to deliver lasting solutions and empower people to live better lives. Because of our work, nearly 20,000 American schools are providing kids with healthy food choices in an effort to eradicate childhood obesity; 21,000 African farmers have improved their crops to feed 30,000 people; 248 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced in cities worldwide; more than 5,000 people have been trained in marketable job skills in Colombia; more than 5 million people have benefited from lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications; and CGI members have made more than 2,500 commitments to action to improve more than 430 million lives around the world. Learn more at http://www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

About Atelier Ace
Atelier Ace is a creative development agency.

A hand–selected team of designers, writers, architects, web developers, creatives, marketing and new media innovators, Atelier Ace expresses its culture through brands including Ace Hotel and collaborations with cultural, fashion, artistic, musical and other bands of individuals with soul power. We create inspiring, cohesive and meaningful experiences for people.

About Ace Hotel New York
Ace Hotel New York lives in a historic, turn-of-the-century building in Midtown Manhattan, invested with the spirit of its surroundings, the culture of the city and the ancient bones of the building. Ace New York has become a central hub for New Yorkers, Brooklynites and international travelers, and a hotbed of startups, freelancers and people who just want to kick it.

About Jawbone
Jawbone® is a world-leader in consumer technology and wearable devices, building hardware products and software platforms powered by data science.

Jawbone’s UP® system helps people live better by providing personalized insight into how they sleep, move and eat. Its open API – the UP Platform – includes an ecosystem of apps and services that integrate with UP to offer new, customized experiences. The company’s approach to lifestyle tracking is unique, with over 600 patents granted or pending related to its ecosystem and wearable technology manufacturing processes.

Headquartered in San Francisco with offices globally, Jawbone products are available in over 40 countries around the world.

About SELF
SELF is the motivated woman’s guide to life. We are an authority on health, wellness, beauty and style for the woman who wants to achieve her personal best in all aspects of her life. We set forth aspirational yet attainable goals—at the gym, at work and beyond—and give our reader the tools to reach them. We show her that she can realize her ultimate goal, happiness, by tapping into her greatest source of strength: herself. For more information, visit SELF.com.
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