If there's one thing San Franciscans love, it's San Francisco. If there are two things, it's San Francisco and anything artisanal and expensive. And so it is right at the highly profitable intersection of the two that we find the new Fog Point vodka from Alameda-based Hangar One. Made with captured San Francisco fog (more on that later), this $125-a-bottle limited edition adult beverage "is a true expression of California, distilled" (at least according to the company's website).
"Fog is a big part of the identity of San Francisco," an ad that sounds like it's announcing a cure for cancer helpfully informs us. "With Hangar One, water is at the center of everything we do. Vodka is made up from 60 percent water."
Just how, exactly, does the company capture the fog? "To create Fog Point, we installed our very own fog catchers to turn fog into fresh water," explains Hangar One, which is now a separate entity and business from the company that first made Hangar One vodka, St. George Spirits. "This water is then blended with vodka distilled from premium wine sourced from a sustainable vineyard on the Central Coast."
And just what is a fog catcher? "A fog catcher consists of a precision-engineered mesh canvas that is stretched out on a frame, then erected high in the air at a location rich in pure fog," the for-sale page explains. "As fog drifts through the mesh, millions of beads of moisture are caught in its fibers."
“We say it’s made of California because truly, you’re tasting the Bay,” head distiller Caley Shoemaker explained to Time. “You’re tasting the soil and the grapes and all of that comes together really well in this interesting little project we’ve done here.”
And while this "fog to bottle" product gets a pass because the company is donating all the profits to water conservation efforts, that's the only reason it gets a pass.
Now, if the fog they were capturing in service of booze included KarlTheFog's awful recycled jokes, we might feel differently.
@quonky @DanJackson415 @calaesthetic @KarlTheFog pic.twitter.com/Bmj0C8Kdwx
— Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) March 1, 2016
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