Email Requests

We have received a lot of requests via email as to whether you are the winner or not (in response to Friday's post) and will start responding to these early tomorrow morning. I have to say a big thanks to those of you that have followed me and the development of Mendis thus far. To those of you that have sent comments, I enjoy reading what you have to say and will try to respond to you if you send me a message as soon as my time permits. Finally, if you have anything that you would like me to discuss or know about me or the business that I may overlook, please let me know and I will include such on this blog.

P.S. Tuesday I will starting posting my personal blogs, as I had mentioned on Friday last.

Sweepstakes Update

Well it has been four days now and we still have not heard from the winner to date. If the winner does not respond within fifteen (15) days from receipt of notification (last Friday, July 21st), we will conduct a new independent third party random drawing, the winner of which will receive the prize. We will keep you updated as matters unfold.

The Winner Is?

The winner has been selected, by a independent third party, for the Mendis Million Dollar Bottle Sweepstakes, unfortunately the Sweepstakes Promotion Judge was not able to get hold of the person on their first try so they left a message, so check your voice mail. We will also be sending out an email in the next hour to the winner's email address listed on their entry form. The winner has fifteen (15) days from receipt of notification to claim his/her prize by completing, signing and returning the Affidavit of Eligibility and the Liability/Publicity release, which we will be sending out to them.

Contact

Tomorrow is the day when we find out who is going to be the first person in the world to receive a bottle of Mendis coconut brandy and not just any bottle at that, but the world’s second “collector” bottle of Mendis coconut brandy. This has been a long anticipated event and we are looking forward to announcing the winner just as much as you are to hearing who it is. Well, by 11am EST tomorrow one lucky person will receive a call from our Sweepstakes Promotion Judge that they are the winner. This is truly a milestone in the making for us as a company and for the alcohol industry as a whole, with the introduction of a collectible early release production bottle. So have your phone near you around 11am EST tomorrow and if you see a New York number calling you around that time you might just be that lucky person.

Good Question

We received a question from someone today that I thought held merit and wanted to post it so all can view, so here it is:

"Just a short comment to the "blog" today by Chris. I would have put this there but personally I don't want to feel like joining a required blog thing. But on with my comment...thank you all for your e-mail telling all those that entered your contest that the draw was postponed. Kudos. But my only concern is the "contact by phone" thing....what if i'm not home? What if i'm on-line? What if your caller doesn't leave a proper message on my voicemail answering machine?? Usually I don't even bother entering a sweepstakes if they say "phone contact only" Usually it is just a ploy to get you off the "do-not-call" list. Personally, I hope I win, but if I'm out of my office I guess I'm going to be out of luck here. That would be a bummer, eh? Since PR is important, sometimes you have to ignore the AD folks and allow multiple ways of contact with your winners. Hope I talk to you on Friday!"

In response to this, we will also send the winner an email (to the address provided on their entry form) on the day of them being selected. As a third safe measure for you, we have set up a consumer information line (718) 233 3960, whereby if you see your name posted on this blog and have not heard from us by Friday, you can call and follow the instructions to the consumer information line and leave a message with your current contact phone number.

Sweepstakes Draw

So this is the week for the drawing of the winner, we had scheduled it for today, July 17th though decided to make it at the end of this week on Friday, July 20th. The drawing of the winner will be conducted on Friday morning and the winner’s name will be posted on this blog at 12 noon that same day, along with calling them. On Monday, July 23rd we will be issuing a Press Release to the media announcing the winner’s name and the prize. Today, all entrants will receive an email from us detailing specifics to the Sweepstakes drawing time and date.

Luxury Things

Last week we decided to put together a video of the World's Most Expensive Things and posted it on youtube, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The Next Big Trend

If you have spent any time lately in your local bar, liquor store or establishment that serves alcohol, you would not be wrong if you had the notion that people are drinking more distilled spirits, particularly the clear (otherwise termed “white”) spirits, such as vodka and certain rums. You will see from my blog the other week (Market Trends 1) that this trend has been going on for some time.

The growth that vodka and rum has enjoyed over the past several years is due to a wave in popularity of cocktails and mixed drinks with consumers. Vodka is viewed as the most mixable product of all the distilled spirit categories, more than likely due to vodka having the least aroma, character, color and flavor over other categories. A products aroma, character, color and flavor is determined by the level of secondary constituents (termed congeners) present in the distillate. Secondary constituents provide the character and flavor to different distilled spirits, these consist of:

Acids - this is formed during the fermentation process (prior to distillation) and provide the pungency to the final product.

Aldehydes - impart a fiery taste to the finished product

Esters - impart a pleasant odor to the finished product

Higher Alcohol - impart aroma to the finished product

Under U.S. and European law vodka must not have any distinctive aroma, character, color or flavor. Even though people swear they can tell a difference between vodkas, the truth of the matter is legally there shouldn’t be any discernible difference between brands.

Besides vodka, differences between different kinds of spirits and between various brands of the same class of spirit is due to variations in the character or amounts of the secondary constituents in the distillate. The following table gives the average results obtained with regard to these secondary constituents, by analysis of rum, whisky, brandy and Mendis coconut brandy in relation to every 100 liters of absolute alcohol.



The growth of vodka over the last decade has seen the category now become the largest distilled spirits sector in the US, over taking whisky which used to be the number one selling category. More recently, tequila has experienced notable growth on the back of the industry sector ramping up its marketing for certain brands, though tequila has limitation in relation to mix-ability due to its distinctive flavor. The distilled spirits market is constantly shifting in relation to consumers changing tastes and social trends, what might be in one decade can slowly fall from grace as another category comes into fad.

Given the recent fad of vodka and mix-ability, there has been massive growth in the flavored spirit market, with the introduction of flavored vodkas and rums. A fair majority of these flavored products are artificially flavored. We view that clear brandies will become the next growth market. Clear fruit brandies are 100% natural, clear and mixable like vodka, distilled straight from fruit without the addition of any flavorings or additives. As we like to say, “why settle for an imitation when you can have the real thing“, maybe you will be saying this in a few years time when you go to buy your drink.

Celebrities Don't Work

Celebrities have always been associated with alcohol, generally in a way most of them would like to forget, need I mention any names here. However, there has been a big trend over the past several years for celebrities to slap their names all over alcohol products, such as Trump Vodka, Snoop Dog Vodka, Jimi Hendrix (Electric) Vodka, Jay-Z Armadale vodka (marketing relationship), I even think Diddy (as he likes to call himself currently) had a vodka, but can't find much on it. There are also several other brands coming out with celebrity or clothing brand assocation (i.e. Tommy Bahama). You may of noticed all these products coming out are vodkas or rums, which are booming markets now. Using celebrities to front a product can work and does work well for the cosmetic industry (i.e. Face of Revlon), though when using the celebrities name as the brand name failure is very common (i.e. Jessica Simpson Jeans).



Now I say, good on someone for trying to make a quick buck, but the funny thing is that most of these celebrity branded alcohol products come from the same distillery, even bottled in the same bottle with just a different label on it, not all of them, but similarities can be found between them. If I get time in the weekend, I will try to put together where their similarities are. The other thing in common is that most of these alcohol products have had terrible sales even after considerable marketing and branding under a celebrity's name.

What I have found is that, these celebrity branded alcohol products are not accepted as consumers want, the best product produced by the most prestigious company steeped in history and renowned for making that product or being the first. We all know that celebrities don’t make the product nor do they care how it is made, especially a clothing company trying to make a rum, it is just another non-core business activity they are trying to make some quick money off.

There’s a good reason why prestigious alcohol companies products sell- because consumers can see the value in the craftsmanship and the dedication to quality. Consumers like to buy brands they know are the best in their specific industry, irregardless of what celebrirites name is on it- such as companies that focus on their core business and don’t digress laterally for a quick buck. All to often lateral expansion or cross-branding, whatever you like to call it, makes a company lose focus and commitment to its core product. We like brand names such as Gucci, Rolls Royce and I will be so bold enough to include Mendis in there also, because they do what they do best and stick to just that, they know their core business like the back of their hand and want to produce the best of its kind, without some celebrity's name tacked onto its product. This sort of commitment can not be replicated by fly-by-night brands or quick buck profiteers under the guise of a well-known name. Quality comes from the heart and dedication from years committed to the brands development, this cannot be taken away from prestigious companies and why, as consumers, we love and stick to the brands we know and trust.

Moderation in everything...

Everyone likes to go out for dinner and some of us indulge ourselves in moderate consumption of alcohol, to compliment the food or when relaxing over a social gathering. For those of us that like a drink with our meal, I’m sure you agree there’s something about it that just helps the food sit better on your stomach, especially after a heavy meal. That said, I’m no chemist and most definitely do not purport to know any scientific fact on this, it is purely a gut feeling, pardon the pun.

Anyway, we all have most probably read the articles that red wine is “a particularly rich source of antioxidants flavonoid phenolics” and that “moderate drinking, of alcohol, is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease, injuries and mortality“. Now there is something more to say about drinking in moderation and only in moderation. A new study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion reported; “moderate drinkers are more likely to report above average health, compared with lifetime abstainers, light drinkers and heavy drinkers“. The research was based on how different levels of drinkers felt about their state of health, with the objective to ascertain if moderate drinkers felt better by their own judgment.
Before I go further, lets define drinking in moderation for this case study, the U.S. Census Bureau for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define it as, “… four to fourteen drinks a week for men and four to seven drinks a week for women”.

The results for the study indicated that males that drank in moderation were “1.27 times more likely to report above-average health, compared with those who were lifetime abstainers and former light drinkers. The moderate drinking women were more than twice as likely as abstainers to report above-average health”. Overall, the researches concluded that drinking in moderation may be health-promoting by warding off cardiovascular disease.

Irrespective of this report’s findings and all the other pro or con reports on alcohol consumption, one thing can be agreed upon by all of them; abusing alcohol or heavy drinking is not good for you and leads to poor health. In the end, drinking alcohol is something you either do or don’t do. Like most things in our life it is a personal choice for us to make as individuals by making the most informed decision with the information we have on hand. Drinking alcohol in moderation is important if you do drink, though moderation is not just limited to alcohol, abuse from anything we put in our bodies can lead to ill-health. A balanced life is the best answer in my mind.