Well, perhaps it's not quite that momentous an occassion and I've employed some hyperbole, but I'm very proud to announce and be part of the Cocktails and Spirits Ad Network. This network of cocktailian and spirit-related blogs was organized and assembled by the esteemed Darcy O'Neil at The Art of Drink and is an attempt to band together and use our collective web presence to attract advertisers so that we can continue to encourage the exploration and appreciation of the craft of truly fine cocktails, both classic and new. Both Jeffrey Morgenthaler at his blog and Paul Clarke at The Cocktail Chronicles have enumerated their reasons and rationales behind joining the network and supporting advertising on their sites. As for me, well, anything that can help sustain the exploration of this art, assist in the seeking of rare or new ingredients to review and report on, and anything that helps me justify to my wife why 'I've just got to try this drink/buy this product/purchase this piece of barware tonight, hon. You don't want me to have to report on the Scoobie Snack, do you?!' is a good thing (I don't want to report on the scoobie snack any more than you want me to). I'll just do my part to keep them from making the place look like a teenager's MySpace page gone horribly horribly awry. 'Advertise Responsibly', I says.

–Press Release–

Industry: Food and Beverage

Release Date: June 27, 2007

Bloggers Launch Spirit and Cocktail Advertising Co-op

In the past few years the revival of the cocktail has resonated around the world. This new popularity has been helped along by shows like Sex and the City, and by events like the annual Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans. This growth has coincided with the development of a great number of websites that celebrate great cocktails and use a chef-like approach to their drink creations. A significant part of today’s cocktail renaissance is being driven by a group of dedicated cocktail and spirits bloggers who have made intelligent cocktail discussions a reality, and have created a community of like-minded individuals wanting to learn more about this intriguing culinary art form.

Because of the rapid growth and increased competition in the food and beverage industries, many companies are looking for better ways to connect with customers. Participation in Internet communities has been demonstrated to be a great way of staying connected to customers.

To facilitate the inclusion of food and beverage companies into this growing online community, a group of bloggers has created the Spirits and Cocktail advertising “Hive”, through BlogAds, that allows companies to purchase premium ad space on the participating sites. The initial group of sites includes; The Art of Drink, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, The Liquid Muse, Cocktail Chronicles, A Dash of Bitters, Cocktailnerd and Kaiser Penguin. Together these blogs represent the best the web has to offer in modern cocktail creation and spirit reviews. These blogs are written by bartenders, cocktail enthusiasts, restaurant/bar owners and industry experts, and together they represent the best the web has to offer in modern cocktail creation and spirits reviews. Additional sites will be added in coming months.

This advertising co-op offers participating companies approximately 50,000 highly targeted ad impressions per week, from people who are keenly interested in their products. The readers of these blogs are people who are looking for quality products for use in cocktail creation. They have an interest in learning about new liquors, bar tools, techniques, books and related beverages.

Industry participation helps to support the bloggers who provide a valuable service to the industry. Not only do these websites provide opinion and discussion for a wide variety of products, they also promote responsible consumption of alcoholic drinks by focusing on quality instead of quantity, these bloggers believe and promote the idea of “Drink Better, Not More.”

For more information please visit the Spirits and Cocktails Hive on the BlogAds site.