The bottle:Singani 63$ 30 – $ 35 (varies by market)
The return story: Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is famous for many things: his first notable film “Sex, Lies and Videotape” (1989), his Oscar-winning role as director of the crime drama “Traffic” (2000), his wacky robbery series “Photos of the ocean with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others. And let’s not forget Contagion (2011), his prophetic look at how the world would be affected by a deadly pandemic.
But away from the camera, Soderbergh has another mission: to make a dark Bolivian spirit a world favorite.
The spirit is called singani, the Soderbergh brand is Singani 63, and it is similar to an un aged brandy (or what is also called brandy). That is to say, it is made of fruit, in this case, a special grape variety, from the high mountains of the Andes.
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Soderbergh met Singani while working on the two-part biographical film “Che” (2008) on Argentine Marxist leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Until then, he “basically drank vodka,” he told us. But he found something fascinating in the sip, in particular, his floral bouquet and “the very complex activity that takes place on his palate” as he enjoys it. But as the product is extremely difficult to find, especially in the United States, he quickly decided to launch his own brand.
The filmmaker admits that at first he didn’t know exactly what he was doing. “I ran into 250 boxes in a New Jersey warehouse without a plan,” he says. But over time, he built a small market for Singani 63, especially thanks to some of his bizarre promotional efforts. He has an ironic sales sheet for the brand that includes bonuses like this: “I know Singani 63 is a great product the same way I know they faked the moon landing and Marilyn Monroe was actually a man. Trust me on this.
Nowadays, Soderbergh continues to make films, but he also promotes Singani 63. And sometimes he combines his passions. The now has a series of videos, titled “Stir Crazy”, featuring featured mixologists showing cocktails made with Singani 63.
Oh, and Soderbergh is not happy that his film “Contagion” predicted the current pandemic. He says the possibility was obvious to anyone who is paying attention to the warning signs of the health community. “It’s the walking definition of something you saw coming,” he says.
What we think about it: Singani 63 is indeed an attractive spirit: warm on the tongue and full of delicate herbaceous flavors. We consider it a pleasant digestive, something to end a meal on a comforting note.
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