Premium vodka uses pineapple shape to convey luxury drinks

We’ve seen our share of street performers, and water-bottle sellers and those leaflet-waving guys who are sure you want a “girl” sent to your room. The latest thing to take over Las Vegas? Copper pineapples.

If you’ve been to a local lounge lately, you may have noticed someone drinking a cocktail served in a copper pineapple. Maybe you’ve seen them in more than one place, not that we’re judging.

Actually, we’d noticed them ourselves, and we had to wonder: Why copper pineapples, and why all of a sudden?

It turns out, they were created for Absolut Elyx, a premium/luxury vodka from the Swedish distiller.

Kristen Schaefer, the Elyx representative in Las Vegas, said when the brand was launched about three years ago, “we wanted to redefine the nature of luxury.” That meant that they didn’t want the vodka launched with the standard frosty bottles, bikini models and flashing strobe lights. A different approach would be in order.

Back in the ’70s, Schaefer said, Absolut produced its vodka in a copper column distillery in the Swedish region of Skane. When the brand took off in the ’80s, she said, they had to build a larger distillery about 15 miles away, and they weren’t doing much with the old copper one except using it for special projects once in a while.

Elyx is hand-crafted in smaller quantities and is an estate vodka, which means it’s made with winter wheat from one source (whereas regular Absolut is made with wheat from about 450 sources). The company decided to use the old copper still to make it.

To carry out the theme, Elyx bottles are emblazoned with bands of copper color, and copper vessels and bar tools were created to reinforce the message. The pineapple was chosen because it’s a time-honored symbol of hospitality, Schaefer said. A copper pineapple would be a more subtle method of branding than glasses stamped with a logo.

“We wanted to have a general warmth to our brand,” she said.

The first place to get the pineapples was the Matador Room on Miami Beach in November 2014, Schaefer said. Las Vegas-based restaurant developer Elizabeth Blau, who was getting ready to launch Andiron Steak &Sea at Downtown Summerlin, happened to be there.

“I love Jean-Georges (Vongerichten’s) food and (his) Matador was just the coolest restaurant,” Blau said. “I said to the reps, ‘I have to have them.’ They said, ‘Well, there’s all these hotels and nightclubs. …’ I said, ‘No, I have to have them for Andiron.’ ”

Blau said Absolut gave her three pineapples, and then the reps brought her their own personal ones. Blau said that in a way, the pineapples evoked memories.

“When I grew up, there was the scorpion bowl, and it just made for lively conversation and fun,” she said. “I love cocktail programs and I just think cocktails should be fun. Nobody comes up with these out-of-sight vessels.”

Andiron’s cocktail is called the Pineapple Bump, and in addition to Absolut Elyx, it contains Normandin-Mercier Pineau des Charantes, pineapple juice, apple vinegar, lemon sour and Fever Tree club soda.

“They’re so much fun,” Blau said. “Some people take the top off and put it on the top, some people flip the top over. Everyone kind of does their own thing. Some people take one for themselves, some people share them. When you see them coming out in the dining room, you can’t help but say, ‘What’s that?’ ”

They’ve taken off since then, at local spots including Bazaar Meats at SLS Las Vegas, Chandelier at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Crush at MGM Grand, Hexx at Paris Las Vegas, Lavo at The Venetian, The Mixx in Boca Park, Searsucker at Caesars Palace and Vintner Grill in Summerlin. Social at the Palms has a punchbowl version that’s four times as large.

They cost the company $65 each to produce, Schaeffer said. How many are given to each outlet depends on traffic; for instance, she noted Chandelier has 50.

And you can get your very own, without risk of arrest. While the www.elyxboutique.com website won’t be live for about a month, Schaefer said, a bottle of Elyx and a copper pineapple can be purchased at www.reservebar.com for $140; a pineapple alone is $103.

Oh, and one more thing: For every bottle of Elyx sold, Absolut makes a donation to Water for People to provide a week’s supply of clean water to someone in need. For every pineapple sold, they donate enough for a month’s worth.

While theft can be a big problem in the restaurant industry, Blau said that so far, that hasn’t been the case with the pineapples, which are about 12 inches tall and can hold 24 ounces.

“I think it would be too big to walk out without someone noticing,” she said.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.