Well (42) below me down.

A year or three ago, my favorite little kiwi Barney, proprietor of Club Jackson, introduced me to a cheekly little New Zealand Vodka he brought back from a visit home. The Vodka label is 42 Below.

Now while fruit-infused vodkas such as Absolut Mandarin or Stoli/Smirnoff Rasberry may be all the rage here, the super special fruitty 42 Below is feijoa. An acquired taste to be sure, but after Barney introduced me to it, I sought to acquire all I could. (Feijoa, like the kiwi, is a native New Zealand fruit. It may be that feijoa only grows in NZ actually. You can go wikipedia it up if you want to.)

The 42 Below ads are indicative of their cheeky attitude:


(larger, more legible version here.)

And because it's all natural and stuff, it won't do crazy shit to your body.

42 Below became near and dear to my heart, and to the hearts others in my circle, with their viral flash video ads. This one was originally made for a Hero party (circuit sort of party in NZ) and has been tweaked a little for the Christopher Street event. Still effing hilarious. You can CO the other viral ads on their website under "Virals" to the left.

42 Below is now a treasured treat at Club Jackson. All the more precious as one can only bring in one bottle at a time (stupid US Customs). We have just gotten word that the nearby Jug Shop will be carrying bits of 42 Below. Here's hoping for both a moderate price and a case of feijoa.

I was considering ordering a t-shirt, but I have no idea how much $95NZ is in USD.



That, and it appears that my and my 42 Below Brethren have made its creator stinking rich.

From today's The New Zealand Herald:

For two days this week the 42 Below website read: "We are totally f***ing loaded." This was a statement of the obvious - it was also an obvious thing for the company to do.

Gloating, showing off, or, as Geoff Ross, the bloke who founded the company and who is now totally loaded would prefer, taking the piss is what 42 Below is very good at. "We've won more awards than you've had hot women," is one of 42 Below's previous boasts.

So when Bacardi buys your little vodka company, the one you started in a shed in a Wellington garden, for $138 million, you're going to shout about it. And the first question I have to ask Ross is: "How totally f***ing loaded are you?

My favorite revelation in the article: The corporate office reception desk is a bar.