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Kitchenware News & Housewares Review Show Daily Saturday, March 2, 2019 4 2 A Glass as Complex as the Fine Spirit it Holds By Lorrie Baumann As members of the Whiskey Club at San Francisco's Epicurean Trader already know, whiskey is a very complex spirit. It's made of fermented grain, distilled and aged in an oak barrel, and just as there's a glass for every variety of wine, an equally complex alcoholic beverage, a glass can enhance the aromatics and bring out hidden flavors in your favorite whisky, says Shane Bahng. He's the Chief Executive Officer and co-Founder of Norlan Glass, which is focused on modernizing the whisky drinking experi- ence through design, science and ritual. The company started in 2015 with a Kickstarter launch of its original glass, the Norlan Whisky Glass, the brainchild of Icelandic designer Sruli Recht, who had become interested in whisky – the name for Scotch spirits, as differentiated from American and Irish whiskeys, but he thought that the existing glass- ware wasn't doing it justice. "He wasn't quite happy with what the options were," Bahng said. Recht thought he could do better. Most aficionados were drinking whisky out of a tulip-shaped glass, the classic Glencairn shape that's revered for its tapered neck that gathers and condens- es the aromas from the spirit while cor- ralling the alcohol and its burn. Other whisky drinkers use a tumbler- style glass that's traditional for a highball. Recht thought that the idea glass might be a hybrid between those two styles – a glass whose interior shape married the capabilities of the Glencairn style with an outer form that had the aesthetic qualities of the tumbler. After numerous iterations, the Norlan Whisky Glass was ready to release. The result was a glass that enhances the drinker's experience of the whisky while insulating the spirit from the warmth of the hand holding the glass. Recht thought, though, that the glass, great as it was for neat whisky, didn't quite do its best for an iced cocktail. He went back to his drawing board. Ninety design iterations later, Norlan has now introduced the Rauk Heavy Tumbler, which features a tumbler-style shell with an inner vessel that has an array of extruded chevrons radiating from the center, which serve to provide friction points for gripping ingredients used in muddled drinks. For whiskey drinkers who prefer their spirit chilled in a heavy-bottom glass, the tumbler, weighing in at 575 grams, will delight. Circumventing the ornamentation of traditional cut crystal, the entire surface of the tumbler, inside and out, is born in a single blinding moment of machine- pressing the molten crystal into a com- plex five-part mold. Within this process, the plunger forms the multi- chevron cross-shaped extrusion inside the glass. The chevrons of this specific pattern evolved through dozens of design itera- tions in search of an elegant and ideal form to aid in the art of cocktail making while visu- ally reinforcing the compass shape on the underside of the glass. While the tumbler's base is precision- modeled as a three-dimensional form allowing the glass to rest on four crystal points as though it were floating, perfect- ing this in mass production is a more nuanced process. Combining the thickness of the glass bottom with this particular base, along with the desired thinness of the rim, required numerous rounds of sampling and even in production necessitates a delicate balancing act of timing and intuition dur- ing the machine-pressing process to keep the tumbler from either cracking or sinking on its feet. It's a shape that's too complicat- ed for today's technology to make from a single layer of glass, so the complexity of the manufacturing process is as complex and nuanced as a fine whisky itself. "The heavy tumbler was a natural progression for us in creating a new glass," Bahng said. The glass was designed specifically for people who enjoy having their whisky with ice or in cocktails. We wanted to have a glass specifically for them." "Our company is really focused on the ritual of whiskey drinking. We are actively working on developing products that would add to that ritual," he added. "We're not looking at telling people how to enjoy whisky; it's about how to improve on that ritual, how to provide an interesting experience for people." The Rauk Heavy Tumbler is sold individually and retails for $50. For more information, visit www.norlan glass.com. LG Smart Appliances Integrate with Innit, SideChef LG Electronics USA has integrated lead- ing smart kitchen platform services Innit ® and SideChef with select 2018 LG smart ovens and ranges, ushering in the future of cooking at home today. The launch makes LG smart kitchen appli- ances the first in the industry to offer both SideChef and Innit compatibility. With just a few simple steps, users can select personalized meals tailored to their individual lifestyles from a com- bined 18,000 meal recipes available via apps for Innit (7,000 modular meals) and SideChef (11,000 recipes). Once a recipe is selected, users can easily access step- by-step video instructions, and automati- cally send cooking instructions directly to the LG range or oven. For advanced cooking automation, LG appliances work seamlessly with Innit's multi-step Expert Cooking Programs to automatically control oven temperature cycles and cooking modes ideal for each meal throughout the entire cooking process. The adaptive program- ing eliminates the need for manual adjustments and removes the guesswork for flawless execution every time. For the everyday user, the SideChef and LG integration features powerful connectivity and automated control of LG's smart appliances. As a part of SideChef's signature advanced cooking guidance, users can now easily connect the app to their LG appliances and auto- matically trigger cook time, temperature and cooking mode instructions to be sent to their appliances while they continue to plan, prep and create the perfect meal. The new service integrations are made possible by LG's Open Partnership, Open Platform, and Open Connectivity strategy that enables LG to work with a wide assortment of service partners to deliver consumers the best smart home experience that meets individual lifestyles. "Through integrations with Innit and SideChef on LG ovens and ranges, con- sumers can enjoy a smart cooking solu- tion that enables them to plan and cook meals with the confidence of a seasoned chef and the convenience of cooking at home," said David VanderWaal, Senior Vice President of Marketing, LG Electronics USA. "Integrations with these leading services are possible because LG's home connectivity strategy allows us to work with a wide range of leading partners to provide a seamless experience in collaborative technology." Innit and SideChef are integrated with select 2018 LG smart ovens and ranges available in a variety of configurations and finishes – including stainless steel, black stainless steel and the new matte black stainless steel. LG ranges and ovens fea- ture ProBake Convection ® for even baking results on every rack, every time, and LG EasyClean ® for the fastest oven-cleaning feature yet in just 10 minutes. Perfect Crust Pie Mat Nothing beats a homemade pie crust! It may be easier to use a frozen pie shell or store-bought boxed crust, but it won't have that flaky goodness that only a homemade pie crust can have. Making your own crust may seem diffi- cult and time consuming, but the Perfect Crust™ Pie Mat makes it easy as, well, pie! The Perfect Crust Pie Mat is the first and only pastry mat with a built-in thick- ness guide for perfect, even crusts. The raised edge trims the crust as the home baker rolls out the perfect circle of dough for the pie. Built-in thickness guide and edge trimmer help produce the perfect pie crust every time! The Perfect Crust Pie Mat makes it simple to transfer the pie dough to the pan without tearing (or swearing). The pie pan is just inverted over the rolled cir- cle of dough, and the Pie Mat is lifted to flip dough and pan together. The Perfect Crust Pie Mat has a bead-blasted, non- stick surface that lets the dough drop eas- ily into the pan. The Perfect Crust Pie Mat is made from premium platinum-cured silicone. It's dishwasher safe and easy to clean. The Perfect Crust Pie Mat rolls and folds for easy storage. For more information, go to www .jazinnovations.com. 2019 Best of Show