You have to strike while the iron’s hot, and no one knows that better than the folks at Gramercy Wine and Spirits in midtown Manhattan, who knew exactly how to grab their customers’ attention in a marketing email blast today. The message sent to customers on their mailing list announced a “Flash Sale,” offering 20% off the Turkish spirit Raki, today through September 29th, as well as a tasting tonight until 8:00pm. “Today’s tasting is sponsored by the mayor of New York City!” the email facetiously declared, calling the spirit “Eric Adams’ go-to tipple since campaign season was in full swing.” The message features a picture of Adams with a thermos in hand, appearing to make a toast towards the viewer, all smiles.
The mayor of New York City finds himself indicted on corruption and bribery charges involving multiple foreign countries, including Turkey. Adams has not made much effort to conceal his connections to the eastern mediterranean country, admitting last year: “I think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey.” He has also declared that New York is the “Istanbul of America,” although a supercut of Adams speeches going viral online shows him saying the same thing about Dublin, Rome, Zagreb, Athens, and Islamabad. Among other claims, the federal indictment against the mayor alleges that he pressured the New York City Fire Department to allow for the opening of a Turkish consular building despite it not being up to code, as part of a quid-pro-quo.
“We like to have some fun,” says the writer of the email Andy Seife, wine buyer for Gramercy Wine and Spirits and self-styled “cashier to the stars.” This is not the first time that the shop has used the latest headlines to create a “parody sale,” as Seife calls his technique. Around the time of former Republican Representative George Santos’ downfall, he offered discounted prices on a Zinfandel blend called “Fiction,” in reference to Santos’ apparently pathological propensity to make inaccurate statements on matters of fact. Another email blast promoted a sale for a Cabernet called “Stormy Weather” when the indictments dropped against Donald Trump for his hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Seife recalls also creating similar deals related to Clarence Thomas and Tucker Carlson.
While classic reds are all well and good, in this case Seife is likely opening people up to something they have not tried before. The email blast explains that Raki “falls squarely into the camp of anise liqueurs but is significantly drier than most Italian Sambuca and is twice the proof of Greek Ouzo.” Similarly to other anise liqueurs like Ricard, Raki goes milky when water is added, as it is not water soluble. In a phone interview, Seife told La Voce that just two years ago the shop did not even carry the spirit, until a foreign student asked if they would stock Yeni, the world’s most popular anise-based spirit.
If you’re a public figure who’s up to no good, Andy Seife is not the kind of wine merchant to let your malfeasance stand: “we believe in holding people in power accountable.”
