“Cheat on Your Vodka” is the theme of a new campaign for Veev. It was also the theme of an “Eyes Wide Shut”-like media event I attended for the brand last week. Held in the penthouse of the Sixty LES hotel in New York, the party included scantily clad (and masked) servers and contortionists, plus a suite set up for “caught in the act” photos, with more masked, scantily clad people.
Oh—there were some Veev cocktails served, too, developed by the brand’s mixologist Willy Shine. A favorite was the Luxury Gimlet, made with Veev, rich agave syrup, fresh lime juice, maraschino liquor and muddled blackberry. The Pumpkin Spice Mule, with Veev, pumpkin simple syrup and ginger beer, was a good one too.
The brand’s Veev 2.0 initiative is a push to get vodka drinkers to try the new-and-improved Veev. The spirit was launched in 2007 as a 60-proof liqueur with the superfruit acai berry, says cofounder Carter Reum, who started Veev Spirits with his brother Courtney. But people were getting confused about what it was and using it like a neutral spirit, he says, so Veev was reformulated this year to be more like a vodka with a higher proof.
I can’t tell what makes Veev any different from a vodka—it’s distilled from Idaho winter wheat with some acai from Brazil and other natural ingredients added. But it may be a tad smoother than many vodkas when consumed straight, and it does make a good mixer. One thing’s for sure: Veev throws an interesting party.