Bushmills Irish Whiskey launched a search for the “Twin City of Bushmills in America.” The contest is part of the Diageo-owned brand’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the license to distill as granted by King James I. The city or town that is proclaimed the Twin City of Bushmills will celebrate with a toast from the Master Distiller of the whiskey and will receive a $20,000 grant for the preservation and advancement of the city’s time-honored traditions and culture. Finalists will be announced in January and visitors to the brand’s Web site, bushmills.com, will be able to vote on the best twin city through St. Patrick’s Day.

Amstel Light entered into an alliance with Australia-based Casella Wines’ Yellow Tail Wine. Starting last month, Amstel Light and Yellow Tail Wine are featured together in co-branded collaborative displays at retailers across the country. Consumers benefit from a mail-in rebate and/or an instant coupon when buying Amstel Light in conjunction with Yellow Tail. Along with co-branded collaborative displays, point-of-sale elements include recipe booklets, double-sided pop-up bottle and shelf talker, and price cards with pockets. The program will run through the end of this month and will be supported with print advertising.

Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc., Deerfield, Ill., and The Absolut Spirits Co. Inc. joined forces to create an entertaining resource for consumers this holiday season. The interactive Web site, 4cocktails.com, provides consumers with tips for hosting and gift giving and a telephone hotline during peak holiday times, 877-4cocktails. Headlining the campaign is Cathy Riva, host of Discovery Home Network’s “Party Girl,” who will share entertaining tips and teach legal drinking age consumers to mix up spirits from the portfolios of Beam Global and The Absolut Spirits Co., including Absolut Vodka, Jim Beam Bourbon, Starbucks Liqueurs, Cruzan Rum, Plymouth Gin, Hornitos Tequila and DeKuyper Cordials.

Evian Natural Spring Water became a component of the popular Internet-based world, “Second Life.”  A 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents, Second Life is inhabited by almost 8 million people globally, who will now find Evian Natural Spring Water vending machines. As a person approaches the virtual vending machine, a pop-up message will appear offering the opportunity to give one’s skin a “second life,” thanks to Evian. If the resident accepts the proposal, he or she will be offered a bottle of Evian Natural Spring Water and a variety of virtual skin options to choose from. Once the skin is selected, a physical transformation occurs for the resident.

Old Orchard Brands partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) International to raise up to $1 million in funding. The JDRF Healthy Balance Challenge will run through Jan. 31, 2008, and will raise funds through a UPC collection program. The UPC collection will coincide with the charity’s Walk to Cure Diabetes events, held nationwide this fall. Old Orchard plans to donate 20 cents to the foundation from each UPC label collected from its Healthy Balance line of low-sugar fruit juice cocktails. As a bonus incentive, the JDRF walk family who collects the most UPCs will win a 2008 Mazda Tribute, courtesy of Old Orchard.

Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc.’s Jägermeister Liqueur is the first presenting sponsor of the Toughest Cowboy rodeo competition and tour. The national 10-city tour will air on Fox Sports Network and features matches in bareback, bull and saddle bronc riding throughout the season leading to the playoffs and championship, where someone will be crowned the Toughest Cowboy Champion. As the presenting sponsor and the exclusive distilled spirits marketing partner of the sports tour, Jägermeister will receive integrated signage and branding in the arena and on the television episodes. Jägermeister also will have the opportunity to include Toughest Cowboy-branded retail promotions, including a Jägermeister bar tour, and also sponsor the in-arena concert.

Rémy Cointreau USA Inc.’s The Macallan Highland Single Malt launched a global media campaign anchored by a series of images shot by Italian photographer Guido Mocafico and featuring the tagline “The Macallan. The Malt.”  This promotion extends the brand’s “black icon” campaign, which has run since 2003, and debuted in November issues of lifestyle magazines such as Esquire, Food & Wine, Forbes Life and Golf Digest.

A single, rare bottle of George Washington’s Distillery Straight Rye Whiskey signed by former president George H.W. Bush was sold for $35,000. The winning bidder was John R. Frank, vice chairman of Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc., New Rochelle, N.Y. The bottle was No. 5 of a limited-edition production of 24 bottles and was the first made at the distillery of one president and signed by another. The event was sponsored by the Distilled Spirits Council and the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and raised a total of $300,000 to support Mount Vernon’s education programs.

Silk Vodka, imported by Soyuz Victan USA, Manhasset, N.Y., is celebrating its first anniversary in the United States with a national advertising campaign in November and December issues of Playboy, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair. The brand is conveyed with black and white photography, and the pictures are shot with a technique that suggests physical movement. The campaign, created by McCaffery Gottlieb Lane of New York City, underscores the smoothness of Silk Vodka, the company says.