New canned sangria, Odyssea, comes from bar owners Lost Whale, Milwaukee

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There’s a new canned sangria in town, and this one has roots in Milwaukee: Odyssea sangria comes from the operators of the Lost Whale bar in Bay View, and it’s set to appear on store shelves and in restaurants and bars. of Wisconsin.

Specifically, this is a pandemic passion project of Daniel Beres, who founded Lost Whale with Tripper Duval in 2018. He started working on the development of a canned sangria six years ago, when ‘he supervised the bar of the Madrid hotel at Walker’s Point.

This project was unsuccessful, but the pandemic gave him free time and the urge to make the most of life, so Beres tried again.

He worked on sangria recipes the night after the Lost Whale pandemic take-out window closed, turning the bar’s basement into his lab until 1 or 2 a.m., he said.

Finding the right wine – and a winemaker who could supply it regularly during the pandemic – was a challenge, but Beres scoured California, Washington and Oregon for a “clean” wine that could be the blank (and dry) canvas of which he needed. He found a winemaker who could provide us with “more leeway to explore and play with”.

To get help making the sangria and marketing it, Beres and Duval enlisted former Milwaukeean (and Beres’ former roommate) Tom Dufek. Dufek himself owns the canned cocktail companies Plain Spoke Cocktail Co. and RSF (Resting Spritz Face) and partner of Young Blood Beer Co. in Madison. It is now a minority partner of Odyssea, Beres said.

The first Odyssea to come out is the red sangria; white and rosé should follow in the spring, Beres said.

Odyssea is sold in thin and tall cans of 250 milliliters (8.4 ounces). Sangria is sold in packs of four for a suggested retail price of $ 12.99 at liquor stores and grocery stores.

For bars and restaurants with draw lines, Odyssea is sold in recyclable 30-liter plastic drums.

The distributor is Beechwood Sales and Service, which has statewide reach.

The name of sangria is a nod to the beginning of the drink abroad in Spain. And, Beres said, “It’s been a long road and a long journey to get here.”

And it sounds reminiscent of Lost Whale. “Everything we do ends up being nautical,” Beres said.

In addition to this, the owners’ philosophy behind operating Lost Whale as a green business is also reflected in Odyssea.

Beres said that in addition to the reduction in product waste and the portability of formats and single-serve cans compared to full-size glass bottles, he and Duval liked that the cans were easily recyclable. The labels will optionally have perforations for easy removal.

And, Beres said, “The way we make cocktails is the way we make sangria.” So the drink is balanced rather than a “sugar bomb,” he said, and as a result, the sangria is lower in calories than usual. Rosé sangria, he noted, contains less sugar than a glass of rosé.

The red sangria that hits stores this month is made from California-grown Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Each serving contains 155 calories and 12 grams of sugar and contains 10.1% alcohol by volume.

Beres found validation when he asked a Spanish winemaker in town a few years ago for a wine dinner to try his red sangria. The winemaker, he said, was enthusiastic.

“Everyone always does too sweet,” the winemaker told him – everyone except Beres.

RELATED:Lost Whale in Bay View is a great way to toast the last days of summer

Contact food critic Carol Deptolla at [email protected] or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.


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