Nuvo: The hip-hop drink of the moment

Once upon a time, it was Cristal. Then Moet. Patron. Then the electric blue Hpnotiq, then Belvedere and, as recently as last year, Ciroc. Today - and this could change by the time you're done reading this - the hip-hop drink of the moment is Nuvo.

A STAR IS BORN

As with all these (usually expensive) spirits, all that's needed to take them from the back of the store to top-selling status is a mention in a hit song or an appearance in a video.

Nuvo, packaged in what looks like a perfume bottle, is indeed enjoying its moment; if it were a person, it would rival Lindsay Lohan or the Octomom in popularity.

Nuvo has appeared in videos by Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Slim Thug, Jadakiss and Lil Kim, and the pink concoction no doubt reaped rewards from T-Pain's shoutout in Jamie Foxx's hit "Blame It," which is, fittingly, about questionable decisions we sometimes make when drinking. "I'ma take a shot of Nuvo," says T-Pain, on the No. 3 single on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

T-Pain told Billboard that he and Nuvo are just friends with a mutually beneficial relationship, not a contractual monetary agreement. "Shorty, didn't you know? It's going down, and we can go kick it like judo."

GET YOUR FILL

You may be able to find Nuvo, a blend of bubbly French vodka, sparkling wine, and peach and raspberry flavors, in a posh neighborhood's wine store or a swanky restaurant with a bar. But you'll definitely find it in neighborhoods where the adult beverage store is close to a spot selling individual cigars and lotto tickets; that's where Nuvo, which is about $30 a bottle, will likely have a large display highlighting its popularity among the aforementioned hip-hop heroes. Or you could just go to a hip-hop club - one like Ultra Lounge, for example.

On a given weekend night, the lounge and dance club on Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach houses the ideal consumer for Nuvo - offered by the company London Group, which gave birth to Hpnotiq and clearly knows the power of the "urban" dollar. Largely college-educated, mid- to high-income earners for whom style and staying current are non-negotiable, patrons of Ultra Lounge have been known to guzzle Nuvo in high doses. A few Fridays back, owner Curt Anderson said, the club went through all its seven bottles in a night.

IN DEMAND

"There have been people who ask how much we had and then said, 'Give me all of it,' so they could share with friends," Anderson said. "It's really popular with the ladies, but some guys secretly like it." In an effort to perhaps make the fruity drink more manly, some men mix it with cognac.

At Ultra Lounge, a glass of Nuvo comes served in a champagne flute with ice and topped with maraschino cherries for $10. Celebrity endorsements and gender politics aside, the drink is actually pretty tasty: It's bubbly and sweet with a husky aftertaste. It generally goes over well, even with first-timers.

"It tastes good," said LaShawn Smith, a 22-year-old Norfolk resident who tried Nuvo for the first time one Thursday. "It's sweet. Everyone was telling me that it tastes so good, so that's why I tried it." She went on to have another glass.

Another woman had heard about Nuvo through word of mouth. Quiana Ingram, a 23-year-old studying public relations at Norfolk State University, said she learned of Nuvo when someone brought it over to her place.

"I knew nothing about the whole Jamie Foxx thing," she said. She likes it, but she thinks that, despite Nuvo's endorsement by some of hip-hop's most macho men, this drink is best left for the fairer sex.

"If I saw a guy drinking it, I would kind of be like, 'Hmmmm.' "

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com