Drink like the fishes with upcoming 'Godfather'-inspired vodka

Want to make me a cocktail I can't refuse? Then grab a bottle of The Godfather Italian Organic Vodka, inspired by the revered Francis Ford Coppola mobster movie, and start mixing. That's how the ads might read once this novelty product launches, but honestly, I'm not feeling it. I'm a wino at heart, which could put me in the target market for a Dave Koz sauvignon blanc or Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me cabernet. And the seminal mafia family often reached for a nice Chianti to wash down all that pasta and gravy. But vodka? Where's the connection? And did the current flood of star-backed booze really need another entry? (Everybody from Dan Aykroyd to Donald Trump to Justin Timberlake to sometime wiseguy Michael Imperioli and countless others have put their stamp on various kinds of hooch.) Paramount Pictures and Iconic Brands either didn't hear about the glut or didn't care. There will be on- and off-premise promotions around the April 2010 debut. Unless some menacing-looking Corleones are going to be hawking those drinks, I see this product sinking like a stoolie in cement shoes.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley