Bella’s “Rumazin”, Pirates “At World’s End” and CBS Series “Pirate Master” Spark Summer Pirate-Mania

Milton, DE, May 24, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Memorial Day weekend marks the official start of the summer season. In celebration, Hollywood often debuts some of its most anticipated films over this weekend, and not to be outdone network television rolls out a few new primetime shows. With many eager fans awaiting the final installment of Pirates of the Caribbean “At World’s End,” CBS hopes to capture some of the pirate-mania with a new series “Pirate Master,” and Bella’s Cookies re-releases its pirate-themed/tagged creation “Rumazin.”

It was July 7th of last year, the opening weekend of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 “Dead Man’s Chest,” that Bella’s Cookies of Milton first released its Rumazin flavor (an all natural & organic rum raisin cookie in partnership with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.) “Rumazin is an incredible flavor for us,” said Mark Leishear (Director of Sales & Marketing for Bella’s Cookies) “there are a variety of reasons for its success, the taste, the tag, the story, the partnership with Dogfish… but also it’s the only commercially available rum raisin cookie.” For its creation, Bella’s approached Sam Calagione (President of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery) and worked with Mike Gerhart (Dogfish’s Distillery Manger) about using Dogfish Head’s Brown Honey Rum as the rum to marinate the raisins for the cookie. Dogfish’s Brown Honey Rum is a twice-distilled handcrafted rum settled on American oak with wildflower honey, and fit Bella’s ingredient bill perfectly. “Today, what’s claimed as all-natural and organic has gone too mainstream… everyone is trying to find a way to say it,” said Leishear “only by completely dissecting a products ingredient label, can you fully understand what’s inside. Distilled spirits carry no ingredient label, which could have proved a challenge when creating this cookie, but being able to work directly with Dogfish and knowing their ingredients, this wasn’t an issue… it’s a great partnership.” To help consumers better understand the common buzzwords used by food manufacturers today, Bella’s recently added a “terms you can use” section to their website (under their Ingredients section).

Bella’s rotates the availability of their products depending upon the seasonality of flavors. “Rum raisin is a great Summer & December cookie, that’s why we choose to offer it only during these times.” Each of Bella’s “Signature” varieties carries a creative story (found on Bella’s website) that corresponds to the cookie tag, and always pictures 6 year old Bella Leishear (for whom the company is named). Rumazin’ carries a story of a pirate with a sweet tooth, who enjoys the cookie creation of a peasant girl, thus the tag features Bella Leishear dressed in peasant attire & Dogfish Head Craft Brewery President Sam Calagione dressed similar to Capt. Jack Sparrow (known as Capt. Dogfish in the story). The Dogfish Head Restaurant & Brewpub in Rehoboth offered Rumazin’ at both their outside kiosk and on their dessert menu created into a deluxe ice cream sandwich served with their homemade Raison d’Etre ice cream. This year, Dogfish is again serving the Rumazin’ ice cream sandwich but broadly calling it the “Bella’s Dessert,” so that chef Marcel Lavallee can use other flavors of cookies from Bella’s and creating accompanying homemade ice cream flavors to serve a variety of new dessert sandwiches.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 “At World’s End” is expected to easily top the Memorial weekend box office charts, as moviegoers seek the final chapter in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. An interesting addition to “pirate-mania” this summer, is a new series premiering May 31st on CBS called “Pirate Master.” Created by Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader), “Pirate Master” is a 13-week series that combines the mind games of Survivor with the physical challenges of Burnett’s Eco-Challenge. 16 contestants will live aboard a 179 sq-ft rigger while pursuing clues and treasure chests that total $1 million dollars. Said Mark Burnett about the contestants, “everybody's a good athlete, but what they've learned is that to be a great pirate, you have to be really smart." Pirate Master premiers Thursday, May 31st at 8 pm on CBS.

Bella's Cookies is Delaware's All Natural & Organic Cookie Company specializing in the aforementioned as well as Vegan, Gluten-Free & Holiday Cookies. More information about Bella’s Cookies can be found online at www.BellasCookies.com or by calling 302-684-8152. More information about Dogfish Head Craft Brewery or their Distilled Spirits can be found online at www.Dogfish.com or by calling 302-226-2739.

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