Bottleshop: Maleza
Maleza is a new line of Mexican amari that highlights some of the amazing traditional flavors in the Mexican culinary universe. The first two expressions — Cacahuate (peanut) and Cempasuchitl (marigold) — were just released in the...
Straight to the Source
According to George Bernard Shaw, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language." The same can be said about their takes on sourcing whiskey. Sourcing was a well-established part of the early history of American whiskey,...
European Rye Whiskey
Rye, like its cousins wheat and barley, emerged from the Levant millenia ago and slowly spread into Europe. Although it grows perfectly well in warmer climates, rye truly outshines other grains in central and northern Europe because it can...
In Full Bloom
Summer’s delicate flowers have a restricted season. Capturing this ephemerality isn’t just an exercise in bottling memories of warmer days; the abundance of edible flowers can also contribute distinctive and delicious flavors for spirits.
Lavender
Lavender shares aromatic properties with juniper...
How To Create Smoky Flavors, Sans Peat
Malting day at Highland Park Distillery, Orkney, means more than just the scent of toasting grain in the air. There’s a smoky edge from peat burning in the kiln, which is a local fuel here that you’ll taste in...
Low Proof, High Impact
Five years ago when longtime San Francisco bartender Eric Ochoa was opening his first bar, Elda, one of his revelations was vermouth from local winemaker and distiller Ian McCarthy's Artemis Spirits served on tap.
Ochoa and McCarthy had gotten to...
Takamaka Distillery
Distilling rum in the Seychelles, a lush, tropical archipelago nation located northeast of Madagascar and about 1,000 miles off the Kenyan coast, comes with a few perks.
Rum can be mixed with the same delectable produce enjoyed by the country’s...
California Agave: The Birth of a Movement
With oil derricks pumping near his roll-up door, Henry Tarmy wraps both arms around an overstuffed carton of bottles and hauls its chiming treasures through the length of a 94-year-old lemon-packing plant. Today, the space is a distillery, but...
Backyard Botanicals
Ryan Christiansen throws his tractor in reverse as clouds sail over the countryside of central Vermont. He aims the machine’s steel auger into the grass, drilling holes that his teammates fill with long posts. They’re creating a big wood-and-wire...
Ingredient Spotlight: Salt
Salt: good old sodium chloride. It brings flavor to food and has been the object of armed rebellions and wars on most of the Earth’s continents. But what has it got to do with spirits? Beyond its use as...
