Restoring Four Corners Gin
The first words out of our mouths were, “What happened?”
The recipe was fresh, real, and award-winning. The still was a drop-dead beauty of artisanal design that pumps out gin to great reviews. But something was off during that first...
A Tale of Two Ryes
There’s no doubt that different regions produce different grains, trees, and even distillation and maturation climates. Regional provenance not only helps craft producers differentiate a product in the marketplace, it also provides an opportunity to create community around distillers...
The Good Bitter
I recently acquired a bottle of clear eau de vie distilled from gentian, which was supplied via the haphazard channel of an extended family network on my Swiss side who knew the producer. The label was handwritten and the...
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...
