You Know Shochu?
For Americans, and Japanese who live in the US, Maryland’s Takatsugu Amano distills the rice spirit that is more popular in Japan than tequila is in Mexico
Why don’t you know your Shochu? On a per capita consumption basis, shochu...
Often Forgotten Fermentables
Thinking about types of grain used to make whiskey — barley, corn, rye, wheat — is also a list of domesticated species that are the workhorses of agriculture and base spirit in North America and Europe. Similarly, fruits that...
Perfecting A Botanical Recipe By Design
While recipe preparation is an art, designing a recipe has a method that borders on the scientific
Every successful gin, aquavit, and absinthe must possess a variety of qualities but one that is essential is a unique botanical recipe; one...
Extracting Flavor
Flavors we delight in serve quite different functions in the plants we derive them from — not just appealing enticement but also defense and survival. Even within one plant, different structures hold different tastes. Texture and role of botanical...
Unearthling Taste
It is easy to be seduced by botanicals that flaunt aromatic leaves, flowers, and fruits above ground and to forget what lies below ground. Buried in the earth roots and rhizomes provide flavors that in some cases are underpin...
Copalli Rum
These days, environmental responsibility is no longer a choice. For many distilleries, it’s a necessity. Implementing sustainability practices requires careful thought and design around the environmental pitfalls present throughout the life cycle of distillation: farming and harvesting, the source...
Cinchona Bark
Introduction
Cinchona is a genus of evergreen tree in the Rubiaceae (coffee) family, native to the Andean forests of South America and naturalized north into parts of Mesoamerica. However, most of the global supply is cultivated in Southeast Asia.
History
In the...
South African Gin
Given the intricate blend of cultures and wealth of natural biomes scattered across 470,000 square miles (1.2 million km²) of land, it should come as no surprise that South Africa is a pioneer within the realm of booze. Many...
