When we moved to Seattle in 2015, it felt like “Washington Wine” was finally talked about with some respectability. Oregon, with their France-like climate and actually-French producers moving in, had dominated PNW wine and could compete with California in some ways. Washington was finally starting to do the same.

A big reason for that was “Woodinville Wine Country", a transparent cash grab by most of the largest producers in the state to build tasting rooms in a Seattle suburb completely unattached from their vineyards. This was extremely savvy because you could get something that felt like wine tourism from the rapidly-growing urban population without needing to convince them to drive 4+ hours over the mountains.

As part of that rapidly-growing urban population, we frequented the nearby tasting rooms and always had a good time. It’s a bit strange being so detached from vineyards, but they did a good job with the design of the area. Most of the wine was good, not much of it was great, but it reliably made for an enjoyable weekend day. Our favorite out there, by a pretty good margin, was Gard. We actually became members for a while and visited the actual vineyards each summer, which was a great time. But 1) they’re not really sold much out-of-state and 2) they don’t fit the cost guardrails I put in place for an everyday house wine option.

And in time, Woodinville got a bit tired. Real estate was expensive, so prices went up, and more and more tasting rooms were popping up in the city itself - especially the reviving SoDo and Georgetown neighborhoods to the south. There was increasingly good food down there, too, and we could take the train instead of driving. And on that side of town, our favorite tasting room was from the Charles Smith empire.

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The tasting room is right across from Boeing, which is (as you might expect) a functioning airport. There was also an incredible fried chicken place in the same parking lot. Vibes were always very good, as was the wine. It was also still a functioning winery, though obviously the grapes were trucked in, so that was fun too.

A lot of the wine from “the house of Smith” is effectively Washington-only, but a good deal of the flagship K Vintners label is available out-of-state. And one of my favorite bottles is widely available here in Arizona.

K Vintners Art Den Hoed Viognier

You may be confused about Viognier being the highlight here considering K Vintners describes itself thus:

K Vintners is about small lots of single-vineyard Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and field blends of those grapes, all of which are hand-picked, fermented with naturally occurring yeasts and basket pressed.

No whites at all in there! But, there are 2 Viognier expressions and a Riesling hiding in the label as well, and the Viognier is the standout. Both vineyards are very good, but the Art Den Hoed has higher production and, therefore, more distribution. This vineyard is also in Yakima valley, much closer to Seattle than Walla Walla, and therefore where I’ve spent much more time. Gard was all Yakima.

The label describes (via professional reviews) “snappy layers of apple, pear, and honeycomb” and “apricots, apple blossoms and guava on the nose” with “excellent freshness and a refreshing flower-petal astringency.” Sure. Why Not. I’m bad at wine tasting notes.

But what I did notice is that there’s not as much “perfume” on the nose as a lot of Viognier. Pretty much no matter where you look, the grape is at best described as “fragrant” or “floral",” and that can often be overwhelming. But here, the nose is more subdued. There’s a ton of fruit to find, and I resonate with apricot and guava as the notes. It’s very balanced, but crisp-to-the-point-of-tart which either works for you or doesn’t.

As a result, this will cut through whatever you’re eating and can be a good pairing with anything super flavorful. We cook a lot of Asian food, and this does well with anything slaty/spicy.

It’s a very good wine, from a place I’ve spent a good deal of time, and it works with what we tend to cook. But, I do worry that it’s still quite specific and may not be the kind of all-round crowd-pleaser that I’m looking for in the house wine I choose. It’s an option, but may not be the final pick…

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The MI Recipe App is Live (and Growing)!

It’s wrong because I committed a cardinal sin against my whole vibe here which I will roughly describe as:

So why did I take as given at the time that you had to make syrup for a good cocktail? Yes, most premade simple syrup sucks and homemade is way better. But that is not the only syrup available for purchase. And to make matters worse, I overlooked a key part of my own heritage in my pursuit of perfection. Today, I right this wrong.

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A Simpler Syrup

Mixing even parts sugar and water over low heat occasionally is, as cocktail prep goes, extremely simple - the name is accurate. BUT! You have to manage where to store it, you have to let it cool before you use it, and you have to manage a much smaller liquid inventory unit than just about anything else in your home bar.

The only other “prep” items in the home bar are citrus juices, and you can squeeze those fresh directly into the shaker. Simple syrup takes true preparation, and to be honest with you I’ve always been terrible at staying on top of it. What I’m much better at keeping inventory of in the fridge is a different syrup that I don’t have to make: maple syrup.

Time for (Sugar) Camp

I grew up in the middle of nowhere. There were corn fields and maple trees as far as the eye could see. My extended family owned a large acreage of maple trees, and there was a sugar camp there that we’d go to every year. Timing varies, but it’s probably right around now that we’d be heading there.

I’m not even sure if that camp exists anymore. It’s not on this list, but you can get a great idea of the vibes from those pictures. And those vibes were always excellent.

The general idea is that you get very watery liquid out of the maple trees when you tap them, and the camp exists as a big ol’ boiler to get water out and leave you with good, true syrup. There are grades and differences among them, but in general you want to get to an amber color and that’s what you want on your pancakes. If you think we weren’t making pancakes and pouring the fresh hot syrup directly on them in the woods, c’mon now. It was awesome.

Constant Supply

I don’t know how the details worked, but generally everything we made was sold into a collective and “provenance” to our specific camp wasn’t readily available with what you could go buy. Like how Dairy Farmers of America works, but (I think) way less powerful and shady.1

But, we’d always have our own family stash of what we know we made. For our “branch,” though, my grandpa hoarded the stuff. He had a tiny bottle that he’d refill from the larger formats and take it with him literally everywhere he went. The man went out to breakfast nearly every day of his life (or at least all of them that I was around for) and when his side of pancakes arrived he’d quickly eschew the warmed syrup they came with and grab his own bottle. It was hilarious, ornery, and one of my favorite consistent memories of the man. I should have brought it up when I spoke at his funeral. Mary still brings it up on a regular basis.

I do not, today, pay much attention to the provenance of the syrup I buy. Maybe I should. But the Kirkland Signature Grade A Amber has been a constant presence in my fridge since I’ve had a fridge and it does the trick to drizzle on any manner of oatmeals, waffles, and pancakes.

Mixing In

With the baby, I’ve been even worse about managing our simple syrup inventory. So when the Old Fashioned hankering hits, for the last several months I’ve been grabbing my maple syrup instead. And the drink is great. I suppose if you really squint when they’re side-by-side you could tell a difference, but overall the maple profile closely matches the turbinado simple and the structure of the drink still works.

There may be times when I need to change the ratio, and I’ll update those as I go on the post and in the recipe database. But right now, as best I can tell, adding in maple syrup instead of turbinado simple in the same amount will still yield a great cocktail. No prep required, a little more personality included.

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I studied abroad in Florence in the Spring of 2012. I knew basically no Italian, had a rudimentary understanding of Italian culture and geography, and somehow knew almost nothing about the Medici. But I did know that I liked wine, and I thought that several months in Italy would give me the kind of on-the-ground education that I thought would open up that world for me.

And it kind of did! I went to a lot of local tastings, I traveled out into the hills to taste at vineyards, and I even stayed at one with my family. But so, so much of it was based around Chianti. And that makes sense - it’s what everyone knows, it has the cool black rooster, and Sangiovese is the vast majority of the juice in the region. I learned that I liked, but did not love, typical Chianti expressions.

And so sometimes when we’re making something big and Italian - especially if there’s a lot of tomatoes and garlic - I’ll seek out a Chianti Classico to drink with it. And that’s fun and nostalgic and inoffensive. But I’d largely let Tuscan wine go by the wayside, which is sad since so much of what I know about wine I learned there.

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That was, until I dove into Jason Wilson’s excellent piece on other Tuscan wines last August:

EVERYDAY DRINKING

There's More To Tuscany Than You Think

We’re three decades into America’s love affair with all things Tuscan, which likely started with Frances Mayes’ 1996 bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun. (I won’t delve deeply into that, other than to say I’ve written previously about my love-hate relationship with the book…

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9 months ago · 33 likes · 2 comments · Jason Wilson

I was especially drawn to his description of Cortona, a place I had never been (and, honestly, a direction I never really traveled at all save to go to Rome) and a wine I was wholly unfamiliar with until he decided to write about it:

Over in Cortona (where Frances Mayes lived in her villa), producers are making some incredible wines from syrah. You heard me right: syrah. How the well-known Rhône variety ended up in Cortona is a bit of a mystery. Even the Consorzio Vini Cortona confesses that it’s unsure of the grape’s origins here: “We think the first plants arrived in the nineteenth century, during the French invasion, or, probably, they were brought by the Count of Montecarlo from Lucca in the early twentieth century, while he was coming back home from a journey in France.”

Regardless of syrah’s murky origins, it’s well established in Cortona by now, with syrah accounting for 80 percent of Cortona’s half-million annual bottles. Cortona may be making some of the most exciting syrah outside of the northern Rhône right now.

This will come later, but living in Washington I definitely learned that I liked Syrah. But Tuscan Syrah sounded crazy, and I knew I had to track it down and try it. I’m so glad I did.

Marchesi Antinori La Braccesca Achelo Cortona

You, like me, may recognize the Antinori name. If you’ve tasted in Tuscany at all, you’ve almost certainly tasted Antinori. Any wine brand with an “estates” section of the website is a big-time operation. But that also means that they have incredible distribution, and if they’re willing to make some lesser-known stuff they’re one of the few houses that can get it onto shelves. Which means that their Achelo is widely available, so that’s where I’ve landed given my criteria.

Jason described this as a good “value introduction” with a:

Pretty nose of purple flowers, berries, and herbs, and cool, fresh red fruit on the palate. A bit oaky, but very drinkable.

That makes it right in the middle of mine and Mary’s palates; she likes a good body in her reds while I sometimes prefer a red that, blindfolded, may be able to confuse a novice due to their lightness. A light-ish Syrah is pretty much the smack-dab middle of what we like, and we really liked this wine. It’s great to drink alone, and it pairs well with standard Italian fare.

This checks a lot of boxes for me: available, affordable, familiar-but-interesting, and a fun story overall. Mostly, it makes me want to go back to Tuscany - and if drinking a wine doesn’t make you want to visit the vineyard, what are we even doing here?

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I love wine. I liked wine before I liked any other alcoholic beverage, primarily because my parents always had an interest and spoke romantically of visiting Napa and Sonoma in the 80s before they got completely overrun and bonkers expensive.

I’ve tasted hundreds, potentially thousands of wines. I have liked most of them. I have traveled to remote parts of the world to taste interesting bottles. Traveling for wine is great, because it usually also means that the vistas are incredible and the food is good.

And even after all that - I don’t think I “get” wine. I know what I like and gravitate towards, and I enjoy refining that, but I don’t get it. I’m not a connoisseur. I don’t keep a good mental map of what vintages from what vineyards I liked from which producers. I don’t have a great vocabulary for tasting notes. I’m extremely hit-or-miss on blind tastings. I find most of that exhausting. And I want drinking to be fun, not tiresome.

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But still, I can’t claim to have a comprehensive, consistent home bar and not have, at least, a “house” red and white. So I’ve started a process to identify the right option that’s always going to be stocked in my cooler and will likely please whoever is looking to avoid a cocktail or Miller High Life1 for whatever reason. Here’s my set of criteria:

Widely Available (in Phoenix)

I love a good wine bar / bottle shop, and they’re amazing for exploration. But “staple” is what I’m looking for here, and that’s not really the niche those folks are designed to fill.

Under $30

Yes, everything is getting more expensive. But for something that’s constantly stocked, it’s got to cost less than most of the spirits in the bar.

From a Region I’ve Visited

I thought about mirroring what I did for Bourbon and limiting this to producer, but wine is too complicated for that and distribution too messy. So let’s just go with the general region - I need some personal connection here.

Good Without Food

So much good wine needs a fairly specific food pairing to be fully appreciated. And that’s fun! But it’s not a good fit for a house bottle that can fit any occasion.

Good With Food

Still, if the wine totally gets lost while you eat dinner, what’s the point?

(Relatively) Consistent Year-to-Year

Yes, a lot of what’s fun about wine is the terroir and the micro climates each year that change the juice significantly. But if something is so specific that the next vintage is going to have a different character entirely, that starts to defeat the point of the consistent experience I want from my house bottles. No wine will ever be the exact same next year, but I’m looking for something with a strong enough identity to deliver a similar experience regardless of the number on the bottle.

Next week (maybe), we start where my interest in wine started: Tuscany.

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1. I can’t stop reading about Gas Town. And reactions to Gas Town. And how that has inspired everyone to give “vibe coding” another real go

2. This probably shouldn’t be as true as it is at this point, but I’m usually “the data guy” on work projects. Which means I’m very persnickety about how data is structured. And I’ve recently had a project come across my desk that is basically breaking down mash bills in a single field in a database into components so that we can do some comparative analysis at “scale”

I’d love to tell you that this “app” is the result of asking an AI tool to build me an amazing front-end for recipes I’ve written, inspired by a genius insight I had at work doing something similar. But the truth is I finally just engaged in solving the fundamental problem I’d always faced in this database design and decided to stop being lazy since my work answer turned out to basically be “brute force”.

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The Problem

I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty here, but the basic idea I always struggled with is that there are 2 obvious ways to put a recipe in a database:

1. The ingredients and amounts are all in a single column (let’s call it Recipe)

2. The ingredients and their amounts are all in their own columns (let’s call them Ingredient 1, Amount 1, etc)

In Solution 1, this can read fine but it’s hard to search. I call out specific bottles, like Carpano Antica Formula, but if you don’t know that and search for “Sweet Vermouth” you’re SOL.

In Solution 2, you can have that same problem - but you could get around it if you combined both solutions and used generic terms in the “ingredient columns.” But then you have to know what column to filter on - what if Gin is “Ingredient 1” in a Martini but “Ingredient 2” in a Negroni?

My “brute force” answer at work was to build dozens of Boolean columns on each row so that every record had an indicator for every possible ingredient. That’s a discrete dataset, but even my Market Map isn’t exhaustive enough to do that for MI. And it requires a ton of effort to maintain.

A Better Solution

I described this problem, and really only this problem, to Gemini on Monday. And it quickly had an answer for me:

• Start with “Solution 1” above in Airtable

• Instead of “Solution 2” above, just add all of the “generic ingredients” as “tags” on the record

• Add another tag for “Base Spirit” since that’s also a good separate filter

• Build this all into a front end via Softr (which I had never heard of) that can search and filter across all 3 of those columns

To be fair, this loses some functionality from a “perfect” design. If for instance you want to search for recipes that use less than an ounce of something, this won’t do that for you. But I think that’s an edge case.

I mostly built this for myself if I’m being honest; I’m tired of searching through Notes on my phone, so having a defined structure will be very helpful for me. Right now, only the 10 House Cocktails are loaded in, but I’m going to be adding every recipe I’ve posted for the last 7+ years as we go. By the end of February, this should be fully comprehensive! I hope y’all like it.

User Guide for The MI Recipe Database

1 - Click the link right in the center of the masthead

2 - Search for a cocktail

3 - Filter for specific ingredient types

4 - Filter for a specific base spirit

5 - Click into a recipe for full details and a link back to MI

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I’ve talked recently about the value I’ve found having a consistently-stocked bar and handy, solid house recipes ready to whip up a cocktail once we have a chance to wind down at the end of the day (especially if folks come to visit). And so it’s great that I’ve spent so much time over the last ~2 years building that bar and defining those recipes.

But those recipes are light variations on classics. And the classics, while incredible, have a tendency to get a bit old at times. Sometimes, you want something a bit more unique. And I’ve made a lot of unique drinks over the ~8 years I’ve been writing Mixing Ingredients! Many of them are very good! But they’re generally more “creative” and aren’t designed to line up to the now-curated home bar I’ve built.

So, I entered the year seeking to create a unique cocktail that can leverage those standard ingredients and serve as a true “house cocktail” for this newsletter. And believe it or not, it only took a few days to find the one.

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The Process

Given my wife’s preferences, and this being a house cocktail, not a personal project, I had to start with the Negroni. In as much as we’ve had a house cocktail before, the Negroni was really the answer. And it’s pretty much been that way since we studied in Spain and Italy in the Spring of 2012, so it would be hard to deviate too much now.

So if I had to start with the Negroni, I knew the base was going to be Gin. And I knew that Sweet Vermouth would need to be involved as well - that sweet herbaceousness is irreplaceable. Another irreplaceable piece of the Negroni is the orange notes you get from the Campari - but that’s the part I wanted to mess with.

So, instead of Campari as the bitter-and-orange addition, I wanted to split them up. For bitter, I went with Cynar - there’s not nearly as much fruitiness there by comparison. And then, to punch up the orange even more in a different way, I added in Cointreau.

The “obvious” mix here would be to keep the gin and vermouth equal, and then split the bitter and liqueur to match what Campari was doing directly. And that yields a pretty good drink! But straying from the equal parts ethos here opens up a whole other range of profiles.

Increasing the gin ratio brings out some of the natural esters and brininess with much more clarity. Decreasing the vermouth and bitter presence gets some of that stringency out of the way. And playing with the liqueur-as-sugar with the rest of it lets you find that balance point. In this case, I was going for an objectively sweeter drink than the house Negroni, so that was key.

The Cocktail

So here we are - a 4-ingredient, no-prep cocktail that started as a simple Negroni riff and became something else that’s still extremely delicious. And, since this is almost always the case, these measures work much better when you’re making 2 drinks at a time.

• 1.25 oz Gin Mare

• 0.75 oz Cointreau

• 0.5 oz Carpano Antica Formula

• 0.5 oz Cynar

All you do is stir with ice and strain over ice. No bitters, no juice, and - controversially I think - no garnish. The result is still herbaceous and bitter and botanical like you get with a Negroni, but it’s much sweeter, much orange-y-er, and overall a bit easier to drink. Not necessarily a “crowd please” but not a drink you need to really go out and acquire the taste for either.

I don’t think I’ve really seen much like this out there on menus, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts popping up more. We may be at Peak Negroni, and this is a fantastic way to start coming down a bit.

Here’s the thing - I still have no idea what to call this. Any and all ideas are very welcome!

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1 Bottle of Sandeman’s Ruby

A Port good enough to keep around (I’m sure I’ll be adding it to other recipes) but not so good that you feel bad boiling it. The flavor holds up enough here, but it doesn’t get in the way as the spice and citrus are amped.

2 Cups of Sweetened and Spiced “Tea”

Add the following to 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, and strain:

• 2 tablespoons of sugar

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 3 star anise pods

• 10 cloves

• 6 thin slices of ginger root

1 “Bruleed” Valencia Orange

Cut a ton of holes in the fruit, stick it on a super-hot grill for 10 minutes, and then add it to the liquid.

The Result

A spiced wine that reminds you of a Christmas Market, but doesn’t put you there directly. There’s a bit more bite here (from the Port and the sour orange), but it’s still absolutely a comfort drink.

Mix up a batch and settle in by a fire. It’s almost 12 days to Christmas…

12 Days of A Christmas Carol

A serialized delivery of the Dickens classic in the 12 days leading up to Christmas each year (and some other stuff, too)

By Jordan Weyenberg

I am so wrong. I have developed nothing. That changes today!

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Port!

I thought I had written a lot about Port because I actually really like Port and because the Douro Valley is one of the most striking places I’ve ever been (wine country or not). I mean, just look at this place. How can you not like what comes out of this?

Unfortunately, most of the really interesting Port I’ve tasted (both in Portugal and in the States) is either 1) very old (and therefore expensive) or 2) very hard to get here. While those are delicious, and it’s worth paying attention to them, that’s not really what we do here.

So for Mixing Ingredients’ purposes, I’m pretty much limited to one of the big houses. This is pretty much where I landed with Madeira, and just like with Madeira I’m going with the entry-level Sandeman expression.

Ruby Port

You may notice as you go through that Sandeman link that Ruby Port is not the preferred classification. Tawny is much more popular, because people associate Port with age and Tawny (usually) has some level of age statement. That age is where you get really deep caramel notes and heavy mouthfeel.

Ruby is aged, but not in wood (so no age statement either) and it doesn’t have any of that. It’s a much purer Port to me, because the flavor you get is all from the grapes, brandy, and sugar. This isn’t a deep dive into how to make Port, but the general idea is that you take a wine, pump up the booze with brandy (only technically brandy in that it’s alcohol from grapes, it hasn’t been aged at all) and sweeten it with sugar. To me, you really taste that true result in Ruby, and then as Port ages really what you start tasting is the wood. That can be delicious! But it’s specific.

I specifically wanted Ruby in this case because the Smoking Bishop calls for adding spice and sugar, and I worried that starting with a Tawny Port could cause some conflict in creating a good drink.

Smoking Bishop

This all brings us back to Smoking Bishop, the only “cocktail” referenced in A Christmas Carol. The “official” recipe from 1845 basically boils down to:

1. Make a “tea” with holiday spices - cinnamon, cloves, allspice, etc

2. Cut a citrus fruit, stuff it with spices as well, and get it real charred

3. Boil a bottle of Port

4. Mix that all together and serve as a punch with sweetened citrus and nutmeg

The Spice Tea

I went with a cinnamon stick, a star anise pod, a handful of cloves, and some sliced ginger. Once it had been boiling for a while, I strained out the solids and set it aside.

The Citrus

As you may remember, I grow sour oranges in my backyard. I have had a devil of a time ever effectively incorporating them into anything that isn’t cocihnita pibil. But I wanted to give them a try here.

The fruit’s not quite ripe yet, but many are at least mostly orange by now. I skipped the adding of cloves and instead stabbed a few dozen holes in the fruit and threw it on my gas grill that gets insanely hot. After about 7 minutes, it started smelling sweet so I figured that was enough.

The Port

We’ve been over this already. I brought it to a boil in a pan and killed the heat, then brought it out to the grill with the flambeed orange.

The Finish

I just added all 3 steps together, made sure it all got hot and had some time to meld, and served. No rubbing sugar on a lemon or anything, no fresh grated nutmeg. Basic.

The Verdict

This was WAY better than I was expected when I was taking the easy way out of a recipe written before anyone in my family tree was in the States (maybe? sounds about right).

The mouthfeel starts getting very vintage-Port with the addition of the tea, so I think I made the right call using Ruby. But beyond that, it’s really just a spiced-up, slightly-puckered Port wine that’s nice and warm. If you’ve had Gluwein at a Christmas market, this is a pretty similar vibe.

The biggest difference is that this was a bit punchier from the citrus and much less sweet. I think it was actually a bit too dry, as the spice addition makes it finish almost tannic.

Improvements

Over the next week, I’m going to play around with pumping up the spice profile a bit and dialing in the sweetness level. I’ll be back next week with a final recipe so that everyone has time to make it to enjoy when we start reading the book on the 14th.

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12 Days of A Christmas Carol

A serialized delivery of the Dickens classic in the 12 days leading up to Christmas each year (and some other stuff, too)

By Jordan Weyenberg

While there aren’t any “cocktails” in the story because the term hadn’t really been used that way yet, there is, at the very end, an explicit reference to Smoking Bishop.

So this year, I’m going to mess around with that recipe a bit and make something to pair with the story when we get there. This should be fun!

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The Corpse Reviver #2 - Hangover Cure Turned Classic

The Corpse Reviver #2 is the more popular of the two corpse reviver drinks that were created in the late 19th century. The drinks are extremely different, with #1 being a riff on a Manhattan and #2 being its own beast entirely…

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7 years ago · Jordan Weyenberg

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The MI House Riff

I was drawn to the CR2 because I had a bunch of lemons, but I wasn’t sure how to address the fact that the home bar includes none of Cocchi Americano, Blanc Vermouth, or Absinthe.

The Cocchi / Blanc Vermouth / whatever modern replacement for Kina Lillet you want to use is really just adding some sweetness and herbaceousness. The Absinthe is adding a heady oil to the nose and a bit more herb and spice bite on the finish. I thought I could accomplish similar goals with a mix of Dry Vermouth and Italicus. And I think it works!

The Italicus is sweet and oily, and the Dry Vermouth has a strong herb and spice character. They both combine well with gin, lemon, and orange.

Is it the same as the classic? Definitely not, not even close. But does it hit the same notes? To me, it sure does. And our guests seemed to enjoy them as well.

I have no good name for this yet, but here’s the Mixing Ingredients House Riff on the Corpse Reviver #2:

• 1 oz Gin Mare

• 1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

• 1 oz Cointreau

• 0.5 oz Martini Extra Dry Vermouth

• 0.5 oz Italicus

Shake it all together with ice for longer than you think is necessary, strain, and serve! This could come in handy next Friday…

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But that does mean that there’s likely not to be a ton of new content around here through the rest of the year at least. I’m going to be doing research and making notes as best I can to hit the ground running in 2026, but I’m also realizing that there are a ton of drinks I really like, make a lot of, have already written about, and require no new ingredients at all.

Chief among these is the Brooklyn. I first wrote about this nearly 7 years ago, which feels absolutely crazy. I hadn’t made one in quite some time, but when friends delivered dinner on Sunday and had time to stay for a drink, for some reason it was the first thing that popped into my mind.

Having these standard House Recipes and a consistent home bar composition has truly been such a benefit in these first weeks of parenthood. Lots of folks come over to meet the baby, and my reputation precedes me, but not having to think all that hard or be creative on the spot while still delivering a top-quality cocktail is a huge reason I undertook this endeavor 2 years ago. And it’s really paying off.

Anyways, here’s The Brooklyn:

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Mixing Ingredients

Growth Strategies for Pernod Ricard in the US

Over the past ~6 weeks, I’ve spent (probably too much) time diving into the business of Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-largest producer of wine and spirits. I’ve looked into their general performance and portfolio, how they show up on local store shelves…

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10 months ago · 1 like · Jordan Weyenberg

Since then, Pernod Ricard has been in the industry news for some big strategic moves in the US market! But unfortunately, they don’t seem to have read my free self help guide…

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“Route to Market”

When I set out on this journey, I made it clear that my assessment was going to be product-focused because:

…channel management in booze is a whole thing, it’s very dumb, not at all interesting, and I just don’t want to constantly talk about distributors…

I stand by that. My friends at PR, apparently, disagree.

Per their press release on August 29th:

Following the appointment of Chief Commercial Officer Paul Basford, who joined the company in December 2024, the organization has reimagined its Route-To-Market (RTM) approach, sharpened its portfolio focus to maximize potential, and deepened its commitment to distributor partnerships.

That “sharpened its portfolio” line has some promise, but I’m not optimistic. RTM is not a term I’ve ever really used - maybe it’s European. I always use “Go to Market (GTM)” but I think it’s more or less the same thing. It can mean 1 of 2 things:

1. The way you position yourself and your value proposition - essentially, your brand (and how you’re making it real)

2. The literal, physical way you get your product through the chain and to consumers

The former is fun and interesting! The latter is not. I get the sense they primarily mean the latter, although I could be wrong. The thing they’re really, actually talking about is their commercial structure (which is a blend of both of those elements). Again from the release:

• RTD Division – Focused on the fast-growing Ready-to-Drink category, this team brings dedicated execution and agility to one of the industry's most dynamic segments. Based on their proven track records and extensive market experience, Reyes Beverage Group, Crescent Crown and their network partners have been selected as new distributors across seven key states. They join a roster of existing RTD distribution partners — including Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits and Republic National Distributing Company — with a shared mission to amplify and accelerate ambitious growth plans for a strong portfolio of ready-to-drink offerings from global icons like Malibu, Jameson, and most recently, The Absolut Ocean Spray^® RTD line. This went into effect on May 1^st.
  

• GEM Division – Tasked with incubating and scaling the next generation of high-potential brands, this division will ensure they receive the focus and care needed to thrive. A bespoke state-by-state distributor approach will provide tailored support - introducing new partners like Crescent Crown and Johnson Brothers/Maverick, while building existing ties with partners like Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company, Breakthru, Heidelberg, and Martignetti Companies. This goes into effect on September 1^st.

RTD

I was very bearish in PR’s RTD portfolio in my assessment, and frankly I stand by that. The space is so crowded and it doesn’t align with the heritage value of the brands they’re trying to use to enter it. This is transparently just a distribution play - they want to look and act more like an AB InBev so that they can get more distribution. And I’m sure it will work to some degree. I just don’t think this is the right place for them to play. It’s hard to win a game that everyone else is playing.

GEM

I want to know what this means! Is it just “gem” in caps? Is it an acronym? If so, for what? I have no good ideas! This is the exact opposite of what they’re doing in RTD - the state-by-state approach allows for smaller batches and some real test-and-learn abilities that could be good. But still, “incubating and scaling the next generation of high-potential brands”? You already have a stable of those! You DO NOT need more new brands, you need use cases and identity around the brands you have.

Will this lead to the next Italicus? Maybe! But how many of those home runs do you need to hit for this to be worth it? Why not put more weight behind the stuff that’s already in every liquor store, but getting dusty all the same?

Summary

I’m glad they’re trying something new at least! They clearly need to with 6% sales decline. I just don’t think it’s the right thing. I don’t see how this really leverages the inherent value they’re sitting on, and the RTD move especially feels risky; walking that back will be expensive given the scale they have to operate at.

All of this is spending a lot of time and money on finding the next big thing. I just happen to think they may already be sitting on it.

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So let’s get into the MI Summer 25 Roundup!

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What I’m Drinking

• Costco started carrying Carpano Antico liters recently, and it’s too good a deal to pass up. A few ounces on ice after work is perfect in the summer.

• Similarly, I bought a massive bottle of Kikusui for the party a few weeks ago and have been working through that - it’s not the best sake out there, but it’s widely available and it’s damn tasty. I need to do a deep-dive on sake sometime…

• We end up at Trevor’s a lot these days (it’s my liquor store of choice and the pizza rocks), but I don’t usually order cocktails. But their Oaxacan Sun, a kind of up marg with a bite, is an excellent choice that I’ll probably order frequently now.

• We did a staycation down the street at Camelback Inn for Labor Day Weekend, and the bar program they’ve got going over there is shockingly solid for a Marriott property. The best drink I had was a Manhattan variation that subbed the vermouth for Averna and added in some spice somehow at the Lincoln Steakhouse. I didn’t take a picture and it’s not on happy hour so I can’t find the details, but it’s a truly fantastic cocktail worth seeking out.

What I’m Making

Still very much enjoying my house White Negroni!

Good Reads From Drinks World

• Robert Simonson’s obituary for The Violet Hour is worth the read. It was the first real revival cocktail bar I went to, I loved living up the street from it, and every drink I had there rocked. It’ll be missed

  The Mix with Robert Simonson

  The Violet Hour: An Appeciation

  The Violet Hour, cocktail bar that opened in 2007 and, more than any other, helped to define the craft cocktail scene in Chicago, announced a few days ago that it had closed after 18 years in business and would not reopen…

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  10 months ago · 35 likes · 19 comments · Robert Simonson

• Peter Suderman singing the praising of Benedictine in the summer is music to my ears - it’s a year-round ingredients here at the MI home bar

  Cocktails With Suderman

  Bénédictine Is an Underrated Tiki Ingredient

  Links About Drinks…

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  10 months ago · 22 likes · 14 comments · Peter Suderman

• 2 great pieces recently in Jason Wilson’s Everyday drinking. Loved learning about Kazakh cider (I’d love to visit) and the Wine Bar Index is the kind of modern approach to understanding the wine world I can really get behind (we need one for PHX)

  EVERYDAY DRINKING

  A Kazakh Cider Journey To The Origin of Apples

  From steep mountains to radioactive lakes to vast grassy plains, landlocked Kazakhstan is a vast and fascinating county. As the world’s ninth largest nation, it is bigger than most of Europe. But it’s still largely unknown by outsiders—many of whom, unfortunately, still tend to think of Borat as their first cultural reference point for the country…

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  9 months ago · 28 likes · Charlotte Cook

EVERYDAY DRINKING

The Everyday Drinking Wine Bar Index

Stephen Bradley is a food and beverage reporter based in Brooklyn. He writes about wine, food, New York, and Gen Z (and how they all converge) on his newsletter, From Scratch…

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8 months ago · 49 likes · 10 comments · Stephen Bradley

• I love the guy that drank every cocktail. It’s a bit I thought about doing here in these pages but never committed to. I’m so glad someone did.

Non-Drinks Stuff I Enjoyed

• A bit outdated now (somehow), but Ryan Broderick at Garbage Day (and the excellent Panic World podcast) has his finger on the pulse right now and the vibes really are horrific…

• Jamelle Bouie’s deep dive on Charles Sumner, an extraordinary man who I knew very little about, is so worth the time. This guy needs a prestige media treatment.

• 2 summer reads I really enjoyed: Magpie Murders and Red Rising. Probably consuming the remainder of the Red Rising saga here shortly (and on paternity leave…)

Next week, an update on some recent developments at our old friends Pernod Ricard

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There are, of course, a bunch of other reasons that it wouldn’t really work out but that’s the one I cite most often. Luckily, my wife’s baby shower this past weekend was from 1 to 4 and that’s right in my strike zone

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The Prep

We host a decent number of parties, so I’m used to some level of bulk prep. But usually that just means juicing a bunch of limes and making a big batch of simple syrup. Both are pretty standard and I’ve gotten pretty good at them.

This time around, adding in the fish sauce to the lime juice was easy enough once I did the math properly (parts is confusing to me - I kept wanting to add 20% of the lime juice volume as fish sauce but that does not, in fact, give you a 5-to-1 ratio in the solution).

But the syrup had an arduous extra step this time: I needed to blend a pretty decent quantity with a decent amount of other stuff. And after it was blended, I needed to really strain it so that I had both liquids readily available at the right consistency in my squeeze bottles on the bar. This was a bit more work than I expected, but it turned out awesome - the syrup was even better in the larger batch!

The Bar

I was a bit cramped, but had direct access to the sink which was clutch for being able to mix up different drinks and not contaminate profiles. Aside from my syrup and lime juice, I stocked:

• Gin

• Seedlip Grove

• Sake (In a fun, huge bottle)

• Multiple Soju Flavors

• Mango Juice

• Aperol

• Prosecco

The Laab Sided recreation was the specialty drink, and most attendees tried at least a half-pour version. I went with a simple 2-1-1 of spirit (or NA spirit), fish sauce lime juice and cucumber onion syrup and that really felt like the right ratio.

But equally popular were some ad hoc spritz creations that I would make on the fly that were very fun and surprisingly delicious. Those tended to be rougly:

• 1 oz of gin or sake

• 1 oz of aperol

• 1 oz of soju

• A dash of mango juice

• 2 oz bubbles

These were definitely on the sweet and fruity side, but they were well-balanced and easy to drink. They provided a good balance against the savory and intense specialty cocktail. And I didn’t have to shake those which saved my arms a bit - I did a lot of shaking in the first hour of the party…

The Reviews

I didn’t want to harsh the vibe by going around and begging for testimonials, but I did try to get some feedback as folks came back for refills. And, overwhelmingly, they liked the drink! Now, it’s not everyone’s style. It’s truly not really mine either. But no one was so turned off that they couldn’t take a few sips and appreciate it. And I’ll call that a win for sure.

I think the best summary I got was “savory in a similar way that the Bloody Mary is” even though the details of the profile are very different. And if what I was making was basically a Thai Bloody Mary, that works for me.

I’m not sure it’ll be in the regular rotation, but I’m quite certain that Mary will want a “real” one not too long after we get home from the hospital. And I’m glad to know that I can make one that at least gets close to the OG (which I’m sure we’ll be visiting in short order as well).

I had a blast doing this this past weekend! Truly no idea what I’ll write about next or when, but I’m sure I’ll be back in your inboxes with some thoughts before I likely sign off for a while in favor of learning how to be a parent…

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As promised, I tested a ~24 hour infusion of onion-cucumber syrup against a blend of the same ingredients at the same ratio to see which would provide the right mix of sweet and savory.

And the results frankly surprised me, so let’s get into it.

The Infusion

I half-joked about making onion syrup, but this is onion syrup. Kind of like if you caramelized a ton of shallots long enough to be able to strain out the “natural” syrup, but also if that syrup retained the spicy bite that the shallots started with. And also it’s much easier to make than that hypothetical thing that can’t really exist. I love infusions for their ease of creation…

After a few tastes, you start to get to the cucumber. It’s at the back, kind of hiding, but it’s definitely there. Hard to tell if it’s not coming through stronger because of the sugar or because of the onion.

It’s tasty, it’s fairly balanced, and it’s super interesting. It would be a fantastic fine dining-style ingredient to finish off something more delicate. But can it do the same in a cocktail?

The Blend

This is more intense to make, for sure. Which is part of the reason I didn’t want to do it. But the result is so different that I’m glad I did.

In direct opposition to the infusion, the cucumber is loud and proud at the front here. It’s not until the finish that the onion bite comes through, but even then it’s not as strong this time.

That leads to the perception of quite a lot of depth; a sweet, vegetive palate that gives way to a bitey finish. And the overall experience is quite a bit less sweet on the whole.

I don’t see this one in fine dining, though I suppose with less sugar there could be some kind of serving sauce use case. Does that make it a better cocktail fit?

Winner: The Blend!

Yes, I think it does. There’s more going on here, the cucumber profile is important for the drink as a whole, and I think it’s going to play more nicely with the other flavors.

So tomorrow, I’ll spend my evening juicing limes and blending syrup to prep Saturday’s bar. Then I’m going to try to get some fun photos and actual reviews there to publish early next week!

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I’m also intrigued by the recipe’s call for a blender - I don’t blend very often at all (except for a smoothie every-other morning), and I’m not sure what that will do to the drink’s texture. I want to find out, though!

But, if I’m breaking out the blender, I need to know it’s worth it. So today, I’m going to test the easier (but longer prep) route to establish a comparison baseline,

Savory Infusion

I’m taking my standard simple syrup and going to infuse 2 ounces with:

• 1/4 of an English Hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced

• 1 Green Onion, thinly sliced (only the green tops)

• 1 Asian Shallot, thinly sliced

I’m going to let this infuse for ~24 hours than then test it against a fine blend of the same ingredients / ratios to see which is the right option for this cocktail! More to come on that on Wednesday.

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But, given that process, it’s no surprise that the predominant descriptor tends to be “funk.” The same term is used in wine and beer and often refers to an amount of wild yeast fermentation, but in savory foods it tends to mean “extremely umami.” And because we’re dealing in extremes here, it’s pretty easy to over do it.

I have most often encountered this when eating a bun bowl - the first dash of nuoc cham is amazing, the second is equally great, and then the third puts it just over the edge and now I’m fighting the umami bomb back to normal savory territory.

But there at least you have some control - the delicious combination of fish sauce and lime juice sits in a bowl on the side, and you can dial in your preferred ratios accordingly. When you’re essentially building that into a cocktail, there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide if it’s wrong.

Obviously, the right ratio here is different than a dipping sauce. The dominant flavor needs to still be lime juice, but it needs that strong umami hit to balance the sour. Obviously there’s more going on with the savory syrup and cucumber, but I think the drink hangs on the sour and umami combo.

And I think the right ratio there is 5 parts lime juice to 1 part fish sauce. It’s obviously super intense, but it’s balanced. With less sauce, you’re searching for it; it’s not obvious what’s going on and just feels like something is still missing. With more, it quickly approximates a dipping sauce a bit too closely. But at that 5-to-1, I think you’re getting the right amount of funk.

This may change a bit as I lock in the other components, but this is going to be the base I build on.

Now to figure out how many green onions, shallots, and cucumbers to blend into a simple syrup…

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My wife’s baby shower is next weekend, and I’ve been tasked with stocking the bar. I’m not 100% sure what the full menu is going to be, but I know the focal point.

The Laab Sided

One of our favorite restaurants in Phoenix is Glai Baan, a casual super-authentic Thai place with an unbelievable bar program. Mary’s favorite cocktail in the city has always been their Laab Sided, primarily because it included fish sauce and she loves funky, salty drinks. I’ve never tried to really even figure out what else is in it, let alone how to make it. But now, it’s my wife’s one request for what I can do for this shower.

Thankfully, it’s been on the menu for many years and more than 6 years ago a local writer got the details from the bar and shared them for the world. Huge thanks to PhoenixMag!

As you can see there, the drink really hinges on a few things:

• A syrup blended with green onions and shallots

• Cucumber vodka

• Fish sauce

Because I need to make a batch that can be either alcoholic or not, I can’t rely on the cucumber coming from the vodka and I can’t be making these fresh with multiple components.

So, I’m going to spend the next ~10 days working on what my take on this is going to be. I’ll be publishing short updates along the way as I figure things out, and then I’ll do a full update on this drink and the full bar after the party.

This should be fun.

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But as I mentioned last week, I want Italicus in the bar and I want it to drive a new house cocktail in a White Negroni. So I’ve spent the last week tweaking the recipe, and I think I got there in the end. Kinda fun where all of the ingredients are set up front so the only thing to mess with is the ratio.

All Equal Parts

As I said last week, this is a good drink. The nose is super crispy, the finish is sweet but still very botanical, and the orange is prominent. If you drink it, and you’re familiar with negronis, you’ll immediately think “white negroni.” But, the Italicus (really the bergamot) might be a bit overpowering here - there’s so much orange that the lighter botanical notes get a bit lost. Ever-so-slightly off balance.

Adjustment 1 - 2 Parts Gin, 1 Part Others

Since I wasn’t getting enough botanicals when everything was equal, I just doubled the botanicals. And it pretty much worked! The nose is pretty much the same, but you can pick up the juniper this time. It’s very balanced overall, but here I wonder if it’s not sweet enough - after all, a negroni is a study in contrasts and I don’t know if there’s quite enough happening in this one.

Adjustment 2 - 5 Parts Gin, 4 Parts Italicus, 3 Parts Vermouth

This is amping up the gin botanicals a bit and backing off of the crispy vermouth to try to get a bit more of an edge to the drink. It’s successful in that, with a larger up-front profile from the juniper than you get with all equal parts, but it’s only very slightly different from the “standard” version to my palate.

Adjustment 3 - 7 Parts Gin, 7 Parts Italicus, 1 Part Vermouth

The idea here is more using the vermouth as a “dash” to keep chasing an “edge” to the drink. And I think it finally hits that mark - it’s very botanical and very sweet, but still sharp enough to stay balanced. It doesn’t burn, and it’s not cloying, but it’s a big drink that packs a punch.

Adjustment 4 - 50/50 Gin and Italicus (which is cheating, to be clear)

I tried this just for fun because I wondered if Martini Extra Dry just wasn’t working with Italicus. And this is actually a solid drink. It’s not a negroni, it’s weirdly too intense for that in that the finish actually burns. But it’s also quite sweet! It would be a fantastic upscale shooter - a bit like “what if Fireball was actually interesting?” Might have to go in the real bar I will some day open with the fortune I have not yet made.

The Winner - Adjustment 3

The vermouth holds this one together just enough and keeps the drink on the rails, but since a 50/50 without the vermouth almost works on its own I think it makes sense that minimizing it is key to getting a balanced-but-edgy cocktail here.

24.2% is quite a bit above the House Negroni 21%, so I don’t know if I achieved my initial goal of developing a softer drink than the stereotypical White Negroni bill. But, I do think the heavy citrus profile still lends itself to lighter drinking, and it holds up great as it dilutes so you can take your time with it. I love this cocktail.

Next Up: No Idea! But I’ll come up with something and be back in your inboxes next week

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That all changed when I started writing about Pernod Ricard and saw that Italicus is one of their splashiest recent acquisitions. So I bought some and started drinking highballs. And then as I dove deeper into the business, I became pretty convinced that this little brand could actually be a major needle-mover for them.

But I still didn’t know much about it. Let’s fix that.

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History

There are really only 2 things you can get from the front of the Italicus bottle: whatever “rosolio” is and bergamot. Bergamot is a wonderful little citrus native to the Mediterranean that you probably only really know as the citrus notes in Earl Grey tea, so you expect something vaguely orange-y. But what’s a rosolio?

Rosolio, Generally

The #1 thing to take away here is that “rose” has absolutely no place here (nor any other flower), that’s just a Latin vocabular similarity that isn’t real. Rosolio is an ancient category of Italian liqueurs that is effectively the progenitor god of the now-popular vermouths and amari.

It was easy to make, requiring just alcohol, sugar, water, and whatever flavoring agents you had on hand. It was, as vermouth and amaro is now, a standard aperitivo offering that was often a house recipe up until the mid-19th century. This was especially true in southern Italy and Sicily. The most common flavoring agents were - appropriate to the areas where it was popular - citrus fruits, herbs, and nuts.

But, as Italy unified and developed, the largely homemade category gave way to larger, more industrial beverages. Rosolio persisted in obscurity for over a century as a result.

Italicus, Specifically

In a bit of poetic circularity, the product that has brought rosolio back from the dead was first created by a man who had spent a long time selling vermouth.

Italicus is the brainchild of Giuseppe Gallo who, based on my previous statement and the name, you may associate with Gallo vermouth. BUT YOU’D BE WRONG. He’s a bartender who spent quite a while as a brand ambassador for Martini. He claims the recipe is based on one his own family used for their house blend, and he created Italicus in 2016 with the explicit hook of reviving the rosolio category. It won Best New Ingredient from Tales of the Cocktail the following year, and generally seems to have grown quickly from there.

Some time before 2020 (I cannot find when for some reason), the brand received a large investment from DeKuyper, a large Dutch producer, and that helped fuel the brand. Growth appears to have primarily been in industry, focused on bar partnerships and promoting cocktail lists. and it appears to have had a ton of success with this in England specifically given some of the bar lists promoted from the time. This strategy also makes sense because it’s famously difficult for an independent brand to break into retailers since they already struggle to find distributors that they can afford.

Acquisition by Pernod Ricard

In March 2020, basically the day the world shut down, Pernod Ricard bought DeKuyper’s stake in Italicus taking a full 50% position in the brand. In effect, this solves the distribution problem because now the #2 producer is the distributor directly. Gallo at the time was extremely ambitious:

Since its launch the brand has experienced success with both the on-trade and consumers, and it is now time to consolidate with this heavyweight strategic partner in order to accelerate our global distribution. We have an ambitious plan to build Italicus into one of the world's most successful aperitivo brands.

In Italian publications, the goal was even more direct: to conquer the aperitivo category in the US. Hard to tell whether or not that’s on-track, but I do think that’s the right idea and it’s a critical component of the parent company success in this market.

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That’s more than 700 words on the bottle itself, so what about what’s actually in it?

It’s a 20% ABV bitter liqueur with strong orange-y notes. If that sounds like Aperol, you’re really not too far off (though they couldn’t look more different). The orange is the dominant note, with some higher-ester citrus (technically citron, but reads like lemon), and a bitter depth derived from chamomile, gentian, lavender, and (yes) rose petals.

It’s very sweet, but not quite cloying - you wouldn’t want a ton of it alone, but it’s maybe limoncello adjacent so it works. But it’s definitely better mixed, and it mixes really well.

With Soda as a Highball

Honestly, I prefer this to a truer spritz with some sparkling wine. Just good bubbly water disperses the sweetness, highlights those higher-ester notes, plays down the bitterness just a touch, and stays deliciously orange-centered.

1 part Italicus, 2 parts soda, and a lot of ice and you have an excellent afternoon sipper.

White Negroni Riffs

The “standard” white negroni, if there is one, is probably Gin, Lillet (also a PR brand) and Suze. So it’s very focused on punching up the botanicals in the gin and adding some depth. To me, that drinks even heavier than a “true” negroni despite the less intense color suggesting a calmer drink.

But I think swapping in Italicus as the primary modifier might solve that issue.

I’ve experimented with an all-equal-parts cocktail of Gin Mare, Italicus, and Martini Extra Dry and it’s a very good drink. The nose is super crispy, the finish is sweet but still very botanical, and the orange is prominent. If you drink it, and you’re familiar with negronis, you’ll immediately think “white negroni.” But I don’t think it’s perfect - yet.

Next Week: A deeper dive into a House White Negroni so that we can officially add Italicus to the home bar!

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