2013: A Drinker's Preview
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Now that the holidays are behind us, it's time to start thinking about 2013 and planning your year. We found a range of spirits, books and products launching in the next 12 months, plus new bars and great events you'll want to check out. Cheers!
REQUIRED READING:
We're eagerly awaiting the latest installment of cocktail expert and Liquor.com advisory board member Gary Regan's Annual Manual for Bartenders (May) and 101 Best New Cocktails (July). His Negroni: A Gaz Regan Notion will also be published in March. The New York Times columnist Rosie Schaap's boozy memoir Drinking with Men will be out later this month, as will Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller's The Deans of Drink celebrating legendary mixologists Harry Johnson and Harry Craddock.
NEW WATERING HOLES:
Famed Southern California mixologist Marcos Tello is in charge of the drinks at Feed Body & Soul, set to open in Los Angeles in mid-January. The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the menu is all about whole grains and natural ingredients — no refined sugars are allowed. Tello's tipples will use all organic spirits and seasonal ingredients fresh from local farmers' markets.
With more than 150 bottlings, the forthcoming tiki bar Three Dots and a Dash will showcase Chicago's largest selection of rum when it opens this winter. Mixologist Paul McGee, of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant empire, will also be serving an array of punches and other large-format drinks for groups.
GET INTO THE (NEW) SPIRIT:
The New York Distilling Company, co-founded by Liquor.com advisory board member Allen Katz, is releasing Mr. Katz's Rock & Rye. The liquor is a combination of rye whiskey, sour cherries from Upstate New York and a bit of orange peel.
The portfolio of The 86 Company, co-founded by Liquor.com advisory board members Simon Ford and Dushan Zaric, will have wider distribution this coming year. You'll soon be able to find Fords Gin, Caña Brava Rum (pictured above), Tequila Cabeza, and Aylesbury Duck Vodka in Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, D.C. (They're already available in California, Illinois, New York, and Texas.)
DRINK IN THE BIG APPLE:
Liquor.com editor-in-chief Noah Rothbaum is moderating a panel, A Spirited Tour of New York, during Mohonk Mountain House's Locavore Weekend on Friday, Feb. 1. It's followed by a tasting of spirits from local distillers, including Allen Katz.
GOURMET MIXERS:
Later this year, the Employees Only line of gourmet mixers, which was co-founded by Dushan Zaric and currently boasts grenadine and Bloody Mary mix, is going to expand to offer Sangrita, flavored agave syrups, honey syrup, and hopefully grapefruit and lime cordials.
Chicago mixologist Adam Seger is teaming up with master tea blender and gourmet products importer Rodrick Markus to launch Rare Botanical Bitters Co. Its Truffe Amère Truffle Bitters will debut in mid-January, with a mezcal-based citrus bitters and a set of small-batch, single-origin vanilla extracts to follow.
ON THE MOVE:
The Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans is temporarily closed and is in the process of moving to a new and larger location a few miles away in the Faubourg Lafayette neighborhood, which will include 1,000 square feet of exhibition space, a commercial kitchen, a restaurant, a rooftop garden, and an auditorium. The institution should reopen this spring, and in the meantime it continues to offer dinners, seminars, and other events around town.
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