Can no-proof spirits prove their worth?
If you follow happenings in the drinks world, you’re probably aware that a new market for non-alcoholic spirits has been steadily bubbling up over the past few years. Some of these are attempts to make alcohol-free renditions of existing spirit categories, others entirely unique in their flavor profile, but they all have one thing in common: they cost as much or more than actual liquor. I was curious about the economics of this, so for my latest piece in Inside Hook I reached out to a few producers to find out what goes into making non-alcoholic spirits so expensive.
It’s a moderately long article, but there were still a couple things I couldn’t fit into it. One was a technical explanation of how water and alcohol interact to make mixtures that are exceptionally good solvents for capturing complex flavors. There’s a brief explanation of this here, but if you’d like to dig a little deeper, I recommend this academic review.
The other was the question of how far prices for non-alcoholic spirits might eventually fall. As discussed in the article, there are substantial raw ingredient costs to making them, due in large part to the limitations of water as a solvent. All of the producers I spoke with begin with real botanicals. One possibility that was mentioned, however, would be skipping all that work and simply adding commercially purchased flavorings to a water base. This is much the way many spirits are made now (mass market flavored vodkas, for example), and a similar approach could be used for non-alcoholic alternatives. It’s an open question how good or complex these might taste, but one concrete prediction to make is that if the market really expands, it will eventually split into cheap and artisanal segments. We’ll see if that happens.
Tobacco talk
Last Thursday I sat down for a virtual talk with Simon Clark, director of the UK smokers’ rights group Forest. We covered a wide range of topics, from the pleasures of smoking to the case for tobacco harm reduction. Video of the event is free on YouTube if you’d like to watch.
Social distancing
To read: I finally had time to finish Neil Price’s excellent new history of the Vikings, Children of Ash and Elm. It’s evocative and detailed without ever stalling in minutiae. Very highly recommended. Tying into the topic of non-alcoholic spirits, I also read Drink?, an examination of the health impacts of drinking by David Nutt. Nutt’s an interesting guy. A former advisor to the British government, he was fired for his critique of how the drug war targets substances like LSD, ecstasy, and cannabis that on the whole do less harm than alcohol and tobacco. He’s also working on a synthetic substitute for alcohol that mimics its social lubricant effects without leading to hangovers and other harms. Yet he enjoys drinks himself and co-owns a wine bar. His new book is a quick read intended to encourage readers to think honestly about their alcohol consumption and make an informed decision about how much to drink. I may write more about it later, but I’ll say for now that if drinking is a regular part of your life, it’s worth picking up.
To drink, without alcohol: The bottles that took me from mild curiosity about non-alcoholic spirits to enthusiastic interest are the new Wilderton line made by Seth O’Malley here in Portland, Oregon. As I mentioned in my article, I’ve been enjoying their bright Lustre expression simply stirred with ice in a Martini-like cocktail. You can also find their Earthen expression in a non-alcoholic cocktail at Takibi, the highly anticipated new bar and restaurant from Jim Meehan of PDT that opens today in Portland. Meehan mixes it with buckwheat tea and ginger syrup, and the zero-proof drink feels right at home on their cocktail menu.
One advantage of non-alcoholic spirits is that, unlike the boozy kind, you can order them directly from producers online. If you’re intrigued and don’t live in Oregon, I recommend ordering a bottle or two of Wilderton. Relatedly, read this piece by Kara Newman on her quest for a non-alcoholic Martini. (I haven’t tried alcohol-free vermouth yet, but it’s worth noting that if you’re content with reducing rather than eliminating your alcohol consumption, you could use regular vermouth and a non-alcoholic gin to get most of the way there.)
To drink, with alcohol: If you were worried that this newsletter is going teetotal, fear not. I still plan on making and enjoying cocktails. Seth O’Malley of Wilderton has also been working on a new line of liqueurs and amari which he kindly gave me samples of. Called Accompani, they hit recognizably French and Italian notes while having their own identities. For a friend’s birthday party last week, I made up a gin sour with their Flora Green, a complex herbal liqueur with a potent hit of spearmint. (It was also my first time making cocktails for more than two people in more than a year, a skill that’s gotten almost as rusty as my soccer playing.) There’s obviously some inspiration from the Last Word in this cocktail, so if you can’t find Accompani spirits where you live, Chartreuse would likely make a good substitute. From the party, the DeLorean Fling:
1 1/2 oz Tanqueray Sevilla gin
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz Accompani Flora Green
1/2 oz Vergnano maraschino liqueur
egg white
Peychaud’s bitters, for garnish
Dry shake ingredients to aerate, shake again with ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Drop bitters on the surface and etch in a manner you find aesthetically pleasing.
A favor
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