Cocktails Distilled

When you think about Aspen, your mind probably goes to beautiful snow-covered ski runs and the jet-set taking their winter holidays on the slopes. And why not? Aspen has some of the best and most prestigious mountains for skiing and snowboarding in the world. But what if your mind instead went to Vodka? This is what Aspen Vodka is hoping your mind will do. With their use of pure ingredients and their deep appreciation for the mountain terroir, Aspen Vodka is looking to embody the essence of sustainability and luxury at one of the world's leading carbon-negative distilleries. To find out more, we talk to Jerod Day, Aspen Vodka’s Director of Distilling Operations, about purity, sustainability, and creating a luxury Vodka in an overcrowded market.

Like so many of us, Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has a fondness for Tequila, but also, like many of us, he understands the advantages of imbibing less. But finding a good non-alc Tequila is not as simple as it sounds. So Hamilton did the next logical thing - he created his own. In an endeavour to honour the tradition and craft of real Tequila, he partnered with Casa Lumbre, an innovative Mexican spirit company and its distiller and co-owner Ivan Saldaña. The two them crafted Almave, which is marketed as the first non-alcoholic blue agave-based spirit distilled in Jalisco Mexico. The liquid has been designed to provide an alcohol-free alternative without compromising traditional tequila's authentic taste and cultural essence. To find out more, we talk to the distiller and co-owner of Casa Lumbre about Blue Agave and retaining the taste of Blue Agave without fermentation.

While we’d be hard-pressed to believe that cocktail syrups are the Elixir Vitae or ‘elixir of immortality,’ spoken about in ancient Alchemy, for lovers of tropical drinks, Falernum is not far off. So it’s unsurprising that US Premium Cocktail Syrups brand, Liquid Alchemist has just launched their own Falernum, the most recent addition to their stable of flavours. To find out more, we talk to a modern version of an alchemist, former bartender and Liquid Alchemy founder Randy Tarlow about flavour, tropical cocktails and the importance of Syrups to the balance of a good drink.