Sherry’s Indie Moment

A growing number of independent bottlers is aiming to showcase a more nuanced, variable side to fino, manzanilla and more.

There’s no single origin point for the modern sherry renaissance, but the aged cask of amontillado that Eduardo Ojeda and Jesús Barquín of Equipo Navazos bottled in December 2005 would be a solid place to start.

Like so many examples of its kind, the wine had been forgotten for decades in a dusty bodega, where it would have continued to slumber if not for the private club of investors, organized by Ojeda and Barquín, who pooled together the funds to rescue it from oblivion. Titled “La Bota de Amontillado” (after the Edgar Allen Poe story) and shared exclusively among club members, that initial release gave birth to a series of chronologically numbered editions. Hype quickly followed, and in April 2007 the project released its first commercial effort: La Bota de Palo Cortado No. 6.

It may come as a surprise that one of the driving forces behind the current sherry revival basically started off as a Kickstarter campaign. But according to Peter Liem, sherry expert and co-author (along with Barquín) of Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla: A Guide to the Traditional Wines of Andalucía, few were interested in purchasing, let alone marketing, these wines. “The only reason that all these old wines still existed is that nobody wanted them,” he explains, citing the economic collapse and fall from relevance that decimated the sherry industry toward the end of the 20th century.

More than 100 “Botas” later (as of 2022, the library consists of 107), the project has redefined sherry for many U.S. drinkers. As Liem puts it, “They opened our eyes to the fact that something completely different existed in this region, which nobody was talking about.” That alone would have been enough to secure Equipo Navazos’ lasting place in the zeitgeist. But in recent years, their success has paved the way for a new set of independent bottlers who are following a similar playbook, sourcing minuscule quantities of wine from bodegas across the Sherry Triangle.

Some are Jerez natives, such as Antonio Barbadillo Mateos of the Sacristía AB project, and Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez, the duo behind the resurrected M. Antonio de la Riva label. Others, including Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits and Buelan Compañía de Sacas’ Nick Africano, operate out of the United States. They are united not only in their rejection of sherry as a standardized, industrial wine, but also in their desire to carve out a more intimate model for the region.

…

For Nicolas Palazzi, owner of rare spirits distributor PM Spirits, the collection of sherries he released late last year signaled a case study in sherry’s diversity. Since 2012, Palazzi has partnered with Equipo Navazos to bottle a series of highly-coveted single-cask Spanish brandy, whisky and rum under their Navazos Palazzi label. Even as someone who makes his living importing small-batch spirits, Palazzi was struck by the enormous variation between barrels in a single sherry solera system. “When you’re sampling different casks of spirits, a lot of the time you will find some small differences, but if it’s the same run, put in the same type of cask and aged in the same place for the same amount of time, the stuff you get is going to be pretty similar,” he explains. “But with sherry, it’s mind-bending. You can taste four different casks of the same exact wine and they’re all vastly different.”

“I saw a gap in the market for serious wines from this region, since everyone thought of manzanilla as something cheap, relatively young and accessible.”

In a typical bottling process, the solera would absorb and assimilate the individual profiles of these casks, rounding out their wayward edges into a smooth and seamless whole. At the scale that Palazzi describes, however, the goal is to capture the unique personality of a single barrel, or the distinctions that exist from one barrel to the next. “It sounds like a cliché, but these casks are living things,” Palazzi says.

New bottlers like Palazzi have arrived in Jerez at an inflection point. For all the recent talk of a renaissance, sherry remains a niche category. And while the cult model adopted by Equipo Navazos and its descendants has ushered in a new era of critical appreciation for the region’s finest wines, that’s not enough to sustain an entire wine industry. The question on everyone’s minds, then, is: What’s next?

INDIE SHERRIES TO TRY

PM Spirits Amontillado

“Selected with the expert help of Eduardo Ojeda,” as its label proudly declares, the PM Spirits amontillado drinks noticeably brighter and fresher than many examples of the genre, happily embracing its inner fino with a pronounced flor character. Although the packaging doesn’t mention where it was sourced, Palazzi notes that the wine came from several casks belonging to a prominent bodega with roots in the late 19th century. Light amber in the glass, it’s energetic and lively, especially for the style—as close to easy-drinking as amontillado gets.

Commanders and Cocktails!

Welcome to COMMANDERS AND COCKTAILS!

Some folks know that before I was able to work full time in comics, I worked in a variety of jobs in the wine and spirits field. And the final one of those was for my good friend Nicolas Palazzi’s PM Spirits. Just COMMANDER IN CRISIS, PM works its ass off to be unique, to create trends rather than follow them, and offer craftsmanship and creativity in a field that has, at times, been known to stagnate. I wouldn’t be where I am, writing this, without the support of friends and employers like Nicolas.

So, I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and feature him and his crew below, offering some in-universe cocktail recipes to honor the heroes of the Crisis Command. In the paraphrased words of a greater power, when I left PM I was but the learner. Now, I am the master (well, or closer to it)! And either way, I’m happy to return the support with a feature here, and invite creatives from other fields into the world of the Crisis Command.

STEVE ORLANDO

Commanders in Crisis, Vol. 2

PRIZEFIGHTER

2oz Navazos Palazzi Malt or Corn Whisky
0.75oz La Quintinye Rouge Vermouth
0.5oz cherry liqueur
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Barspoon Absinthe

Instructions:

Build in rocks glass over ice and stir briefly. Garnish with burnt blood orange peel.

SEER

2.5oz Neta Espadin Destilado de Agave
0.5oz La Quintinye Dry
Barspoon of olive brine
Pinch of salt

Instructions:

Build in mixing glass over ice and stir until cold. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with 3 green olives on a pick.

SAWBONES

2oz Père Labat Rhum Blanc 59%abv
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Sparkling mineral water

Instructions:

Pour Rhum into highball glass over ice. Stir briefly to chill. Top with sparkling water and bitters. Stir once again to combine. Serve without garnish. or Neat pour of Jacky Navarre Cravache d’Or Cognac

ORIGINATOR

1oz Nouaison Gin by G’Vine
0.75oz lemon juice
0.5oz Laurent Cazottes Folle Noire
0.5oz simple syrup
2oz sparkling wine

Instructions:

Build all ingredients except sparkling wine in a shaker and shake lightly to combine. Add sparkling wine to the shaker and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a spring of fresh lavender.

FRONTIER

2oz Père Labat Rhum Blanc 40% or 59% abv - Choose your strength
0.5oz Laurent Cazottes 72 Tomatoes

Instructions:

Build in mixing glass over ice and stir until cold. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

COCKTAIL CREDITS: David Yi-Hsian Dong and Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits.

Give Your Cocktail a Little Je Ne Sais Quoi

An unequivocal translator of time and place, eaux de vie—or unaged fruit brandies—have added a missing I don’t know what to the modern drink.

For the average person, nosing a glass of, say, whiskey, might conjure tasting notes along the lines of “oaky,” “fruity,” or at the most basic, “This is whiskey.” But hand them a glass of eau de vie, or unaged fruit brandy, and even the most novice drinker might say, “Ooh, this smells just like raspberry.” Indeed, the beauty of eau de vie is its clarity of flavor. And thanks to a growing number of top-rate producers who understand the spirit’s potential, and an equally enthusiastic cohort of bartenders who appreciate its strong sense of place, eau de vie has finally found a welcome home on the modern backbar. 

Eau de vie—French for “water of life”—is by no means novel. Born and bred in Europe, particularly France, Southern Germany, Austria and Northern Italy, this category of delicate fruit-driven spirit has existed for centuries. Historically, it was considered a peasant spirit, made from the scraps of fruits. Now, eau de vie’s focused flavor has made it a standout option for bartenders seeking unequivocally terroir-driven ingredients to add complexity to any number of cocktails. 

Even before craft whiskey brands began exploring the potential for grain to embody flavor characteristics from a specific plot of land or soil type, eau de vie had already put its stake in the ground as a spirit that is first and foremost an agricultural product. “When enthusiasts go to a whisky distillery, there is a lot of emphasis put on fermentation, the still distillation process, the temperature, the number of plates the still has and so on,” explains Nicolas Palazzi, founder of the Brooklyn-based importing company PM Spirits, which brings stateside such renowned eau de vie producers as Rochelt and Cazottes, and starting in early 2022, Capreolus Distillery. “Eau de vie producers don’t care as much about distillation as other categories do; they care about the field, the vines, the orchard, the fruits,” Palazzi adds. “There is a relation to the land that is not necessarily present with producers who either distill grains or fruits for the purpose of aging the distillate.”

In this way, eau de vie producers share much in common with contemporary winemakers. No matter the raw material—be it apple (pomme), quince (coing), raspberry (framboise) or plum (mirabelle)—distillers are looking for fruits of the highest quality, which are grown in ideal conditions and harvested at the peak of their flavor. Like wine, variations in flavor can be tasted in each vintage, or even between parcels of land within the same vintage. 

“At one time, I would have said that terroir in spirits is impossible because the distillation process would strip anything from the initial source,” says Ben Robinson, sommelier at Moor Hall, a restaurant with two Michelin stars in Lancashire, England. “However, over the last few years, I would have to say that there could be a sense of terroir in eaux de vie.” 

Your Sustainable Drinking Starter Pack

Solving the sustainability problem that cocktails pose—or any consumption, for that matter—is no easy feat. But easing into it by introducing low-waste practices and thoughtful sourcing can go a long way. And, thanks to a growing crop of eco-minded spirit producers and drink-makers, there’s never been a better time to drink sustainably.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, there are plenty of ways to lessen the footprint of your own home bar. It can start with a zero-waste approach to using citrus, in which flavor can be extracted from the peels, hulls and pith that might otherwise be discarded, or by seeking out spirits to stock your bar that promote biodiversity, source local crops and support farming communities.

Bottles to Try

Neta: The agave spirits bottler and exporter works with small, family-owned farms to bring their products to market at a profitable price point. As such, producers are able to maintain traditional mezcal practices and crops while avoiding overharvesting or the loss of agave biodiversity for the sake of meeting demand.

Let’s Talk About “Smooth”

It may be the most ubiquitous descriptor in drinks. Is it also the most reviled?

The Bordeaux-bred, Brooklyn-based spirits importer Nicolas Palazzi traffics in stories—of the alchemists along the river Charente, whose Cognacs capture the essence of the surrounding vineyards and microbiota; of the artisans in northwestern France, whose Calvados express the nuance of dozens of cider apple varieties via a single bottle. Palazzi’s company, PM Spirits, identifies itself as a “provider of geeky spirits.” Part of the job, indeed, involves geeking out, luxuriating in the details and conveying them to potential buyers. It’s an arrangement that hinges on dialogue, governed by the imprecise linguistics of wine and spirits. Descriptors and analogs form bridges to connect one’s palate and sensibility to another’s. But all it takes is one word to dissolve the connection entirely.

“If their reaction is, ‘Oh, that’s smooth,’ it just tells me that I probably have not identified my customer as well as I thought I had,” Palazzi tells me. “I’m not upset at the person saying ‘smooth.’ I’m upset at the waste of life—it’s basically a sign that says ‘You just wasted your time.’”

Harsh words for a word that literally signifies the opposite. But language matters. The lingua franca of booze is inherently nebulous, and it requires calibration. A trained nose and palate can instantaneously identify a range of aromas and flavors and free-associate memories and feelings, which all become pinpoints tracing a constellation, giving shape to a ghost. The term “smooth” effectively erases any point of reference. Even as an adjective, “smooth” functions as a verb: It is the buffing out of character, the sanding down of the distinctions that make great spirits great. In the quest to triangulate the specific qualities of a spirit, “smooth” instead forms a binary of acceptability. It is a value judgment on whether or not one finds the spirit drinkable, one that can easily be impressed upon an unwitting consumer. This is exactly why the term is so ubiquitous in the marketplace, and—for decades, if not centuries—a red flag among connoisseurs.

The 9 Best Rums to Drink Right Now

There's a rum for everyone, and these newly available rums highlight the breadth of this amazing spirit.

The question is no longer dark, gold, or silver, but whether the rum was distilled from crushed sugarcane, cane syrup, or molasses, and how much sugar was added back in. Instead of asking simply how old a rum is, you might wonder how many years it spent aging in one climate before it was sent to a different one.

Increasingly, new rums offer geographical specificity, letting you mull the influence of local culture and method of sugar production, as though you were drinking wine. The experience can be like enjoying other terroir-forward spirits like mezcal, unpredictable but obviously representative of place, and transcendent when you taste the right one. There's also been an explosion of armchair spirits connoisseurship that has made room for special gems that were previously only available abroad, as well as cultivating a new appreciation for historic distilleries who are now finding new markets for their output. 

Pere Labat 40

The term rhum agricole is widely applied to rum made from freshly pressed sugarcane, but most specifically applies to the appellation-protected rums of French-administered islands in the Caribbean Sea and Indian Ocean. While Martinique rhum is widely available from distilleries like Neisson, La Favorite, and Clement, rhum from Guadeloupe has been extremely rare until now. Père Labat, produced on the island of Marie-Galante, has exquisite aged options, but the unaged distillate is a great place to start. Available in both 40 and 59% abv, the gentler strength is smooth, naturally sweet, and dangerously easy to enjoy in a fruity highball or on ice. 

What’s the Best New Mezcal That’s Earned a Spot on Your Bar?

With distinctive flavors that produce complex and nuanced cocktails, mezcal has secured its position as a bartender favorite. Made from more than 30 different agave species, the smoky sipper has flavors that run the gamut, including  from vegetal, floral, fruity, and spicy. Mezcal has become so popular as of late that finding a bar program without the spirit would prove to be a daunting task.

To help home bartenders add some Mexican spirit to their bar lineup, drinks experts are sharing their latest favorite mezcals. From artisanal seasonal releases, to an offering that dials down the smoke, to a celebratory mezcal that uses raw turkey breast, read on for the 11 new bottles that bartenders are springing for.

“Neta Mezcal Bicuixe 2018 by Cándido García Cruz: Neta Spirits always has excellent small-batch releases from some of my favorite Miahuatlan producers, but this one made my all-time bottle list and was a bright spot on my backbar during the last few months. I’ve enjoyed sharing this bottle with our guests and reminiscing about summers in Oaxaca.” —James Simpson, Beverage Director/Manager, Espita and Las Gemelas, Washington, D.C.

“Neta ‘Hotel June’ Mexicano Verde & Bicuixe or Legendario Domingo Guerrero Cupreata: While the L.D. Guerrero is not a new release, both of these are favorite sippers of mine. The Neta is a major body high, and the L.D. Guerrero is like drinking dark cocoa and fresh-cut jalapenos.” —Steve Livigni, F&B Partner and Beverage Director, Caravan Swim Club at Hotel June, Los Angeles

The 16 Best New Spirit Releases Currently on the Market

Cognac Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan 

This limited-edition, single-cask cognac (along with a few demijohns) consists of a blend of eaux de vie that was distilled between 1925 and 1965, so this is truly a taste of cognac history. Just 870 bottles were released this past October, and it was named after a father and son cooperage team who hold the title of Maitres Artisans Tonneliers and are important figures in the cognac category. This is truly a legendary spirit that will not reappear.

Review: Mic.Drop Rye L20-01 4 Years Old

The latest Mic.Drop release from PM Spirits isn’t a bourbon but a rye, another young gun at 4 years old, sourced from Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky. Mic.Drop L20-01, which was released late last year, is drawn from just 5 casks of rye distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2020, made from a mash of 56% rye, 33% corn, and 11% barley malt. This is purportedly the first time Wilderness Trail has ever sold barrels of aged whiskey to anyone instead of bottling it themselves.

Well, let’s try it out.

Hearty on the nose, the whiskey has the classic punch of rye, all spice and pepper and dried fruits, impregnated with cedar wood and notes of dill. The palate is quite sweet but also impressively spiced, the notes of green herbs and fresh-cut cedar wood punching with some force. Then comes more of the fruit: Apple fritters in sweet cream. A splash of water does some good, tempering the heat and bringing out more of the barrel influence, including a gentle chocolate note that emerges on the finish. Hints of vanilla and brown sugar calm some of the unruly rye spice notes up top, letting the young but expressive rye do its thing with more of a sense of balance.

In the final analysis, it’s really fun stuff. Tough to justify at nearly $100 a bottle, though, but I presume you can convince yourself through whatever logic you need.

108 proof.

A-

Straight From the Barrel

“...Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan, the rare cask-strength Cognac, has a boldness that belies the softly nuanced quality its category is known for.”

The 25 Best Bourbons of the 21st Century (So Far)

Bourbons have become increasingly collectible. Here are the ones you need to stash away.

There’s much to love about the world’s great Japanese, Scotch and Irish whiskey distilleries. But when it comes to innovation, the wily bourbon producers in the United States have been leading the way for years. In Kentucky and beyond, purveyors of America’s native spirit have refused to let the excellence of their existing products stand in the way of coming up with new ones. And over the last decade and a half, a plenitude of incredible new whiskey with a mash bill of at least 51 percent corn and aged in charred new oak barrels—the house rules for a whiskey to be called a bourbon—has come to market, some from brand-new producers, others new expressions from venerated houses. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Here are 25 of the best bourbon releases of the last 20 years.

Mic.Drop.

A delicious blend of 20 different casks of eight-year-old whiskey that offers multifarious flavors highlighted by maple syrup, coconut, cloves, and dark fruit. Mic.Drop. came out of nowhere in 2017 and now resides on the back bars of some of the country’s most prestigious drinking establishments. It’s easy to spot, too, with an eye-catching label designed by comic book artist Chris Batista. The follow up, Mic.Drop.2, was released in 2018 —140 bottles at $450 a pop.

The 9 Best New Rums to Drink Right Now

Spirits worth sipping.

Distilled from cane juice rather than molasses, rhum agricole is a different beast from standard rum, with a distinctly grassy, vegetal flavor profile. Cane-based rum can be produced anywhere, but the best-known expressions come from the French Caribbean. Pere Labat is from Guadeloupe’s Distillerie Poisson, the oldest distillery on the island of Marie-Galante. The un-aged rum, distilled to the high-octane “local proof” at which the natives like to drink it, is powerfully vegetal on the nose but much less so on the palate, where it displays notes of vanilla and mint in addition to the classic agricole grassiness. It’s surprisingly easy to drink neat or on the rocks and makes for a great change of pace in a daiquiri.

Geeky Cocktails: Meet the Man Behind the Artisanal Spirits Movement

Geeky Cocktails: Meet the Man Behind the Artisanal Spirits Movement

When Nicolas Palazzi quit his day job as a chemical engineer in 2008, the spirits world got a little more interesting. The French native had moved to New York City to manage a medical research lab, but brought with him a curiously intense affinity for rare-cask Cognac. Dismayed by the lack of like-minded, handcrafted products on the market in the U.S.—where the spirits scene was still largely focused on big-name brands despite a booming, more intelligent cocktail culture—he set out to learn the business from the ground up. He officially launched his import company, PM Spirits, in early 2011 with just two independent Cognac producers (Paul Beau, Guillon-Painturaud) and six products. Now his book includes profound Spanish brandies, grappa from famed Sicilian avant-gardiste Frank Cornelissen, and Mexican Fernet (a bitter liqueur).

Palazzi is being lauded by beverage authorities nationwide as the go-to for distillates of character and terroir, and Palazzi’s unique bottles now line the shelves of restaurant and bar greats like The NoMad in New York City, Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, D.C., and Scopa Italian Roots in Venice, California. Had an interesting digestif you’d never heard of before while out dining? That might have been made possible through Palazzi’s meticulous sourcing. He talks to Vogue.com about cocktails, “geeky” spirits, and the six bottles he’s most excited about now.

The tagline on your website is “provider of geeky spirits.” What does “geeky” mean in the spirits world?

When it comes to spirits in general, one doesn’t buy a product, one buys a brand. They buy the marketing and the status that the label conveys, but they don’t have a gauge on the true quality of the stuff inside the bottle, how it was made, who made it, and why it tastes the way it does. So by “geeky,” we mean the other stuff. It’s made by real people. It has an actual flavor profile that is specific to the place in which it’s made and the ingredients it’s made from. It’s not sweetened to death, artificially colored, or made to be as innocuous as it can be.

From that perspective, it seems to be as much about supporting the little guy as it is about supplying cool products.

It absolutely is. We want them to keep doing what they’re doing. When you start working with somebody, and they’re distilling out of a shack or their house is run-down, and you come back a year and a half later and see that they’ve made improvements. . . I’m not saying it’s 100 percent because of what we’ve done, but there is something rewarding about working with real people and the fact that the money spent buying these products can go toward their living and the creative process as opposed to feeding some giant company. I have nothing against big companies, but that makes it more meaningful to me. And the other result is that we’re educating people; we’re getting the authentic stuff to the people who will care about it. We’re showing them what these spirits used to taste like before mass marketing existed and can still taste like today.

What is a typical reaction of someone tasting spirits in your portfolio who is more used to tasting name-brand products?

People are not sure what to expect. A lot of people start out thinking that they’re doing us a favor by tasting these products that they’ve never heard of before, but they end up realizing that there’s a world of difference. I had one buyer who thought he didn’t like Cognac, then after one taste of the Paul Beau VS, he lit up. He was all, “Oh, wow, that’s really interesting,” and, “That’s a set of aromas and flavors I’ve never experienced before.”

There’s something extra that happens in the brain with the sensory experience of taste. When you taste something new and you love it, there’s an emotional connection that takes place. At that point, the person is not likely to forget it. They know you’re not fooling around and will want to see what else you have in your bag, even if it’s not something that will appeal to their particular clientele. They know you’re not wasting their time.

Would you say that the movement toward artisanal spirits is picking up speed, like what we saw happen to the craft-beer category?

It has definitely changed over the last six or seven years. Before, nobody cared, really. If you take bourbon as an example, you used to be able find anything you’d want and more on the shelves for a lot less money because people just didn’t know about it. And now certain bourbons are unavailable and allocated. Spirits are becoming cool. Drinkers have started paying more attention to what they’re drinking. I think that’s good news for everyone involved.

What is the coolest cocktail that you’ve encountered made with one of your spirits?

In Texas, I saw a sidecar made with a single-cask Cognac from a producer named Gourry [de Chadeville] that I brought in last year. This Cognac is distilled in a wood-fired pot still and is 64.3 percent alcohol, so that is a pretty kick-ass sidecar. You can’t drink too many of them! And at Cane & Table in New Orleans, they’re making a daiquiri with a rum I sourced in Spain from the sherry producer Equipo Navazos. It’s a bold daiquiri and is totally delicious.

What’s the latest addition to your portfolio that you’re most excited about? The thing that we don’t know about yet but will?

Calvados! I was lucky enough to be introduced to Eric Bordelet, the cider-maker in Normandy. It turns out the guy has been distilling for a number of years but never released anything. He’s doing single-cask full-proof unfiltered Calvados, distilling from both his cidre and his poiré (pear cider). Plus, his mentor was Didier Dagueneau, the famed Pouilly-Fumé winemaker, so everything is aged in ex-Silex casks from Dagueneau. It’s incredibly cool and will be available stateside in the beginning of 2016.

Intrigued? Here are six unique bottles Palazzi recommends adding to your bar (or gifting a very good friend):

Navazos-Palazzi Double Barreled Cask Strength Spanish Rum
A 100 percent molasses-based rum from the Antilles. Dark, meaty, with a nuttiness derived from the Oloroso sherry cask it ages in for more than ten years. Finishes bone dry. Only 1,500 bottles produced per year.

H. Beudin Single Cask 18 Year Calvados
Calvados with a kick, bottled at full proof. Gives a sense of what the pure stuff tastes like when sampled from a cask. Selected by star cider-maker Eric Bordelet.

Gourry de Chadeville Grande Champagne Cognac
One-man operation led by Pierre Goursat Gourry on nearly 25 acres of vineyards in Grande Champagne. A young, bold Cognac reminiscent of ripe apple and smoke, it spends seven years in an ex-first growth Sauternes cask.

Domaine d'Aurensan 1975 Single Cask Armagnac-Ténarèze
Like a vintage-dated Armagnac on steroids, with zero sugar, zero water, and zero coloring added. Distilled by the Rozès family. Mature flavors of dried prune, leather, and earth, with a seemingly endless finish.

Laurent Cazottes Poire Williams Eau-de-Vie
Distilled from organic pears dried to concentrate their flavor and then the pits, seeds, and stalks removed. Only 200 half-bottles of this Poire Williams come in to the U.S. each year.

Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso Grappa
What happens when Sicily's most emblematic natural winemaker makes grappa. Distilled in a wood-fired vapor still from volcanic Mt. Etna’s indigenous Nerello Mascalese grapes.

A Whiskey Unicorn for Every Taste

“Finally got to try my unicorn bourbon!” wrote one woman on a dedicated whiskey Facebook group in late July, uploading a selfie where she proudly displayed a bottle of Blanton’s Bourbon.

It didn’t take long for the resident whiskey geeks to, at the same time, question and criticize her argot.

Responded one man, sarcastically: “Who would [have] thought a 6-year bourbon at 93 proof is now a unicorn?”

While I likewise lament the current fervor for once-common bottles, Blanton’s is, in fact, a unicorn, if only because enough whiskey drinkers pursue it as if it were. Even if it’s not exceedingly rare and is debatable in quality, it nevertheless offers many of the criteria that construct the anatomy of today’s unicorns—allocated, boldly packaged, price-gouged.

There are, of course, different breeds of whiskey unicorns, some more rarely encountered than others. These days, most fall into the American whiskey category—consisting of Kentucky bourbon and rye— and, in the smallest genus of the unicorn kingdom, are almost always Buffalo Trace products. Similarly, any Japanese whisky from the Suntory distillery is immediately exalted to unicorn status in the United States—owing in part to a track record of truly sublime releases, coupled, I suspect, with the perceived exoticism of the hiragana characters on the labels. As is some Scotch, especially if it is jaw-droppingly expensive and packaged in such an ornamental fashion that it seems to signal it’s more an object to look upon than to drink. These days, after all, becoming a unicorn only partially relies on how a spirit tastes.

Here are 10 categories of unicorn whiskey you’ll likely chance upon while out hunting.

L’Encantada Armagnac, 1996

The Non-Whiskey Whiskey Collector Unicorns

Examples: Foursquare rum, L’Encantada Armagnac, Clase Azul tequila, Don Julio 1942 tequila

While many whiskey drinkers have a rigidly monogamous relationship with the spirit, there are certain offerings that might entice them to cross over. Typically, this occurs only when those products happen to taste just like top-notch whiskey—well-oaked caramel and vanilla bombs. Some, like the Sazerac-owned

L’Encantada Armagnac, 1979

Corazón tequila, are themselves aged in unicorn whiskey barrels, including George T. Stagg and Old Rip Van Winkle, for example. The producers of these spirits have even begun playing to the free-spending whiskey geek, offering cask-strength, single barrel releases (perfect for sticker labels) in handsome packages and, naturally, in limited supply.

What is Armagnac? Exploring Cognac’s Older Cousin

How Armagnac is Made

“Essentially, Cognac is more like Tequila, and Armagnac is more like mezcal in the way it’s produced,” says Nicolas Palazzi, owner of importer and distributor, PM Spirits, “but not in flavor [although it can occasionally share similar notes with the agave spirit].” Armagnac is a bit more artisanal in nature, and every producer creates a product to their own proof and style making it a fan favorite for spirit nerds.

Armagnac is allowed to use 10 grape varieties in production, but typically only use four: Ugni blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, and Colombard; whereas in Cognac they use around 99% Ugni blanc. More variety in the raw material allows for Armagnac to express a diversity in flavor that Cognac cannot. When you also consider the terroir — the soil, climate, and hand of the maker — Armagnac truly distinguishes itself in character.

“There is something really interesting in picking grapes and making a product that has a true personality and seeing that product at a stage where it hasn’t become a very popular spirit [like Cognac] that has been modified to try to appeal to the general public,” says Palazzi. “Armagnac is very terroir-driven, it feels like you can connect with the history of the land and its rich history.”

In terms of distillation, 95% of Armagnac production is distilled with an alembic column still, whereas Cognac has to be pot-distilled, Palazzi notes. “Some are using pot still as well,” he says, although it’s a rarity.

After being distilled, the liquid is typically aged in 400-liter French oak casks — typically local, Gascony oak — and is then classified as VS, VSOP, Napoleón, or XO (Hors d’âge), depending on how long it has been aged for, with XO being the oldest age statement meaning the distillate has seen a minimum of 10 years in the cask. It’s also common for Armagnac producers to release vintages, like wine, but this will be more of a rarity as the category continues to rise in popularity.

After aging, the Armagnac is either bottled at cask strength, or proofed down. “The reason why Cognac is typically 40% ABV is to stretch out the amount they’re able to produce because of the demand,” Palazzi notes. “In Armagnac, you’ll find more full-proof bottling because they aren’t under the pressure of hitting numbers so they can focus on creating the best product possible [regardless of proof].” This means that each bottle will have its own distinct character, which isn’t always the case with other brandies.

Some producers to note are: Domaine Boignères, Château de Pellehaut, Domaine Espérance, Domaine d’Aurensan, but there are many others creating exceptional brandies as well in the region.

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Cobrafire Eau-de-Vie de Raisin

An unaged blanche (white) Armagnac produced in the Bas Armagnac sub-appellation. It’s an undiluted, unadulterated expression of exactly what a French brandy should taste like. At 51.5% ABV, it’s also begging to make it into your next Martini.

PM Spirits VS Bas Armagnac Overproof

Importer PM Spirits teamed up with renown production house, Domaine Espérance, to release their own label of VS overproof (51.7% ABV) Armagnac. For the price you’ll pay, it’s an absolute steal and must-try.

How Craft Brands Can Succeed in the Covid-19 Era

Craft brands have been in the spotlight across wine, beer, and spirits in recent years, with products from small producers becoming increasingly sought after over mass-marketed products. Consumers are seeking out fresh discoveries, and are increasingly prioritizing the production methods, ingredients, and stories behind craft beverages.

But the onset of Covid-19 has presented a new challenge: While consumers are increasing their home consumption and retail alcohol sales are up, most craft wine and spirits brands have not benefited. As much of the on-premise sector remains shuttered and many consumers turn to e-commerce to limit in-store purchasing, there is no salesperson or sommelier to champion small brands or encourage the consumer to try something new.

ACQUIRING NEW RETAIL PLACEMENTS

While stay-home mandates and on-premise closures have resulted in retail sales spikes — as of June 13, off-premise sales were up 26 percent year-over-year for the entire Covid-affected time period — retailers are still working to manage this unexpected business shift.

“They’re still in survival mode,” says Nicolas Palazzi, the owner of PM Spirits in New York, an importer and distributor specializing in artisanal spirits brands. “They have no energy or time to do any outreach or take sales calls. They’re reacting to demand, and that demand is for mainstream brands because that’s what people know.” In the first six to eight weeks of the pandemic, most of Palazzi’s sales through existing retail accounts were for inexpensive items.

The 11 Best Mezcal Brands You Need To Try

Tequila and mezcal. What's the difference, right?

Quite a bit. Both tequila and mezcal do come from the agave plant, and both are indigenous liquors to Mexico. But the comparison stops there.

NETA Espadin 

What's cool about NETA is that they work with small producers from Mihuatlan, Oaxaca, and the southern valley. For this particular Espadin (arguably the most "common" mezcal), they worked with master mezcalero Candido Garcia Cruz, who works with "quiotudo," meaning he cuts each plant before it flowers.

"This leads to better yields and develops a richness of flavor that is not found in less mature agave," said Jimenez. "It has a brassy, bright nose with a hint of fruit and flowers with a gentle touch of smoke."

L'ENCANTADA XO ARMAGNAC

L'ENCANTADA XO ARMAGNAC  - a collaboration between PM Spirits and armagnac cask hunters L’Encantada, this blended spirit is one of the most complex brandies in the world. The release is comprised of four different casks curated by L’Encantada with vintages ranging between 1987 - 1997. Each one was produced by distillers who create in the heart of their fields with a mobile alambic armagnacais still before the spirit matures in oak in Gascony. Only 1,600 bottles are available at a cask strength of 46.8% Abv.