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.

Our Favorite Bottles to Give (and Receive)

Ten writers, spirits experts and retailers pick the one bottle for $75 or under they'll be gifting this year.

As the annual tidal wave of gift guides is upon us, we thought we’d check in with our team and our favorite spirits connoisseurs to see how they’ll be tackling their holiday gifting this year. The question was simple: What is the one bottle you’ll be giving—or would be very excited to receive—under $75? Here’s what they had to say.

Double Zéro Cider Eau de Vie | 750ml, $63

My friends deserve to toast with something strong and truly delicious this year—that’s why I’m gifting 00. It’s one of my all-time absolute favorites and has been a staple on my home bar for years. It’s a bottle that asks nothing of you and simply gives. It’s clean and smooth and uncomplicated, just layers upon layers of fresh clean apple. It’s the distilled cider of Cyril Zang, made from a blend of 60-plus varieties across the spectrum of sweet, bittersweet, bitter, slightly acidic and sour. The apples are hand-picked and then left in bins for up to six weeks to finish ripening, before being grated, pressed and allowed to ferment. The result is magic. You may not think of yourself as a straight spirits drinker, [but] have a sip of this, and find your mind changed [and] your imagination captured. And what better time of year to let your imagination be captured. —Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski, Co-Founder, Matchbook Distilling

Unicorns in the Making: Grab These Collectible Spirits While You Still Can

It’s not hard to think these gorgeous orange-waxed bottles might soon become, cough, the Pappy of Armagnac.

Just as the unicorn is a mythical creature, the often bandied-about stuff of legends, its mesmerizing beauty frequently discussed but rarely seen, so too are many of the most famous bottles in the bourbon world today. Unlike that spiral-horned equine, however, there was a time these whiskey unicorns actually appeared “in the wild”— in other words, on store shelves — before hunters started taking them out.

L’Encantada Armagnac

While single barrels were generally disqualified from this exercise, this bottler only releases single barrels from a variety of tiny Armagnac estates like Lous Pibous and Le Frêche (with the exception of its excellent XO Armagnac, a blend of barrels usually limited to around 2,000 bottles). If bourbon drinkers are seemingly willing to spend any amount of money on whiskey, the same is not quite true for brandy, even if it’s older, rarer, and assuredly more delicious. (Taste hardly matters for unicorn status — sad but true.) But the tide is slowly turning and two- and sometimes three-decades-aged releases from L’Encantada that used to sell for under $100 and used to linger on shelves for months, are now going for two to three times that and lasting mere weeks in some cases. It’s not hard to think these gorgeous orange-waxed bottles might soon become, cough, the Pappy of Armagnac.

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

20 BEST COGNAC BRANDS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Cognac is the perfect aperitif, it’s rich, complex, aromatic, and ideal for aiding digestion after a delicious, filling meal. It’s also an excellent addition in classic cocktails like a sidecar or as a twist on others like a French 75 or Old Fashioned. The Cognac region, in southwest France, is the only place in the world where it can be produced. Within it, there are six growing regions, known as crus. Strict laws dictate that the specific grape varietals (Ugni Blanc is the most common) must come from here. Plus, producers must also adhere to distillation processes and time and aging protocols to bear the name Cognac. Many Maisons (houses) have been making cognac from these vineyards for hundreds of years. They’ve passed knowledge down from generation to generation, perfecting every drop of the amber liquid that gets bottled.

20. Guillon Painturaud

Patience is the key ingredient that makes the cognac from Guillon Painturaud so good. It’s a small, family-owned producer, who’s Grande Champagne estate has been in the family since 1610. The youngest offering in their collection of nearly ten styles is the VSOP, which has aged for five years and is bold and balanced, displaying all the unique terroir characteristics. There’s also a Reserve, or XO equivalent, with toasted, vanilla, and spice notes with a deep finish. It ages for ten years. Decades of aging go into the Hors Age, resulting in candied apricot and citrus notes, with touches of wood and chocolate. The oldest in the collection is the Cognac Mémoires, which marks the generational change and transmission of knowledge from grandfather to grandson in 1965. It’s limited and rare but boasts and deep intensity and aromatic complexity.

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.

The Best Cognacs to Stock in Your Home Bar

Don’t have a bottle of Cognac on your bar? You should.

Cognac—which is a type of brandy (we'll get to that)—has always had an unfairly snooty image. It’s the building block for the Sidecar and the original Sazarac—real down-to-earth cocktail classics. As a result of the French embrace of Black servicemen in World War II, they drank it often. Before it was getting shouted out by everyone in rap, from Tupac to Drake, Hennessy became the first spirits company to place ads in Ebony and Jet magazines. (It was also was omnipresent at my cousins’ weddings at Chinese banquet halls, where there was a bottle of Hennessy on every table, right next to a two-liter of 7-Up for mixing.) Cognac has history, and it's not just pinched-face old white guys in smoking jackets swirling snifters, is what I'm saying. So yes, while you can easily shell out thousands of dollars for aged Cognac in Baccarat crystal, there are great bottles at every price point.

Best Bang-For-Your-Buck Cognacs

Paul Beau VSOP

None of the Cognacs in this category are what you would call cheap, but the idea here is value. “Paul Beau VSOP is an exquisite spirit that sells for around $60, but what makes it a great value is that this VSOP is really an average age of 15 years old,” says Thorn. “This could be labeled as an XO, which would typically fetch at least $100.”

Guillon-Painturaud VSOP Grande Champagne

Similarly, Guillon-Painturaud VSOP Cognac is also an average age of fifteen years old, far exceeding the VSOP designation. “Line Guillon-Painturaud produces on her family’s 18 hectare estate, and she is one of the few female master distillers in Cognac,” Thorn says. “Her Cognacs are elegant and fruit forward, and they are ridiculously good value considering the ages that are in the bottles.”

Navarre Vieille Reserve

“Navarre Cognacs are such a treat. Jacky Navarre is a fourth-generation distiller, and his production methods are slow and old-school. He hand-harvests the grapes, distills in small batches, and does not reduce with water, but instead allows reduction to take place only in barrel over time. The average age is 40 to 50 years old. Navarre Vieille Reserve is around $250 retail, and it is worth it.” —Kellie Thorn

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.

Ten Outstanding Cognacs That You Have Probably Never Heard Of

Cognac is one of the world’s great spirits. Its history dates back almost four centuries. Its presence in the U.S. goes back almost as long. It has been intimately intertwined with American history. George Washington was a fan. He drank it in his camp during the Revolutionary War and served it to his guests at the first Presidential Inauguration.

Cognac was the basis of most cocktails in the U.S. long before bourbon became the quintessential American spirit. Cherry Bounce and Fish House Punch, two popular drinks during colonial times, both featured Cognac. The original recipe for that classic American drink, the mint julep, was also Cognac based. The bourbon version did not appear till the late 19th century. The first American book of cocktail recipes The Bartender's Guide, by Jerry Thomas in 1862, mostly featured Cognac based drinks…

…France has hundreds of Cognac producers. The four largest producers, however, account for 90% of the U.S. market—Courvoisier (Beam Suntory), Hennessy (LVMH), Martell (Pernod Ricard) and Rémy Martin (Rémy Cointreau).

Most Cognac producers do not export to the U.S. market. Bottling Cognac to meet U.S. bottling requirements, 750 ml versus 700 ml bottles, is expensive and burdensome. Finding a U.S. distributor is difficult, especially given the relatively small volumes that they produce. That’s a pity, because most Cognac enthusiasts have little opportunity to taste the wide range of Cognacs produced in France.

Recently, I asked Max von Olfers for his recommendations of outstanding Cognacs that are relatively unknown in the U.S. Max, along with his sister Sophie, runs Cognac-Expert.com, a Cognac based mail order supplier of Cognac to consumers worldwide. The website features more than 1,000 Cognac expressions, that’s easily 10 times more than even the best stocked U.S. retailer would carry.

Below are 10 recommendations from Max, plus a couple of my own, of outstanding Cognacs. They range from relatively common, at least in Cognac, to quite rare. Price wise they range from under $100 to over $5,000 a bottle. All bottles are 700 ml. Max’s comments are below (in italics), followed by my comments.

Navarre Cravache d’Or - $110
Cognac Navarre Cravache D'Or

Cognac Navarre Cravache D'Or

I love this cask strength Cognac. Non-chill filtered, not colored or boiséd. No water is used during the aging process, and all the grapes are hand-harvested—this is the ultimate in artisan production. This Cognac explodes with aroma and has an evolving floral palate that’s so typical of a Grande Champagne eau-de-vie, 45% ABV, 90° proof/cask strength.

Boisé is a syrup produced from a mixture of Cognac, sugar and wood chips. It’s made by macerating, and sometimes boiling, oak chips with lower-proof spirit. The process extracts color from the oak chips and when sugar is added produces a concentrated syrup. When added to young Cognacs, it can make the spirit look and taste older than it is. The addition of boisé to Cognac is quite common among producers and is permitted by the regulatory body, the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). 

10 Recommended Bottles - From Absinthe to Sambuca, a Quick Guide to Anise Spirits

From Absinthe to Sambuca, a Quick Guide to Anise Spirits

The category of anise spirits is broad reaching. It encompasses a number of spirits types that deserve attention, but don’t always receive it.

For starters, sambuca and anisette are two spirits that seem interchangeable, yet are not. Since Italian producer Meletti makes both, we asked producer Matteo Meletti to briefly outline the differences, which basically boils down to production and regulation.

Sambuca is regulated by the European Union, while anisette is not. “So when a company produces sambuca, it has to follow some strict rules, while anisette is more open recipe,” says Meletti. This may have to do with the fact that anisette is a much older product, dating back to the 18th century, while Sambuca is more recent.

Larusée Verte Green Absinthe (Switzerland; PM Spirits, Brooklyn, NY); $127, 89 points. Pours out olive drab, then slouches to a lively light green. The aroma entices with a sweet floral note, while the palate is bolder, reverberating with anise overload and a tingly finish. Hit the right water-to-liqueur balance and the flavor profile becomes a bit more delicate and refreshing, tinged with fresh celery. Made with a neutral beet spirit base blended with a dozen herbs and aromatic plants.

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."