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Lehigh Valley weekend trip Love Tasting Bourbons? This Fredericksburg Virginia Bed & Breakfast Ironclad inn Might Be Your Dream Visit, Owen King from Ironclad Distillery shares Delicious Details

By Joe Winger — 5 months ago

Love Tasting Bourbons? This Fredericksburg Virginia Bed & Breakfast Ironclad inn Might Be Your Dream Visit, Owen King from Ironclad Distillery shares Delicious Details

Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room.

Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room

Today’s conversation with Distiller Owen King from Ironclad Distillery has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

Owen King, Ironclad Distillery

Joe Winger:

A lot of really cool things are happening right now. I want to jump into your tasting room, the distillery, we’ll get into bourbon tastings in a few minutes.

But first and foremost, what’s the most important thing with Ironclad right now for you?

Owen King:

The most important thing about Ironclad for me right now is the same thing it’s always been, trying to make the best bourbon we can.

The other thing is spreading the word about our bed and breakfast; and bourbon. It’s a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg that when you’re there, you can drink bourbon.

Ironclad’s famous Old Fashioned cocktail

We make a lot of old fashions there and we always have all these leftover oranges. Now the perfect thing is in the morning you have fresh squeezed orange juice from our [leftover] old fashions.

It’s really working double duty now.

Besides that I just love the fact that we can now expand our distillery up to Fredericksburg. So we can have more people try our bourbon and enjoy our bourbon, which is the goal.

Joe Winger:

Getting to know you before you jump into Ironclad, I want to use the word “were”, you were a football player and cooking changed your life.

Tell us more about your cooking. Was there a special dish that enhanced your life?

Owen King:

I’m Italian. So obviously with the Italian genes, we share our love through food. Growing up I cooked a lot.

When I went to college [I cooked] for my teammates. I’d make dinner for everyone. So when we decided to open the bourbon distillery, I figured, I know how to cook. I think I could probably figure out how to make bourbon.

I know flavors. I know how things go well together. I think I have a pretty decent palette.

So putting all those things together to make a great bourbon was the goal.

Food is one of those things where you never stop improving. I feel the same about bourbon.

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Joe Winger:

Is there a favorite dish?

Owen King:

Breaded chicken cutlets and spaghetti.

That is how it started. Then I was like “I really like cheese.” Maybe I could put cheese in with the breadcrumbs and then do that. Then I started expanding. Chicken Parm. Making my own sauce. Thinking I could add something here to make that better.

It’s the same way I look at bourbon.

Thinking, “I like what this person’s doing. Let me see what they’re doing. I can build off that to make it work on my own.”

Creating my own recipes, going from there, just continually tweaking little things here and there.

We’ll make a 5% difference, maybe a 10% difference.

Joe Winger:

Ironclad Distillery is in Newport News, Virginia. The bed and breakfast Ironclad Inn is in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

For most people when we think of bourbon, we don’t always think of Virginia as the first choice. What would surprise us most about coming down to Virginia for a bourbon tasting and staying the night?

Ironclad Distillery

Owen King:

If you’re coming down to Virginia, you have to remember Virginia is the birthplace of American spirits. The first place spirits were made in the new colonies, in the new world, was here in Virginia.

The first corn liquor which would eventually become bourbon, was made in Virginia.

You can also talk about Elijah Craig, who was from Fairfax County, Virginia, before he moved out to Kentucky.

On top of that, Kentucky wasn’t a state until 1793. Evan Williams was doing distillation in 1783, and at that point Kentucky was still Virginia.

The birthplace of bourbon is right here in Virginia.

I’ve been to Kentucky a lot. They talk about the birthplace of bourbon being there in Kentucky.

Maybe the territory it’s in was Kentucky, but it was still Virginia at the time.

Whenever someone comes by, I can tell them the history of actual bourbon, where you’re gonna get the whole story, not just the fantasized story that you get in Kentucky.

Joe Winger:

I’m incredibly glad you just shared that.

Let’s talk about The Ironclad Bed and Breakfast now. The bourbon tasting room, the event space.

Owen King:

We wanted to spread our bourbon out around the state. We’ve always really liked Fredericksburg. It’s a beautiful town. It’s got a ton of history to it.

Nothing goes better with bourbon than a good story.

So we can always tell our history while drinking. So with our bed and breakfast, we looked at what the bigger guys were doing. A lot of them were starting to have these places where you could stay [the night] and get an experience to go along with it.

We really wanted to spread our Ironclad experience.

We have a tasting room. It’s beautifully decorated by my sister. We’ve got a bottle shop where you can pick up pretty much every one of our bourbons that are available. We’ve got a bar so you can try it from our seasonal cocktail menus where we change it five times a year.

We have a winter, a fall, a spring, summer [menu].Then a holiday menu as well.

No matter what time of year you’re there, you’re trying something that’s going to go well seasonally.

Everyone likes seasonal drinks. You don’t want to drink in the fall, what you’d drink in the summer.

We always have an old fashioned and it’s a damn good old fashioned.

Then we also have an event space. We have weddings. We’ve had 50th birthday parties.

Ironclad Inn wedding and special events

We’ve had any event that you want to tie into with our bourbon or just if you want a beautiful event space in a building that was built in 1793 we have that as a great option.

It’s a really cool spot that you can go and see and experience.

It’s something we want to share, our love for bourbon with everyone.

Whether you’re here in Newport News or in Fredericksburg, you’ll get a King family member there to tell you our story and tell you all about our bourbon and show you around.

Ironclad Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Joe Winger:

Outstanding. Let’s get to the tasty part now. You have several amazing bottles. When someone comes to your tasting room this weekend, what should they be looking forward to?

Owen King:

We do a few bottle releases that are once a year for us. One of my favorites.

A five year, three barrel blend of three 30 gallon barrels. Bottle of Bond.

The history alone is one of my favorite things to talk about. In 1897 the federal government stepped in because there was people dying from drinking bad whiskey.

They stepped in to “certify” everything in there.

“If you bottle it at four years old and at 100 proof, we will claim that this is a bottle and bond bourbon certified” by the federal government that it is safe to drink.

That story alone is one of my favorites of bourbon lore.

We just want to make sure that we do that every year that we can.

It’s absolutely one of my favorite bourbons. It’s our four grain mash bill. 70% corn 10% wheat, 10% rye, 10% malted barley.

So with the corn and the wheat, it adds a nice sweetness to it. But then the rye is there to kind of balance that whole thing out. Before it gets [to be] a very sweet bourbon, it balances out, a little baking spice, maybe even some clove, maybe a little black pepper.

It balances it out to be a nice, rounded bourbon.

Ironclad Sweeter Creations Maple Syrup Cask

Joe Winger:

Let’s move on to your Maple Syrup Cask.

Owen King:

Absolutely delicious. But this is a cast finish, not a flavored bourbon. So we’re not adding maple syrup to it. People who drink it might think it’s going to be super sweet and not going to like it. Because they don’t like maple syrup.

This is my version of drinking maple syrup responsibly and not getting diabetes.

After we empty our barrels, we give them to a maple syrup producer in upstate New York. He’ll age his maple syrup using our bourbon barrels.

By doing that through transference, there’s about a gallon of bourbon stuck in the staves of the wood. So when he puts a new liquid in there, that maple syrup is going to absorb into the wood and that bourbon is going to come back out.

Now his maple syrup is picking up that beautiful bourbon flavor and we are picking up all that maple syrup flavor into the wood.

When he brings those barrels back down to us, we put our aged bourbon back in there and we let him finish in there for about three to six months.

After we take the bourbon out, it’s now got this beautiful, mild sweetness, but it’s got that hint of maple syrup at the end.

I always say, I don’t want it to be maple syrup with a hint of bourbon. I want it to be bourbon with a hint of maple syrup, which I think it absolutely is.

Ironclad Missouri Toasted Oak Cask

Joe Winger:

The maple syrup is so subtle, almost a tertiary flavor to it.

Moving on to the Missouri Toasted Oak Cask.

Owen King:

This is a double oak bourbon. With double oaking, what you’re going to do is exactly how it sounds.

You’re going to go from one new charred oak barrel. But instead of a second new charred oak barrel, we’re going to go to a lightly toasted barrel.

So my analogy for this is you’re sitting at a campfire and you’ve got a marshmallow. You’re roasting your marshmallow over the flame and it gets burnt. It catches on fire. So now you’ve got that roasted marshmallow where you’re still gonna eat it because it’s a roasted marshmallow.

So you eat it and it’s still sweet. But it’s got that sort of maybe a bitter acrid note just cause you burnt those sugars. You haven’t toasted them.

Now you take another marshmallow. You’re a little more patient this time. You’re going to stick it down in the coals and you’ll slowly rotate it until you’ve got that perfectly golden brown marshmallow.

When you taste it, it’s now twice as sweet because you just caramelize those sugars as opposed to burning them.

It’s the same with a charred oak barrel to a toasted oak barrel. With that charring of those oaks, you’re gonna you’re still gonna have that sweetness. We’re amplifying that sweetness with the toasting of the oak.

With this one you get those softer vanilla flavors like toasted marshmallow. You get a cookie dough flavor, maybe it’s raw cookie dough without the chocolate chips.

Joe Winger:

That’s amazing. mmIs there an extra bottle when I come down there, I’m in the tasting room, another good bottle we should ask for?

Owen King:

Another one that we have right now that is a very limited run. Very small release is our blueberry mead cask finish.

We give our barrels to a meadery in Williamsburg, Virginia and they make this blueberry honey mead. So now they have this bourbon barrel aged blueberry mead. And when they’re done with them, they give them back to us.

You’re not necessarily overwhelmed with [a] heavy blueberry flavor but it opens up to this really nice fruitiness and then like a fermented honey flavor on the front end.

It’s so unique, but it’s great neat on the rocks.

Joe Winger:

If we come down for the weekend, we visit the distillery in Newport News. What’s a tour like?

Owen King:

If people aren’t the biggest bourbon drinker, I want you to walk away saying, “Okay, I found something that is made with bourbon that I like.”

We are a distillery that only makes bourbon.

I want to make sure that everyone who comes here has something they can enjoy. This isn’t an uppity bourbon bar.

I want someone to come and be able to say, I’m not the biggest bourbon fan. What kind of cocktails do you have?” We always have a cocktail on every single menu that’s open for everyone.

Everyone’s going to love it and whether you’re a big bourbon fan or not. We just really want to be accommodating. We want to be a fun place for everyone to hang out.

We want to tell our story, the history of the Ironclad ships. Go through our distillery tour, we’ll show you that. If you want to know the history of Fredericksburg, or the history of What the bed and breakfast is we’ll tell you that.

Nothing pairs better with bourbon than a good story. And we really care about spreading that word.

Joe Winger:

Whether it’s a romantic getaway, a weekend getaway, why choose your bed and breakfast instead of a hotel?

Owen King:

While we’ve only had it a short time. But we’ve been adding things here and there. You’re going to get a fresh orange juice in the morning, made with the oranges that we used for our old fashions [last night].

We have our barrel aged maple syrup for your pancakes. So you’re going to have that maple syrup with a hint of bourbon.

Ironclad Inn

We really drive home that it’s a bed breakfast and bourbon experience. Get immersed in the bourbon culture. That’s our goal.

Joe Winger:

Any favorite bourbon and food pairings?

Owen King:

Bourbon’s wonderful for food pairings.

We’ve gone from pasta pairings to pizza pairings. Anything that’s fatty is a perfect pairing. Pork belly with a cherry reduction over top of it with one of our bourbons straight

We have this bourbon cream, Buzz’s Bourbon Cream, where it’s made with our small batch bourbon that’s infused with coffee beans, cacao nibs, and vanilla beans. That one over vanilla ice cream is perfection.

You’re adding a little booze, some coffee, a little bit of chocolate.

You take a bite and all of a sudden you had three scoops and it’s gone 30 seconds later.

Joe Winger:

What’s the best way to learn more about Ironclad Distillery and Ironclad Inn?

Owen King:

We have our website at ironcladdistillery.com. All of our social media Facebook and Instagram.

What Does Paris Hilton Order in the Lehigh Valley? She Brings Back The Cosmo with new Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection

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What Does Paris Hilton Order in the Lehigh Valley? She Brings Back The Cosmo with new Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection

By Ruben Kellermen — 5 months ago

What Does Paris Order in the Lehigh Valley! She Brings Back The Cosmo with new Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection

Absolut is officially announcing its brand partnership with artist and businesswoman Paris Hilton and her next-gen media company, 11:11 Media, as two icons bring back the Cosmo in culture through a new drinkware line, music and events.

Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection

As the Official Vodka of Coachella, Absolut and Paris gave fans an easter egg of the collaboration at the ultimate mixing grounds with her surprise appearance at the Absolut.LAND activation, and now, the Sliving Cosmo festival serve is getting a new drinkware glow up to enhance everyday happy hours.

Introducing the Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection – an all-new blush pink Cosmo-inspired drinkware line available exclusively on Amazon starting today.

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Building on Paris’ best-selling cookware line, the collection marks Paris’ first foray into drinkware that includes three styles of short-stemmed, hand-blown martini glasses available in a set of two ($29), as well as an insulated pink cocktail shaker with gold accents and a gold jigger ($25).

“From teaming up with Absolut

for my first live show last summer

through personal celebrations and professional events

this year, I’m so excited to announce my new drinkware line

designed to be enjoyed with an Absolut Cosmo,”

Paris Hilton

CEO of 11:11 Media

“Let’s live our best life this summer by bringing the Cosmo back – whether entertaining at home or at one of my upcoming shows.”

Crafted using Absolut Citron with its fresh, real citrus flavor, the Absolut Cosmo is a light and refreshing cocktail that can be sipped casually at home, yet sophisticated enough to be at the center of any event.

Absolut Citron is part of the history and culture of the Cosmo going back to the ’80s, and now decades later, this cocktail continues to be an icon. While you can make the Cosmo with different flavors of Absolut like Wild Berri or Watermelon as a versatile cocktail, the classic is made with Absolut Citron.

“The Absolut Cosmo is an iconic cocktail for a reason, and with its latest resurgence, we’re thrilled to be partnered with Paris Hilton to bring the timeless allure of the cocktail to life through this new drinkware collection,” said Matt Foley, VP of Marketing, Absolut. “As a brand born to mix, Absolut looks forward to bringing people together this summer over Cosmo-inspired celebrations.”

To purchase the Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection and learn more about Cosmo recipes, please visit www.absolut.com/en-us/Cosmo and follow @AbsolutUS.

ABSOLUT SLIVING COSMO
1 1/2 Parts Absolut Citron
3/4 Part Triple Sec
3/4 Part Cranberry Juice
3/4 Part Lime
Garnish with orange twist
Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist.

ABOUT PERNOD RICARD USA
Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA., the world’s second largest spirits and wine company.

Pernod Ricard employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI) and is part of the CAC 40 index.

The company’s leading spirits include such prestigious brands as Absolut Vodka, Avión Tequila, Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlúa Liqueur, Malibu, Martell Cognac, Olmeca Altos Tequila, Beefeater Gin, Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, Código Tequila, Monkey 47 Gin, Seagram’s Extra Dry Gin, Malfy Gin, Hiram Walker Liqueurs, Midleton Irish Whiskey, Redbreast Irish Whiskey, Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Lillet, Jefferson’s Bourbon, TX Whiskey, Smooth Ambler Whiskey, Rabbit Hole Whiskey, Pernod and Ricard; such superior wines as Jacob’s Creek, Kenwood Vineyards, Campo Viejo and Brancott Estate; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouët Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa sparkling wines.

Pernod Ricard USA is headquartered in New York, New York, and has more than 1,000 employees across the country.

As “creators of conviviality,” we are committed to sustainable and responsible business practices in service of our customers, consumers, employees and the planet. Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active program to promote responsible drinking.

For more information, visit: www.pernod-ricard-usa.com.

ABOUT 11:11 MEDIA
11:11 Media is a global, next-gen entertainment company at the center of pop culture – connecting content, community, and commerce – founded by Paris Hilton and entertainment industry veteran Bruce Gersh in 2021.

The company spans a broad array of businesses including film, TV, audio, music, books, consumer products, digital and web3, with passion points around lifestyle, fashion, beauty, wellness, art, travel and more. Elevating brands, building communities, and driving social impact through the power of storytelling, experiences, and products is the core mission of 11:11 Media.

DC Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals

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Lehigh Valley Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals

By Joe Winger — 5 months ago

Lehigh Valley Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals

Whether it’s a wedding, party, or just drinks with dinner. We want taste. Maybe we want a few drinks. We also want to protect ourselves from tomorrow’s hangover.

It’s hard to find a drink that can take day to night quite like a Greek rosé and Aphrodise wants to prove it to you.

Frank Schilling, Co-Founder of Aphrodise

Today’s conversation with Frank Schilling from Aphrodise has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

Joe Winger:

Our audience is foodies. We’re wine lovers. What’s the most important message today you want to share with an audience of foodies and wine lovers?

Frank Schilling:

I’m an Epicurean myself. I don’t have a lot of pretense around my love of food and wine, I just love great food and wine and I’ve tasted so many great things.

I’m a character who hasn’t had a meal at home in 22 years. As an internet entrepreneur, I used to work, literally seven days a week for many years and eating out was my escape from my work because it’s the one place my laptop and phone couldn’t rule the day, or the moment.

For me, eating out was that escape and that vacation of the moment.

I created a life around dining out probably like many of your listeners or viewers. And I have a deep well of respect for great food and wine and also for the people who admire it and chase it, it’s a, it’s one of the great things in life.

I’m always stunned by people who don’t truly love food. I feel like they’re missing something and leaving part of life on the table.

Discovering Aphrodise sparkling wine

Joe Winger:

You have this new discovery. Let’s talk a little bit about Aphrodise. Tell me about how you discovered the grape varietal?

Frank Schilling:

I’m a wine lover. I tasted my way through Bordeaux and Burgundy.

All the way through, I could never really tell a Merlot from a Cab. I’d be lying to you if I said I knew what a Nebbiolo or a Valpolicella was and how all those grapes differed from each other.

I do enjoy great brands of wine. I do understand the difference between years and what impacts a year.

But when I was building [my restaurant] it was COVID. I was doing some fingertip math and I realized we’re gonna have to start bringing over a lot of sparkling [wine] for mimosas and for brunch. It was 300 seat restaurant, two seatings, 600 seats on a brunch [shift].

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You start to do the math and you realize, “Wow, 52 weekends a year, bottomless mimosas. I’m going to need about 3,000 bottles of wine per quarter of champagne. So let’s go out and get some. We live on an island and supply chain management wasn’t really an option.

So we started to taste through different varieties of champagne.

I came to discover what Tom Cruise did in [the movie] “Cocktail”, which is, champagne is like perfume going down, but like sewage on the way back.

It comes from a well meant place, not mean spirited towards the great region of Champagne.

Joining the Aphrodise sparkling wine party

It’s just the nature of Champenois produced wine and that Chardonnay grape that makes a beautiful champagne is such that you just can’t consume a lot of it in the heat or humidity in the sun.

Traditional Champagne vs Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

It just isn’t the type of forgiving libation that lets you function afterwards and you don’t feel good.

The yeast isn’t good for a lot of people. Not everybody’s impacted the same way but, a large portion of the population doesn’t do well with champagne and heat in sunlight as a day drink.

The recovery profile isn’t something that people look forward to.

Aphrodise from the grape varietal called Xenomavro

I discovered that I’d had that problem myself for years. The yeast wasn’t working for me.

So when I discovered Aphrodise, it was a grape varietal called Xenomavro.

A high altitude grape, Greece’s most noble grape.

It’s a very forgiving drink. In a sparkling format, it’s something you can drink in the heat, it’s something you can drink in larger quantities, I can tell you that the recovery profile, for me and for many others, is exceptionally good.

Meaning you can drink a lot of it and bounce back and go again.

As a wine producer, that’s music to your ears. But it’s also nice knowing I’m making people feel better. I’m not putting something in the market that’s going to make you feel sick after overconsumption.

At a party enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Joe Winger:

Just to give a little backstory. Frank, I hope you’ll talk to us a little bit about one of your first adventures. You mentioned you’re an internet entrepreneur, you had some success with website domains.

Can you explain a little bit about that and maybe a lesson you learned from that journey?

Frank Schilling:

It’s a lesson that some of your listeners and viewers probably have some experience with.

I registered a domain name back in the dot com era. Then I registered 2 [dot com names], then 10 and I got some generic names like wine.com , cars.com. Names like those.

I started to realize, wow, these names have value.

I wound up registering a lot of generic names and then I had difficulty managing them because in those early days of the Internet, it was all very unwieldy. The infrastructure for managing those names.

So I created a lot of that management infrastructure. Then in the process, grew that business over a 20 year horizon and wound up selling the 3 companies that comprised that enterprise to a company called GoDaddy, which we’ve probably all heard of.

So some of their infrastructure was my infrastructure and is now their infrastructure.

To the extent you like the new GoDaddy offering for managing domain names, you’re welcome, for the small part I played in helping that become a reality.

In the old days, I was traveling a lot. I had an office in Manchester in the United Kingdom, one in Newport beach in California and my main office here in the Cayman Islands. I would travel between the offices, New York, Miami and many other cities, just for work all around the world.

Enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

At the beginning of COVID that all came to a grinding halt. I sold those businesses and decided that with my love of food, if I was going to stay in the Cayman Islands, I realized I’m gonna have to eat at home more and I realized, the offerings of restaurants wasn’t the depth was hoping for.

So I built the restaurant, as a result of that that then led to Aphrodise.

Joe Winger:

I love the full circle of it.

Since we’ve mentioned the restaurant once or twice. Can we hear more about your restaurant Mykonos Cayman?

Frank Schilling:

Sure. During COVID lockdowns, there was a new plaza going in on the beach and I had mentally designed a restaurant years ago, but sold the real estate for it.

So when I saw the plaza going up, I was crestfallen. These guys built my dream on their land. My fantasy of what a place would look like. But then I was happy to learn that the plaza was a strata titled affair. It wasn’t owned by one conglomerate.

So I bought into that plaza so I could control the real estate. Then once I had the real estate I did a sort of “money no object” fit out that left a very residential-looking restaurant really quite beautiful.

I love the culture of Greece and I love the idea of the long lunch and the lack of pretense in the party and [being] all welcoming, with children, grownups will dance on the table and get really carried away.

The kids are running around. It’s all very loving and family oriented.

Whereas, Ibiza is a little more drug fueled and party, ragey and a little more intense.

I loved the soulful day party of Greece. We’re on an island and the Greeks are on islands. So I thought how nice it would be to bring some of that to my reserved island here in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is more of a place you quietly go to escape and enjoy the beach and family.

It’s not really a St. Bart’s where you go to seek out a great party. I always hoped that there’d be room for at least one place like they have in St. Bart’s here.

So I built a really big place, 320 seats, super residential, relaxed, welcoming, But completely devoid of pretense. You can come in, flip flops and shorts, or you can come in a beautiful gown as we’d hope in the evening.

But we don’t have a lot of structure and posture around it. We want you to feel free when you come. So that, I built that venue here, and you can see it online.

It’s called Mykonos Cayman. We have an Instagram where people can learn about the restaurant.

When you come, please come for a glass of Aphrodise on me. Mention Frank said I could have a glass of Aphrodise

Joe Winger:

You introduced Aphrodise at the Las Vegas Wedding Show. How did it go? Why do you think Aphrodise is the best drink to have at a wedding?

Frank Schilling:

It’s the color of love. It’s a beautiful color of red.

We took it to the wedding show because I thought that wedding planners would share the same pain point that I discovered as a restaurateur. Which is, if you want to buy a bottle of great champagne, easy, you go to the liquor store.

But when you start getting up there and you need 100 cases for an event or a series of events, getting that quantity consistently and getting a good product is actually quite difficult. And expensive.

So we thought we’d introduce Aphrodise.

Knowing that we could go directly to the wedding planners and help their fulfillment and execution and deliver a better product.

Something that people could really lavish in the heat or at an after party where you’re really enjoying the bubbly and then feel better in the morning. That was really the goal.

My first champagne experience was at a wedding and I drank a little too much. For the next day or two, I was laid up.

So we try to bring something to market that is good for people or at least makes them feel good in the moment and helps them recover.

We had a line all day. I poured a 5,000 servings of Aphrodise that day. People loved it.

Let me tell you, that’s a lot of work, opening bottles. It looks very glamorous. But when you’re really going at velocity, my hands hurt at the end of the day.

We got a lot of upstart business out of that. People were like, “Wow, this stuff is actually quite good.’

Joe Winger:

Let’s talk about flavor profile.

Pouring out 5,000 samples, what’s the most common feedback we get about the flavor, aroma, the mouthfeel, what are we experiencing?

Frank Schilling:

So when you sip a drink and you talk about mouthfeel or we have a glass of wine or champagne and you have a sip and there’s a little bit of a yeasty, gamey after taste.

For some people in red wine, it can be somewhat desirable.

In champagne, unfortunately it stays with it as well.

When you’re having champagne, which is more of a celebratory libation, that’s not a desirable quality. You want to have something that finishes clean in your mouth.

If you have lots of sips, you’re going to get a good buzz. You want to be able to recover quickly and elegantly without that headache that comes from the yeast and all those elements that bring its flavor.

So the taste of Aphrodise is a very clean mouthfeel and it finishes with a light crisp apple or cherry. Some people taste strawberry.

It’s a small bubble. Very light charmat, produced in small vats, a naturally produced bubbly effect. It lives in tanks for 3 months and it gains its bubbly in a natural way.

A little more expensive to produce that way. Prosecco, for example, will carbonate. They’ll add carbonation just like you would to a can of soda.

We don’t carbonate. We allow the bubbly to form naturally through the fermentation process, which is how it should be.

Co-Founders of Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Joe Winger:

When it comes to food and wine pairing. What would be your favorite dish to pair with a glass of Aphrodise?

Frank Schilling:

Aphrodise is literally the only thing that I drink, and I’m crestfallen when I can’t find it.

It’s a dark rosé so it goes nicely with meat – a burger or a steak. Chicken or fish. It’s also a great dessert drink.

I like Aphrodise as a warmup libation and as an after dinner, like celebratory drink if you’re having a party, there’s an after party.

Joe Winger:

You’ve done a lot in your life. You’ve had a lot of adventures, a lot of successes.

Any inspiration or lessons you can share with the audience?

Frank Schilling:

The answer is love for people and love for living your best life, love for conviviality. I have a lot of love for the people that I encountered that have helped me in my journey. Those who’ve just been a part of my life, there for a season or there for a reason, as the saying goes, I try to embrace everybody.

See the good in everybody. There are people you click with more than other people. I say yes to everything unless it hurts me. I have a real lust for life and a good energy level.

Joe Winger:

If you’re loving Frank’s energy and his positivity, you wrote an amazing book. Would you mind giving us a summary of the book and what it was like writing it?

Frank Schilling:

It’s called Omnia Vincent: the universe wants you to win.

I wrote the book as I’d sold my businesses. It was during COVID lockdowns and everybody was [going through a] “The end of the world” mood type thing at that time.

You write a book like this for your grandchildren. If one day they want to know more about grandpa and did our success come from or where did our financial wealth come from?

It’s nice for them to know a little about the person who tried hard and maybe you can see something in yourself. So I really wrote it for my future ancestors.

I want to be the guy who left something for the grandkids and great grandkids to understand a little about my brain. And it’s really just written in short micro chapters.

Joe Winger:

Because you’re an epicurean, if you’re going to have any plate for dinner tonight, what would it be and why?

Frank Schilling:

Tonight I’m actually feeling a Pittsburgh style steak, seared on the outside. I haven’t had good red meat in about a week, and we just got some A5 Wagyu at the restaurant Our chef is a butcher and he’s also a certified Angus ambassador. So he gets great cuts.

We do a beautiful short rib burger, which is really lean short rib again on the outside with a bit of a char finish. We have a charcoal grill inside the restaurant, which is beautiful.

Joe Winger:

Thank you so much for your time. If someone wants to learn more, what are the best ways to find and follow websites, social media for Aphrodise?

Frank Schilling:

DrinkAphrodise on Instagram and the website DrinkAphrodise.com

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Perfect Passover Wines ? We asked Kosher Expert for Lehigh Valley

By Joe Winger — 8 months ago

Perfect Passover Wines ? We asked Kosher Expert for Lehigh Valley Passover 2024

Passover starts Monday April 22 at sundown and ends April 30th. But today’s conversation is about the flavors of Seder dinner.

Jay Buchsbaum

Royal Wine and Kosher.com’s Jay Buchsbaum visits to talk about flavor, tradition, tastes for every family member and what’s exciting in the wine world for 2024.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, unedited conversation, visit our FlavRReport YouTube channel.

Joe Winger: Jay, welcome back. I appreciate that you’re returning. Last time was great and we learned alot.

Jay Buchsbaum: Thank you for having me. Wow. This is great. So getting invited back for a second date, that’s really cool.

Joe Winger: Passover is just around the corner and we want to talk about different over wines to enjoy during the celebration and some great wine pairings.

I wanted to start off with what might be one of the popular new bottles – Carmel Black Cabernet Sauvignon.

Jay Buchsbaum: It’s very hot and the reason it’s very hot is because people want something that’s rich and flavorful, especially the American palate, what we call the New World style.

Opulence, fruit forward, but they don’t want to spend a fortune like you’d have to from some fancy vineyard in Napa or from Judean Hills. When it comes to Israel or the Golan Heights, and this is one of those wines where they’ve put together this at the beginning of opulence, lots of fruit forwardness, 14 months in oak and about $25.

So it’s really one of those really wonderful wines. What I noticed, and they say they forgot to do it, but I noticed that it does not have an appellation specific, except for Israel. The reason I believe the winemaker did that – I don’t know for sure – he talks about it on the back [of the bottle] that they brought the grapes from some of the finest vineyards. He chose small amounts [of grapes] from the best vineyards from different places and put them all together, carefully crafting it so that it’s big and rich and flavorful and still under $30 bucks.

Joe Winger: That sounds amazing. What are some good food pairings that you’d recommend with it?

Jay Buchsbaum: A roast would be great. On the first and second night of Passover, we don’t officially roast anything because we don’t want people to think that it was a sacrificial lamb that was done in Egypt because we don’t have it today yet.

Until the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount at some future time.

So people cook a roast in the oven, it’s not barbecued. That’s what they’re talking about from a historical, spiritual sense – but a delicious roast, maybe chicken marsala, where you have mushrooms and caramelized onions, you have a really rich flavor to go with that.

A lot of the Sephardic foods are like that too. We talked about traditional foods. Traditional foods from where? Sometimes it’s Eastern Europe, sometimes it’s Middle Eastern, and sometimes it’s Sephardic.

Lots of seders have a mix of all [cuisines] because you have melded families.

Joe Winger: Royal Wine currently has a wide roster of wine suggestions for Passover Something for every adult at the table, from Grandpa to 25 year old Grand-daughter and her boyfriend.

Jay Buchsbaum: That’s a great point. I’m going to give you the last one first only because I thought this was so much fun when I thought about it and I actually might do it.

Let’s say the boyfriend is coming over. He wants to bring you something and he doesn’t know what to get you because, he’s not that observant..

So I thought, why don’t you end the meal with something Sparkling. The Momentous Rosé. That might be fun. You go out with a pop, so to speak. There’s Vera Wang’s Prosecco Rose that’s also wonderful. Both around $20.

But if you want to go really high end, why not go with the Rothschild Brut Rosé from Champagne, which is magnificent. It’s 100% Pinot Noir, and about $100 a bottle.

So you have great diversity and accessible and quite delicious sparkling wines.

Grandpa, or if you have a real fine wine guy. You have beautiful wines from the Rothschild vineyards, the Haute Medoc. which is in the upper $30s, and then you even have Grand Cru’s LesCombes, Grand Cru Margaux as an example, and some amazing wines from the Herzog Winery in California like the Alexander Valley Herzog Reserve, or the Napa Valley Herzog Reserve.

We have a beautiful Lake County Reserve Cabernet from California. Big, opulent, delicious, mouth filling.

I start my Seder usually with a rosé. The reason for that is because you’re starting your Seder, having eaten nothing pretty much since the morning. So you’re on an empty stomach and the tradition is to finish at least the first glass. So I try to start with a rosé. It’s a little lighter, a little lower in alcohol, a little lighter in texture and, and I like to start with an Israeli wine first.

Joe Winger: Iis there a hidden gem as far as just high quality with amazing value?

Jay Buchsbaum: There’s a really wonderful wine from New Zealand.

It’s a white wine, not a red wine. It’s made by the Rothschild family, but it’s made in New Zealand, called Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc. Less than $30 for sure. Fresh, sweet lemons, but with enough acidity and structure, almost like a palette cleanser.

Joe Winger: Anything that you’re looking forward to in the next few months that wine lovers should be getting excited for?

Jay Buchsbaum: We were missing rosés from Israel for a whole year because of the sabbatical year. We skipped that vintage of roses, and so they’re back for the first time in 24 months for this Passover.

I love some of the new Italian wines. One of them to take a look at is Cantina Giuliano. it’s a boutique winery. They make 3,000 – 4,000 cases maximum. It’s run by a young couple and I just had them over at my house for Sabbath Shabbat. His wines blew people away.

I think the most exciting thing is our new winemaker and what our new winemakers is doing with our grapes. His selection and his final product over at the Herzog Wine Cellars. And that could be

Our new winemaker, his name is David Galzignato. He’s with us about three years and he has a background that is with some of the finest and smallest, medium sized boutiques.

He was going to be moving to France, going to go for his MW [masters of wine] and they asked him if he’d come and consider working with us and he did. He has been making literally blow your brains out wonderful wines so our Napa Cabernet, our Alexander Valley Cabernet are just up and down the line, the wines, especially the reds are just rich and opulent.

He got Joseph Herzog to buy a visual sorter, they range in cost between a $100,000 – 1 million dollar machine.

What they do is when the grapes come in [during harvest] and there’s something called sorting tables.

Done by hand [vineyard workers literally sorting through the harvested grape bunches, looking for] damaged or a little beat up or whatever, and they only allow the perfect grapes to go through.

This visual sorter does this electronically by computer, so nothing is missed, zero. As a result, the grape quality is much higher

Famously said in The New Yorker Years ago, “There’s only three things that matter in good winemaking. Good grapes. Good grapes. Good grapes.”

So, the fruit that we get and the fruit that we end up making wine out of is literally the most important thing.

By using these kinds of methods, which are not inexpensive. But the quality is through the roof. We’re looking to make a 100 point wine one of these days and I think it might we might get close this year.

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Lehigh Valley is Cocktail Heaven! Now Madre Mezcal offers a Gateway to a Better Taste

By Joe Winger — 8 months ago

Lehigh Valley is Cocktail Heaven! Now Madre Mezcal offers a Gateway to a Better Taste

Today’s conversation is with Ryan Fleming from Madre Mezcal. The LA nightlife veteran reveals his time working behind the bar in some of Southern California’s hottest spots, as well as the inspiration that got him to travel to Mexico, discovering Mezcal.

The aroma, flavors, science and food pairings for Mezcal.

Love Tequila? Discover the Gateway to better taste with Madre Mezcal’s Ryan Fleming

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, unedited conversation, visit our YouTube Channel.

“…I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever sold it…”

Joe Winger: Can you share the behind the scenes or how the brand itself was created?

Ryan Fleming: I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever even sold it or made a dollar doing that. So I got to actually meet Ron Cooper, who is the legend that started the Del Maguey label back in 2011.

I got to drink rabbit Pachuca with him and all these other amazing things. The reason I bring him up is he’s a kind of one of the people that we look up to, how to sustainably bring a brand and how to create culture that crosses boundaries in a sense.

He has a beautiful book that I recommend anyone to read if you haven’t read Ron Cooper’s book.

But we share a similar story. One of our founding partners, Tony Farfalla and one of my good friends, Stefan Tony’s an artist and he was literally traveling through Oaxaca doing documentaries and embracing the art and culture. He happened to meet Jose Morales, which is the first family we ever worked with.

If you have original bottles of Madre [Mezcal] before the labels have changed, it used to say Jose’s name on the bottle.

So Tony was bringing bottles back to Brooklyn in plastic water bottles and it snowballed. His friends in Brooklyn were like, this stuff’s great. Started out in plastic water bottles in 2014. I think it was 2016 when our first glass bottles actually came by and we became like of a more legit brand and company. But it started with Tony and Stefan; and they brought on our CEO and COO, Chris and Davide.

Chris actually is one of the founding driving forces in the electronic scene in the 90s in Europe. Chris comes from a very artistic, music based background. Then he went on to work for some bigger alcohol brands in the vodka world.

madre mezcal

Davide, who is our COO, my direct boss, who I love, is Italian and his whole family built furniture and he got his big break by importing and bringing furniture over [to the United States]. He also works with a beautiful high end apparel line.

“…everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label…”

So everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label. Just not wanting to make a quick buck and actually make something we can stand behind and believe in.

As the families now blossom into four, we use three: the Vasquez family, the Blas family and the Morales family are our three main producers for our red and black label, which most people are familiar with.

We just brought in Moises and he’s actually from Santa Catarina Minas. That’s a little town where all they really make is their production. It’s a town known for nothing but clay pot distillation. So if you actually use a copper pot in, in Manera and Santa Caterina Minas, you’re looked at as what are you doing? That’s not what we do here.

He’s our last and newest producer and he may be the most cowboy of them all, and he’s my favorite.

When you get to Tlaxcala, you have to walk over like a little rope bridge over like a river and stuff into the hills of Minas to see his production, and he’s got his grandfather’s old still, and he’s got his mom’s little kitchen that he wants to reopen, and it’s like a restaurant. But if you and I were to look at it, it just looks like a backyard set of tables and chairs with a cooking center.

No, this is a restaurant for the village. It’s really beautiful down in Minas. I recommend everyone, if you get a chance to go down there, it felt like the jungles in Costa Rica, cause it’s up near the hills and it’s just so green and lush up there.

“…I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years …”

Joe Winger: What got you down there? Was it for a vacation or for Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming:

So I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years and I worked for the Houston Hospitality Group for over a decade, helping run programs and menus. I worked for a couple other restaurants, but I used to work for Stillhouse Whiskey, which many people remember the terrible flavored moonshine in a gas can.

Yeah I actually sold that. I did pretty well, there was always one flavor that someone loved. I had the mint chocolate chip and I would keep it in the freezer to take care of my sweet tooth when I didn’t have ice cream. So that’s how it started.

My buddy, Stefan, who’s one of the founding partners goes, “Hey, we got this Mezcal company.” I was just basically consulting for free lunches.

One day he goes, do you want to go to Oaxaca? And I went, absolutely.

I familiar with going down to Mexico city, but I’d never been as far South as Oaxaca. So I jumped at the chance.

[Meanwhile] we all got an email from Stillhouse saying “Hey, I know things are being shaken up right now, but trust me, everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

That weekend, apparently the whole team got laid off, but I didn’t get the email untll I came home Monday. They’re saying, “Ryan, are you going to be okay? Do you need help finding work?”

So I went down to Oaxaca, met the families, broke bread with Jose Morales, got to meet his mother who blessed the roast and cooked us dinner. They offered me a job.

That was started my journey about six years ago with Madre [Mezcal ]and I’ve been with him since.

Fleming motions to tattoos on his arms and hands.

Discovering Madre Mezcal

I have it tattooed on my hand right here. I have it tattooed on my palm right here. And I think I have another one on the inside of my leg too. We do tasting events and we’ll have pop up tattoo artists all the time.

Tequila vs Madre Mezcal

Joe Winger:

You mentioned the tastings and the education. Are there quick lessons that you teach the most often?

Ryan Fleming:

Basic production, culture, financial, environmental and economic sustainability.

I don’t think people understand that Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico. Everyone thinks the Mezcal boom must be bringing so many jobs, but it really only affects about 20 – 40,000 people that live in Oaxaca for the production,

Mezcal is great because it does bring some financial sustainability to the families. Jose started off driving a taxi to pay his bills and now he’s making Mezcal in his family’s tradition. His whole family, his cousin, his uncles, they all make Mezcal for a living now.

There’s so much culture behind it. Even the old argument of did the Spanish bring over copper stills and that started distillation or does it go back to the Aztecs and Mayans? Because they found distillate and pottery from 3000 years ago. It’s those little nuances.

People really like to talk about the environmental, but giving back to the people down there by not just buying product, but giving them some ownership, which Madre does do, so that everyone has a little bit of skin in the game.

So I think Sustainability, whether it’s environmental, economical, cultural, and production. Those are the things I really like to talk about.

Joe Winger: What is the basic difference between mezcal and tequila? Or is it more complicated?

Ryan Fleming:

You could say production techniques, additives, mass production are probably the three biggest differences.

Tequila can only be made with one agave. It’s a blue weber. Mezcal can be made with the other 47-ish varietals, and that number is always fluctuating, based on classification and family genius.

Production is the big one. Tequila is made in massive factories and made with either chemicals or steam for the most part.

Whereas mezcal is actually made by hand, roasted in an earthen oven. The biggest thing that separates Tequila and Mezcal is the 1% additive rule.

Tequila can have up to 1% by volume additives, and they don’t have to tell you. That’s why certain large brands will say 100% Agave, but it’s full of additives, because it doesn’t take much with modern chemistry. Just a couple drops of glycerin or vanilla extract to change the flavor and hide all the nuances.

Mezcal can’t have any additives by law.

Joe Winger: Can we walk through the roles and responsibilities between the families that produce Madre Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming:

Yeah, the four families. Let’s start with Jose Morales. Him and his brother both make mezcal. Now they produce for us in the US exclusively. We encourage all of our families to continue making mezcal to trade. They use it for a local economy.

Every time I go down there, [their operation is growing]. When they started, they had three stills. Now there’s 12 up and running and they have solar power. It’s just so crazy to see how much the transformation has happened.

The original recipe, the blend of cuishe and espadine at 90 proof, that’s his family’s recipe. So we expanded that and we brought on Carlos Blas and the Vasquez family. Unfortunately, Natalio the father passed away a couple of years ago.

His daughters are now producing in the family’s tradition and we take whatever we can from them.

But what we do, that’s a little bit different is, we started out when it was just Jose, he was making the blend himself. Now we have them make the espadine and the cuishe separately.

All three families are part of the process. Sometimes we just get cuiche from Jose. Sometimes Carlos makes all the espadine, but Carlos is like a master blender.

We blend a cold style like Scotch does. Even though it’s not the most traditional way, all the distillation and process is as true as it can be.

But by blending post distillation allows us to keep consistency, which was a huge problem because every batch with your wild fermentation, your wild yeast and all these beautiful nuances, it’ll be inconsistent as you grow as a brand. It was hard for us to keep consistency.

But by blending multiple terroirs and three different families’ production, we can keep a consistent product that tastes the same as well as expanding and bringing on more families to help instead of just going to a large factory house and not making what I would call “traditional Mezcal.”

Joe Winger: So focusing on your background, you mentioned that you’ve been a bartender in the LA nightlife. Any memorable adventures or lessons you can share?

Ryan Fleming:

There are some stories I could tell that I probably don’t want to share publicly. But there are some amazing stories I can tell.

One of the oddest experiences I’ve ever had, I worked at Good Times at Davey Wayne’s, which is one of the most famous bars in the Hollywood nightlife in the past decade.

Paul McCartney showed up at our door.

But because our staff is younger and our door guys are a little bit younger, they thought it was an old weird British man that just showed up and they turned Paul McCartney away from the door.

‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’?

He was like, do you know who I am? The guys [were like] ”We don’t care.” Like straight up, blowing Paul McCartney off. One of our managers came out and was like, ‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’? And they’re like, wait, the guy from the Beatles?!

My manager ran out, “Please come back,” and Paul had a great time at the bar. We got him a special little area to sit down. It was a packed Saturday. It’s not a nightclub where we have gated off [areas]. Even if you reserve a table, people are inches away from you where you’re sitting at your table.

Justin Bieber showed up one time and everyone went nuts. He comes in, walks around, does a loop, comes out and goes, “I thought this was a hip hop club.” and just left.

It was a 1970s themed bar and we played nothing but 70s music.

The dichotomy between the two different generations and to see them all melt into one location was one of the coolest things about working at that bar.

Joe Winger:It’s so crowded because it’s so popular. The Houston Brothers always do such a good job.

Ryan Fleming:

Yeah. The cocktails are still really good too. For as much volume as we used to do there, the biggest thing is how can I make a really beautiful cocktail that’s still cost effective and doesn’t take 12 steps. We got really good at batching stuff and figuring out how to infuse things. Luckily our back of house was just the most amazing. Mariano is the best barback I’ve ever had in my whole life. He’s still there.

He is just a workhorse that got all the infusions. He would cook, he would infuse all of our products and he was just great. Even if we just did a jalapeno infusion on our tequila, if it got too spicy, he could break down the ratio and water it down with more products so that we could keep the spice level approachable.

Joe Winger:

What is the secret to high quantity yet high value cocktails?

Ryan Fleming:

Batching is definitely the way to do it. Any of your alcohols that are shelf stable, you want to put all of those in the proper ratios in a bottle.

Instead of grabbing a modifier and your base spirit and another modifier, you’re grabbing one bottle with a special tape at the bottom, so you know which cocktail it goes to and then all your fresh stuff.

You can’t batch the fresh stuff. It has to be separated because you put citrus in something and it goes bad in three days. Now the whole batch is bad. So keeping your fresh stuff separated.

Joe Winger: Back to Madre Mezcal. Obviously the bottles themselves are where all the power is. So let’s talk about labels and taste profiles.

Ryan Fleming:

People love our labels. Our branding is top notch. It’s one of the first compliments we always get. “Oh my God, I love your branding.”

Madre Mezcal Artesanal

Looked at Oaxacan culture and some other like medieval culture and combined the art from the two.

As far as the red label it’s the woman on the bull. It’s a really beautiful message of Mother Earth coming down and starting to share humanity and move across the world to plants and spread love. That’s why she’s on the bull. It’s the combination of animal, Mother Earth, and humans.

Madre Mezcal Espandin

The black label is a beautiful logo of a woman on the ground. She’s planting and spreading the seed of life that gives us agave and flowers and fruit and vegetables and everything else.

Madre Mezcal Ancestral

The ancestral is this beautiful clay bottle with old clay vessels from Greece that carried wine with the fluid coming out and it’s supposed to celebrate the ancestral way of making mezcal and clay pots and clay distillation.

I always love telling the story of people who say mezcal is not supposed to be aged, which is a true-ish statement in my opinion. But back in the day, everything got transferred in barrels. So Mezcal would accidentally get aged in barrels because it would travel from town to town on horseback after the product was made.

So the idea that Mezcal was never aged is it wasn’t aged on purpose.

Mezcal was accidentally aged in wood. The traditional way that people would age Mezcal is in glass and they would hide it underground.

I always tell people, if you have a beautiful bottle of Mezcal, you should open it and take it out and put a wine cork in it, or at least crack the bottle and get some air because it really lets alcohol open up and aerate.

Mezcal benefits from a resting period. Pouring it in a nice open glass, like a snifter or a wine glass, letting it sit for about 5-10 minutes will really open it up.

Madre Mezcal tasting notes

Madre is designed to be less smoky. I really hate the term smoky. I like the word roasted because what you’re tasting is like barbeque.

You’re tasting the roasting of the agave and the charcoaling and the burning of the outside agave which will affect the sugars, the caramelization.

Madre really was designed to be a more approachable mezcal. We call ourselves ”The gateway to the category.”

We want to bring people from tequila over to Mezcal so you can explore what agave spirits also have to offer.

It’s bright, clean, and smooth. I always compare it to a really nice, made tequila.

Our Espadine is actually a close cousin of [tequila’s] Blue Weber. It tastes really bright, clean and smooth. But you’re going to get some of that minerality and smoke in the end.

Like easy drinking with some earthy aromas.

Joe Winger: That night when I met you, what you handed me was my first taste of the night. I love that it was so pure and smooth. It didn’t clog up my mouth for the rest of the night.

Ryan Fleming:

I’m like you. I want to have 2-3 cocktails a night. Not just one and my palette’s done.

Our Espadine to me is a 2-3 second palette. It clears up and you get like a breath and it’s fading. Our Ensemble goes on for 10- 12 seconds. From sweet vanilla to chocolate to mineral and then to smoke. Then the smoke fades and you get just a really beautiful, crisp. It’s viscous. You can feel the oil in your mouth when you swirl it around and it makes the best Negroni.

Joe Winger: Let’s talk about food pairings.

Ryan Fleming:

I want to know if this caught you off guard, but it’s Italian food.

Very rich foods. These beautiful Mezcals are light and almost floral and fragrant, It cuts through the richness and creaminess of food.

That’s why mezcal and chocolate are consistently paired together, but that was just way too easy. There’s always mezcal chocolate pairings, but like a really nice Italian dish, something creamy and rich, like an Alfredo or a really well done piece of pizza, like a margarita or a white sauce pizza.

“…I want to know if this caught you off guard, but…”

We are working on doing some [pizza] pairings with some places in LA. Do a different slice of pizza with three different cocktails of Madre and then have a tasting at the end.

Chocolate has a big part of Oaxaca too. You can’t not have some chocolate and mezcal at the end of the night.

Espresso martinis are so hot again right now. Try making one with mezcal instead of vodka and just [see] how coffee helps open up the agave and the notes, and you’re going to get so much more going on in your cocktail.

If you pair a nice espresso martini with beautiful, dark chocolate from Oaxaca. That is your final cocktail at the end of the night, it won’t let you down.

Joe Winger: You mentioned replacing Mezcal with vodka in a martini, are there any traditional or more common cocktails we should also try replacing Mezcal in?

Ryan Fleming:

When I tell you this, it may blow your mind. Most gin cocktails are a little bit better with Mezcal.

There are certain times you need botanicals, but a lot of really good classic gin cocktails, if you sub them for Mezcal, are absolutely fantastic.

Joe Winger: I’m shocked because most gins have such unique aromatics.

Ryan Fleming:

Which Mezcal has so many of those same unique terpenes going on that it changes the cocktail, but it works.

So instead of having botanicals, you have all these beautiful vegetal and mineral notes that just come from agaves.

Joe Winger: What are the biggest misconceptions in the world of Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming:

A lot of people have a misconception, especially on the trade side, that we have grown exponentially. It’s been a lot of hard work. People think we have this massive team behind us. There’s less than 20 of us on the whole team. That includes our team down in Oaxaca, who watches over manufacturing and production for us down there.

We don’t have an office. We have a little tiny apartment in Venice for meetings.

A lot of people don’t understand the hard work that goes into creating a small brand. It’s just a lot of people working hard to create beautiful Mezcal, especially the families.

People [unfairly comparing it to] tequila. What do you mean, we can’t get more? Why is it so expensive? We have people going out hand collecting wild agaves and harvesting espadine. All of that is hand cut, hand chopped. I’ve hand cut agaves with the families.

None of this is industrialized or mechanized like tequila.

Appreciate every drop of mezcal you have, because someone put a lot of love and labor into it.

Joe Winger: Ryan, as we wrap up, let’s talk about where can learn more about Madre Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming:

We have a beautiful Instagram. Madremezcal.com is our website.

We also have this Instagram called mezcal. Learning and it’s a little short videos and little blurbs to talk about production, families, history, and culture. It is focused on Madre, but it’s not just Madre, it’s Mezcal as a whole.

If you want to know more about our families who produce, where it’s made, you can find all that information on madremezgal. com.

Our bottles are in most of your nicer bottle shops, liquor stores. In California, we’re lucky enough to be in Trader Joe’s for the Espadine and Whole Foods has our Ensemble.

If you can’t find it, go to madremezcal.com and we ship bottles to almost every state in the U S.

We’re in nine countries, too. Australia. All over Europe, Costa Rica. We’re working on Japan and South Korea as well. So I’m just excited to see the culture of mezcal just expand beyond just America and see how excited because I, when I talk to people that are in London or, people in Australia, and they’re so excited about the idea of being able to get mezcal.

Joe Winger: What is the future for Madre?

Ryan Fleming: I can’t tell you about the big one.

But, [exciting things for] our Ancestral, which is pretty new and every batch of that’s going to be hand numbered and labeled.

We’re going to start doing small batch productions that will be very limited. Then the desert waters, which we have ready for summer.

To learn more about MadreMezcal, visit MadreMezcal.com. Find them on Instagram at MadreMezcal

Lehigh loves tasting the trendiest cocktails -- Bark and Barware Shows You How with Cocktail Smoker

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Lehigh loves tasting the trendiest cocktails — Bark and Barware Shows You How with Cocktail Smoker

By Joe Winger — 9 months ago

Lehigh loves tasting the trendiest cocktails — Bark and Barware Shows You How with their cocktail smoker

Bark and Barware enters the cocktail market with their premium cocktail smoker, including 6 flavors.

Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy

Today, Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy joins us for a conversation about cocktails, creating your long-lasting drinking crew, picking the right flavors, the perfect pairings and more!

The below conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Find the full conversation at our YouTube channel.

Joe Winger: Can you tell us a little bit about your story? And what inspired you to create this cocktail smoker kit?

Harel Levy: I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last seven years. While there are no mistakes, I actually found [the cocktail smoker] by mistake. I was planning to buy something for my Dad. I usually won’t give something if it’s not 100%. So I’d rather not give a gift that I don’t really like. Because I really care about what the recipient is going to feel.

“I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. […] It’s another tool to have a great night.

I don’t want to give something cheap, because if you really love someone, you really want to make sure that everything is spot on, right?

Even on yourself, you will be more forgiven in terms of what you buy than someone else.

I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. It’s not that it’s only cool and it’s a great addition to having those nights with friends, with family. It’s another tool to have a great night.

I went to Amazon and I saw there is no one who actually sells it in a premium, wooden box. And with many flavors. I talked with [my company’s] CEO about it, what’s missing here.

Bark & Barware’s Smoker Kit

We came up with a wooden box. It came from my passion to give something that looks good.

For almost a year, we went back and forth with factories. The smoke. The flavor. Details with the box.

When we released it, we were very happy. We knew my criteria. If I can give it to my Dad, not being afraid he’s not going to like it. Then I know that other people are also going to enjoy it because I have high standards for giving a gift to someone that I love. That’s how we came up with the product and the product.

The second thing we are planning is to bring a mixologist, make it a more holistic experience.

Extend the journey with our customers, give them cocktails, give them recipes, give them ideas, The journey doesn’t end when the transaction happens for us. We want to continue to build trust and serve our customers.

Joe Winger: You have a very comprehensive website. Can you walk us through your Cocktail Smoker Kit? When we buy it what do we get?

Harel Levy: There are six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid. Ice tongs, whiskey stones. Unfortunately, we don’t include butane [gas for the torch] because shipping is very heavily regulated,

“In every smoker kit you get six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid. Ice tongs, whiskey stones.”

We have six flavors: cherry, oak, pear, maple, hickory and apple. Our plan is to listen to our customers and come up with new flavors based on what they ask for. It’s not a one-time product release. We’re going to offer refills, extensions, more.

Each taste is very delicate. The world of wine, flavor, alcohol is so wide and you can get very specific sometimes. When you do get specific, you get the best results, right?

Joe Winger: Has there been one or two major lessons you’ve learned?

Harel Levy: Initially we had more flavors. After we gave out samples and heard about which flavors were the favorite, we removed some.

Joe Winger: You mentioned flavor pairing. What’s your favorite cocktail pairing?

Harel Levy: It’s a tough question because taste is something that is extremely subjective.

We usually put it with scotch. That’s our personal preference. Our customers get very creative with their ideas. That’s why we initially started with those six flavors. But listening to customer feedback, it’s going to grow and change.

Joe Winger: Over a year of research and development, were there any unexpected surprises?

Harel Levy: A lot of people agreed with me on the wooden box. People started asking for smoke refills. They’re going through the smoke faster than I thought. When we launched, I was expecting this to be used for special occasions. But people are using it every week, all the time.

Joe Winger: In the past few weeks, I’ve been in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia. All those places have bars where they’re serving smoked drinks. Now people want to have that experience at home.

Harel Levy: That’s going to make you the hero of the party. You’re the one who brings the cool stuff. I always like to do that.

We really advise [anyone trying this] to taste all of the flavors. Not just one or two. The spectrum of what flavors someone likes or doesn’t like is very wide. You’re probably going to really like 1-2 [of the flavors], and less like the others.

Those 1-2 that you really like, we’re going to offer you refills.

When I host friends [at my house], I drink scotch and it goes well with cherry.

But it’s like a game. You try a lot of things. You find out something that you’re really going to love.

“That’s going to make you the hero of the party. You’re the one who brings the cool stuff.”

Joe Winger: This first kit is a starter kit or a sampler kit. I get those six flavors and I get to decide, “Oh my gosh, I really like this one. Now I need a refill.”

Harel Levy: Exactly. It’s exciting me on a personal level because I’m curious […]. What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?

I can play with the flavor. That will upgrade an experience for the end customer cost hundreds of dollars. I did my part, right? And for them, they’re going to be over the moon. They’re going to be super happy. It’s just going to become one of their routine.

“What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?”

Joe Winger: There are smoking kits all over the place. Dozens of competitors on Amazon. Why should someone choose Bark and Barware?

Harel Levy: It’s the full experience that we offer. It starts with the package. Then the flavors. Most of our competitors offer four, we offer six. We tasted all of the competitors and our flavor is better. Otherwise I would not have released the product.

Our post-purchase [experience] the recipes. We’re working with a mixologist to just create a mini course to go with the kit, go with specific drinks. Customers are going to have access to all of it. How do I mix it? What should I mix it with?

Joe Winger: What does the future of the brand look like?

Harel Levy: We’re planning to release big packages [re-fills] of each flavor. Second thing is the mini courses. We really want to inspire because that’s fun.

The process of drinking with friends, the process of smoking. It’s a fun process. You sit on your balcony, with friends, you open a bottle of wine as well. That’s a fun process.

Our goal is to inspire. Someone [will realize they] like a specific cocktail. We will give them all of the information on how to make it, how to mix it, then we earn a customer for life.

Joe Winger: You mentioned picking a cocktail is like picking a favorite kid. It’s so hard to do. What is your favorite cocktail to use with your smoker?

Harel Levy: Yeah, so that’s a great question. I like the combination of the apple and scotch.

Joe Winger: Because you’re a foodie, are there any specific cocktail and food pairings that you really enjoy with any of your specific flavors?

Harel Levy: My favorite is having an apple flavored scotch with a ribeye. Someone I work with loves the hickory flavor. That’s the beauty of this world, every person has their unique taste.

Shop for Bark and Barware’s Cocktail smoker hit on amazon here: https://amzn.to/3P5c42g

Learn more at: https://www.barkandbarware.com