Old Fourth Distillery

Old Fourth Distillery (O4D) is the first distiller to open in Atlanta since the Georgia state temperance movement trumped sanity in 1906. O4D opened in 2014, the same year I moved to town. In fact, it inspired me to dust off the ol' blog again several times - I vowed to stop by for a tour, tasting, and blog about it....alas it didn't happen until this week. Now back in the swing of things, I can give them a proper review. Although I'll start off by saying that my very first sample of their Lawn Dart citrus liquor product was at a neighborhood festival tent promoting a boozy lemonade at $9 for a 4oz cup. Underwhelming is being polite - it tasted like acidic moonshine straight off the still, ready to peel the enamel off your teeth. Shrugged it off as festival junk though, being poured by someone who probably didn't regularly work for the company.

Good thing I could see past that - they have a pretty decent product line. The tiny Edgewood St. facility is incredibly charming, in the heart of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood (non-residents: city-central, blocks from where the MLK historic site is). They have tastefully appointed the storefront with relics of local pre-prohibition distiller's jugs, reclaimed materials from nearby demolished buildings of the era, and even a fairly realistic bookcase-camouflage door to the restroom. It's clear they're catering to the craft spirits/ale/hipster movement, but I really didn't get a pretentious vibe from the marketing or staff at all, just a genuine respect for history and some hometown pride.

I did the tour & tasting for $10 but for $30, you can do that plus pick out a bottle of their three offerings: gin, vodka, or the citrus vodka I mentioned. The "tour" is really just getting to walk past the glass barrier to where the copper stills and bottling lines are, but it's intriguing all the same. After a short overview of distilling 101, you can get a (nose hair-singing) whiff of the three different stages of spirit formation, and the different botanicals they use in their gin.

The vodka is sugar-cane based and unsurprisingly a little sweeter than some, but certainly not mistakable for a liqueur. It's clean and neutral as vodka should be. One of their experiments to capitalize on the sweetness was to infuse it with cacao nibs - while we didn't get to sample it, I could imagine it being quite good. The gin was my favorite, bright with cardamom and citrusy with a clean finish. No spruce or overly strong juniper flavors like you get with London dry style. I will definitely be purchasing some when I get to the bottom of my Aviation bottle.

Lawn Dart, however, is the ginger-lemon vodka they are investing the most marketing in for now. Not sure why as the ginger is surprisingly not prominent and the lemon is like actual lemon essence, and not sweet like you might expect from a mass-appeal product. It would probably be ok in iced tea or...well, lemonade. It just left me confused and wanting to go back to the gin. Can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I think if O4D actually made it sweeter, or into actual lemonade or a liqueur, it might be a bigger hit. It's caught in a phase where it's not lemon vodka and not lemonade; it just needs to commit to something. They claim it's like a drier limoncello, which might be accurate but I feel like even limoncello is committed to a higher viscosity and has a fuller lemon profile. But what do I know?

Limoncello debate aside, the whole experience was fun and left me wanting more. Really tempted to throw them some cash ($75) for the "First Barrel" program that will snag one of the 200 numbered bourbon bottles and an invite to their launch party in January 2019. (Which is totally now 'a thing' with distillers.) Seems a bit indulgent, but they did pour a sample for us, and it left a great first impression. 60% corn in the mash bill, plus rye and a little barley, which leaves it on the sweeter side - akin to a Maker's Mark or the like. Curious to see how O4D compares to the other local distilleries, but that'll just have to wait!

Bull Run Distillers

Recently I was in my hometown of Portland, OR briefly and on my way home from the airport I stopped for lunch in NW and across the street, an unassuming storefront for Bull Run Distillers happened to be open for tastings. Not even 2hrs back in PDX and you know I was ready to partake in the liquid culture.

Two tasting flights offered 3 (1oz.) pours, one for $5 and a higher-end option for $10. I was curious about the aged vodka and the single batch bourbon on offer so I went with the higher-end flight. Staff must have been charmed by Mama Metrosips and me out day drinking or something because they let me sample ALL of the products for the price of the $10 flight. #yay

Really enjoyed the Starka aged vodka - not sure I've tried one before; had aged gin, but this was very different. My taste buds aren't really sophisticated enough to pinpoint why, but guessing probably due to the aging in wine barrels rather than spirit barrels. Also liked the barrel strength bourbon. Living in the South has made me a bit snooty about my bourbons now (not unlike my issues with crab outside of Maryland) but this was a very pleasing blend of flavors with a wonderfully lush roll over the tongue. Would have actually bought a bottle, but the $55 price tag felt a bit indulgent for an impulse buy. Regretting that now though.

The Aquavit was also a nice, different offering - dry and not too viscous, without the cloying anise you can sometimes get. It's taken me a long time to embrace some of the heritage tastes of my Scandinavian family like caraway, rye, and licorice, but I'm getting there. Really appreciated their efforts to curate a product line that is unique but also approachable.

Looking at their merch wall, a random memory occurred to me; this is, in fact, the company whose coaster I have accidentally cemented to my window sill. It happened so early on at this apartment that at one point I assumed someone else left it there (not actually reading the name in the logo). Now, of course, I realize the odds are no other Atlantan would have done that. #yepIdidthat Sigh. Oops. Any tips on how to remove the damn thing without damaging the paint job would be much appreciated...

Anywho, I was highly impressed by the knowledgeable, amiable staff, and wanted to bring home all the food products they had (rotating local bourbon hot sauces, ginger syrups for Moscow mules, whiskey caramels - all available in store only) but budget restraints won out. Bought a bottle of their American Whiskey, a 100% malted barley mash, with a 20% discount for having done the tasting. Pretty smooth for the price point, with a pleasant vanilla finish. Also, you get to keep the 4oz. tasting glass! Bonus. Great impromptu find in the city, and a tasty start to my visit home.

Pancakes and Prego-tinis

Out of all the friends I have who have had children (at least 21 kids? holy crap I never counted before), I have never been asked to host a baby shower, and when I've offered, others beat me to the punch. Last weekend I was super excited and honored to host a "pancakes and pajamas" brunch for a tiny crew of 6 lovely guests, almost all of which would not be drinking alcohol. YAY! Something fun to fuss about!

In preparation, I researched brunch mocktails and was frankly disappointed. They all seemed overly complicated with 8 ingredients and stupid names like Pregnant Punch. Apparently "prego-tinis/preggatinis" are a thing now. What happened to "mocktails?" Why must we always infantilize pregnant women? Ugh. Anyway. I needed something to pair with pancakes - which the guest of honor specifically requested - and yet it seemed insufficient to just do juice and coffee. Life got in the way as it is wont to do and planning time was drastically cut back. I had to improvise with orange-mango juice (Tropicana, available most supermarkets) and mango LaCroix sparkling water. Turns out, it was a passable virgin mimosa, and the crowd was pleased. Didn't even bother measuring anything in haste, just dumped a 1.5 L juice bottle and 4 (12oz.) cans of sparkling water in a pitcher and called it good. Three cheers for winging it!