Lonely Planet Lonely Planet's Global Distillery Tour

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Distillation Process

Africa

Lebanon

South Africa

The Americas

Bolivia

Canada

Rum 101

Caribbean

Mexico

Nicaragua

Peru

USA

Bourbon 101

Moonshine 101

Asia

Indonesia

Malaysia

Thailand

Japan

Europe

Belgium

France

Absinthe: Then & Now

Cognac 101

Germany

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Netherlands

Portugal

Rakija 101

Russia

Sweden

Switzerland

UK

Gin 101

Whisky 101

Oceania

Australia

7 Weird & Wonderful Spirits

New Zealand

Cocktails

World’s Best Cocktails

World’s Top 10 Cocktail Bars

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

The verdict is in: now is an exciting time to be a spirit drinker. Not so long ago, being a fan of liquor meant your go-to drink was a G&T, a rum and coke or a whisky on the rocks, rather than a beer or glass of wine. But times they are a-changing. The explosion of craft distilleries in the past five years has transformed the global spirits (and cocktails) landscape.

This is in no small part thanks to a gin revival, kick-started by a change to UK spirits licensing laws in 2009. But craft distilling has caught on all over the world, and with it drinkers’ desire to see the places where the spirits are made and learn about the craft-masters who make them. Renewed interest in spirits has also led us to rediscover drinks that a few years ago had all but disappeared from our cocktail cabinets. Touring a centuries-old monastic distillery in rural France, for example, is just as fascinating as that hip little tasting bar in a disused warehouse in New York.

WHAT ARE CRAFT SPIRITS?

The American Craft Spirits Association stresses that what we think of as ‘craft’ is ultimately ‘in the eye of the beholder’, but broadly defines craft spirits as those made in distilleries that are independently owned and operated, produce fewer than 750,000 gallons a year, and are transparent about their ingredients, distillery location and ageing process.

Not every distillery featured in this book is a craft producer, and not all craft spirit-makers offer tours and tastings at their distilleries, but it is the (predominantly small) distilleries that are open to the public that Lonely Planet has chosen to focus on in this book: the tasting rooms where gin botanicals grow outside the front door, whisky grain is tractored in from a neighbouring farm, or ingredients such as wildflower honey are gathered from local bee hives to make rum.

In fact, the entries in this book show that one of the greatest defining characteristics of craft distilleries around the world is this desire to make use of what grows on their doorstep: be that apples in Canada, indigenous fynbos plants in South Africa, or green ants (!) in Australia.

The global gin craze, in particular, has been boosted by a heightened interest in fresh, local ingredients: many gin makers are focusing on the botanical element of the distilling process to create genuinely local products with flavour profiles that reflect the place where the spirit was made. In the UK – gin’s historic heartland – the number of distilleries more than doubled to 315 between 2013 and 2018, largely down to the so-called ‘ginaissance’. Yet the entries in this book show the craft gin trend is truly global.

And it’s not just gin that is benefiting from an artisan touch. Distillers – particularly in the USA and Australia – are concocting all manner of boozy victuals, from coffee rums to sheep whey vodka, and interesting liqueurs flavoured with spiced honey, maple or chocolate. The indulgences of a new school of mad scientists? Perhaps, but that’s all part of the fun.

WHY GO DISTILLERY TOURING?

There can be no greater transparency for drinkers than touring the distilleries themselves, handling the ingredients and tasting the spirits before labels have even been slapped on the bottles. For many craft producers, distillery tours and tastings have become a key way of raising their profile and creating a community following. Tour a distillery and you could well get unparalleled access to the master distillers, who take no greater pleasure than bending your ear to tell you how the spirits are made, what to mix them with and when to drink them – information that could never be gleaned from the back of a bottle in a shop. Stories, too, are part of the charm of touring distilleries: why a Ukrainian nuclear engineer ended up making vodka and whisky in New Zealand, or how a film and TV producer got the chance to grow his gin botanicals in an English castle.

It’s also likely that tasting at the source will get you a few shot-glasses worth of tipples that will never make it into the stores, as many craft distillers are dabbling with limited-edition spirits. Gin, for example, takes just a matter of hours to produce, meaning the possibilities for unique small batches are endless. You can be the distillery guinea pigs: all you have to do is book a tour.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Within each of the 33 countries in this book, we’ve organised the distilleries alphabetically by region. In the entry for each distillery, we’ve suggested the must-try drink or tasting experience and also recommended local sights, so distillery tourers can explore the local area in between tasting sessions.

Among the distillery entries, we’ve also included a small number of bars that are best-in-class for their selection of one particular drink, such as arak in Lebanon or tuak in Malaysia, and for which distilleries are hard to find. And at the back of the book, you’ll find a section dedicated to cocktails: our take on the best mixology magic in the world, and the bars that serve them. Bottoms up!

© Manley Spirits

THE DISTILLATION PROCESS

Distillation is what takes alcohol to the next boozy level. Here’s the alchemy that goes into making your favourite spirits, from brandy to baijiu.

FERMENTATION

All spirits begin as a liquid with a lower alcoholic volume (ABV). These are made by milling, pressing and mashing fruits, plants or grains. Yeast is added, which consumes naturally occurring sugars and creates CO2 and alcohol as by-products.

EVAPORATION

A copper pot still or a column still is filled with the fermented alcoholic liquid and slowly heated. When it reaches a temperature of 78.37°C, the liquid boils and the alcohol evaporates. It moves up the still as vapour, separating it from water.

CONDENSATION

This steam hits a condenser, where it cools and turns to a liquid – a more concentrated alcohol with an altered flavour profile. The early run-off known as the ‘heads’ is volatile and intense; the ‘heart’ comes next and is smooth and balanced; the ‘tails’ at the end contains funkier notes. Typically, only the ‘heart’ from each batch is captured.

FLAVOURING AND AGEING

Flavours can be added after distillation, or spirits can be blended together (as with whisky). Botanical flavours can also be added through re-distillation (as with gin). Meanwhile, some spirits are rested to soften and mature their flavour, which is also how they gain a darker colour.

BOTTLING

Spirits are cut with water to bring them to strength (typically around 40% ABV) before bottling. Many craft distilleries bottle, label and seal by hand, with a batch number added to each.

AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST

CAPE TOWN

Ever the innovator in food and drink, South Africa’s most progressive city is leading the country’s craft gin revolution, with local distillers infusing spirits with floral botanicals including indigenous fynbos and tea leaves. The Woodstock enclave is a hotspot for imaginative tastings and tours.

BEIRUT

Alcohol isn't widely consumed in the Middle East, but the capital of Lebanon is a hedonistic exception. Traditionally, the tipple of choice is arak – a clear spirit made from distilled wine and aniseed by many a home producer, then brought to the big city by bars such as Anise.

LEBANON

How to ask for an arak? Please baddi arak baladeh (Beiruti dialect includes a mix of Arabic, English and French!)

Signature spirit? Arak, mixed with water, ice, and sometimes a sprig of fresh mint

What to order with your arak? It’s likely you’ll get a dish of salted peanuts and/or a tumbler of carrots in salted lemon juice. If you are hungrier than that, order hummus and tabbouleh

Do: seek out arak flavoured with a drizzle of sharab al-toot, a syrup made from the mulberry crop every spring. Its sweetness tempers the burn of the spirit, which can reach 80 to 120 proof

Beirut is renowned as a hedonistic city, and you won’t find much here to disprove this reputation. But to get a real sense of Lebanon’s drinking culture, start your initiation over the mountains in the Bekaa Valley.

Unless you’re very unlucky, the day you visit the Bekaa will be gloriously bright. The Romans were the first to celebrate the Bekaa’s climate; the megalithic ruins of the ancient solar cult of Heliopolis (Sun City) still stand in the centre of the modern-day town of Baalbek. These days, however, there are certainly more grapes basking in the Bekaa sun than holiday-making UV devotionalists: the region is practically administered by militant group and Shia political party Hezbollah, which discourages immodest dress and, for that matter, drinking.

But within the vine-covered confines of the Valley’s wineries and distilleries, visitors quaff drink and guzzle food with an abandon that might make Epicurus blush. The wineries draw day-trippers from Beirut at weekends, who spend hours sampling Lebanese mezze (small plates) from heaving tables, and take full advantage of near-universal policies of open wine and arak.

In the early evening, revellers pile into cars to travel back to Beirut (make sure yours is a taxi), where the party continues in the bar districts of Mar Mikhaël and Hamra. Rounds of drinks are punctuated by doudou shots: vodka, a squeeze of lemon, a few shakes of Tabasco sauce, and an olive. Fair warning: like the Beiruti lifestyle, doudou shots are addictive.

The English word ‘alcohol’ is derived from the Arabic word al-kohl, meaning elixir or cure. Before leaving Beirut, raise a glass to those early Arab alchemists who first burned wine.

©JPRichard/Shutterstock

BAR

ANISE

Mar Mikhaël, Beirut

www.facebook.com/AniseCorridorBar; +961 7097 7926

◆ Food

◆ Bar

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In the middle of Beirut’s frenetic nightlife scene sits this cool cocktail bar resembling a James Bond movie, with suave white-jacketed barmen serving Hemingway Martinis. But Anise is also dedicated to Lebanon’s national drink, arak – a clear alcohol made from distilled wine and green aniseed, which is aged in stone amphoras and, when served, turns milky white as water is added.

It may look like pastis or raki, but this spirit is very different. Although there are some industrial producers, arak is essentially a home-brew tradition, and Anise owner Hisham Al Housein scours the mountains and valleys of Lebanon buying up small-batch gallon jars, made from village farmers who grow their own grapes, distilling with handmade copper contraptions modelled on medieval alembics.

There are always six hand-crafted araks on Anise’s drinks list, identified by the name of the village, while the producer and indigenous grape variety is kept secret. Don’t expect to see arak-based cocktails, as Hisham explains: ‘We only serve arak neat, the real way to appreciate it, as it has always been drunk by our elders.’ Arak is the perfect accompaniment to Lebanese mezze, so order the bulgur kibbeh (croquettes), stuffed with labneh and pine nuts.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Orient 499

A treasure trove of exotic oriental handicrafts, with ornate mirrors, bewitching silver sculptures, sepia photos and vintage Arabic movie posters and streets signs.

www.orient499.com

Tenbelian Spices

Hidden away in Beirut’s Armenian souk, Tenbelian stocks hundreds of different spices, nuts, dried fruits, rose petals, honey and its speciality grape walnut sausage.

Tawlet

A unique restaurant where female chefs travel from across Lebanon, preparing daily lunch buffets of regional dishes such as spicy raw beef, spinach man’oush flatbreads and minced-lamb croquettes.

www.tawlet.com

Beirut Art Residency

The latest arrival on Beirut’s dynamic cultural scene, this alternative space by the port runs residence programmes for emerging local and international artists, plus an exhibition space.

www.beirutartresidency.com

© Eric Lafforgue/Alamy Stock Photo

DOMAINE DES TOURELLES

Jdita-Chtoura Rd, Bekaa Valley;

www.domainedestourelles.com; +961 8540 114

◆ Distillery

◆ Tours

◆ Shop

There’s a unique drama to drinking arak. By itself, the thirsty might mistake it for water. Combined with water, the mixture turns cloudy – a pure, cool white that results from the microemulsification of water with the essential oil of anise. The effect is similar in all anise-flavoured spirits in the Mediterranean, but according to Christiane Issa Nahas of Domaine des Tourelles in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a winery that produces Arak Brun, arak from these vines is the ne plus ultra. ‘It’s the land here, the terroir of the Bekaa,’ she says. ‘The grapes feel very comfortable.’

Given that white grapes and anise (the latter introduced in the third distillation) are arak’s only two ingredients, they have to be the best. Domaine des Tourelles imports its anise from the Syrian town of Hina, behind the Jebel Sheikh, known since antiquity for its anise.

Arak Brun’s reputation was built during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) when money became tight and the wealthy reluctantly accepted Brun – because it was a superior, branded arak – as a substitute for wine.

The priggish may sniff, but arak is one spirit that should be drunk alongside food. For one thing, Lebanese folk tradition has it that anise aids digestion. The high alcohol content also sterilises any unwashed vegetables lurking in the tabbouleh. ‘Our ancestors invented arak for Lebanese mezze!’ says Issa proudly. Pick up a bottle or three to drink with dinner.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Baalbek ruins

Gawp slack-jawed at the soaring Temple of Bacchus in the ancient city of Heliopolis, one of the best-preserved Roman ruins in the world.

Anjar ruins

The Umayyads repurposed Greek and Roman structures to build this 8th-century city. Some columns still bear Greek inscriptions.

Taanayel Ecolodge

A mud-brick ecolodge and restaurant, surrounded by famed dairy producers. Proceeds go toward the Lebanese charity Arc en Ciel.

www.arcenciel.org/activities/ecolodge-de-taanayel/

Zahle restaurants

The strip of restaurants along the Berdawni River in the town of Zahle serve Lebanese mezze as birds chirp in the trees above. Sip your arak and nibble kibbeh nayyeh (Lebanon’s answer to steak tartare).

© Atalla/Courtesy of Domiane des Tourelles

SOUTH AFRICA

How to ask for a spirit without mixers? ‘Straight’ – English is widely used in South Africa

Signature spirit? Brandy

What to order with your spirits? Coke

Do: Beware South Africa’s ‘shooter’ culture, in which nights are punctuated by potent shots, including tequila, Jägermeister and Springbokkies (Amarula Cream and peppermint liqueur, reflecting the green-and-gold Springboks rugby top)

Spirits have been produced at the southern tip of Africa for as long as colonials have sat on the veranda extolling the virtues of G&T’s quinine for combating malaria. Africa’s oldest distillery, the James Sedgwick Distillery, traces its whisky-making history back to the 19th century, when the eponymous British sea captain arrived in Cape Town by clipper.

Today, as with many aspects of South African life, the Rainbow Nation’s various racial and cultural groups have different liquor traditions and preferences. For Afrikaners, the descendants of the Boers who fought two wars against the gin-swigging Brits, only brandywyn (brandy) and coke will do. The classic homegrown brandy brand to enjoy with your braai (barbecue) is Klipdrift, aka ‘Klippie’, and for dessert there’s Amarula Cream, a bushveld Baileys made with marula fruit.

Dedicated liquor lovers can also seek out the Boer moonshine known as mampoer, a potent peach brandy that’s popular in northern farming towns; containing 50% to 80% alcohol, the drink is one of the strongest worldwide. It was named after the pugnacious 19th-century Pedi chief Mampuru by small-holders, who gained their land as a result of his conflicts with the colonial authorities. The Cape’s equivalent poison, clear brandy distilled from grapes, is known as witblits (‘white lightning’), but we recommend concentrating instead on the region’s burgeoning craft gin scene. Developing the traditional, juniper-dominant gins introduced by the Dutch and British, canny distillers are creating botanical infusions using the indigenous fynbos vegetation, part of the Unesco-protected Cape Floral Kingdom stretching roughly from Table Mountain to the Garden Route. Watering holes dedicated to ‘mother’s ruin’ abound in the Mother City, while Bascule Bar at the luxurious Cape Grace Hotel has one of the southern hemisphere’s largest whisky collections.

© michaeljung/Shutterstock

TIME ANCHOR DISTILLERY

7 Sivewright Ave, New Doornfontein, Johannesburg, Guateng;

www.timeanchor.co.za; +27 72 495 1983

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◆ Bar

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Johannesburg’s first craft gin distillery is housed in a small warehouse on the edge of Maboneng, a vibrant, regenerated area of the city’s gritty downtown. Rather than tours, Time Anchor specialises in structured tasting events (check the website for dates). The main event is sampling the distillery’s colourful ‘Mirari Trio’ of gins, crafted from all-natural ingredients and handpicked botanicals. The Blue includes grains of paradise, from a peppery tasting plant native to West Africa, and cubeb pepper, native to Indonesia. Amber uses Boekenhout raw honey, the much-revered rooibos, and fynbos. The Pink gin, with damask rose, green cardamom and an infusion of natural rose water, is perfect in the Blackberry G&T, using Fentimans pink grapefruit tonic and blackberry G&T jam.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Main Street Walks

Explore Maboneng – ‘place of light’ in Sotho – on an interactive tour with an in-the-know local, including a visit to the oldest traditional healers’ market in the city.

www.mainstreetwalks.co.za

Market on Main

This buzzy Sunday food market has grown out of Maboneng’s first creative hub, Arts on Main, and is the go-to place for pan-African produce, as well as local design.

www.marketonmain.co.za

BAR

WILD ABOUT WHISKY

506 Naledi Drive, Dullstroom, Mpumalanga;

www.wildaboutwhisky.com; +27 13 254 0066

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Dullstroom is not what you expect to find in sunny South Africa: this is trout-fishing country, as well as one of the country’s coldest towns, thanks to its location above 2000m on the Highveld plateau. Inspired by this bracing setting, Wild About Whisky offers the southern hemisphere’s largest whisky menu, featuring well over 1000 whiskies, 45 tutored tastings and a shop with 300 bottles.

Whisky-worshipping staff, who tour the Scottish distilleries annually, guide you through tastings with themes such as Islay malts, American bourbons, 18-year-olds and ‘to peat or not to peat’. The tastings of six half-tots (15ml servings) also cover other spirits from craft gins to tequilas. Don’t miss educating your palate with tastings themed around the latest distilling trends, such as Scotch single malts without age statements.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve

Rock formations and waterfalls punctuate a drive through the world’s third-largest canyon, where the Drakensberg Escarpment meets the Lowveld.

www.mtpa.co.za

Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre

Learn about raptor species and the dangers facing them, with flying displays involving peregrine falcons, kestrels, buzzards and black eagles.

www.birdsofprey.co.za

HOPE ON HOPKINS

7 Hopkins St, Salt River, Cape Town

www.hopeonhopkins.co.za; +27 21 447 1950

◆ Tours

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◆ Distillery

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Pioneers of the South African gin revolution, Leigh Lisk and Lucy Beard opened Cape Town’s first artisan gin distillery with three stainless steel pot stills that enthusiasts can observe on Hope on Hopkins’ popular Saturday tour. In the small modern tasting room, Leigh and Lucy make suggestions on pairings and then let guests pick and mix their own gin, tonics and garnishes. Tasty snacks such as local charcuterie and spicy olives are also included.

The duo’s gins are made with local malted barley and Table Mountain water. While they produce whimsical limited editions, such as pomegranate gin for summer, and a winter gin using sour figs and oranges; the bottle to take home is the Salt River Gin, made with wild rosemary, South African fynbos and the indigenous medicinal herbs buchu and kapokbos.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Neighbourgoods Market

Every Saturday, hundreds of fashion, food and wine stalls open around Woodstock’s Old Biscuit Mill – a paradise for eating, drinking and shopping.

www.neighbourgoodsmarket.co.za

Township Art Tour

Local artist Juma Mkwela takes small groups into sprawling Gugulethu township for a unique art tour visiting painters, vegetable gardens and a street-food canteen.

www.townshiparttours.co.za

Courtesy HOpe on Hopkins

PIENAAR & SON

1 Roeland Terrace, City Bowl, Cape Town

www.pienaarandson.co.za; +27 21 461 4993

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◆ Distillery

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Schalk Pienaar designed his own stills and had them made locally, using skills he honed during four decades working as a manufacturer of distilling equipment. His son Andre is the young gun master distiller, using the custom-designed kit to produce two gins and a vodka, made with local maize and sold in sleek Italian bottles.

Their small urban distillery has exposed brick walls and beams overlooking the shiny stills popping with pipes and valves, which can host tour-goers and also drop-in visitors wishing to sample. The dry English-style Empire Gin has refreshing hints of citrus, cucumber and pine; the Orient Gin is a must-try, with notes of vanilla, mandarin and ginger that pay homage to the maritime spice trade that influenced Cape Town in the 17th and 18th centuries.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

The Book Lounge

A short stumble from Pienaar & Son is the city’s best independent bookshop, with a winning combo of knowledgeable staff, African novels and non-fiction, and regular events.

www.booklounge.co.za

District Six Museum

The museum shows how this area, which used to be a multicultural neighbourhood, was razed under apartheid and its inhabitants forcibly relocated out of town.

www.districtsix.co.za

courtesy ©Jack Mason /Pienaar & Sons

WOODSTOCK GIN COMPANY

399 Albert Rd, Woodstock, Cape Town

www.woodstockginco.co.za; +27 21 821 8208

◆ Food

◆ Distillery

◆ Tours

◆ Shop

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This micro-distillery in bohemian Woodstock produces arguably the most innovative range in South Africa. Master distiller Simon Von Witt uses Cape Town’s lush mountain vegetation – rose geranium, honeybush, wild sage and South Africa’s emblematic fynbos flower – to impart intriguing floral aromas. But what also singles out Woodstock’s signature Inception Gin is that it has two different labels – and flavours – depending on the base alcohol used to make it. The first (white label) uses a blend of local chenin and sauvignon grapes; the second (yellow label) uses a craft Weissbier base for a punchier, more caramelised spirit.

Woodstock’s most original creation is High Tea Gin, which features South Africa’s distinctive rooibos leaf, more well-known for making tea. Von Witt conducts tastings at tables facing a glass wall with the distillery’s pot stills and vats on the other side (also open to walk-in drinkers). His method is to lead tasters through all his gins neat, then get them to sample again using craft tonic waters with creative garnishes such as gooseberry and rosemary, cinnamon bark or orange peel.

THINGS TO DO NEARBY

Zeitz MOCAA

This revolutionary museum, dedicated to contemporary African art, is located in a stunning, immense 1920s concrete grain silo right on Cape Town’s harbour waterfront.

www.zeitzmocaa.museum

Woodstock Grill and Tap

The city’s best beer pub offers tours of its brewery, eight artisan ales, juicy steaks and healthy salads. Its latest innovation is craft gin and tonic on tap.

www.woodstockgrill.co.za

Biesmiellah

Order a spicy feast of Cape Malay dishes at this Bo-Kaap canteen. You’ll get to savour dishes such as bobotie and kingklip curry, which are influencing chefs all over the city.

www.biesmiellah.co.za

Street Art

Graffiti artists have transformed Woodstock’s backstreets with murals. Wander between Albert and Victory, Barron and Essex streets to witness