THE ART OF THE COCKTAIL STARTS WITH THE CRAFT OF DISTILLING
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
…And you may find yourself with a beautiful Gin, in a beautiful bottle and a beautiful label
And you may ask yourself,”Well, how did I get here?”
Fair question.
About six months after the closure of my beloved bar The Owl House, in very late 2019, Julian
Noble and I registered Noble Craft Distillery Pty Ltd. You know…just in time…
Between license applications and figuring out which equipment to purchase, lockdown time was
spent studying online with the Institute of Brewing & Distilling UK. And between lockdowns,
spending time in Riverbourne Distillery, with Martin Pye, distilling Whisky and badgering him with
questions.
….And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large machine…and you may ask yourself,
“How do I work this?”…Water dissolving and water removing
Like many who set to make Whisky in craft distilleries in Australia and around the world, it’s not
uncommon to enter the market first with a Gin. Making Whisky properly, it takes time, as aging is
an inherit part. But Gin, oh Gin, Gin is “easy” it’s ready for market in couple of months…
Letting the days go by, the equipment arrived and the Gin making journey started.
Between reading books, listening to podcasts, hiring a Gin Guru as a mentor, Thank you Marcel
Thompson of Still Magic, distilling a “library” of scents and flavors I managed to come up with a
recipe for Noble Craft Gin but more importantly I truly fell in love with the art of making Gin and
the scientific art of distilling in general.
For the love of Cocktails
Today’s Cocktail Recipe
20 ml Noble Craft Gin
20 ml Green Chartreuse
20 ml Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
20 ml Fresh squeezed lime juice
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish: Maraschino cherry
The Last Word cocktail is mostly considered a prohibition era cocktail though it actually originated during WW1 at the Detroit Athletic club. Like may classic cocktails a celebrity asks a bartender to make them one in NYC and the cocktail becomes a hit. After prohibition it was rediscovered in the 1951 cocktail book appropriately named “Bottoms Up” by Ted Saucier but in the modern era It was Murray Stetson of Zig Zag cafe in Seattle that reintroduced to todays cocktail drinkers.
Enjoy with friends,
Cheers,
Amir Halpert