S P I R I T S M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 1 5

Hi ghballAccidental Vodka Guru:

TITO’S RISE TO CRAFT SPIRIT FAME

B O U R B O N F O R B R U N C H

Rum so pure, it’s criminal

Highball is a quarterly

publication of ABC Fine

Wine & Spirits. Copyright

2015 ABC Liquors, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Not all products are

available in all stores. If the

product you’re looking for

isn’t available, ask us to

order it for you!

Meghan Guarino

Editor

meghang@abcfws.com

Allie Smallwood

Contributing Editor

allies@abcfws.com

Lorena Streeter

Contributing Editor

Become Lord of the Grill

Win a cow’s worth of beef,

a freezer to put it in and

best of all, a year’s supply

of Lord Calvert Whisky.

Enter now through

September 7 for your

chance to win.

LordCalvertGiveaway.com

Like us on Facebook for

more Lord Calvert prizes!

abcfws.com

Highball 2

Get your shakers and strainers ready— this issue is chock-full of summer cocktail

ideas and smooth spirits.

3

5

6

THE ROBIN HOOD OF RUM

Public enemy #1 brought us some of the purest rum around and we’re still drinking it 95 years later

BLOODY BOURBON

Swap vodka for bourbon for a more complex Bloody Mary

TALKING TO TITO

How Tito Beveridge accidentally became the first craft distiller in America

SHAKEN, STIRRED OR SMASHED?

Grab your muddler and get to work—you’ve got some fruit to smash

DRESS UP YOUR SPARKLER WITH ST-GERMAIN

Light and delicate, this elderflower liqueur is just what you need for summer celebrations

7

8

QUICK TIP: MUDDLING

Summer calls for fresh ingredients and fruity refreshers. The best way to incorporate seasonal fruit is by muddling. Muddling releases the juices and pulp, allowing the flavors and color to fully contribute to your cocktail.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Mixing glassMuddler

WHAT TO MUDDLE

Fresh fruitFresh vegetables

WHAT NOT TO MUDDLE

HerbsEven though commonly regarded as acceptable, muddling ingredients like rosemary, basil or mint will bruise the herbs, causing them to contribute unwanted bitter flavors. Instead, add these ingredients just before shaking to get the fresh aromatics you desire.

GET STARTED

Place your fresh fruit or vegetables in your mixing glass. Press down and twist the flat end of your muddler on your ingredients until they are limp and mushy. Add any herbs, spirits, ice and other ingredients, then shake. Strain into a glass to keep any pips and pulp out of your smooth-drinking cocktail.See page 7 for refreshing cocktails, muddler required.

Get more online at abcfws.com, keyword: muddle!

The Robin Hood OF RUM

Imagine hopping in a boat, sailing out to

sea about 3 miles, and floating next to an ABC

Fine Wine & Spirits yacht in order to buy your

favorite liquors. If that sounds mildly fun to

you, then you would’ve loved living during the

heyday of rum running in the Prohibition era.

Even if boating to gather your liquor doesn’t

sound bothersome, you would then have had

to worry about the quality of your rum.

Perhaps it was cut with a little turpentine,

diluted with a pint of wood alcohol or prune

juice. An entire league of harsh chemicals

often adulterated spirits in those days.

Enter: Sea Captain William (Bill) McCoy,

a tall, dapper, ethically sound gentleman.

Also known as the most wanted man of

the Prohibition era.

Prohibition started on January 16, 1920, and

began as an effort to morally realign Americans.

By the early 1900s in the United States, 20

gallons of hard alcohol were being consumed

per person; that’s eight times the amount con-

sumed today. Domestic violence, poverty and

disease were running rampant due to out-of-

control alcoholism, the government suspected.

It was a time of wet versus dry and the wets felt

coerced into sobriety under harsh government.

The country was in turmoil and so was Bill

McCoy’s life. Death of both his parents, his

wife leaving him and a sluggish economy

shifted this optimistic man into new business

ventures. One day, while working on his boat,

a man dressed to the nines pulled up in an

expensive car. He and Bill began chatting, as

friends do, and Bill discovered that this man

was profiting on the transportation of illegal

alcohol. Bill knew then and there he could do

it better, as he was bright, hardworking and

a mariner.

Setting sail for the Bahamas, he and his brother

sought liquor. Rum running had begun and

neither the Coast Guard nor the government

saw it coming.

Bill registered his boat as British, since there

was no Prohibition there, and acquired dupli-

cate transit papers stating that he could legally

move liquor from one port to another. The US

government and Coast Guard had no grounds

to interfere. Yet.

He’d made $15,000 in two weeks; much more

than he could make in five years as a boat

builder. And as long as he stayed in interna-

tional waters, he was never going to break any

US laws. Several thousand cases here, 2,800

cases there, Bill McCoy was fueling the parties

of the Roaring Twenties. Rum row was pulsing

with action, and it spanned the waters from

New Jersey to Long Island, with ports in

Miami, Norfolk and Boston.

It was a floating city of bootleggers and gangsters.

Jazz bands were hired to play on the boats,

and girls along with fine food were imported

into these floating cities. Life was good for

honest Bill, whose pure rum was a symbol and

testament to his completely genuine moral

compass. His business motto, based on honest

moral ethics, inspired the name of the rum,

“The Real McCoy.”

With flavors of vanilla, toasted caramel, honey

and bourbon aged wood, The Real McCoy

Rum, to this day, is a pure and unique blend

of blackstrap molasses and fresh Bajan spring

water, with no added ingredients.

The idea of being an outlaw in the name of

innovation is a strong fiber in the thread

of the American tapestry. It started during

the Revolution and has carried on through

pioneering Americans (criminal or not).

I’m just glad we get some good rum out of it.

A L L I E S M A L L W O O D

A copper pot still at Four Square Distillery

Four Square Distillery where The Real McCoy Rum is made, Barbados

Highball 4

Ditch the vodka and bring out the bourbon—your Bloody Mary deserves another layer

of complexity. By swapping spirits, you’re adding a touch of sweetness that balances out an otherwise

highly acidic cocktail. While vodka is the traditional choice for this iconic brunch sipper, it only

brings one thing to the table: alcohol. Instead of hiding your liquor behind a Bloody Mary’s

other ingredients, choose a spirit that will enhance this cocktail’s flavor profile: bourbon. The

spicy combination of hot sauce, bacon, tomato and citrus are especially complemented by Basil

Hayden’s pepper and honey nuances.

4 oz Tomato juice

1 ½ oz Basil Hayden’s Bourbon

1 ½ tsp Fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp Horseradish

½ tsp Worchestershire sauce

½ tsp Fresh cracked black pepper

½ tsp Salt

Hot sauce, to taste

Ice

Celery, green olives, crispy or candied bacon, lemon wedges and/or pickles to garnish

Combine tomato juice, lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt and

pepper in a mixing glass. Stir well. Fill a highball glass with ice. Add Basil Hayden’s Bourbon,

then pour tomato juice mixture in and stir to combine. Garnish with celery, green olives,

bacon, lemon wedges and/or pickles. Enjoy!

M E G H A N G U A R I N O

BLOODY BOURBON

ABC recently had the pleasure of hosting

an Instagram contest for a chance to win

dinner with Fred Noe, master distiller

of Jim Beam, the parent distillery of

Basil Hayden’s. Winners were treated to

a lavish private dinner with Noe, who

readily told hilarious stories of growing

up in Kentucky, attending college and

getting into the bourbon business behind

his father and grandfather. For more

opportunities like this, follow us in all

the right places.

@abcfinewinespirits

facebook.com/

abcfinewinespirits

@abcwinecountry

blog.abcfws.com

@abcbeercountry

pinterest.com/abcfws

Highball 5

Tito Beveridge is known to jump on the bandwagon, which

strangely explains how he accidentally started the first craft

distillery in America.

As a graduate from the University of Texas, Tito became

a geophysicist and got into the oil game. Until it tanked. Then

he got into the mortgage business. Until the rates went up. So

when he was addressed as “the vodka guy” at a keg party one night,

he took it as a sign and looked to Booker’s and Baker’s as guidance for

starting a craft distillery. Until he realized those brands are actually

made by bourbon giant Jim Beam.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I had known,” he joked, because in 1995,

diving into the liquor business wasn’t easy. After going back and forth

with the state, he finally got all the permits he needed to start Tito’s

Handmade Vodka. He sold his first case in 1997.

But before opening a full-fledged distillery, he made a name for himself

as “the vodka guy” by infusing cheap vodka with oranges, habaneros—

you name it—for his friends’ Christmas gifts. These flavored vodkas

were the first he tried to market to retailers and distributors, who

refused to make shelf space for another set of bottles to collect dust.

Flavored vodkas weren’t popular then and, according to one retailer

Tito tried to sell his vodka to, the market was saturated with standard

vodka anyway. But the liquor store owner did offer one good piece of

advice. “If you can make a vodka that is really smooth that you can

drink straight, you might have something,” he told him. So he did.

This ultra-smooth, Texas-born vodka is now the fastest growing

spirit brand in the US.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka is distilled six times (“If you distill it seven

times, my friends can’t tell the difference but if you distill it five times,

they can,” Tito laughed) in old-fashioned, copper pot stills—the first pot

still he ever built has been taken apart and welded into a bigger version.

With a silky body and a sweet corn aroma, this vodka exhibits notes

of charred grain and cracked black pepper. Tito’s team only bottles the

heart of each batch—it’s the part with the fullest, smoothest mouthfeel

that goes down the easiest.

Sip Tito’s with a splash of water and a twist of lemon, like Tito himself,

or mix it in any cocktail. This clean, clear vodka only adds another element

to your usual drinks, leaving you pleasantly surprised that a spirit can

be this polished.

Talking to TitoM E G H A N G U A R I N O

Highball 6

Highball 7

SMASHEDL O R E N A S T R E E T E R

BLACKBERRY MINT JULEP

2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Water

6 Mint leaves

5 Blackberries

Muddle blackberries in a mixing glass. Add

mint, sugar, water and bourbon. Fill with ice.

Shake until cold then strain into a glass filled

with crushed ice. Garnish with a blackberry

and sprig of mint.

MOJITO

1 ½ oz Bacardi Maestro

7 oz Club soda

2 tbsp Simple syrup

½ Lime

12 Fresh spearmint leaves

Gently crush mint leaves and lightly squeeze

lime in a highball glass. Pour simple syrup to

cover and fill glass with ice. Add rum and club

soda. Stir well. Garnish with a lime wedge and

a few sprigs of mint.

WHISKEY SMASH

2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon

¾ oz Simple syrup

4 Fresh lemon wedges

6 Mint leaves

Muddle lemon in a shaker. Add remaining

ingredients and fill with ice. Shake and

strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed

ice. Garnish with mint.

A smash, the earliest reference of which dates back to a book published in 1862, is a combination of sugar, water (or sugar water, aka simple syrup), spirits

(generally gin, rum or whiskey), mint or another herb and seasonal fruit. If this sounds more than a little familiar, it is. The Savoy Cocktail Book, dating to

1930, says “the ‘smash’ is in effect a julep on a small plan.”

What that means is this: A julep is a cocktail made with simple syrup and alcohol, typically used for medicine; a smash requires a few more ingredients.

That’s the difference. Take, for example, the mint julep. This classic Southern cocktail is famously made with bourbon, simple syrup and mint. What it lacks

is fresh fruit. But as soon as you muddle a few berries or citrus wedges for the occasion, your mint julep can suddenly be considered a smash. Try a blackberry

mint julep to get the best of both worlds.

Understandably, there are countless variations on the theme, but one of the most famous examples is the mojito. This refreshing cocktail originated in Cuba

and is made with simple syrup, rum, mint and lime. Muddle strawberries for a seasonal twist on this old favorite, or substitute dark rum for a dirty mojito

with deeper flavor.

A smash is a perfect summertime quencher, with plenty of ice, juicy fruit and flavorful spirits. Don’t be afraid to mix it up—strain the ice, add sparkling water

or double the fruit! The smash is open for interpretation and your imagination. Here are a few recipes to get you started.

Add your own ideas to the mix and show us the results on Instagram using #abcfws!

8989 South Orange Ave.Orlando, Florida 32824

Hi g

hbal

l

S P I R I T T O S I P : St-Germain

B O D Y :

smooth and sweet

F I N I S H :

lingering with notes of exotic fruits

P R O O F :

40̊ S E R V E :

with a dry wine, especially Champagne

with a lemon twist

Highball 8

C O L O R :

light goldO N T H E N O S E :

sweet and bright with evident notes of elderflower blossomsT A S T E :

delicate and subtle hints of passionfruit, candied grapefruit, pear and lemon tied together by elderflower nectar

Visit our Facebook page on July 15 for a chance to win a St-Germain bike!