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By in Cooking & Baking Comments Off on Mad River Whiskey Stew

Mad River Whiskey Stew

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Mad River Whiskey Stew

  • Author: Mad River Distillers, adapted from cdkitchen
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
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Description

A hearty and savory stew made with lamb (or beef), rainbow carrots, potatoes, onion and our Bourbon Whiskey. It’s the perfect meal for a winter evening or a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup of onion 
  • 5-6 rainbow carrots (purple, orange & yellow)
  • 1 pound of lamb or beef stew meat
  • 10-12 small yukon gold potatoes
  • 2 cups water 
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • ¼ cup Mad River Distillers Bourbon Whiskey
  • 2 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp dried thyme leaves
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • ½ cup water

Instructions

  1. Cut the onion into chunks and place it in a 4-quart pot. 
  2. Peel the rainbow carrots and cut them into 1-inch chunks, then place them in the pot. 
  3. Cut the lamb or beef into 1-inch pieces as well, and place them in the pot.
  4. Add 2 cups of water, 2 cups of beef broth, and ¼ cup of Bourbon Whiskey* to the pot. Bring the pot to a boil. 
  5. Add the salt, thyme leaves and black pepper to the pot and stir until well combined. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the stew, and cook for 1 hour.
  6. While the stew is cooking, cut each yukon potato into 4 quarters so that they are bite size chunks. After 1 hour, add the potatoes to the stew, stir well and replace the lid. Continue cooking for 30 minutes.
  7. In a small bowl, combine 3 tbsp of flour with ½ cup of water to create a slurry. After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the pot and stir in the slurry. The sauce should thicken quickly. Cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  8. Serve with a multigrain batard or sliced baguette.

Notes

*This recipe is for adults only. Alcohol is retained in the meal. To make this recipe without alcohol, simply substitute the Bourbon in step 4 with water.

Recipe adapted from cdkitchen.

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Tasting at Leary’s Fine Wines & Spirits

Join Mad River Distillers on Friday, March 18th at Leary’s Fine Wines & Spirits. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 4:30-6:30 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at Table & Vine - Greenfield

Join Mad River Distillers on Saturday, March 19th at Table & Vine, located in the Big Y. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 1:00-4:00 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at Table & Vine in Wilbraham

Join Mad River Distillers on Saturday, March 12th at Table & Vine, located in the Big Y. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 1:00-4:00 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at Eddie's Liquors

Join Mad River Distillers on Friday, March 11th at Eddie’s Liquors. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 4:00-6:00 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at A Taste of the Vineyard

Join Mad River Distillers on Friday, March 11th at A Taste of the Vineyard. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 5:30-7:30 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at Nejaime's Wine Cellar in Stockbridge

Join Mad River Distillers on Saturday, March 5th at Nejaime’s Wine Cellar in Stockbridge. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 3:00-5:00 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at Nejaime's Wine Cellar in Lenox

Join Mad River Distillers on Saturday, March 5th at Nejaime’s Wine Cellar in Lenox. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 12:30-2:30 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

Tasting at The Wild Duck

Join Mad River Distillers on Friday, March 4th at The Wild Duck. There will be complimentary tastings from our line of spirits between 5:00-7:00 PM. Feel free to ask questions! Bottles will be available for purchase.

By in Blog Comments Off on Mad River Distillers “Equal Parts” Cocktails

Mad River Distillers “Equal Parts” Cocktails

How many times have you searched for the same cocktail recipe simply because you couldn’t recall the ounces required for each ingredient? Hey, it happens to the best of us! When it comes to remembering the breakdown of a particular cocktail, nothing is easier to remember than an “equal parts” cocktail, which uses the same amount of all the ingredients (though a garnish addition is often recommended). 

While there aren’t many cocktail recipes that fall into the “equal parts” category, at Mad River Distillers, we’ve pulled together 6 simple (and delicious) options that are sure to be top-of-mind the next time you ponder what cocktail to make at home.

Mad Hemingway
A riff on the Hemingway Daiquiri, this equal parts cocktail has a balance of tart and sweet with grapefruit juice, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, and our First Run Rum.

MAD HEMINGWAY RECIPE

Blood & Sand
This simple and bright cocktail features equal amounts of our Hopscotch Whiskey, Cherry Heering, Carpano Antica and blood orange juice.

BLOOD & SAND RECIPE

Kingston Negroni
The use of sweet red vermouth and bitter orange Campari are the perfect components to balance and enhance our aged PX Rum, which imparts a caramelized oak barrel influence on this equal parts drink.

KINGSTON NEGRONI RECIPE

Final Ward
This fun take on the whiskey sour cocktail created by Phil Ward features herbal notes from Green Chartreuse, cherry notes from Luxardo Maraschino, and earthy notes from our Revolution Rye. Of course, no whiskey sour would be complete without fresh lemon juice!

FINAL WARD RECIPE

1794
Combining equal parts of our Revolution Rye, Campari and Carpano Antica, this cocktail contains minimal ingredients but packs quite a lot of flavor.

1794 RECIPE

Paper Plane
Our Bourbon Whiskey shakes up with Aperol, Amaro Nonino and fresh lemon juice in this classic cocktail featuring tart rhubarb and vanilla notes, as well as earthy bark and bitter spice notes.

PAPER PLANE RECIPE

Though not strictly made from equal parts, another great cocktail to try is the La Louisiane. This cocktail recipe features equal amounts of our Revolution Rye, Carpano Antica and Benedictine, with a few dashes of Peychaud’s bitters and a scant barspoon of Absinthe added to the mix. If you like the flavor of Absinthe and Peychaud’s bitters, this one is well worth adding to your short list of go-to cocktails.

Now that you have a half dozen “equal parts” cocktail recipes at your disposal, we hope you’ll give them a try and find a new easy-to-remember favorite. Cheers!

Written by Brianne Lucas and published on February 25, 2022

Mix and Mingle with Mastiff Puppies

Mix and Mingle with Mastiff Puppies to Benefit Camp Ta-Kum-Ta!

Visit our Burlington Tasting Room to help us raise money for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a wonderful camp that provides extraordinary experiences for children who have (or have had) cancer, as well as their families. Brian Carten, a Mad River Distillers employee and volunteer at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, will be there to show off his new litter of Mastiff puppies (and future therapy dogs!).

For a suggested donation of $10, you can mix and mingle with some big, beautiful Mastiff puppies. While you're there, order a cocktail or shop from our retail section. Camp Ta-Kum-Ta will receive $2 for each drink purchased, and 10% of all apparel purchases.

Spend some time in the puppy pen!

It's been a long winter, and we all deserve a little puppy time! For a suggested donation of $10, you'll get up close with some adorable Mastiff puppies in our puppy pen. So that others may get an opportunity with these future therapy dogs, we respectfully ask that each person limits their time in the pen to 10 minutes.

 

By in Blog Comments Off on George Washington Was a Rye Distiller

George Washington Was a Rye Distiller

Our first President, George Washington, was a commercial distiller. That’s right, this is probably not the presidential history lesson you gleaned in your High School history class, but George Washington once had one of the largest whiskey distilleries in the country!

How exactly did George Washington become a distiller? In 1797, his farm manager, James Anderson (who had prior experience distilling grain), convinced George Washington (who had no experience) that distilling could be lucrative for them (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d.). With the combined crops on Mount Vernon, their large water supply and the merchant gristmill, they had several key elements in place. Construction for the distillery was underway by October of 1797 (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d.).

A man working at the Mad River Distiller on Revolution Rye whiskey

Operating with five copper pot stills and working in a space more than 2x the size of the average distillery at the time, George Washington’s Distillery produced around 11,000 gallons of whiskey—that’s almost 17x the output from the average distillery back in 1799 (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d.). It’s important to note that the incredible volume of production at George Washington’s distillery would not have been possible without the skillful work of six enslaved men, whose names were Hanson, Peter, Nat, Daniel, James and Timothy (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d.).

After the American Revolution, which ended in 1783, whiskey replaced rum as the most popular spirit in the country. Given that context, it is not surprising that George Washington’s Distillery predominantly made rye whiskey, which was made from 60% rye, 35% corn and 5% malted barley (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d.). More than a century later, rye fell out of a favor due to Prohibition and the availability of cheaper alternative grains. Even a decade ago, you would have been hard pressed to find a single bottle of rye on the back shelf of a bar. Since then, however, the spirit that was popularized and mass produced by George Washington has seen something of a rebirth, with small American craft distilleries taking up the challenge to recreate the magic of this peppery and complex distillate. Mad River Distillers is among those small craft distilleries.

Lineup of Mad River Distillers Revolution Rye bottles.

Inspired by history, our award-winning and Vermont-made Revolution Rye is a traditional American spirit that is made using local and regional rye. At Mad River Distillers, we use three distinct rye varietals, including chocolate malted rye, which lends the spirit it’s cocoa richness and finish. The rye is distilled using our German still to bring out it’s delicate earthy and peppery nuances, with hints of walnut, berry and tropical spice. The “all rye” mash bill has a portion of “toasted rye,” which releases the aromatic chocolate and mocha notes into the distillate, resulting in a rye that is both perfect sipping neat and in cocktails.

This concludes today’s brief history lesson. We hope you learned something new and wonderful about one of our favorite and historically significant spirits. If you’re interested in trying our nod to this great American spirit, visit our Purchase page to see where you can find it locally or have it shipped. 

For more information about the history of George Washington and his Distillery, visit the Mount Vernon website.

Revolution Rye awards include a Gold Medal from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, a Silver Medal from WSWA, and a Bronze Medal from both ADI and ACSA. It received 92 points from Wine Enthusiast and was named as a Top 100 Spirit.

Written in part by Brianne Lucas and published on February 9, 2022.

Reference: 
George Washington’s Mount Vernon. (n.d.). Ten Facts About the Distillery. 
Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/distillery/ten-facts-about-the-distillery/

By in Cocktails, RUM 44 Comments Off on Pink Grapefruit Highball

Pink Grapefruit Highball

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Pink Grapefruit Highball

  • Author: Mad River Distillers
  • Yield: 1 drink 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Make this bright and delightful Pink Grapefruit Highball with just a few key ingredients, including our versatile Rum 44, Fever-Tree Sparkling Grapefruit and Strongwater Virtue Bitters. 

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1.5 oz Rum 44
  • Fever-Tree Sparkling Pink Grapefruit
  • 3-4 dashes of Strongwater Virtue Bitters
  • a sprig of fresh rosemary

Instructions

  1. Add the Rum 44 to a highball glass.
  2. Fill the glass with ice.
  3. Pour the Fever-Tree Sparkling Pink Grapefruit to fill the glass.
  4. Add a few dashes of Virtue Bitters.
  5. Add a fresh rosemary sprig as a garnish.

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By in Blog Comments Off on When to Stir, When to Shake, and When to Rattle and Roll.

When to Stir, When to Shake, and When to Rattle and Roll.

Cocktail culture can be intimidating. There are a lot of hip bars with even hipper bartenders inside, shaking and stirring up cocktails. There are spirits you’ve never heard of, obscure liqueurs and strange Amari lining the shelves and populating the cocktail menu.

Let’s be honest, sometimes you smile and nod like you’re in the know, even when you’re not. How many of us have secretly looked up an ingredient online before ordering, rather than just ask? Luckily, bartenders are a friendly bunch that, by and large, love to share and discuss their craft. Never hesitate to ask questions!

One question that is top-of-mind for many who are new to the cocktail world is when you should shake or stir a cocktail. Maybe an important question to understanding when to stir or shake is why we stir or shake. In other words, what does stirring do that shaking doesn’t, and vice versa?

If you’ve never seen a stirred cocktail poured before, try it yourself. A properly stirred cocktail should look viscous when it comes out of the mixing glass. It is almost velvety, and that’s exactly how your first sip should feel! Stirring allows ingredients that readily blend together to do so. It dilutes the cocktail, making it more palatable, while chilling your drink. 

In contrast, a shaken cocktail should pour out looking a little carbonated or aerated. You might see ice chips floating around from aggressively shaking the cubes. Shaking creates this effect by breaking up the ice and chilling the cocktail, while also sloshing all of that delicious boozy mixture around. It makes for a frothy sipper rather than a velvety one. Importantly, shaking mixes certain ingredients together that, if stirred, would separate by the time you drink them. For example, you should shake drinks with citrus juice or egg whites. (Never stir eggs in a drink. Ever.)

A common rule of thumb is to shake if there's citrus, stir if there's not. If the cocktail ingredients are mostly, or entirely, spirits (such as in a Manhattan, Martini or Negroni), you should stir. If a cocktail includes juice (such as in a Margarita, Daiquiri or Cosmo), you should shake. However, some drinks should be neither shaken or stirred. A "long" drink that is large in volume and contains a mixer and other complementary ingredient, such as a Rum Punch or Hot Toddy, won't be shaken or stirred. You also wouldn't want to shake a drink with bubbles or carbonation. If you’re not sure how to prepare a specific drink, you can follow the guidance here, or sneak a quick look online!

That was pretty easy, right? Now that you know when to shake or stir, you're ready to rattle and roll out some super tasty cocktails, just like a true home-bar hipster. Happy mixing!

Originally published August 22, 2019. Edited and updated on February 7, 2022.

By in Cocktails, Vanilla Rum Comments Off on Mad River Mai Tai

Mad River Mai Tai

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Mad River Mai Tai

  • Author: Mad River Distillers
  • Yield: 1 cocktail 1x
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Description

Our Mai Tai recipe adds a fun tropical flavor with our Vanilla Rum, which is a Tahitian Vanilla-infused demerara sugar rum, as well as a floater of Maple Cask Rum on top.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 oz Mad River Vanilla Rum
  • 3/4 oz Dry Curacao
  • 3/4 oz Lime Juice
  • 1/2 oz Orgeat
  • 1/4 oz Simple Syrup (optional depending on sweetness level desired)
  • 1 oz Mad River Maple Cask Rum (Float)

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake without ice.
  2. Pour contents over crushed ice into a rocks glass.
  3. Top with 1 oz of Maple Cask Rum.
  4. Garnish with a large sprig of Mint.

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By in Cocktails, PX Rum Comments Off on Kingston Negroni

Kingston Negroni

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Kingston Negroni

  • Author: Mad River Distillers
  • Yield: 1 cocktail 1x
Print Recipe

Description

The use of sweet red vermouth and bitter orange Campari are the perfect components to balance and enhance the aged PX Rum, offering a more caramelized oak barrel influence on the drink.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 oz Mad River PX Rum
  • 1 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
  • 1 oz Campari

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
  2. Stir a few times to incorporate ingredients.
  3. Strain contents over fresh ice in a rocks glass.
  4. Garnish with an orange peel/swath.

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By in Bourbon, Cocktails Comments Off on Paper Plane

Paper Plane

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Paper Plane

  • Author: Mad River Distillers
  • Yield: 1 cocktail 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Bourbon Whiskey is paired with Aperol and Amaro Nonino in this cocktail, with tart rhubarb and vanilla notes, as well as earthy bark and bitter spice notes.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3/4 oz Mad River Bourbon
  • 3/4 oz Aperol
  • 3/4 oz Amaro Nonino
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a shaker with lots of ice.
  2. Shake hard until frost appears on the shaker tin.
  3. Double strain the drink into a Coupe or Martini glass.

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