Get fresh with a few of our favorite gins—from the tried-and-true to the fantastically funky. Check out 4 of our springtime picks, complete with suggestions for some killer cocktail recipes for each.  Let the weekend be Gin!

Letherbee Vernal 2017

Letherbee, a France 44 favorite hailing from Chicago, have graced us with a few cases of their brand-spanking-new Vernal Gin! Every spring and fall they make a different unique gin that they will never replicate. This year’s Vernal is highlighted by fistfuls of fresh lemongrass, crisp basil on the nose, and a spicy ginger that pops on the palate.

This rare gem is perfect with some Fever Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water to highlight the fresh herbs, or in a martini with a lemon twist.

Barr Hill Gin

Caledonia Spirits out of Vermont are known for two things: Gin and Honey. They are originally an apiary—that’s right, bee farmers! As an ode to their bees, they make a very clean and simple gin infused solely with juniper, and then water it down to 90 proof with their own honey. The honey comes from clover and wildflower, and those nuanced flavors shine with the spicy juniper and sweet thick body the honey gives the spirit.

This gin is great with some crisp clean Q Tonic to cut some of the thickness or in a classic Bee’s Knees cocktail with lemon and honey.

Cannonball Navy Strength Gin

Looking for something with a little more punch? The brand new navy strength gin from Scotland, Cannonball, has you covered. Clocking in at the classic 114.4 proof that the British Navy used to carry on their ships, this brutish gin has twice the juniper of most gins with lemon peel to balance and an unusual ingredient in Szechuan pepper!

Big, bold, and spicy on the palate, this gin is best drunk with the full flavor of Fever Tree Indian Tonic or in a spicy negroni with Campari and Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth. You’ll have a blast with this one!

Norseman Strawberry Rhubarb Gin

Northeast Minneapolis’s local staple Norseman is back at it again with their Strawberry Rhubarb Gin. This lighter style gin is made with Minneapolis grown rhubarb and is great for those in your life that think they don’t like gin and need a little nudge in the right direction. The slight sweetness from the strawberry gives it body while the juniper and rhubarb play together with interesting complexity. Remember that rhubarb itself is almost 100% water, so the note of rhubarb is light. But with a squeeze of fresh citrus (squeeze that lime!) the rhubarb brightens up and becomes tart.

Best served with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic for added dry floral tones and a hefty squeeze of lime.

Weather warming up? Time to cool down your cocktails.

Pre-Prohibition era cocktails to make you rethink flavor combinations and break the chains of traditional cocktail recipes.

You know exactly where your favorite gin is located on the shelves. You inadvertently make a beeline to your tried-and-true brandy as soon as you come in the store. You get flustered when your staple vodka has relocated to a different section. But there’s another part of you that’s always looking out for something new, different, and a little off the well-worn path. Liquor Tom is the perfect guy for this job, and he’s unearthed a few hidden gems to bring some pizzazz into these dreary winter doldrums!

Letherbee Autumnal Gin | $34.99 750ML

A France 44 favorite, Letherbee Distillers out of Chicago releases two one-off seasonal gins per year, one in the spring and one in the fall—and they never release the same one again. This year’s Autumnal prominently features earthy flavors of dill, cumin, beets, caraway, and black pepper on top of their already-floral original gin. These fall flavors make for a hybrid gin verging on aquavit, the Scandinavian staple Minnesotans love oh-so-much. We’ve already sold out of Minnesota’s allocation and have now received a slice of California’s allocation. This earthy gin is perfect for a Bloody Mary, Hanky Panky or a Dirty Martini!

Cocktail: Classic Dirty Martini

• 2 ½ oz Letherbee Autumnal
• ½ oz olive juice
• 3 drops of Dashfire Orange Bitters

Stir and strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with 3 Filthy Bleu Cheese Olives.

Copper & Kings Craftwerks Sierra Nevada Smoked Porter Finished | $49.99 750ML

Copper & Kings has been producing high-quality craft brandy out of
Louisville, Kentucky for nearly a decade, and have started to create some of the most unique spirits on the market today. Last year they started to release collaborations with breweries around the country, where they send each brewery brandy barrels for them to age beer in. The breweries then send the barrels back to Copper & Kings, who then finish their brandy in the now-twice-used barrels for a whole calendar year. Our favorite was their brandy finished in Imperial Smoked Porter barrels from Sierra Nevada. It shows creamy malted vanilla tones, a slight hint of hoppiness and a lingering smoky note. It’s a brandy with scotch and bourbon tones that’s a beer drinker’s delight!

Cocktail: Stick it in a glass on the rocks and drink it!

Or a Brandy Manhattan

• 2 oz Copper & King’s Craftwerks Brandy
• 1 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir and strain into a coupe glass

Glenfiddich 14 Year Old U.S. Exclusive | $44.99 750ML

Great Single Malt Scotch at a good price is becoming harder and harder to come by. That’s why it was a breath of fresh air for Glenfiddich to come out with a 14 year Single Malt, aged exclusively in bourbon barrels and finished in newly charred American oak as an homage to our bourbon culture. What’s more, this delicious Scotch retails for the awesome price point of $44.99! This single malt is brimming with brown sugar, honey, vanilla, toasted oak spice, coconut, green apple, pear, and orange zest. Perfect for the bourbon drinker who would like to try out scotch!

Cocktail: Stick it in a glass and drink it neat!
Or in a Godfather:

• 2 oz Glenfiddich 14 Year
• 1 oz Lazzaroni Amaretto Liqueur
• 2 Drops of Peychaud’s Bitters

Drink in a lowball glass with an ice ball

Amarula Cream Liqueur | $18.99 750ML

For anyone who’s always on the search for a quality replacement for Bailey’s at a lower price point, look no further than Amarula Cream! Made in South Africa with a blend of their native marula fruit and fresh dairy cream, Amarula shows bright caramel and butterscotch notes and a faint tropical fruitiness. The marula plant is unique to Africa and is in the same family as mangos, pistachios, and cashews. It holds a special place socioeconomically in South Africa due to the high amount of nutrients found in it. Some proceeds from each bottle purchased go to protecting elephants (closely tied to the marula tree) from being poached across Africa.Cocktail: Amarula Spiced Dram

• 2 oz Amarula Cream Liqueur
• 1 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
• 3 drops of Dashfire Allspice Bitters

Drink in a lowball glass on the rocks

With the cold finally upon us and Christmas around the corner, we definitely need some cold weather liqueurs to warm us up, right? Read on to discover a few delicious holiday libations that are sure to heat up any occasion!

Tattersall Cranberry 750ML $32.99

What’s screams holiday season more than cranberry? Coming fresh out of the red-hot Tattersall Distillery in Northeast Minneapolis, this beautiful liqueur is the perfect balance of sweet, sour and tart. Made from Great Lakes Cranberries and a subtle botanical blend to enhance the berries themselves, this is the perfect addition to your holiday festivities!

Ways to drink it: Add a splash to a cosmo, top off sparkling wine or gin and tonic, or Tom’s favorite: add it to hard cider!

Cocktail: Tattersall Cran-Apple Cider

1.5oz Tattersall Cranberry Liqueur

6oz Sociable Ciderworks Freewheeler Cider

On ice in a high ball Collins glass

Art in the Age ROOT 750ML $29.99

Made from a 1700’s recipe for traditional pre-temperance alcoholic root tea, this is a beautifully sweet, herbal version of what we now call root beer schnapps. An herbal remedy made from sarsaparilla, birch bark, sassafras, cinnamon, clove, spearmint, and more, this is an old-school classic root beer lovers’ delight.

Ways to drink it: Sip it on its own or over ice, with root beer or ginger beer, on top of ice cream is always a favorite.

Cocktail: Super-Sized Root Beer

2 Parts ROOT

4oz Maine Root Root Beer

3 Dashes Black Walnut Bitters

On ice in a lowball

Lazzaroni Amaretto 750ML $21.99

This classic amaretto has been produced and bottled in the Italian town of Saronno since 1851. If the package looks familiar with its old-school cookie tin it’s because this spirit is actually infused with the Italian cookies themselves instead of an artificial essence, giving it a true-to-form amaretto flavor.

Ways to drink it: On its own or on the rocks, with bourbon, scotch, or vodka, drizzled on top of cookies or ice cream.

Cocktail: Godfather/Godmother

Godfather: 1oz Lazzaroni Amaretto & 1oz Bank Note Blended Scotch or Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon on the rocks.

Godmother: 1oz Lazzaroni Amaretto & 1oz Skaalven Vodka from Brooklyn Park, MN

High West 36^th Vote Barreled Manhattan

Who wants to actually make all the cocktails at your holiday party, am I right? A France 44 favorite, High West Distillery, has you covered. They’ve created a pre-made Manhattan out of their High West Double Rye, Vya Sweet Vermouth, and Angostura Bitters. It’s aged in an old rye barrel for 120 days before bottling it. They also make a Barrel Aged Boulevardier made with Bourbon, bitter orange liqueur and sweet vermouth–perfect for a dessert drink!

Cocktail: The Easiest Manhattan Ever

Pour straight from a chilled bottle in the fridge, or stir with ice, strain into a coup glass, and garnish with a Maraschino cherry and enjoy!

There’s nothing wrong with being a seasonal drinker. We love to match our cocktail, beer, and wine choices to fit the weather, and it’s around this time of year that we start craving those toasty, warm, comforting flavors that mirror the sights and smells that come along with autumn. Our liquor lad Tom has compiled a handful of liqueurs—along with some delectable ways to use each of them—that absolutely need a place on your bar this fall and winter. They’re perfect for any holiday gathering, as well as for a comforting treat at the end of any chilly day. Cheers!

Art in the Age Ginger Snap 

Inspired by a medieval German Monk recipe, this USDA organic spirit tastes just like a ginger snap cookie. Made with blackstrap molasses, fresh ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, and other baking spices, this is the perfect interpretation of sweet delicious ginger.

Ways to drink it: On its own, in rye, bourbon, or rum; in apple cider, or use it to make a boozy icing for your gingerbread cookies.

Cocktail: Dark and Snappy

1oz Ginger Snap Liqueur

1oz Myers Dark Rum

4oz Fever Tree Ginger Beer

St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur 

In 1982 St. George opened its doors in Alameda, California as the first small craft distillery in America since Prohibition. While they make four award-winning gins, three pear based vodkas and a plethora of liqueurs, the one that stands out during the fall season is their Spiced Pear. Made from a pear brandy base with luscious Bartlett Pear juice added, this low alcohol spirit is spiced with cinnamon and clove to make it a warm and cozy autumn tipple.

Ways to drink it: On its own, in apple cider, with bourbon or dry scotch, or glaze a ham with it.

Cocktail: The Scottish Pear

2oz Bank Note Blended Scotch

¾oz St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Serve in a coupe glass

Sortilege Maple Rye Liqueur 

Consisting of two parts Canadian Rye Whiskey and one part Grade A maple syrup, this delicious spirit comes straight from the maple syrup heartland: Quebec. Its slightly spicy rye base is balanced out by the sweet, luscious maple.

Ways to drink it: on its own, as a simple syrup in any cocktail, with bourbon, or drizzled on pancakes.

Cocktail: Breakfast Old Fashioned

2oz Evan Williams Single Barrel

1oz Sortilege Maple

5 dashes of Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters

Du Nord Apple

Du Nord Apple is made right here in Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood, with apples from a 66 acre orchard in Lake City, Minnesota. The result is a sweet but subtle apple flavor, fresh from the fields of the north to your glass.

Ways to drink it: on its own, in bourbon, warm mulled apple cider, with ginger ale, or with sautéed apples drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

Cocktail: A La Mode

2oz Apple Du Nord

1oz Heavy Whipping Cream

Drop or two of Vanilla Extract

A pinch of Nutmeg