I have an article coming up in the magazine about do-it-yourself booze, and this definitely follows a trend in both my print articles and this blog (see last week’s post on Neyah White). 



Josey Packard over at the Alembic is doing some very interesting stuff, and she was kind enough to show much of it to me on a busy Saturday afternoon. Her limoncello, triple sec (punningly called Con-treaux)



and cherry liqueur were divine, but even more fascinating were her explorations of such forgotten liqueurs and elixirs as kummel (flavored with caraway), liqueur de prunelle (prune) and forbidden-fruit liqueur (I didn't ask, but it was good).



Just for fun, we decided to try making a cocktail in the 1930 (and recently reissued) manual The Savoy Cocktail Book. The drink was called the Green Dragon and required a little improvisation, since we lacked what was, evidently, mint syrup. Instead, Josey shook up Beefeater gin, lemon juice, kummel, mint bitters, peach bitters and simple syrup. It was dry, full of spice and delicious. 

The Alembic, by the way, is going to be doing much more of this on Thursday, Feb. 14, as the theme for the day is cocktails from Henry Craddock's original Savoy. I will definitely be checking in on that.