Spirits of Summer
It's not surprising that many owners of craft distilleries are former bartenders who decided to quit shaking, stirring and straining someone else's spirits. They would make their own. Nor is it surprising that, once their new distilleries were shipping bottles to other bartenders, they remained mixologists at heart, creating variations on classic cocktails as well as their own inspirations in a glass. Five local distillers shared their favorite summer cocktails, whipped up by local mixologist Patty Cullen from Victoria's at the Boardwalk Plaza Hotel, who added her own favorite to the list!
Gray Wolf Spirits
Gray Wolf was founded in 2016 by husband-and-wife team, R.B. Wolfensberger – hence the distiller’s name – and Meghan Brown as a boutique distillery located in St. Michaels, Maryland, dedicated to handcrafting spirits using premium, intentionally selected, raw ingredients. “We had a career of bartending in D.C. and Annapolis,” Brown says, “and we wanted to get out of that hectic life.” Today, Gray Wolf operates out of the facilities at Windon Distilling, and distributes in surrounding states as well as in Louisiana.
Gray Wolf produces rye whiskey, Lone brand vodka, Errand brandy and Timber gin. But it is perhaps best known for its Lobo agave spirit. Why agave, the plant grown in Mexico primarily for the production of tequila and mescal? “We had the desire to do something different from what other people were doing,” Brown says. “It’s a complex project, and we use 100% imported blue agave nectar” that comes to Maryland in a tanker truck. “Gin is our biggest seller, but agave is second.”
“And ours is a little bit different than other agave spirits,” Brown continues. “We finish it in French oak barrels, so it has a hint of vanilla to it.” It is non-chill filtered, so settling may occur in the bottle, perhaps providing an added sniff of authenticity.
Lobo agave is central to the Gray Wolf’s most popular cocktails, which the couple have concocted from updated classics plus original drinks they have crafted using their prior experience in bartending. “My favorite is the Paloma,” Brown says, referring to an agave blended drink using as its base grapefruit juice. It’s the perfect summer blend!
605 S. Talbot Street, St. Michaels, Maryland (443) 339-4894; Facebook Instagram
Gray Wolf Lobo Paloma
Dogfish Head Distilling Co.
Dogfish Head is the little brewery founded in Milton in 1995 by Sam Calagione that grew and grew until it became a beverage and hospitality giant before being acquired in 2019 by Boston Beer, producers of the Samuel Adams brand.
Calagione colorfully named his brewery after Dogfish Head, Maine, where he spent summers while growing up. The wide varieties of beers that he crafted often had wild sources of flavorings and even wilder names. In 2002, he added a distillery to Dogfish Head, and those brands have become as spirited in name and origin as are his brews.
Dogfish Head produces rum, whiskey, gin and two types of vodka – one flavored with roasted peanuts – as well as a bottled cocktail named Sonic Archaeology, a magic potion of whiskey, rum & brandy, with honey, lemon & pomegranate juices. The distillery also produces canned cocktails.
The Dogfish mixologists continue to develop make-your-own recipes, some of which are served at its restaurants (including their new location in Miami), and even include cocktails made with cocktails, like Sonic & Sauvignon.
6 Cannery Village Center, Milton, Delaware 1-888-8dogfish; Facebook Instagram
Dogfish Head Sonic & Sauvignon
Lyon Rum/Windon Distilling
“All you need is rum,” says Jaime Windon, the CEO and co-founder of Lyon Rum in St. Michaels. Perhaps that’s an understandable point of view for a travel writer, photographer and bartender who says she “spent several years travelling around places near the Equator where so much of the spirits are rum. There is so much versatility in what can be made from cane sugar.”
Lyon features six core rums, she says, and 13 different expressions of it which are sold in nine different states. “Too many people think that rum is a one-note spirit,” Windon says, “and I would like to change that conception. The cool thing about making rum, unlike Bourbon, is that there are no rules except that you begin with sugar cane.”
Windon likes to create cocktails from those expressions. “Because we are not a bar, I make things that I want to drink,” she says. One of which is the Chesapeake Storm, made with dark rum, ginger beer and lime.
605 S. Talbot Street, St. Michaels, Maryland (443) 333-9181; Facebook Instagram
Lyon Rum Chesapeake Storm
Blackwater Distilling
Located in Stevensville, Blackwater was founded in 2008 as Maryland’s first fully-licensed beverage alcohol distillery since 1972 and proclaims on its website that “we celebrate this brash, enterprising, and fiercely independent spirit by crafting distinctive spirits that stand apart from the crowd, using organic and local ingredients when possible.”
A pioneer in the Maryland spirits business, founder and CEO Chris Cook led efforts in 2021 to pass statewide legislation that opened Maryland distilleries for direct-to-consumer onsite tours, tastings and sales, something previously limited to wineries and breweries. In addition to the distillery, Blackwater also owns and operates a tavern.
The Blackwater portfolio includes a series of barrel-aged whiskeys, a rum and “Sloop Betty” flavored vodkas, like Sloop Betty honey vodka featured in their signature summer drink.
405 Cleat Street, Stevensville, Maryland (443) 249-3123; Facebook Instagram
Blackwater Distilling Sloop Betty Honey Crush
Painted Stave Distilling
Painted Stave co-founder and CEO Ron Gomes has a PhD in philosophy and physiology from the University of Texas Health Center, which grants him permission to call himself a Modern Alchemist for such spirit recipes as the company’s “lavender-forward contemporary expression of gin.”
Located in downtown Smyrna, Delaware, Painted Stave offers vodka, gin and several iterations of whiskey. “Our Bourbon, rye and corn whiskies are all bottled in bond – four-plus years old – a huge milestone for a small distillery,” Gomes says. “Our cocktail offerings at the distillery are seasonal,” he continues, “and are a mix of the classic cocktails, such as Aviation, Old Fashioned, Manhattan, White Russian, and house cocktails, that speak to our desire to play and offer up something yummy and new.”
These include Off the Island (vodka, spiced rum, banana liqueur, espresso and cinnamon-infused cream), The Secret Garden (botanical dry gin, elderflower liqueur, lime, cucumber and mint) and Apricot Old Fashioned (rye whiskey, apricot simple syrup, and mint bitters). “Presently a fan favorite is our Strawberry Basil Lemonade," Gomes says, and was convinced to share the recipe.
Painted Stave is sold from California to Georgia, Maine to Minnesota. Gomes also notes that Painted Stave has launched its own food truck – Taco Jardin. “We are in our 8th year of operations,” Gomes reported in May, “and our patio ‘Cocktail Garden’ service never closed during the pandemic. All of us are vaccinated, and we will reopen service, indoors, during the month of June.”
106 W. Commerce Street, Smyrna, Delaware (302) 653-6834; Facebook
Painted Stave Strawberry Basil Lemonade Punch
With gatherings back on our calendars this season, and most distilleries opening up for visitors, this is a great time to explore local artisan distillers throughout Delmarva!
