Food Network - 5 Best Non-Alcoholic Gins, According to a Spirits Expert

“There is also another reason why gin substitutes are so common in non-alcoholic spirits, they almost always are enjoyed mixed. If you love drinking straight gin, do you — but the vast majority of people usually throw in at least a bit of tonic water to their gin before enjoying it. Most non-alcoholic spirits are designed to really shine when mixed into a cocktail, and some producers go so far as to actively discourage people from drinking it straight. Cocktail making is a great showcase for a spirit by highlighting the favorable elements of any given ingredient while smoothing out possible shortcomings, and gin is one of the most widely mixed spirits in the world, so it is entirely unsurprising that gin is the largest category within non-alcoholic spirits right now.

So if you’re curious about the world of non-alcoholic spirits for whatever reason: dry January (dry life), culture, religion, health or if you’re simply just looking to expand your horizons, these picks are a great place to start your voyage.”

Food52 - Ballzooka

“The key to this drink is the Midori-infused tapioca pearls. In order to get the right chewy consistency, you'll want to be faithful to the instructions on the package. But the key difference is, instead of cold water, you use Midori. Tapioca pearls most commonly come in a black or dark brown shade, but green ones are not hard to find online. That said, the drink will taste just fine with the darker variety.”

Food Network - 4 Best Rum-Inspired Non-Alcoholic Spirits, According to a Spirits Expert

“If the first word that comes to mind when encountering the words “non-alcoholic spirits” is “why,” you’d be forgiven. Up until quite recently, this category of drinks — that seek to replicate as much of the spirits-drinking experience as possible while sidestepping the effects of ethanol consumption — have been virtually nonexistent. In the past few years the world of fancy non-alcoholic beverages has exploded, with all manner of spirits, wines, beers and category-defying liquids flooding the market.”

Food Network - 6 Best Rums, According to a Spirits Expert

“Rum is one of the most sprawling and diverse spirit categories. Despite its strong and well-earned association with the Caribbean, rum’s origins can be traced back thousands of years to south and central Asia. And while the go-to mixing move for rum might be a Daiquiri or tropical cocktail, rum can be used in a wide array of applications, from sipping neat to elegant stirred concoctions.”

Food52 - Dark Phoenix

“For this drink, I wanted to capture the feeling I had watching the Dark Phoenix saga unfold on the Saturday-morning X-Men The Animated Series. The saga tells the story of a psychic mutant, Jean Grey, who is possessed by an ultra-powerful alien entity and is transformed into a chaotic and destructive fiery red-and-orange being. The drink leverages the different densities between syrup (heavier) and soda water (lighter) to create a similar color gradient to the animated pseudo-deity.”

Thrillist - Why We’re All Under Jinkx Monsoon’s Spell

“A group of us waited for Jinkx Monsoon to arrive in an empty cocktail lounge in a midtown Manhattan hotel. When she walked into the room, everyone stood up like she was a visiting head of state. Given her colossal success—two RuPaul’s Drag Race wins, a yearly holiday special with collaborator BenDeLaCreme, multiple studio albums, and an extensive film and TV resume—Jinkx might actually qualify for the Prime Minister of drag.

We chatted about her role in the current Broadway production of Chicago, as well as her and DeLa’s holiday special, and why she’s so drawn to the Pacific Northwest.”

Food52 - Blood Orange Radler

“One of my favorite ways to incorporate citrus into my life is by combining them in all manner of cocktails, like this Radler variation that features IPA, lemon soda, blood orange, and Meyer lemon; plus a delicious non-alcoholic aperitif, Ghia, that’s flavored with botanicals such as rosemary, ginger, and gentian. You are free to use any manner of hoppy IPA you like, but my preference is to use a fully non-alcoholic one to make this drink as accessible as possible, although even if you used a regular IPA, this drink would be extremely low-proof—the equivalent of drinking half a can of beer.”

Food52 - Tompkins Square

“As a drink recipe, this one is pretty easy to assemble: just measure, mix and stir. However, it calls for some relatively obscure ingredients that are worth seeking out. Kirschwasser is a clear spirit (i.e. eau-de-vie) made from cherries, and Maurin Quina is a bitter French aperitif made with cherries and quinine. When it’s cold out I love to garnish this drink with Luxardo cherries—always in season—even though the original recipe calls for fresh.”

Plate - WTF with Web3 and How the Technology Relates to Restaurants

“Lots of folks in the industry are desperate for solutions, and according to some, web3—the cluster of technologies that includes cryptocurrency, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and the metaverse—is an inevitable wave that will help restructure the industry, bring more money into the hands of owners and creators, and heal the earth. To skeptics, web3 represents a useless (at best) set of schemes that offer no benefits above existing technologies and come with massive downsides: security risks, rampant scams, and catastrophic environmental damage.”

Food Network - Best Shaking Sets

“The magic of cocktails is their ability to take individual ingredients and transform them into something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. This is accomplished not only through the careful selection of ingredients but also in choosing the right tools. A cocktail shaker is perhaps the most essential bar tool in existence — it is the setting for the amalgamation of ingredients that gives rise to the emergent deliciousness we find in our Daiquiris, Margaritas and Whiskey Sours.”

Food52 - Vegan Grasshopper

This rendition is a synthesis of the various Grasshopper iterations, with a twist: It’s vegan. We live in a golden age of non-dairy desserts so instead of cream, we’re working with non-dairy vanilla ice cream. The tricky thing about working with alcohol-inflected frozen drinks is that the ethanol lowers the freezing point of the mixture, meaning that the drink will need to be colder in order to maintain that smooth consistency. This is why I added the step of returning the ice cream machine’s freezer tub to the freezer. (if you’re using a machine with its own chilling unit, you can skip this step.)

Lastly, if you are a fun person and like doing cool things, then you’ll take the effort to rim your glasses with sprinkles. But it’s not the end of the world if you choose not to.

Saying Goodbye to Proteau (For Now)

Hi Everyone,

 

For those that don’t know me, I’m John deBary, the creator of Proteau. I am also the company’s CEO, owner, and (currently) sole employee. I’m writing today to share some news: I will be suspending the company’s operations at the end of the year and will stop taking orders on December 1, 2022.

 

The reason for this is simple: I’m about to run out of inventory and I lack the resources needed to produce more. Beverage companies are enormously expensive to get off the ground (and keep running) and our current revenue is insufficient to sustain the company’s ongoing operation.

 

The story of Proteau began in 2017 when I applied to a beverage accelerator program pitching a liquid that would one day become Rivington Spritz. With the help of the team there I developed the brand into a product line that included Ludlow Red (and plans for additional flavors), and —most crucially—secured venture capital funding from a strategic investor. With this help I was able to take recipes developed through months of tinkering in my kitchen and transform them into Proteau, one of the earliest entries in the high-end non-alcoholic drinks industry.

  

Proteau officially launched at a small gathering on a Lower East Side rooftop in September 2019. Due to technical difficulties with Rivington Spritz’s carbonation, only Ludlow Red was commercially available at the time. Following this initial launch my team and I went to work designing a custom bottle, sourcing bespoke botanical extractions and finalizing label designs ahead of a full-scale national launch in mid-2020.

 

In March of 2020, two days before Covid shut down New York City (and much of the country), my investor suddenly and without warning withdrew their support for the company. At that point the company had already paid for tens of thousands of bottles to be produced, so I decided to forge ahead undeterred. I was fortunate enough to have some trusted advisors and colleagues lend a hand, helping me to keep the company moving forward towards a launch while seeking additional funding.

 

I don’t know how many of you have tried to fundraise for a startup, but it is fucking hard. (Well, it was hard for me at least.) Cold calling, networking, even a crowdfunding campaign—I tried it all, but it wasn’t enough. Fortunately, our sales were good enough to keep the lights on for a few years, but our production runs are large and expensive, and the simple math of it is that I don’t have the cash (right now) to finance an additional production run.

 

Perhaps that will change in the near (or not-so-near) future, but for now, I need to say goodbye to Proteau. I’m extremely proud of what I was able to accomplish given extremely difficult circumstances. Tomorrow is my 40th birthday and I am considering this a gift to myself; I will be freeing myself to pursue the many other endeavors that have been keeping me busy these past few years. This includes a monthly drink series for Food52; a forthcoming cocktail book, Saved by the Bellini (& Other 90s-Inspired Cocktails); freelance writing; consulting; and serving as the Board President of Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, a nonprofit that I co-founded in 2018 that endeavors to improve the lives of hospitality workers across the country. You can find a lot of information about what I’m up to on my website johndebary.com, that I actually keep very up to date.

 

For now, I want to thank everyone for supporting the brand in whatever way you have. Our site, drinkproteau.com will continue to take orders until December 1, 2022, and after that, please find Proteau at our retail partners, the full list of you can see at drinkproteau.com.

 

Lots of love,

JdB

Food Network - Best Tequila

One of the reasons why I find tequila so fascinating is that, unlike, say bourbon or rum, where the raw material is of no particular concern to most producers, tequila is deeply affected by the conditions under which the agave plants are grown. You rarely see a bourbon producer who grows their own corn, but it is quite common for tequila producers to grow their own agave and for the impacts of their farming practices to be evident in the finished product.

Food Network - 15 Best Whiskey Gifts, According to a Spirits Expert

Well, it’s that time of year again. With summer’s memory fading our thoughts turn indoors, towards holidays, parties and of course, gifts. Eating and drinking are vital experiences that are best shared, and gifts supporting the rituals around communal consumption are some of the most reliable. In general, whiskey drinkers tend to be more attracted to the practice of drinking straight spirits, perhaps with a bit of ice and soda. It’s a different — and smaller — set of tools than what you’d need for a full bar, but there are still plenty of great gifting options. Here I’ve put together a list of my favorite whiskey (or rum, tequila, cognac…) gifts that are perfect for the beginner — or the person that has everything.