#MasterpieceCocktail is brought to you by my husband, Rob.
Today brings you a #MasterpieceCocktail double feature in honor of a new show we started watching, Mercy Street on PBS (pilot was last week). If you are not familiar with the show, it takes place toward the end of the Civil War and follows the staff of a Union military hospital in Alexandria, VA (just down the road from us!). A show set local got me thinking about something that I am passionate about: eating/drinking local products.
I feel very strongly about supporting local farms, business, wineries, breweries, and distilleries. While often a little more expensive, local products are often higher quality and have an interesting story. It concerns me that recently many of my favorite "bottle shops" have closed down as they cannot compete with the large grocery stores, where the people who stock the beer and wine often can't tell you anything about the products or make an educated recommendation. My primary concern with this is that people with a genuine passion about wine and beer cannot express that passion and pass it on to their customers (similarly when was the last time you saw a legitimate butcher shop). I personally believe that supporting local businesses, both bottle shops and producers, is the best way to keep these markets going and help to keep people with a true passion in business. Further, growth and support for local businesses signals to our lawmakers that antiquated liquor production and distribution laws need to change (and in many places they are!) to allow these local businesses to thrive. While Virginia has not seen the microbrewery and microdistillery market growth as some other states (small wineries are extremely strong though), many of the more antiquated laws have been changed to make starting up and distributing easier and support is strong, from both the 3rd party groups and the government, for the growing industry.
The craft beer industry has grown massively thanks to a number of changes in state laws, local advocacy, and a rapidly growing demand for alternatives to flavorless macrobrewed options that have dominated the market for so long. Hardywood Park brewery in Richmond, VA (my hometown) is one of my favorites, they make a wide variety of styles and experimental options. One of my favorites from Hardywood is the RVA IPA, which uses hops grown by local volunteers (the brewery sends hops to people who grow them and send them back for use in the beer) making it a truly local collaborative effort! Hardywood has grown in the last few years since they started from being solely local to having distribution at least as far away as Philly.
Similarly, small wineries are popping up in areas like Virginia and Pennsylvania where the climate is similar to old world Europe and some truly excellent wines are being produced. Two favorites are Barboursville in Virginia and Grace Winery in Philly. Barboursville is probably one of the best known Virginia wineries and make some truly excellent wine. Octagon is their flagship red blend, which we are saving for a special occasion. They also make an excellent Sauvignon Blanc. Grace Winery is a small winery in the Philly suburbs loved by Amy's parents (see picture below), who are regulars and well known by the owners. They make a number of varieties with an excellent Chardonnay Reserve. Unfortunately due to more restrictive distribution laws in Pennsylvania finding small winery products usually means a trip to said winery to pick up the wine but that is a lot of the fun: visiting the winery, taking in the atmosphere, talking to the owners, and having a drink or two!
Finally, Virginia has changed some laws over the last few years to allow for microdistilleries to thrive and the VA ABC organization actively advocates for these local distilleries. I am on my second bottle of John J. Bowman Single Barrel Virginia Bourbon Whiskey, which is excellent and my current go to sipping bourbon. Now I know your thinking "It's not from Kentucky, how can it be Bourbon?" Well okay, its technically not true Kentucky Bourbon, but it does start off at Buffalo Trace in Kentucky for the first distillation but then comes to Fredericksburg, VA where it is distilled two more times and oaked. A. Smith Bowman Distillary also makes two other Bourbons, a small batch and limited edition, a vodka, a rum, and a gin. Also, I recently bought a bottle of Green Hat Gin from Washington, DC. The distillery got the name from a prohibition era gin distiller known for his green hat who provided illegal gin to a majority of the members of Congress and later wrote a tell-all about it.
I know that this is a fairly long post, but this is something I feel passionately about. Next time you are out looking for beer, wine, or liquor give a consideration to your local products to keep these passionate people in business producing high quality products with great stories. Take the time to learn a little about these awesome business and while it may be an extra trip try to support your local bottle shops try to get to one and see the difference passion makes. #DrinkLocal
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