High-proof fun
Raise a glass to the return of Distiller’s Week in NH
In early November, more than 130 distillers will meet face-to-face once again to share new products, recipes, food pairings and more. And they hope you’ll join them.
It all goes down in Manchester, N.H., at the eighth New Hampshire Distiller’s Week (distillersshowcase.com).
The state’s tax-free status, long history of sharing samples, stories, recipes and more at their state liquor locations has long wowed the spirit industry, making it a kind of magnet for those who love the craft.
Until the pandemic put it on hold a year ago, Distiller’s Week had long been a huge draw.
“We’re really excited to bring it back,” said Lorrie Piper, the N.H. Liquor Commission’s director of Sales, Marketing, Merchandising & Distribution. “We’ve just had so many positive responses.”
The event runs Nov. 1-5, offering exclusive events, tastings, bottle signings and dinners.
The premier event of the Distiller’s Week, the Eighth Annual Distiller’s Showcase to benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank, will take place Nov. 4 from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown and offers guests the opportunity to meet distillers from around the world while sampling food from New Hampshire’s top restaurants.
There will be celebrity hosts, food trucks, a pop-up restaurant, high-end dining and, of course, a chance to not only sample some classic — and new — distilled spirits, but also a chance to get upclose and personal with the very folks who create those potent potables.
As master distiller at Old Elk distillers (oldelk.com) in Fort Collins, Colo. (as well as 28 years as a Seagram’s distiller before that), Greg Metze has had the chance to travel the world sharing Old Elk’s products.
This event, he said, is a favorite, not just for the location (who doesn’t love New Hampshire in the late fall?) but for those who attend.
“The customers attracted to this are knowledgeable and passionate,” he said. “We love that.”
He’ll be bringing along most of Old Elk’s products, but is particularly excited to share their “Wheater,” which, unlike most bourbons, is 95% wheat, or as he said, “at the extreme of wheat whiskey.”
It’s aged five years — unusual for this type — and he says that “nice maturity” makes it “as good or better than all on the market.”
Metze said that while the event is deemed educational, he won’t be standing at a chalkboard lecturing. Rather, as distillers love and customers do as well, “Our focus is to engage individually with the customer.”
As founder and owner of Fabrizia Spirits (fabriziaspirits.com), Phil Mastroianni said this event is one he looks forward to both as someone who wants to learn and someone who wants to share his product.
Mastroianni came to distilling in the most organic of ways. Inspired by a visit to his family homeland of Italy, he began making limoncello. When an uncle sipped his recipe and declared it is what Mastroianni, who grew up in Needham, and now operates his company out of Salem, N.H., should be doing for a living, he scoffed at first.
Now, a decade later, his company offers a creative line of spirits.
Joining distillers at this event — as well as guests who care about product, he said — is a true thrill for a distiller.
“As a local supplier, it is so fun to see the local craft suppliers and the international come together,” he said. “And it happens right here in Manchester, believe it or not.”
For Mastroianni, sharing with guests that his products are New Hampshire born and made often surprises folks.
“Even after 12 years of doing this, I hear all the time that people have seen it and enjoyed it, but they did not know it was made in Salem,” he said. “It’s fun to see them discover that.”
He’ll be sharing many of his products at the event, and debuting his new pistachio liqueur. Popular in Sicily (where he imports his lemons from), he expects it to be a hit here as well.
He credits New Hampshire’s partnership with the industry with his success.
“We were able to start this company in New Hampshire because it is, hands down, the most forward thinking state for liquor regulations,” he said. “That’s why I have success, and that’s why the large brands come.”
The showcase event’s tickets are on sale now, and the hotel offers stay and attend packages.
Everyone involved is excited, particularly after a year of working hard to keep the industry going, but doing so remotely.
“We are all so excited New Hampshire decided to move forward with this,” Mastroianni said. “It’s been a long time. And you know, things start to get dusty over the phone.”