Laurel Canyon Spirits
Back in 2001, former bandmates Nathan Ehrenfeld and Bryan Turcotte started the music-production company Beta Petrol, which has grown into one of the major players in its field. Around the same time, Turcotte had begun making batches of coffee liqueur in his kitchen that he gave out in mason jars to friends as gifts. As their business grew, Turcotte continued to make his liqueur, and the two partners—now living in the Hollywood Hills—decided that they needed to bottle and sell the delicious elixir, and Laurel Canyon Spirits was born.
Turcotte remained focused on what they’d decided to call Black Hjerte coffee liqueur, a combination of 100-percent California corn vodka and “wicked strong” coffee French-pressed from Peet’s Coffee beans, as well as locally sourced sugars and spices. (“Hjerte” is the Danish word for “heart,” and the two are pronounced the same way.) Meanwhile, Ehrenfeld took his passion for clear distilled spirits and began working on what would become White Hjerte vodka. A variation of the vodka base distilled for Black Hjerte, 80-proof White Hjerte is triple-filtered, with notes of vanilla and berries, a cheery creamy palate, and a lightly peppery zest.
Since launching in 2018, Black Hjerte coffee liqueur has received several prestigious awards, including Gold at both the 2020 New York International Spirits Competition and the 2020 San Diego Spirits Festival. And since its 2019 debut, White Hjerte vodka has received Double Gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. laurelcanyonspirits.com