Why A Distillery Chose to Promote Dry January
Astral Projection
Spirit-free Aquavit, Acid Adjusted Grapefruit, Peychaud’s Bitters
It’s probably not every day you see a distillery advocating to not drink spirits for a month. Truthfully, we didn’t know if this was a good idea until you all told us.
As Lindsay Christians wrote in The Cap Times, we’ve always had and will have non-alcoholic options available at the cocktail lounge, like our non-alcoholic Dealer’s Choice. However, you can only combine citrus & syrups so many ways before you’re craving something exciting, and with most of our staff and a large part of the Madison community deciding to participate in Dry January this year, we knew we had to find a way to make sure our community felt supported & motivated in their goals this month.
Michael McDonald, Bar Manager & Spirits Ambassador, took this challenge on. Mike picked up Zero by Grant Achatz of The Aviary in Chicago, a cocktail book devoted to the exploration of non-alcoholic approaches to cocktails. Using glycerin & a variety of botanicals, Mike then developed non-alcoholic imitations for some of your favorite State Line spirits like American Gin & Aquavit. Once the desired flavor profile was reached, Mike built two menus of original cocktails with the new spirit imitators for anyone to enjoy.
If you haven’t tried our Spirits Free or Touch of Spirits menus yet, the last day to try most of these originals is Tuesday, January 31st. We were inspired by this month, and in response, we will be updating our N/A offerings after January to make sure everyone finds something they love. No matter how you imbibe, there’s always a drink waiting for you at the State Line Distillery cocktail lounge.
2023 will be an exciting year for State Line Distillery with a whiskey release on the horizon, folks traveling to Madison as a drinking destination, and so much more being planned behind the scenes. Starting this year out of our comfort zone was such an incredible experience, and we are so happy with how you all have been able to enjoy the cocktail lounge this month. Mike has got even more magic brewing with our Spring/Summer menu, which will be coming out before you know it, so make sure you’re staying up to date with State Line Distillery through our social media channels and our newsletter.
For those who are in the home stretch of Dry January, no matter what level of discipline, or for those who decided to pass on it, we believe in you and can’t wait to see you at State Line soon.