Hasta La Ideas

Organic ingredients and natural sweetness from six boutique soda makers

Channeling the flavors of childhood without the sugary side effects, natural sodas keep the fizz while eliminating harmful preservatives. Instead, these sustainably sourced drinks call upon organically grown ingredients for the freshest in flavor. The following is a selection of six sodas that combine light sweetness with a bit of zest for a satisfying substitute to that classic can of Coke.

Hot Lips Soda

The 100% local, fresh ingredients packed in a bottle of Hot Lips bring the best of the Pacific Northwest straight to your lips. Recycled glass bottles house some spectacular essences, and we’re partial to the velvety Boysenberry—a rare flavor in the soda world—which is made from fruit out of Western Washington’s Willamette Valley.

Belvoir Fruit Farms

Handcrafting cordials since the 70s, Belvoir Fruit Farms
creates perfectly balanced sodas that reflect their freshly picked contents. The assortment of fizz-filled “pressés” actually quench your thirst while tingling your palate with the delicate flavors of elderflower, lime and lemongrass, cranberry and English apple, among others.

Fresh Ginger

Created by Bruce Cost, the author of “Ginger East to West”, Fresh Ginger Ale is arguably the purest ginger drink around. The lightly carbonated soda is made exclusively from fresh ginger and cane sugar, and is left unfiltered with a rich, full-bodied flavor profile. While perfectly good solo, the drink shines when paired with a plate of fresh sushi or mixed with a measure of gin.

Fentimans

The century-old soda maker Fentimans prides itself on a “botanically brewed” process, which involves infusion, boiling and a seven-day fermentation period. Made from natural ingredients like ginger root, dandelion leaves and juniper berries, many of the heavily spiced concoctions drinks also pack a strong caffeine punch.

Dry Soda Co.

Dry Soda Co. was born from the intent to create a non-alcoholic drink with full flavor and a small amount of pure cane sugar. Clear and elegant bottles contain exotic flavors of rhubarb, juniper, lavender and lemongrass alongside more mellow offerings of blood orange, cucumber, wild lime and vanilla bean.

Maine Root

Old-fashioned Maine Root is rightfully known for flagship root beer, although we’re partial to the Spicy Ginger brew and regional favorite sarsaparilla, which is touted as a lighter alternative to the root beer. The Portland-based company uses fair trade ingredients and organic evaporated cane juice for sweetness.

Beauty through balance in a sommelier’s portfolio of small-batch wines

Acid Inc. may suggest an illicit obsession, but for sommelier David Weitzenhoffer and his partner Laura Supper, the name (professionally called A.I. Selections) relays their passion for wines higher in acidity—a key component for an exceptionally well-paired meal. “You can feel acidity in wine usually as that sort of prickling sensation toward the front of your tongue,” Weitzenhoffer explains. “To me acidity does several things with food but the most important is that it gets its claws into the flavors that are already on your palate and marries the flavors in the wine with that of the food. It also has an important role in cutting richness, and balancing out high acid dishes like crudo, tomatoes, vinaigrettes, etc.”

Wanting to learn even more about the fine art of such balance from beginning to end, Weitzenhoffer left his post at Lidia Bastianich’s renowned restaurant Felidia and moved to northwest Italy, where he worked with artisanal producers around the vineyards of Piedmonte. Four years ago he put this knowledge to serious use and began importing these small-batch wines to restaurants in New York, San Francisco and LA.

With just about 40 producers in their portfolio—most of which are organic or biodynamic—Weitzenhoffer and Supper concentrate on finding wine that is a reflection of the people making it, working off the ethos, “Good wine; good people”. They seek out conscientious farmers who know their terroir and distinctly cultivate their vines, leading to wines that have a clear focus and excellent finish. “Some of these artisan producers are making wines with more soul and character, great age-ability, and most importantly wines that are more food appropriate, all the while creating a wine that comes from a specific place—a wine that couldn’t come from any other place than their little piece of earth,” says Weitzenhoffer.

We had the pleasure of tasting several wines with Weitzenhoffer recently, who guides you through a selection casually, but with great understanding of each wine at hand. We started with Champagne, tasting both a glass of crisp bubbly from Michel Rocourt and then one from Doyard—which Weitzenhoffer explains is “not so bubbly it sears your tongue, it has a rich yeasty quality while using acidity to keep it fresh. It’s why it is poured by the glass at places like Babbo, Jean Georges, AI Fiori, and others here in New York.”

To accompany the classic cheese and crackers snack, Weitzenhoffer suggests a Lambrusco, especially the Ca’ Montanari Opera02 Lambrusco, which he says is unparalleled stateside. For white wine, Weitzenhoffer says he is a “sucker for Chablis”, which is made from Chardonnay grapes, but “due to the sea shells in the soils has a great minerality, and chalky character that makes it ideal for all sorts of early courses—trout, various crudo, pea soup, oysters!!!” He recommends a Chablis from the mother-and-daughter team at Château De Béru, an organic farm situated on the clay and limestone slopes of the Chablis Grand Cru foothills.

“For me Nebbiolo is the most complex wine in the world and while it takes a little work and often time to fully understand the grape, it is so great with various foods from lighter meats, to heavy meat,” says Weitzenhoffer. Most wine drinkers know that a good Barolo or Barbaresco isn’t cheap, so he suggests trying a Nebbiolo d’Alba, a younger wine made from the same grapes. “Cascina Luisin makes one from old vines and is delicious”, he says. “I’d be thrilled to walk into a retail shop and spend $27 on a bottle like this that drinks like something much more expensive.”

With the mentality that “wine is for the people”, Weitzenhoffer and Supper’s approach sets out to enlighten palates with perfectly balanced, yet ultra-interesting wines that enhance food and transport you to the place where it was created. A.I. wines can be found in restaurants like Craft and Blue Hill in NYC, Terroni in LA and Bar Tartine in San Francisco.

Organic potato vodka, locally malted whiskey and G&T syrups brewed in British Columbia

On a recent trip to Whistler, we had the opportunity to sample the vodka from Pemberton Distillery, a fledgling outfit nestled in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia. Within their unassuming walls, the distillery employs copper stills to create a line of locally sourced, organic liquors.

Designed as a sipping spirit, Schramm Vodka has a deliciously clean flavor followed by a distinctive finish. Pemberton’s potatoes are free from herbicides, long-life chemicals and fertilizers, earning organic certification from the B.C. Pacific Agricultural Society. The distillery also produces syrups to spice up gin & tonic cocktails and vanilla extract made from the house vodka.

Schramm Gin is a potato gin created in handcrafted, small-batch runs with only eight botanical flavors added during the distillation process. Pemberton is also adding a whiskey to their line when it matures in 2013, which will be made from organic barley that’s malted in B.C. and then aged in bourbon casks.

Spirits from Pemberton Distillery sell online and from select distributors in B.C.

Superfood snack-makers combine all-natural, gluten-free ingredients for a surprisingly tasty treat

Touted as the only whole grain that’s a complete source of protein, South American quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids and has thus become one of the most favored superfoods in recent years. To harvest the health benefits of the gritty grain in a tasty way, I Heart Keenwah makes surprisingly delicious little snack squares packed with gluten-free, all-natural ingredients.

Of the four available flavors—almond, cranberry cashew, ginger peanut and chocolate sea salt—we preferred the chocolate sea salt and almond for their modest, yet distinctive flavor. Although some of us were a bit apprehensive to dive headfirst into the superfood snack when Josh and Evan brought them in to the office this morning, after one little Keenwah cluster I was hooked. The salted almonds added to the intense crunch from the quinoa, while the sweet honey flavor was the perfect compliment to really pull the natural ingredients together.

Unlike artificial snack foods these tasty little morsels are filling, healthful and actually taste really good. For now Keenwah is only available in stores across Chicago, Milwaukee, Mineapolis and New York, with additional availability through their online store where a four-ounce bag goes for $5.

Organic small-batch spirits entirely handcrafted in the heart of Chicago

Just a few blocks from Hollywood Beach in Andersonville is Koval, Chicago’s first boutique distillery since the days of prohibition. Robert and Sonat Birnecker, the husband-and-wife team behind Koval, handcraft vodka, whiskey, brandy and liqueurs entirely from scratch, drawing on Robert’s long lineage in the brewery business as well as the farm-fresh grains and produce the Midwest region has to offer.

Unlike many small-batch producers, Koval doesn’t start with a pre-made base. From mashing to bottling, they keep the entire process in-house, distilling their entirely organic spirits in a custom-built Kothe Destillationstechnik potstill from Germany. The still’s elongated whiskey helmet, designed specifically for grain spirits, allows a greater surface area for the liquor to develop a full aroma and distinct flavor.

Koval started out by producing five single-grain white whiskeys, which are more flavorful than vodka and slightly more intense than aged whiskey. With its powerful punch, white whiskeys make great mixed drinks. For sippers, they also distill regular and dark single-grain aged whiskeys, branded under the name Lion’s Pride. Like the white whiskeys, the Lion Pride varieties include rye, wheat, oat, spelt and millet, all matured in new American oak barrels sourced from The Barrel Mill in central Minnesota.

We tried a few of Koval’s spirits, finding that each style had a definitively different flavor. The Levant Spelt white whiskey tastes like a slightly bland moonshine, but would serve as a good base for a cocktail with heartier mixers, while the sweeter Lion’s Pride regular rye would work well in a Manhattan that’s easy on the vermouth. We enjoyed the Lion’s Pride dark millet as a sipping whiskey, and the rosehip liqueur would go great in a lavender martini or other floral drink.

Prices vary depending on type, but on average a 750-milliliter bottle of Koval whiskey runs around $40 and sells online from West Lakeview Liquors or from Koval’s brick-and-mortar shop.