Tastes of Our Cape
"Nuanced" - I am the first to admit - has never been the word that came immediately to mind when I thought of vodka, gin or rum.
"The hard stuff," was more like it.
Or "incredibly potent." Or "what you drink when you want to get drunk — in a hurry."
Nearly everything about spirits, in fact, seemed to be in fast-forward mode. The alcohol percentage is higher for spirits than for wine, making them significantly more potent and concentrated beverages. A glass of gin is smaller than a glass of Zin but the gin hits you much harder and much faster. Drinking wine in a group of friends, moreover, seemed to enhance the conversation while spirits seemed to blur it.
Lately though, I have been led into the world of spirits by a more astute and careful guide, and two things have become abundantly clear.
First, that I've been drinking my spirits in the wrong company. And second, that I have been drinking the wrong spirits.
I have a lot to learn.
This week, I learned a lot from the people at Ryan & Wood Distilleries on Great Republic Drive in Gloucester, starting with their history in the Gloucester community and their place in the local economy. Gloucester native Bob Ryan and Dave Wood founded their business in 2006 and launched their first product in June 2009 - Beauport Vodka, "Beauport" after the original name given by Samuel de Champlain in 1606 to present-day Gloucester's "le beau fort."
So far Ryan & Wood have sold more than 600 six-pack cases of Beauport Vodka through 135 unique accounts, including the Liquor Locker and Seabreeze Liquors in Gloucester. The vodka does very well in stores on Cape Ann, Ryan said. "Those are your silent Yankees," he said. "We grew up together, we worked together on the waterfront. They're not making a big deal out of it, but they're buying it."
Ryan & Wood's second offering, Knockabout Gin, was released just two weeks ago and already the company has received reorders for it. Gin was not part of Ryan & Wood's original business plan but, as Ryan said, there was a demand for it from customers in the area. Ryan recruited a consultant to develop the product and the recipe, and together they created a gin infused with a dozen different botanicals including juniper berries and coriander seeds (what you would expect in a gin) and also cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon and orange peel which are more unusual but bring out a citrus note in the aroma and flavor of the finished product.
Those factors — the citrus note and the twist on a standard recipe — make Ryan & Wood's Knockabout Gin very appealing in terms of the idea and the taste. But perhaps more than anything else, enthusiastic wine drinkers like myself love a good story. I can think of no more compelling a reason than the spin of a good story to steer my palate away from wine and toward an alternate beverage. Bob Ryan has that story with his rum.
Ryan & Wood's Folly Cove Rum is still in the works but it is the product Ryan said he wants to hang the company's hat on. Partly that's because of the craftsmanship involved in making the rum (like the vodka and gin, the rum is distilled in small batches in their custom-built classic copper pot still, then it is aged in charred white American oak barrels from Louisville, Kentucky), and partly it's because of the local history of rum that infuses the beverage with the Spirit of Cape Ann, which is the tagline for Ryan & Wood Distilleries.
Back in colonial trading days, molasses from the south made its way up to the northeast by way of the Mystic River. It was distilled at nearby locations like Medford and Newburyport, and then it made its way back out in the form of rum to Europe and Africa.
Today, Ryan & Wood still receives molasses from the South — from Louisiana these days — but I suspect the finesse of today's final product far exceeds that of the rum from 250 years ago.
It is the finesse, in fact, that I noticed more than any other factor as I explored the distillery: the fine, powdery texture of the grain, for example, and the sheen of the copper still, and the almost-black leathery color of the molasses bubbling away.
And then there was the aroma — the nuanced aroma — of the spirits that were not even completed yet. This was more than "the hard stuff," and it was way more than something you'd drink when you want to get drunk in a hurry. It's something to take in slowly, something to be enjoyed with friends, something to enhance conversation, and something to appreciate for its roots right here in Gloucester.
Cathy Huyghe is a regular Times columnist. A resident of Manchester, she also coordinates a Web site, 365daysofwine.com, covering food and wine throughout Greater Boston.
