Elusive Spirits
Originally dreamed up in 2017, Elusive Spirits finally sprung to life as a nomadic eau de vie distil
11/07/2024
KQED: This Rare-Bottle Mezcal Collector Offers Unique Tastings in Oakland
"...Mezcal simply requires a Herculean effort — along with a deep, intimate knowledge — to produce."
This Rare-Bottle Mezcal Collector Offers Unique Tastings in an East Oakland Garage How a former construction worker from Mexico turned himself into the Bay Area's underground mezcal king.
24/04/2024
ATLAS OBSCURA: The Resurrection of Rajasthan’s Royal Liquors
An interesting history behind northwest India's heritage liquors, dating back hundreds of years.
The Resurrection of Rajasthan’s Royal Liquors After fading away post-Independence, Heritage Liquors are back and, this time, everyone can sip them.
The Last Days of Mezcal
Great article highlighting the current state of the Mezcal industry in Mexico and what some producers are doing to sustainably produce high-quality distillate.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-mexico-mezcal-agave/
03/02/2024
WAPO: The Plants Used to Make the World’s Best Mezcal are Disappearing
Disconcerting news for mezcal aficionados. 😕
The plants used to make the world’s best mezcal are disappearing The growing global market for mezcal has spurred a wild agave rush. Some species have effectively vanished.
01/02/2024
PUNCH: Want to Make Spirits In Thailand? Good Luck.
"Electricity use is capped at the horsepower of two hair dryers. Advertising is prohibited. Boilers rely on wood-burning fires." Quite the amazing scrappy distillery! 🥃 ONSON
Want to Make Spirits In Thailand? Good Luck. Electricity use is capped at the horsepower of two hair dryers. Advertising is prohibited. Distilleries rely on wood-burning fires. Yet Onson and a group of like-minded small producers are creating some of Thailand’s most interesting spirits.
02/03/2023
Congrats to our colleagues at Empirical for snagging spot #1 in Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Consumer Goods Companies 2023!
The top 10 consumer goods companies of 2023 Consumer goods companies, including Empirical, Kraft Heinz, and Parachute, found innovative ways to reimagine how we eat, sleep, make others feel welcome in our homes, and more
12/01/2023
NIPPON: Ki No Bi — Blazing Trails for Japanese Craft Gin
One of our favorite distilleries in the world, they've have grown quite a bit since their founding in 2014.
Japanese Craft Gin: Kyoto Distillery’s Ki no Bi Blends Storied Water and Local Botanicals Kyoto Distillery’s Ki no Bi dry gin is infused with aromas of gyokuro tea and fragrant yuzu. We visited this Japanese craft gin pioneer’s distillery and brand house to discover the secrets behind the delicate yet complex flavors of its massively popular gin.
04/01/2023
IMBIBE: The Little-Known History of Curaçao Liqueur
Insights as to the origin of everyone's favorite blue-colored, orange-flavored liqueur. 🍊
The Little-Known History of Curaçao Liqueur Writer Jake Emen shares curaçao's little-known story—how many centuries of immigration and agricultural failure brought it to life.
26/12/2022
VICE: The Taste of Water, Explained by Water Sommeliers
The number one by volume, yet underappreciated, ingredient in every spirit.
The Taste of Water, Explained by Water Sommeliers You’re not imagining it—some water really is better than others.
20/05/2022
VINEPAIR: Does It Matter That Most Gin Brands Don’t Make Their Own Base Alcohol?
tldr; To the average consumer? No. To aficionados? Yes.
https://vinepair.com/articles/gin-brands-base-alcohol/
Does It Matter That Most Gin Brands Don’t Make Their Own Base Alcohol? The gin market is awash with hundreds of brands all jostling to get in on its seemingly never-ending boom.
04/04/2022
LA TIMES: Searching For The Fermented Drinks of Mexico on The Streets of L.A.
If you've never tasted the likes of pulque, tepache, tejuino, etc., give it a shot! The stuff distills nicely too. 🍍
https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2022-03-17/la-fo-search-tepache-tejuino-pulque-fermented-drinks-mexico
Foggy, fizzy, buzzy: Searching for the fermented drinks of Mexico on the streets of L.A. Tepache, tejuino and pulque are rustic beverages with Indigenous roots, yet they're still barely known north of the border.
01/04/2022
PUNCH: An Obsessive Quest to Capture the Terroir of Rum
Mark Reynier, an unmatched innovator in Scotch whisky, is taking unprecedented steps to understand how soil, topography, and cane variety affect the flavor of Agricole rum.
https://punchdrink.com/articles/obsessive-quest-capture-terroir-renegade-rum/
An Obsessive Quest to Capture the Terroir of Rum | PUNCH At Renegade Rum, former whisky distiller Mark Reynier is exploring the ways soil, topography and cane variety affect the flavor of the rum.
23/02/2022
ROBB REPORT: How This Craft Distillery Created a Surprisingly Delicious Oyster Vodka
Reminds us of the Sakurao Distillery of Hiroshima, Japan, and their limited edition Dry Gin that Is distilled with Hatsukaichi oysters. 🦪
https://robbreport.com/food-drink/spirits/industrious-spirit-co-ostreida-oyster-vodka-1234662095/
How This Craft Distillery Created a Surprisingly Delicious Oyster Vodka Industrious Spirit Co. put the bivalves right in the distillation.
22/02/2022
ATLAS OBSCURA: The Quest to Reacquaint Japan With Its Forgotten Native Citrus
We're looking forward to Japan opening up so that we can start playing around with tachibana citrus in some new vodka and gin distillates we've been working on. 🍊
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-tachibana
The Quest to Reacquaint Japan With Its Forgotten Native Citrus Once revered by royals and celebrated by poets, the tachibana is now endangered.
21/02/2022
EATER: The Ongoing Fight Over Who Owns
For centuries, Indigenous Mexicans have been distilling agave as mezcal, but strict modern certification requirements are pushing more and more ancestral producers to ditch the term to preserve their culture.
https://www.eater.com/22929882/mezcal-destilado-de-agave-distilling-indigenous-culture-oaxaca
The Ongoing Fight Over Who Owns ‘Mezcal’ Why more and more ancestral producers are ditching the term ‘Mezcal’ to preserve their culture
16/02/2022
INSIDE HOOK: Why the Next Big Player in Whisky Might Be China
With aged barrels getting harder and harder to come by, we could see the interest from Chinese consumers driving prices up and available stock way down...
https://www.insidehook.com/article/booze/china-whisky-diageo-pernod-ricard
Why the Next Big Player in Whisky Might Be China In the largest spirits market in the world, locally crafted whisky marks a new trend
05/02/2022
JSTOR: England’s Forgotten Favorite Drink
Although they're a bit difficult to work with, we LOVE when we can get the right notes out of into our distillate. Would love to try and distill some perry sometime... 🍐
https://daily.jstor.org/englands-forgotten-favorite-drink/
England's Forgotten Favorite Drink - JSTOR Daily Thanks to botanical artists, 19th century paintings of perry pears are helping to bring England's forgotten bubbly back to our glasses.
01/02/2022
SIXTH TONE: The Race to Create a From China, for Chinese People
To the winner(s) go the spoils! We'll be following the development of Chinese whiskey with much interest over the next few years... 🥃 💰
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009363/the-race-to-create-a-whiskey-from-china%2C-for-chinese-people-
The Race to Create a Whiskey From China, for Chinese People Banking on the fast-expanding middle class, Chinese and Western liquor companies are eager to build Chinese whiskey brands. But with a years-long wait for each batch, domestic and international suppliers alike are betting on the unknown.
31/01/2022
STORIED: , Japan's Most Distinguished Citrus
One of our favorite flavor profiles to experiment with, as we have done with our yuzu vodka and yuzu gin lines over the years. 🍋
https://storiedmag.com/stories/the-lure-of-yuzu-japans-most-distinguished-citrus
STORIED A magazine-cum-journal and online platform, STORIED finds inspiration in the people, places, and culture of Japan.
26/01/2022
VINEPAIR: For Some Whiskey Distilleries, Malting Is an Ancient Process Worth the Effort
A labor and capital-intensive pursuit for sure, but a great learning opportunity for the distilleries that can manage the investment.
https://vinepair.com/articles/whiskey-ancient-malting-process/
For Some Whiskey Distilleries, Malting Is an Ancient Process Worth the Effort Commercial malting facilities supply just about every whiskey brand in the world, but a few distillers continue to make their own malt.
24/01/2022
LA TIMES: Stop Calling It 'Smoky': Everything You Need to Know About
The U.S. became the world’s largest market for the spirit in 2019—surpassing even Mexico.
https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2022-01-19/stop-calling-it-smoky-everything-you-need-to-know-to-be-a-better-mezcal-drinker
Stop calling it 'smoky': Everything you need to know to be a better mezcal drinker Los Angeles may be the best city in which to sip this complex agave spirit — but when does it become too much of a good thing?
31/05/2020
31/05/2020
31/05/2020
Eau De Vie Excellence
Originally dreamed up in 2017 in a remote corner of North Dakota, Elusive Spirits finally sprung to life as a nomadic eau de vie distillery in 2020.
Eau de vie, French for “water of life”, is another name for the class of spirits known as brandy. Brandy itself is classified as a liquor originating from brewing, then distilling fruit wine or mash. The primary source of flavor in the end product generally comes from fruit (along with any added spices or other compounds), although there is only a trace of it present in the finished product (the majority of the flavor compounds being lost during the distillation process).
The use of a copper pot still is the traditional way brandies are made, we generally opt towards using vacuum distillation (reducing the pressure of the distillation vessel, allowing for alcohol extraction at lower temperatures), in order to better preserve the essence of the individual ingredients.
We at Elusive Spirits are dedicated to producing a wide variety of unique, delicious liquors for your enjoyment.