The Most Interesting (And Weird) Items At The Beverage Alcohol For Restaurants Show

By Melissa McEwen in Food on May 21, 2015 6:00PM

While the National Restaurant Association Show was in town, we drank the future, both high-brow and low, of what will be served at a restaurant near you. This was our second year visiting this particular show, which used to be called The International Wine, Spirits And Beer Event. It's a small part of the ginormous NRA Show, but it's easily one of the most fun events due to the huge range of alcoholic beverages you can sample. From craft beer to alcoholic ginger ale to moonshine, every level of booze is represented.

Two James' Grass Widow Bourbon and Johnny Smoking Gun Whiskey (Photo by Melissa McEwen)

Two James, a Detroit distillery, is now selling its product here and Laura Green of Geek Bar is representing them. That's great, it will be nice to get the Rye Dog White Whiskey for my shelf since it's a nice example of a white dog that actually tastes good. I was also quite impressed by their Johnny Smoking Gun Whiskey, inspired by Japanese whiskey and made to pair with Japanese food.

Monkey 47, the intriguing fruit-forward German gin, is also available in Chicago these days and you can grab a bottle at Binny's. Forbidden Root , which was just launched last year, is now widely available on tap and in stores in Chicago. The brewery wasn't at the show this year. [Edit: Actually they were, we just missed them somehow.]

As for new things, here is what stood out to us:

Rum: There were way more rums than last year, probably riding on the coattails of the tiki trend. My favorite that I tried was Tiburon Rum from Belize, which was delicious in a basil-tinged daiquiri.

Grand Teton Distillery's offerings (Photo by Melissa McEwen)

Flavored spirits: If there is anything I'm skeptical of, it's flavored things. Also vodka. That's why I was shocked by how enjoyable Grand Teton Distillery's Vishnovka Russian Style Cherry Vodka was. It tastes like really good dried cherries. I also won't lie that I thought William Wolf, a bourbon laced with pecan distillate, was pretty good with the peanut butter banana cupcakes from Zed 451. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write, but like most humans I do love sugar. I guess this kind of thing is a wide reminder of the gulf between markets that are actually expanding (flavored whiskey) and what beverage writers want to believe is the next big thing (amaro, vermouth).

Balsam: There was at least one trendy amaro here, which coincidentally also touts itself as a DIY vermouth. Local spirits entrepreneur and mixologist Adam Seger's Balsam amaro can be added to red wine to make vermouth, or at least a substitute for it. Which is appealing since properly storing vermouth can take up quite a bit of fridge space.

(Photo by Melissa McEwen)

And that's all. I have one confession: Wirtz's Impress Your Guests with Killer Presentation demo, where Johnny Costello made a tiki cocktail, was so delicious that I violated my personal drinking rules and didn't taste and dump bucket. I spent the rest of the show wandering around eating cheese and looking at industrial equipment.