The
fourth annual Eat, Drink,
Local New York FoodFest or Food-A-Pallooza, coordinated by the hyper local
Edible portfolio of food-focused magazines is in full bloom: from local
greenmarkets to restaurants to wineries, brewers, and distillers.
Locavores
and foodies can eat in or dine out. Check
out their web page for highlighted events, especially tomorrow’s GreenMarket
GrowNYC Taste of Greenmarket
To
help mark this year’s Eat Drink Local homage to all things Local, experience a
Homegrown treasure: LiV Long Island's First
Craft Distillery
A
visit to the website is practically a virtual vacation, enchanting and seducing
the viewer away with spa-like music and beach scenery.
Vodka
should be made from potatoes, not grain, in this Examiner’s lofty opinion.
With a
daily martini de rigueur at cocktail time, this Food & Drink columnist has
earned her stripes.
There
is the ongoing debate about gin martini vs. vodka martini with gin always
fretting and twitching that those juniper berries earned its crown as the only
true martini spirit. As a jazz-age
impresario might have refined a famous song:
“You say pohtAto; and I say
potato… let’s call the whole thing off”
Fact is,
vodka is the number one, most favorite spirit in the world.
So gin
enthusiasts can cry in their cup.
Tonight,
this Examiner attended a Spirits seminar at the New School, where three authors
spoke about “how rum, gin and vodka have changed history.”
As
Patricia Herlihy, professor of History Emeritus at Brown University writes in
the introduction to her book, Vodka A Global
History ”There cannot be too much vodka, there can only be not enough vodka.” Russian saying.”
Words
to live by. But forget those snooty
imports.
What
better locale than the verdant, picture-postcard farmland of the North Fork of
Long Island, blessed with centuries-old potato farms and pristine waterways to
produce an award winning artisanal vodka?
Besides,
Vodka Herlihy cites LiV as one of the good guys – the best!
In
fact, long heralded for it’s potatoes, the Island still grows around 40,000 to
50,000 pounds of potatoes per acre, where they used to grow more than 250,000
pounds per acre, according to Richard Stabile, founder and owner of Long Island
Spirits and the genius behind the first distillery on Long Island since the
1880’s.
What
took so long?
Long Island’s
LiV distillery, featured in the Vodka Global History, uses about 2 million pounds
of potatoes a year -- a very small percentage of Long Island’s bounty,
according to Stabile. “I am very much into sustainability,” he added.
Stabile
says he primarily works with three potato farmers: Ray Kioski,
Martin
Sidor (how much do we love their local Long Island potato chips?!), and Zwalinki.
All
the Long Island growers Stabile works with grow Long Island white Russet and
Maxi Russet potatoes.
“These
local potatoes are sweet, with more skin to fruit, given their 2-inch diameter,”
explained Stable. “There is an inherent
buttery feel or palate, that conjures a vanilla taste,” he added.
He
recalled that it took about nine months to taste-test the various distillations
before he arrived at that happy, eureka moment and to the vodka blend Stable
liked.
He
tried yellow and fingerling potatoes but found the Russetts were best.
LiV
shipped their first batch of artisanal vodka in June of 2008.
Today,
they ship more than 5,000 cases a year.
The
bottles are a clean look with a blue label.
Stabile says that imagery suggests the depth of the ocean. “We’re
surrounded by water and we wanted to reflect that element of nature.”
“My
heart and passion is in wine and spirits,” Stabile said. He went on to describe how he was always a
fan of potato vodka. “I wanted to make
what I like”
Another
overlooked element to vodka, Stabile points out, is that all the spirits are
Gluten Free.
So
while it might seem a bit confounded to discuss spirits and health in the same
context, it’s really not. Truth be told,
in the early days of spirits, it was all about the medicinal properties.
To
your health and all that….
(At
the lecture this Examiner also learned that the term “quack” the term for a not
so great doctor, came from the time when “doctors” wore long beak-like
appendages on their nose filled with juniper berries/aka gin and they looked
like ducks.)
LiV’s Stabile
learned to make handmade or homemade wine growing up in the Red Hook area of
Brooklyn. Later, his family moved to Smithtown, Long Island.
Layering
on his childhood homegrown experience, Stabile was further enamored and infused
with a spirits élan, given his career as a semiconductor sales and marketing
executive who spent a considerable amount of time around Silicon Valley in the
wine country of Santa Barbara.
Stabile
described his international travel too but he saw he kept coming back to
wineries and distilleries.
Another
aha moment and smart business vision was when Stabile felt the year-round
opportunity of distilling vs. the seasonal wine production appealed to him.
“Plus,
I could see the results faster, “ noted this former tech executive turned distiller. Old habits die hard.
After
the World Trade Center attacks, Stabile moved back home to Long Island to raise
his family.
Strategically
and methodically, Stabile drew up a business plan.
He
attended wine and spirits Cornell workshops at their education center in New
York City, learning the distillation craft there and at other hands-on
education classes and seminars.
Stabile
found his dream 80-acre location on the Peconic Bay, East End of Long Island in
2005.
“It
took about three years to get the premiere vodka distillery and
tasting/sampling room ready for guests and commerce.
Stable
detailed that there are four elements to vodka production, highlighting the raw
materials or ingredients.
And it
can’t get much better than local potatoes or water or strawberries from SEPS
Farms in East Marion.
LiV
Vodka Signature Cocktail...
LONG
ISLAND STRAWBERRY LEMONADE
1 1/2
oz LiV Vodka
3 oz
Organic Lemonade
1/2 oz
Strawberry Sorbetta
Preparation:
Assemble all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice
cubes.
Shake well and pour into a martini glass. Garnish with a Strawberry
or Lemon
Wedge.
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