Crucial to every well-executed toast (besides avocado) is a glass of goodness to raise in salutations. Bartenders and master distillers at cocktail corners that double as event spaces around the Twin Cities share how they craft a signature sip.
King Coil Spirits
The next round for one of the masterminds behind Lake Monster Brewing: King Coil Spirits, slated to open this summer. The punchy industrial space includes private event areas and a cocktail program concocted by lead distiller Matt Lange and beverage director David Curiel.
“The philosophy behind King Coil Spirits is that the finished product is not the spirit in the bottle but the cocktail in the glass,” Lange says. The seasonally inspired spirits and cocktails are made entirely from scratch and sidestep all synthetic ingredients and extracts. “Let’s say we are hosting a groom’s dinner, and the couple first met at a coffeehouse,” Lange says. “We would most likely suggest our take on an espresso martini made with chicory and cacao, garnished with a house-made ginger biscotti.”
Often, the KC team puts their Hancock on classic drinks. Take, for example, the Black Walnut Old Fashioned. A wheated bourbon base gets maple syrup and black walnut foraged bitters, which “highlight local flavors by using foraged black walnuts and cherry bark as the primary flavoring agents,” Lange says. It’s garnished with a classic cherry and orange twist, plus a dash of the unexpected: edible flowers.
Monkeying with a classic Ramos Gin Fizz, King Coil shook out a Banana Rum Ramos with white rum, lemon, egg whites, soda, cream, and house-made banana-infused rum. “The egg whites and soda create a rich, creamy head on the cocktail,” Lange says, “which allows for a floating garnish of citrus zest and an edible flower.” St. Paul, 651-300-9550, kingcoilspirits.com
Brother Justus Whiskey Company
“We want to honor the spirit of the event and the flavors our guests love,” says Stacy Pagano of Brother Justus. “The signature cocktails from Brother Justus become memories themselves because they represent special moments in taste and in name.” The Northeast Minneapolis distillery creates drinks in collaboration with event hosts, such as The Kach-tail for Tom and Regina Kachelmacher’s wedding. In personalized glasses, house cold-peated single malt whiskey was mixed with hibiscus tea syrup, ginger honey syrup, and lemon extract. Mpls., 612-886-1658, brotherjustus.com
Tattersall River Falls
When this MN-born distillery hopped across the river, it opened with a slew of Wisconsin classics that even Minnesotan (read: better) taste buds tolerated. “We knew we couldn’t open without a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet on the menu, since they’re so synonymous with Wisconsin,” says beverage manager Kodi Satra. “At this point, it’s so popular, we can never get rid of it without regulars rioting.”
The on-tap Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet is made with apple brandy—aged for two years in American oak barrels—and house sour cherry liqueur, which Satra says complements any brown spirit. And before you write off tapped cocktails as the easy way out, hear this: “We love kegging classics like this because it helps with consistency and speed,” Satra says—two things that are a huge bonus when all your guests arrive thirsty.
For an event’s signature cocktail, Satra advises aiming for crowd-pleasing drinkability—nothing too sweet or spirit forward. River Falls, Wisc., 534-248-8300, tattersalldistilling.com/river-falls
Skaalvenn Distillery
The perfectionists behind Skaalvenn’s northwestern-burbs lounge operate on an astonishingly simple truth: “It’s hard to be good, and it’s easy to be bad,” says owner Tyson Schnitker. Instead of “good enough,” his team asks at each turn if this is the best they can do. So, when Twin Cities Performance Ferrari wanted to unveil a new model, it got two drinks made to those aspirational standards.
In each drink, Skaalvenn spirits combined with Italian liqueurs and flavors found near the Ferrari factory, poured over customized ice cubes and finished with edible garnishes that resembled the air inlets and body lines of the car. “And, of course, a little aromatic smoke to simulate what the owners occasionally do to their tires,” Schnitker says. Beads of water sliding down glasses were captured by custom red-and-black coasters (a party favor too!).
“The truth of the matter is, a good cocktail and a good steak share the same things,” Schnitker says. “Is it seasoned and flavored correctly? How’s the plating? How does it smell? What textures do you experience?” He thinks of each cocktail as an experience, from first taste to last watered-down drop, and strives to push the bounds of possibility and expectation within the rim of a glass. “If cocktails had a Michelin star, I’d want to someday be awarded one.” Brooklyn Park, 763-762-7861, skaalvenn.com
Copperwing Distillery
This small but mighty distillery makes everything—down to the last drop—from scratch in-house, including their own cola. “We might make the only Fernet con Coca that is truly from scratch,” says Kyle Kettering, owner and master distiller. With inventive twists on familiar sips, like its Minnetonka Boulevardier and Royal Mary, an amped-up Bloody, Copperwing creates a flavor all its own.
The Sparkle 75 (left) builds off its kegged take on a French 75, adding raspberry rhubarb shrub infused with edible glitter. “The addition transforms the profile of the base cocktail from crisp and semidry to slightly sweet and fruity,” Kettering says. Plus, the libation sparkles. Hey Siri, play “Bejeweled.” St. Louis Park, 612-293-6157, copperwingdistillery.com
The Dampfwerk Distillery
Tucked into a corner of St. Louis Park, The Dampfwerk is currently building out a dedicated private event space within the distillery’s footprint. In private events and on the taproom menu, the Dampf team believes that “if a spirit is delicious enough to be enjoyed on its own or with food, it will certainly thrive in a cocktail,” says Bridgit Loeffelholz, creative director at The Dampfwerk.
For a recent event, the host wanted something juicy in response to summer’s swelter. “It’s the Goldilocks scenario—not too sweet, juicy, or spirituous,” Loeffelholz says of the unnamed drink. The custom cocktail includes barreled gin, Helgolander (a botanical bitter liqueur), orange liqueur, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, and simple syrup. A large grapefruit peel crowns the summer sipper. St. Louis Park, 612-460-8190, thedampfwerk.com