WELCOME TO THE
SPIRITUAL GUIDE A guide for spiritual enlightenment by the pious team at Glengarry. Join us monthly as we explore everything spirit related.
NEW TO NZ L'HERAUD
We are proud to be representing the familyowned house of L'heraud for the first time in New Zealand. Generations of L'herauds have lived in the same 10th century house in the heart of the Petite Champagne region since 1680. Beginning as grape growers, they distilled their first cognac in 1802, a demijohn of which still resides in their private cellar. Guy L'heraud and his wife Andree inherited the Domaine and have run it since the 1960s. It was a very difficult time, with many small houses failing and sold off. In an area now totally dominated by the big four brands, they are one of the last family producers to farm, distil, age and bottle all themselves.
Guy stopped selling cognac to others in 1970 and started releasing their older spirits under his own name. They realised if they wanted to survive, L'heraud needed to stand out for their resistance to modernisation, doing everything by hand in small batches in the old traditional ways. “If you want to make something of quality, you must give time to time�. Passion is more than a word to the L'herauds, it is total dedication. Heady, exhausting and all encompassing. The result is cognac and armagnac of outstanding quality, with some of the most beautiful packaging you will find. Andree still handwrites the calligraphy labels on each bottle of their rare vintage cognac (they’re one of the last companies to offer these), making the ink herself from their acorns, the labels hand-ironed
with a flour and water glue and sealed with wax on her stove-top.
- R.M
OLMECA ALTOS
Olmeca Altos came from a collaboration between two famous English bartenders, Dre Masso and the late Henry Besant, who travelled to Mexico many times to study the regions that produce great agave plants. Unlike grapes or wheat, agave takes 7-8 years to properly mature; that means the soil and climate have more impact on the product than on any other spirit. The highlands area of Los Altos was
where they settled, its red volcanic soil and 2,100 metre elevation producing soft, round tequilas with a greater fruit and citrus presence than the dark and earthy lowlands styles.
The search for a distillery led them to Olmeca, who had the right land and still used many of the traditional methods. Besant and Masso knew they wanted a 100% Agave tequila (unlike cheap ‘mixto’ tequilas that are only 51% distilled from the plant), so they collaborated with Maestro Tequilero, Jesus Hernandez, who manages every part of the production.
The agave pinas are slow cooked for three days in a traditional Hornos (brick oven). 50% of these are then crushed by a two tonne Tahona volcanic stone wheel, an expensive and timeconsuming method that is rarely used nowadays. This draws out sweet juice and syrup from the fibres, ensuring a rich, plush texture. The other 50% is shredded by modern roller mill. This hybrid process is the key to a great tequila that is cheap enough to mix, but good enough to sip. The mash is fermented with all the pulp and fibres from the crushed plants, resulting in a pure and bright cooked agave flavour. It is then double-distilled in small-batch copper pot stills.
- R.M
LILLET WHEN BORDEAUX BLENDS WITH THE EXOTIC
In 1872, the distiller brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet founded their company, La Maison Lillet, in the tiny village of Podensac, where it remains to this day. In one of history’s fortuitous coincidences of inspiration and circumstance, the brothers created Kina Lillet. The idea was to marry the local vinous produce of Bordeaux to some of the Central and South American fruits then entering Europe through the bustling city port, and it proved a delicious one.
The base of white Bordeaux is treated similarly to much of the wine in the region – aged in oak, racked, fined and filtered. The key extra step involves being blended with macerated fruit
From these humble beginnings, Lillet soared in popularity in France and overseas, in New York particularly. These days Lillet produce a range of superb aperitifs, with Lillet Blanc replacing the original Kina Lillet recipe in 1986, and the rose version released in 2011 also proving very popular.
Delicious and refreshing served chilled with a twist of orange, Lillet is also lovely over ice with just a splash of soda. For a fresh citrussy, bitter take on summer cocktails it also marries well with vodka or gin. Or take it from James Bond himself: “Dry martini in large champagne glass, three measures of Booths, one of vodka, one
liqueurs, primarily citrus fruits from around Europe, North Africa and the Americas.
measure of Lillet... shake... then add zest of lemon.”
- D.L
EVENTS AND TASTINGS
MALT CLUB | WHISKY AND CHAMPAGNE Glengarry Head Honcho Jak Jakicevich and Fine Wine Manager Regan McCaffery both have their fixation. Jak is a committed fan of Single Malt whiskies, while Regan, our guru on all things wine.
AUCKLAND with JAK & REGAN WHEN: Thursday 12 December WHERE: Glengarry Victoria Park, 118 Wellesley St West Auckland TIME: 7:00pm
They are teaming up with Jak on three separate nights to share their respective obsessions to present and taste with you a selection of 6 wonderful drams matched with top champagne. Each of them will be flourishing the attributes of six of their favourites. Is it a duel? A face-off? We don’t know. Will it be entertaining and enlightening? Absolutely.
BOOK NOW
SERO RTD INSTORE TASTING | DOMINION ROAD
Join us for an instore tasting of the Sero Ready to Drink range between 4.00pm and 7.00pm today! Sero RTD's make a refreshing drink you can sip away on all night - with Zero Sugar and Zero Carbs, it's your lifestyle cocktail of choice. Read more...
WHEN: Thursday 12 December WHERE: Glengarry Dominion Road, 250 Dominion Rd Mount Eden TIME: 4:00pm-7:00pm
BLUSH & 1919 GIN INSTORE TASTING | GREY LYNN Join us for an instore tasting of the Blush and 1919 range between 3.00pm and 6.00pm today! Blush's vision is simple - they want to change the perception of gin away from the mother's ruin to something that is lively and pleasant and can be enjoyed over ice. They're serious about making a quality gin, it’s triple distilled and hand crafted. WHEN: Thursday 12 December WHERE: Glengarry Grey Lynn, 23 Williamson Ave Grey Lynn TIME: 3:00pm-6:00pm
Named after the year in which New Zealanders stood up for their rights, 1919 Distilling use New Zealand's finest botanicals including; New Zealand grown organic oranges and lemons, Otago Cherries, and Manuka Honey, to create truly unique, world-class gin. Read More...
BLUSH & 1919 GIN INSTORE TASTING | MT EDEN Join us for an instore tasting of the Blush and 1919 range between 3.00pm and 6.00pm today!
Blush's vision is simple - they want to change the perception of gin away from the mother's ruin to something that is lively and pleasant and can be enjoyed over Ice. They're serious about making a quality gin, it’s triple distilled and hand crafted. Named after the year in which New Zealanders stood up for their rights, 1919 Distilling use New Zealand's finest botanicals including; New Zealand grown organic oranges and lemons, Otago Cherries, and Manuka Honey, to create truly unique, world-class gin. Read more...
WHEN: Friday 13 December WHERE: Glengarry Mount Eden, 417 Mount Eden Road Mount Eden TIME: 3:00pm-6:00pm
BUREAUCRATS GIN INSTORE TASTING | DOMINION ROAD Join us for an instore tasting of Bureaucrats Gin between 3.00pm and 7.00pm today! Bureaucrats Gin was born out of a love of fine gin and by running small stills in their respective laundries, the Bureaucrats created something magnificent. For more than two years, using the age-old scientific method of trial and error, they developed distillation consistency and quality. Read more... WHEN: Friday 13 December WHERE: Glengarry Dominion Road, 250 Dominion Rd Mount Eden TIME: 3:00pm-7:00pm
CARDRONA DISTILLERY | THORNDON QUAY INSTORE TASTING The family-owned artisan Cardrona Single Malt Distillery sits high in the Cardrona Valley between Wanaka and Queenstown. The driving force behind the enterprise is Desiree Whitaker: 'Our spirits are made from scratch by traditional handcrafted methods, using only three ingredients: malted Scottish two-row barley,
pure alpine water and yeast. The whisky distillation is conducted in a large, hand-beaten copper pot crafted by renowned Scottish whisky family, the Forsyths. Following the various stages of production and distillation, the whisky will be aged in oak casks for ten years.'
WHEN: Saturday 14 December WHERE: Glengarry Thorndon, 53 Hutt Road Pipitea TIME: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Drop into Glengarry Thorndon between 1 and 4pm today to sample the Cardrona Distillery range. Read more...
BLUSH & 1919 GIN INSTORE TASTING | TAKAPUNA Join us for a free instore tasting of the Blush and 1919 range between 1.00pm and 4.00pm today! Blush's vision is simple - they want to change the perception of gin away from the mother's ruin to something that is lively and pleasant and can be enjoyed over Ice. They're serious about making a quality gin, it’s triple distilled and hand crafted. WHEN: Saturday 14 December WHERE: Glengarry Takapuna, Cnr Hurstmere & Killarney Takapuna TIME: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Named after the year in which New Zealanders stood up for their rights, 1919 Distilling use New Zealand's finest botanicals including; New Zealand grown organic oranges and lemons, Otago Cherries, and Manuka Honey, to create truly unique, world-class gin. Read more...
MOUNT EDEN GIN CLUB | THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL Among the recent global explosion, the alchemy aspect of gin distillation has led to the creations of weird and wonderful derivatives. Be it experimental and boundary pushing ingredients, the use of various casks, colours of bright pink and deep purple, or all of the above, there isn’t much the craft gin distillers haven’t tried. Tonight, we dive head first into the wonderland, tasting these creations neat, before mixing recipes recommended by the distillers themselves. This is not a night to miss! PS, yes
WHEN: Thursday 13 February
there will be rose gin styles, a perfect date for Valentine's eve.
WHERE: Glengarry Mt Eden Village, 417 Mount Eden Road Mount Eden TIME: 7:00pm
BOOK NOW
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL SPIRIT TASTINGS
That's it for this month's Spiritual Guide. Issue Twenty-One will be coming your way next month with more guidance through the spiritual world. Cheers,