| Article number: | P-14794 |
| Availability: | In stock (1) |
Forthave Spirits is a small, natural botanical focused spirits distillery in Brooklyn, New York founded by Aaron Fox and Daniel de la Nuez. Daniel split his time growing up between Brooklyn and Catalonia, Spain. While in college, he worked with Jorge Riera at 360, an early natural wine mecca and, coincidentally, Aaron’s favorite restaurant in Brooklyn at the time. They solidified their friendship over bottles of wine and the batches of spirits they began making together. When Aaron and Daniel first started, they focused on amari. The first amaro came from the idea of a secret recipe for four medieval thieves. As legend has it, while the plague ravaged Europe in the 15th Century, a botanist named Richard Forthave created a popular herbal tonic as protection against the disease. This amaro, appropriately named Marseille; along with an aperitivo, Red; and a gin, Blue; were the first products they launched under the Forthave Spirits brand—the link between each being the focus on natural botanicals. For spirits makers, Aaron and Daniel have a process that is solely their own, most similar to that of a natural winemaker. The elements that they love in wine, such as balance, carries through in their spirits. To achieve balanced and nuanced qualities, they commit to using only sustainable ingredients. They source only from USDA organic farmers or work with foraged materials from small Upstate farmers. There is no artificial coloring or processed sugars involved in the entire process. For the dry ingredients foraged from afar, they use a third party to verify the origin. They look towards history for inspiration for each one of their botanical spirit and approach every aspect of their production and supply chain with great care. A bittersweet aperitivo infused with 13 botanicals including including chamomile, citrus peels, rose buds, rose hips and rhubarb root. Forthave takes an all-natural approach: using nothing artificial, working only with glass or stainless steel, and using ingredients that are cultivated without chemicals. TASTING NOTES: The earthy garnet color is achieved naturally using botanical extracts including hibiscus and black carrots. In the glass, it’s aromatic and slightly dry with a perfectly balanced level of bitterness. Excellent on the rocks with soda and a lemon twist (as they serve it at Roman’s in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill). The producer suggests agave-based spirits for cocktails, like a Mezcal Negroni, or a favorite application, a Pét-Nat Spritz. Hailed as “the best non-Italian red bitter on the market,” by PUNCH Editor-in-Chief Talia Baiocchi, "Red" truly stands out among the pack of new-look aperitivo bitters, and is much more than just a junior-varsity alternative to Campari.