I remember going to Bar Convent in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood a few years ago and getting through all the exhibitors in about three hours. There was one afterparty nearby, and I sort of forgot about the event a few days later.
The 2024 edition of Bar Convent felt far different. The conference is now held in Industry City, and it’ll take you the full two days to see all 230 exhibitors and 52 educational sessions. According to BCB, more than 550,000 drinks and spirits samples were poured during those two days in mid-June, and 5,300 people attended (it felt like many, many more). I also lost track of after-events, but a spreadsheet I kept had it around 20.
BCB is a trade show, sure, but it’s also a great chance to mingle with the drinks world and try a few things you’d never get to taste in your local bar or liquor store. With the spirit (ha) of discovery in mind, we’re only highlighting new(ish) brands and bottles that caught our eyes and palate.
Tierra de Ensueno
Tierra de Ensueno is an additive-free blanco tequila rested for 14 days in charred barrels that previously held wheated bourbon. It’s still an excellent, earthy, agave-forward blanco, now with just a hint of oak complexity.
Savoia Americano Rosso
Made with a blend of 22 botanicals in a historic distillery in Turin, Italy, this vino aperitivo is herbal, spicy, bitter and sweet. Think of it as a cross between or a substitute for vermouth, bitters or Marsala.
Weber Ranch
Former Patrón team members came up with this unique vodka, crafted from 100% Blue Weber agave. It’s an ideal in-between of vodka and tequila, perfect for elevating Martinis and switching up traditional agave spirits cocktails (like a Paloma).
Umiki
Umiki is a Japanese whisky that utilizes desalinated ocean water to proof ocean-side distilled Japanese malt whiskies and imported grain whiskies. Interesting enough on its own, the spirit is also finished with a maturation in Japanese pine barrels. It’s balanced but unique, offering salinity and floral notes.
Oka
Do I have a new favorite vodka? Oka is made from Japanese rice and utilizes a pot still, imbuing the clear spirit with real flavor and mouthfeel. It also comes in at a slightly higher proof (43% ABV) and is filtered using the locally-made Japanese bincho tan, an artisanal charcoal.
Butterfly Cannon
Why should gin own the color-changing market? Besides offering a Cristalino and a pink grapefruit tequila, Butterfly Cannon also has a “blue expression” that changes into a light purple-pink with the addition of a mixer (tonic, lime juice, etc.)
Bodega Cat
Owned by popular comedians/podcasters Mark Normand and Sam Morril, Bodega Cat is an Indiana-distilled rye featuring a 95% rye/5% malted barley mash bill. Nothing unusual there, but this one has a smoothness that belies its young age, and the slightly elevated proof (90) helps elevate the bottle above the usual sourced rye.
Kaiyo
Aging in the Japanese oak known as Mizanura isn’t unusual, but having a peated expression undergoing that maturation is different — as is the final aging process, where the barrels are taken out to sea from Osaka for an additional three months.
Twisted Cow
The last brand I tasted caught my eye with its name. Twisted Cow is a Long Island distillery — loosely named after the nearby Northport area nickname “Cow Harbor” — that crafts whisky, a rye-based white dog, vodka and bourbon from local grains grown near the East End (they also have a rum and a 100% agave spirit). It’s all flavorful and unique, so I asked TC founder John Pawluk his secret. “We use a square still to optimize blending and emulsification of grains,” he says. “That’s along with our use of direct heaters, gives us the ability to take advantage of the Maillard effect, the browning of unfermented sugars, thus adding flavors, while distilling on the grain, and not scorching. That’s a tremendous advantage over steam-jacketed, round copper stills.”
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