Drinks
The Man Who Began the Gin Craze Wants to Sell You Chili Whiskey
- Creator of Monkey 47 says it’s time to break down barriers
- Spirits industry still guided by provenance-dictating rules
The $470 billion spirits industry is governed by thousands of strict laws that decree what makes a Cognac a Cognac, a tequila a tequila and a Scotch whisky a Scotch whisky. Alexander Stein doesn’t take any of the rules too seriously.
Instead, the creator of Monkey 47 gin that seeded much of the craft gin boom wants to break down any preconceived notions about what a spirit can or should be. Stein calls his latest concoction, a blend of bourbon whiskey and a distillate from locally farmed habanero chilis, Horse With No Name -- a fitting title for a liquid that’s impossible to demarcate in the tightly regulated world of liquor.