While Connecticut residents continue to bemoan how expensive it is to call this place home, the entrepreneurial is alive and well. Maybe because of that fact. And business is booming when it comes to booze:
Preston-based Maple Lane Spirits produces Foggy Harbor Gin, made with juniper berries and black currants. There is also the 80 proof Foggy Harbor Vodka and the Foggy Harbor Cassis Liqueur (made with black currants grown at Maple Lane Farms, owned by one of the company’s co-founders). Available at select liquor stores.
Everyone knows Two Roads Brewing Company. The Holiday Ale is a traditional but rare Biere de Noel (Christmas Beer) and sold in a beautiful 22-ounce bottle. This dark beer has been described as a "Christmas carol in a glass." Available at Two Roads’ Stratford brewery and liquor stores across the state.
The Jones Family Winery in Shelton offers red, white, dessert and fruit wines, like First Blush, which is made from a blend of Connecticut-grown apples, pears and black currants. Jones Family wines are available at liquor stores across the state or at the winery.
Over at Stony Creek Brewery it's all about "The Crankies." The "Big Cranky" is the jam. A Bold West Coast Double IPA, this is the crankiest of their IPAs. 7 different hops "contribute complex and juicy hop character."
Tennessee Moonshine (pictured here) is somewhat new to Connecticut packies. But what has me most intrigued is the Hellboy Hell Water, based on the popular comic book character (and subsequent film series starring Ron Perlman). It is small batch naturally flavored cinnamon whiskey, micro-distilled, hand bottled and styled in the old traditional process of making Southern Corn Whiskey.