Join the von Trapp family for their 10th annual Oktoberfest celebration! Enjoy a festive day of family-friendly activities and lawn games, live music from the Inseldudler Band, delicious Austrian fare, and a traditional Oktoberfest Keg Tapping (scheduled for 3 PM). Entrance to the event is free, with the opportunity to purchase a von Trapp Lager and commemorative 2019 Oktoberfest stein for $10 (while supplies last). Additional beer and food available for purchase. Prost!
2019 Wine and Harvest Festival
Set in the backdrop of our world renowned Vermont fall foliage, attendees of the 10th Annual Vermont Wine & Harvest Festival will discover, savor and enjoy Vermont vintners, small specialty food producers, chefs, painters, publishers, cheese makers, potters, jewelers, photographers and farmers.
Burlington: Mad River Distillers Cocktail Class
Join our next cocktail class taught by Vermont’s 2019 Bartender of the year Emily Morton! Emily is the Bar Manager at the amazing Deli 126, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar located in downtown Burlington. Emily is a connoisseur of classic craft cocktails and is always on the hunt for new ideas. She is constantly doing research on the industry to stay up to date on new products and trends, as well as to bring back long forgotten recipes of the cocktail world. Her take on a Mad River Distillers Cocktail Class will be quite an original one that you won’t want to miss!
Join Emily at her Temperance-style Cocktail Class where she will walk you through classic cocktail recipes, and then provide you with a non-alcoholic way to make it!
Class includes 1 welcome cocktail and you will leave with the recipes for the drinks you created. Participants receive 10% off barware on the day of the class.
Tickets are $40.00 per person
Bennington, VT: Garlic Fest 2019
Join garlic-lovers from throughout the country as they come to enjoy the quintessential Vermont festival, now on it’s 24th year! #GARLICFEST19
WEBSITE:
www.lovegarlic.com
Waitsfield, VT: 48th Annual Mad River Craft Fair
The 49th Annual Mad River Craft Fair, Sat., Aug. 31 & Sun., Sept. 1, Kenyon’s Field, Waitsfield, VT, 10 am – 5 pm: 2/3 under a giant tent, 100+ juried artists, four bands, delicious food court (craft cocktails and beer), door prizes and free kids’ activities! A great family day (rain or shine) to browse handmade items and meet the artists.
Bennington, VT: Garlic Fest 2019
Join garlic-lovers from throughout the country as they come to enjoy the quintessential Vermont festival, now on it’s 24th year! #GARLICFEST19
WEBSITE:
www.lovegarlic.com
Waitsfield, VT: 49th Annual Mad River Craft Fair
The 49th Annual Mad River Craft Fair, Sat., Aug. 31 & Sun., Sept. 1, Kenyon’s Field, Waitsfield, VT, 10 am – 5 pm: 2/3 under a giant tent, 100+ juried artists, four bands, delicious food court (craft cocktails and beer), door prizes and free kids’ activities! A great family day (rain or shine) to browse handmade items and meet the artists. www.madrivercraftfair.com
When to Stir, When to Shake, and When to Rattle and Roll
Cocktail culture can be intimidating. You see a lot of hip bars with even hipper bartenders shaking and stirring cocktails inside. There are spirits you’ve never heard of, obscure liqueurs and strange amari lining the shelves and populating the cocktail menu. And let’s be honest, sometimes you smile and nod like you’re in the know, but you’re not. We’ve certainly, secretly, looked something up on a phone before ordering, rather than just ask.
Luckily, bartenders are a friendly bunch that, by and large, love to share and discuss their craft. That, and this is a post about stirring vs shaking cocktails, so you’re already on the train to cocktail knowledge-ville. You might even start spontaneously sprouting tattoos and a vintage style haircut by the end of this article.
Maybe an important question to understanding when to stir vs shake is why stir or shake, ie: what does stirring do that shaking doesn’t, and vice versa.
If you’ve never seen a stirred cocktail poured before, try it yourself. A properly stirred cocktail should look viscous when it comes out of the mixing glass, almost velvety. And that’s exactly how your first sip should feel: velvety. Stirring allows ingredients that readily blend together to do so, it dilutes the cocktail, making it more palatable, and (not least of all) it chills your drink as well.
Compare this to a shaken cocktail (think margarita or classic daiquiri). These should pour out looking a little carbonated. You might see ice chips floating around from shaking those cubes so violently. Shaking creates that affect by breaking up the ice, chilling the cocktail more, while also sloshing all of that delicious boozey mixture around and aerating it, making for a frothy sipper rather than a velvety one. Also, perhaps most importantly, shaking mixes certain ingredients together that, if stirred, would separate by the time you drink them (citrus juice, for example). Also, please shake egg white cocktails. No one wants stirred eggs in a drink. Ever.
So there you have it, you home-bar hipster you. Stir things made up of mostly or entirely spirits: manhattans, martinis, negronis, etc. And shake things that incorporate juices: margaritas, daiquiris, cosmos, etc. If you’re ever not sure how to prepare a specific cocktail, use that above rule of thumb or hell, just google it to be sure. A stirred cocktail that should be shaken, or vice versa, will make you sad in your soul, and no one wants a sad soul. You want a happy, cocktail sipping soul. So cheers to your soul, and to the delicious cocktails you’re sure to make at home.
Burlington: Burnt Rock Bourbon Release Party
You asked, and we answered! The wait is over and our Burnt Rock Bourbon is finally back!!
Join us to celebrate the rerelease of our tasty Bourbon with equally tasty snacks from Noix Ice Cream and Luiza’s Homemade with Love! It’s gonna be a party you won’t want to miss!
And when you buy a bottle of Burnt Rock, we’re going to throw in a Mad River Distillers Rocks glass for you to enjoy it in!
We’ll see you then!
Burlington: Mad River Distillers Cocktail Class
Join Vermont all star bartender Kate Wise for an afternoon of cocktail making. Kate has worked throughout Vermont at venues like Prohibition Pig, Doc Ponds, and is now currently working at Juniper Bar at Hotel Vermont. She also has her very own cocktail consulting business!
You will walk away with the skills needed to create classic cocktails with a “Wise” twist.
Class includes 1 welcome cocktail and you will leave with the recipes for the drinks you created. Participants receive 10% off barware on the day of the class.
Tickets are $40.00 per person
Shelburne, VT: 11th Annual VT Cheesemakers Festival
The 11th Annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival is held at Shelburne Farms on August 11, 2019, from 10 AM to 4 PM. This perennial favorite Vermont food festival has been picked as a “Top Summer Food Festival in the United States” for the past 5 years and sells out every year. With over 40 Vermont cheesemakers and 100 food and artisanal beverage producers in attendance, the event is sure to please all tastes. Located at the historic Coach Barn on the grounds of Shelburne Farm next to the shores of Lake Champlain, this festival provides a great opportunity to connect with makers and producers in Vermont’s most iconic working landscapes. This year in addition to the Festival, we are offering Educational Programs on Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM at Shelburne Farms. Tickets are limited for the Saturday Educational Programs. Finally, on Saturday night, we will offer our 3rd Annual Vermont Cheese Dinner at the historic Round Barn in Waitsfield, VT.
Tickets:
-General Admission tickets are $65 and include a festival bag and a festival wine glass, and off-site parking. with busing to the event site. General Admission starts at 11 AM until 4 PM.
-Patron Tickets are $100 plus ticketing & handling fees and include an insulated festival bag, festival wine glass, and admission beginning at 10 AM until 4 PM for Patron Ticket Holders. Patron Ticket includes on-site parking.
Golden Tickets are $300 plus ticketing & handling fees and include exclusive Saturday educational programs at the Farm from 10 AM to 3 PM, the Annual Vermont Cheese Dinner at The Round Barn in Waitsfield, VT from 6- 10 PM, and the Sunday Festival at the Farm from 10 AM until 4 PM. Ticket includes an insulated Festival Bag and a festival wine glass with decorative lanyard, and on-site parking.
– Tickets for children 4 to 12 are $20.00. Teenagers and young adults are charged the General Admission prices.
-Children under 3 are admitted free.
PLEASE BE AWARE:
1. This is a rain or shine event. Weather in Vermont is unpredictable, so check the weather forecast and come prepared. Due to state laws, In the event of lightning or severe wind, all attendees will be asked to exit the tents and make way into the building or to their cars at the festival site. All attendees who were bused in will be asked to move into the building until any severe weather danger has passed.
2. Alcoholic beverages are being consumed at this event. The drinking age in Vermont is 21 years old. All attendees are asked to bring a valid drivers license, passport or state issued ID with them. There is no discount or reimbursement if you do not/ cannot consume alcoholic beverages. There are water stations and non-alcoholic beverages available throughout the venue.
3. Large crowds congregate in small areas throughout the event site on a mid-summer day. If you are unable to endure crowds in close proximity, this may not be the event for you. However, there are multiple areas to enjoy, so we suggest moving to another area of the festival if it gets too crowded or too hot for your taste.
4. Many of the exhibition areas are on grass or hard packed gravel, making strollers, wheelchairs, and walkers occasionally difficult to maneuver. Crowds make getting through the tents and the building somewhat difficult.
5. Dogs and pets are not allowed on Shelburne Farms property. Please keep your pets safely at home out of cars and out of the heat.
6. Refunds are available up to 7 days before the event. After that, we will be happy to provide you with a trade for the following year.
Shelburne, VT: Vermont Fresh Network’s 23rd Annual Forum Dinner
Join us at the Vermont Fresh Network Annual Forum Dinner! For one special evening in August, farmers and chefs from all across Vermont come together to prepare a sensational meal for you and fellow food enthusiasts. It is a fundraiser for the Vermont Fresh Network — all proceeds go to continuing programming that helps bring more Vermont grown and raised food to the table. Tickets on sale now!
We’ve partnered with Kimball Brook Farm to create delicious cocktails using our spirits and their lemonades! You won’t want to miss out!
Burlington: Cocktail Class with Kate Wise
Join Vermont all star bartender Kate Wise for an afternoon of cocktail making. Kate has worked throughout Vermont at venues like Prohibition Pig, Doc Ponds, and is now currently working at Juniper at Hotel Vermont. She also has her very own cocktail consulting business!
You will walk away with the skills needed to create classic cocktails with a “Wise” twist.
Class includes 1 welcome cocktail and you will leave with the recipes for the drinks you created. Participants receive 10% off barware on the day of the class.
Tickets are $60.00 per person
Bourbon Comes From Kentucky…Right?
With so many other regional distinctions, like Champagne needing to be specifically from the Champagne region in France or Tequila needing to be made in Mexico, it seems natural to lump Bourbon into the mix, especially since traditionally it’s been so associated with Kentucky. And while this may be a common belief, Bourbon can actually be made anywhere in the US as long as it meets certain requirements (none of which have anything to do with Kentucky).
Put simply, a bourbon mash needs to consist of at least 51% corn, be distilled at no higher than 160 proof, be barreled at no higher than 125 proof and be barreled in a charred new American Oak Barrel. That’s certainly a mouthful, even without a Kentucky distinction, so let’s break it down!
Alright, Bourbon mashes. While the actual mash bill needs to consist of at least 51% corn, the rest is fairly open ended. Corn is often attributed with lending sweetness to whiskey, but barley can add a round nuttiness, wheat often lends a more…well, wheaty taste with notes of honey.Rye often brings a peppery, spicy note to whiskey and oats can add a creamy, grainy flavor. For us, the perfect blend consists of predominantly corn, with smaller amounts of barley, wheat and oats blended in. This special mash bill is what gives our Bourbon it’s unique flavor with subtle sweetness and softness while still being robust and flavorful.
Additionally, Bourbon needs to be distilled and bottled and certain proofs, which is fairly 
straightforward. This mostly in strength of the finished product: distill at too high of a proof and you’re dipping into vodka territory!
As required, we barrel age our bourbon in charred New American Oak barrels and bottle a blend of different ages: from 1-3 years, to taste.
And that’s it! That’s Bourbon! Further distinctions include “Straight Bourbon”, which requires at least two years in a barrel, and “Kentucky Straight Bourbon” does, in fact, need to be from Kentucky. But as it turns out, and contrary to popular belief, the Bourbon name lends itself to a lot of variation in region, mash bill and aging, which is what makes exploring different brands and distilleries so exciting! So…ya know…you should come try ours!
Burlington: Negroni Week
Since 2013, bars all over the world dedicate a week in June to celebrate one of the worlds classic cocktails while also supporting a great cause of their choosing.
This year Mad River Distillers is proud to dedicate a dollar from each Negroni sold not only during this particular week, but during the entire month of June to All Breed Rescue Vermont.
Every Thursday – Sunday during June come and enjoy one of our Negroni riffs with Bourbon, Rye, Rum, or Brandy!
On Friday June 28th All Breed Rescue Vermont will be here with a few of the pups from the rescue from 4:00pm – 6:30pm. So come say hi and make a donation to support a great organization!
Burlington: Negroni Week
Since 2013, bars all over the world dedicate a week in June to celebrate one of the worlds classic cocktails while also supporting a great cause of their choosing.
This year Mad River Distillers is proud to dedicate a dollar from each Negroni sold not only during this particular week, but during the entire month of June to All Breed Rescue Vermont.
Every Thursday – Sunday during June come and enjoy one of our Negroni riffs with Bourbon, Rye, Rum, or Brandy!
On Friday June 28th All Breed Rescue Vermont will be here with a few of the pups from the rescue from 4:00pm – 6:30pm. So come say hi and make a donation to support a great organization!
