Episode 134

Artet: Rise of the Cannabis Aperitif

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Artet: Rise of the Cannabis Aperitif

Episode 134

What’s shakin, cocktail fans?

Welcome to Episode 134 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around we catch up with Zach Spohler and Xander Shepherd, two of the co-founders of Artet, a brand that’s leading the charge in the space where alcohol and cannabis intersect. Their eponymous flagship product is a Zero-ABV Cannabis Aperitif that pays tribute to the history of aromatized, fortified before dinner drinks while extending the conversation about what a cocktail can be.

In this interview, we discuss:

How these two New York natives took the leap into the world of entrepreneurship to pursue a dream that merged their passions for art, hospitality, and cannabis.
What an aperitif is, and how Artet stays true to the history of the drink, but also extends the conversation about where Cannabis fits into the cocktail space.
Where the name “Artet” and the abstract artwork on the bottle come from.
We also do a quick contemporary state of the union regarding cannabis laws and regulations in different parts of the US.
We sample Artet, giving you in-depth tasting notes and cocktail ideas
And along the way, we dig into the problem with pebble ice, what to drink on Richard Branson’s private island, and why it’s okay to eat your cocktail garnishes.

Featured Cocktail: The Moral Suasion

This episode’s featured cocktail is the Moral Suasion. It was featured in a seminar at last year’s Tales of the Cocktail led by historians David Wondrich and Jeff “Beach Bum” Berry, where they covered the evolution of the cocktail menu through the ages. We’ll cover the story of the Moral Suasion in just a minute, but first, let’s talk about what’s in it. To make one, you’ll need:

2 oz. peach brandy
1 bar spoon each of Maraschino liqueur, orange Curaçao, and honey syrup
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ bar spoon rosewater
½ oz. Cognac or Armagnac (VSOP or XO) (floated)

Combine all these in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until it’s chilled, then strain into a rocks glass over cracked ice and garnish with a lemon wheel, half an orange slice, and a few seasonal berries.

The Moral Suasion sits somewhere in between a cobbler, a julep, and that collection of “fancy” or “improved” cocktails that trailed after the old fashioned. When this drink got popular in the United States, a gentleman named Joseph Dubonnet had just invented a quinine-infused, aromatized wine aperitif called Dubbonet, which played a major role in the development of the Aperitif hour in European culture.

But back in the States, things weren’t totally rosy in the 1840s and 50s. The powder keg of southern secession was about to ignite, abolitionists clashed with states rights proponents, and temperance activists were up in arms about the taverns, public houses, and saloons that served fancy, seductive beverages that turned their drinkers toward a life of vice. The moral suasion was invented by Boston saloon owner Peter Bent Brigham after temperance crusade Charles Jewett wrote a scathing hit piece on his joint, describing all the awful libations he was using to corrupt the population.

According to historian David Wondrich, the Moral Suasion (quote):

…jabbed back at the whole temperance movement, which at the time had not yet fixed on legal prohibition of drinking at its preferred tactic to sober the country up, but rather preferred to rely on “moral suasion”—basically, arguing people out of their thirst. Brigham’s Moral Suasion was conceived as a counterweight to their argument, a drink so seductive that it would make even a Dr. Jewett reconsider his policy.

Today, we find ourselves journeying through a similarly fraught moral landscape, especially when you utter the word “Cannabis” in a public space. But maybe, just maybe, a Cannabis Aperitif will help us find our way home again.

Show Notes

In today’s political and regulatory landscape, we need to constantly think (and re-think) about how cannabis products can or should be used responsibly to improve lives. There’s no doubt that they can, but cannabis proponents have to fight an uphill battle against roughly a century, if not more, of spurious yellow journalism stemming from the master of the craft, William Randolph Hurst.

At the moment, Marijuana is still not declassified as a criminal drug by the federal government, although a number of states (including California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and others) have seen fit to legalize or decriminalize the substance. It’s clear that we’re in a phase of Détente with the devil’s lettuce, but where we’re headed or how long it will take is anybody’s guess.

Enter: Artet

Artet, whose cleverly hidden meaning is covered in the audio interview, is a cannabis aperitif infused with THC (one of several “active” ingredients in marijuana). In the contemporary era, it seems to be the first product of its kind to dovetail the appetite-stimulating and psychosomatic calming properties of cannabis with the historical aromas and flavors of the classic European before-dinner aperitif hour.

Artet was roughly five years in the making from concept to launch, much of which entailed painstaking regulatory due diligence and formula development. The produce itself contains no alcohol (a distinct departure from well known aperitifs like Dubonnet, Aperol, and Campari), but its form and function mirror the fluid yin and yang of appetite stimulation and physical relaxation that signal the end of the day and the beginning of the evening meal. With flavors of cardamom, ginger, juniper, and gentian, it’s almost impossible to distinguish Artet from its fortified and distilled forbears.

Currently, the product is available through cannabis delivery services and at registered dispensaries in the state of California, and the co-founders are excited to expand to other markets as regulations and quality considerations permit.

Artet: Rise of the Cannabis Aperitif

Featured Cocktail: The Moral Suasion

Show Notes

Enter: Artet

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