Episode 221

Lyre's Non-Alcoholic Spirits with Maria Denton

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Lyre's Non-Alcoholic Spirits with Maria Denton

Episode 221

What’s shakin, cocktail fans? Welcome to Episode 221 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, we’re joined by Maria Denton, the Southeast Regional Manager for Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits. They’re one of the heavy hitters in the no-ABV product space, boasting a lineup of over a dozen zero-proof spirits and mixers, as well as non-alcoholic sparkling wines and ready-to-drink cocktails.

In this refreshing and perfectly balanced conversation with Maria Denton, Southeast Regional Manager for Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits, some of the topics we discuss include:

How Maria used her career working for one of the world’s most prestigious spirits brands and managing one of Washington, DC’s busiest bar programs as a timely springboard into her current position with Lyre’s.
What creating non-alcoholic spirits has in common with building the aroma profile of a perfume, and how that allows Lyre’s to create products with the world’s most popular cocktails squarely in the crosshairs.
We also taste what (I assume) is the world’s first non-alcoholic Absinthe, and we pair it with All The Bitter’s New Orleans Style Bitters and Lyre’s American Malt no-ABV whiskey to create a fantastic Sazerac.
We also get the chance to address some pointed listener questions about how to handle technical factors like temperature and dilution in no-ABV cocktails.
Along the way, we find out which new spirits and mixers we can expect from Lyre’s in the near future, where the Champagne Queen stands on non-alcoholic Prosecco, where to grab a drink with your favorite impressionist painter, and much, much more.

As the conclusion of our series on low- and no-ABV drinks, we’re thrilled to put out this conversation because it shines light on a whole other set of production methods and use cases that we haven’t covered yet, and Maria is an excellent guide when it comes to explaining how to utilize non-alcoholic spirits of all kinds in your favorite cocktail formats.

We’d also like to give a big shout-out to Brian and the team from Hatoba, located in the Navy Yard here in DC, where we recorded this interview. It’s a great venue with awesome food and drinks. Check out this video of him making a signature NA cocktail called the “Apple Pi” using Lyre’s American Malt no-ABV whiskey.

Lyre's Non-Alcoholic Spirits with Maria Denton

Featured Cocktail: The Plebian

2 oz. Rye (45-50%)
0.25 oz. Campari
0.25 oz. Grapefruit Juice
0.5 oz. Rich Simple
0.75 oz. Lemon Juice

This is a really neat cocktail because it introduced us to a shaking technique, called “the regal shake.” This method is designed to add subtle richness and bitterness to a cocktail by throwing a citrus peel in with the ice. In this case, it’s a grapefruit peel. So you combine all your ingredients in your cocktail shaker with the ice, throw in your twist, then proceed to shake and strain like you would any other sour drink. When it’s chilled, strain into a coupe glass garnish with another citrus twist – a lemon twist this time – and enjoy.

The Plebian is an original cocktail submitted by our listener Samouel G. who dropped us a line to discuss the stirred citrus cocktail question we asked a few episode back. We love this drink because it fully embraces splitting both the citrus and the sweeteners in a classic whiskey sour format and finds clever ways to balance brightness, bitterness, and mouthfeel.

Also, it just so happens that Lyre’s offers no-ABV versions of all the boozy ingredients in the formulation, so the Plebian can be as full-octane, low-octane, or no-octane as you want. Thanks to Samouel for introducing us to this really creative original cocktail, and we do encourage all of you to get in touch and let us know what drinks you’re really excited about so that we can feature them as well.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, low- and no-ABV spirits and cocktail insights courtesy of Maria Denton, Southeast Regional Manager for Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits, and hospitality and excellent cocktails by Brian Marvel and the rest of the team at Hatoba here in Washington, DC. This has been a Modern Bar Cart Production, copyright 2022.

This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

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Lyre's Non-Alcoholic Spirits with Maria Denton

Featured Cocktail: The Plebian

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