A few months ago, the Algonquin team received a rather innocuous looking box in the mail. Because we receive dozens of boxes each day, we weren’t too excited…until we opened it up and discovered a treasure trove of mini bottles!

So among the many reasons why we love author Amy Stewart (Wicked Plants, Wicked Bugs) now is the delightful fact that she sends us liquor as a thank you gift.

Amy recently signed up her newest book with Algonquin, The Drunken Botanist. As she said in the accompanying note:

I undertake the excruciating tasks of visiting distilleries, mixing drinks, deciding which obscure citrus trees to plant in my cocktail garden, and interviewing bartenders and botanists. It’s excruciating work, this one.

I’m sure you all know how grateful I am that you’ve stuck with me this far. But in case, I do feel the need to

send you presents from time to time. So here are some interesting plants for you, in liquid form: Juniperus communis, Lavendula angustifolia, Citrus aurantium var. myrtifolia (which I’m growing in my garden), Sambucus nigra, Punica granatum, Vitis vinifera, and, of course, Zea mays. Oh, and there’s even a little Agave tequilana in there, but you’ll never guess which bottle it’s in.

You can actually make a very nice botanical cocktail by mixing two parts gin to one part Campari and one part St-Germain (shaken, with a squeeze of lemon); and any mediocre sparkling wine can be upgraded with a splash of either st-Germain or Pama. (I trust you North Carolinians know what to do with the moonshine.)

So in Amy’s honor, this past Friday the Algonquin staff opened up those mini bottles and made a few cocktails with Amy’s recipes. Here are a few photos from our late Friday afternoon party at Algonquin.

— Kelly Bowen, Publicity Manager