• 1.5 ounces Journeyman Distillery Featherbone Bourbon
• .75 ounces Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
• .75 ounces Yellow Chartreuse
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Black Walnut bitters

Stir. Serve up and garnish with a flamed orange zest. Enjoy.

• 1.5 parts apple and vanilla infused New Holland’s Beer Barrel Bourbon,
• 1 part bacon infused simple syrup
• 1/4 part sweet vermouth
• 1/2 apple brandy.

Garnish with sugar and black pepper rim and and apple dipped in sugar and pepper.

• 2 oz Bacon-Fused Traverse City Whiskey Co. Bourbon
• 4 Dashes Bacon Bitters
• 0.6 oz Bacon & Arbol Chili Infused Piloncillo Sugar Syrup
• Dry Cured Vanilla Candied Pork Belly (garnish)

“Begin with 12oz. of uncured bacon. Slow render the bacon at a low temp (around 275 degrees) until done (30-45 minutes). Put the meaty pieces into the Bourbon in a sealable container and shake vigorously from time to time. Add some of the fattier pieces to 1:1 ratio Piloncillo syrup with several chiles (to taste, they are not very spicy, but flavorful). Strain both and freeze for about 30 minutes until the fat turns solid and then strain this too. The bacon bitters is my secret, sorry!”

Rites of Spring – Chris Vanderginst – Café Muse

• .75 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz Bilberry Black Hearts Gin from Journeyman Distillery (Three Oaks, MI)
• .75 oz Green Chartreuse
• .75 oz St Germain Elderflower Liquor
• Bar spoon of Mallory’s Busy Beehive Honey (Silverwood, MI)
• 6 mint leaves muddled

Add all ingredients to tin. Shake. Pour into a collins glass. Top with 2 oz Ginger Beer.

• New Holland’s Knickerbocker Gin
• Skinos
• splash of fresh squeezed lime juice

An Em Aye Martini – Lester Burke – Inn Place Bar & Grill

• 2 oz Valentine Vodka
• 1 oz Dekeyper Cherry Liqueur.

Shake vigorously with ice, strain into chilled martini glass and garnish with lemon.

Herbal Cooler – Francesco Samoyoa – Atlas Global Bistro

• 2oz Valentine Vodka
• Lime Juice
• Basil Simple Syrup
• Fennel Salt
• Basil Leaves

Rim the glass with fennel salt. Muddle two basil leaves in a rocks glass.  Add ice and 2 oz of Valentine Vodka.  Top of with equal parts lime juice and basil simple syrup.
Fennel salt:  Add equal parts fennel and sea salt to a blender and pulse a couple of times to give it a course grind
Basil Syrup: Combine 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of basil in a pan over medium heat.  Bring up to a boil for 1 min, then remove from heat and let stand for 30 min. Then strain and refrigerate.

William’s Embellishment – Jon Foley – The Laundry

• 2 oz Liberator Gin
• 3/4 oz Cocchi Barolo Chinato
• 3/4 oz Averna Amaro

The drink is called William’s Embellishment (after William Hogarth’s Gin Lane illustration). The primary spirit is Valentine’s new Liberator Gin.