Good news for lovers of handcrafted booze: New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo has decided to let the makers of artisanal liquor peddle their wares at farmers markets and fairs. Like, for instance, these dudes who make “handcrafted bourbon and moonshine” from corn grown on a city lot next to their distillery in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. (I tried to get grossed out by how perishingly hipsterish “handcrafted moonshine” is, but then it turned out the stuff was delicious. And then I was just too hammered to be such a bitch about it.) We are already looking forward to picking out the most turgid bunch of kale and deciding between molasses-cornmeal bread and olive-tarragon loaf while being all wasted and shit.
In seriousness, even though it is perhaps not going to change the world or save us from climate change, we do think it’s worth a toast when the government makes it easier rather than harder for people to sell quality homemade stuff to a wider base of consumers. There are 28 of these boutique distilleries in New York state now, and if we’re going to give money to someone to get drunk, well, better some nice sandy-haired guy in a Carhartt jacket down at the end of the road than the Bronfmans, who almost certainly have enough.
