January Spirits
A modern take on classic spirits and liqueurs: gin, amaro, and genepy crafted by two longtime NYC bartenders.
Today’s sponsored dispatch is available to all readers thanks to the generous support of January Spirits.
Longtime New York City bartenders Jon Langley and Lucky Preksto first met in 2009, and by 2020 began collaborating on developing recipes for what would become their own line of craft spirits.
That journey began when the duo spent most of 2019 throwing pop-up events around Manhattan to test out a bar concept focused on classic cocktails, unfussy presentation, mid-century bar snacks, and ingredients emphasizing handmade, in-house production of amaro, vermouth, and cordials. With the eve of the pandemic-induced shutdowns soon upon them, Jon and Lucky turned their love of esoteric European liqueurs into a potential business and worked together to create their own modern take on these historic spirits and liqueurs.
After a couple years of work they brought their recipes to Matchbook Distilling Co., located in Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island, to produce at scale, and Jon and Lucky officially launched January Spirits in the spring of 2023 with a trio of bespoke spirits, including a floral gin, a coffee and roasted chicory amaro, and a genepy liqueur.
January Spirits is named for Janus, the Roman god of the past and future, god of new beginnings, and god of the open door. “He's our mascot,” says Jon. “We're a couple new guys making old things, living in a new world, making old-world style products. January is also, we feel, an optimistic word, an 'up' word. It feels like the beginning of something.”
Jon and Lucky like to think of January Spirits as a true mom and pop shop, as Jon's partner, Amanda Eli, heads up operations and Lucky's wife, Diana Lang, is the creative director.
“Amaro and genepy are both legendary digestifs; two sides of a coin, one bitter, rooty, the other herbal, ineffable,” says Lucky. “Our five-flower gin accents the earthy quality of flowers. Taken on their own, these styles are aromatic and nuanced; in cocktails, near indefinable.”
You can find January Spirits in select bottle shops and bars in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Florida along with near-nationwide shipping available via January Spirits’ Online Shop.
Save 15% off any online order using promo code LASTCALL15.
January Spirits Gin
When Jon and Lucky set out to make January Spirits Gin (45% ABV), the goal was to create a “stand-up gin.” Their “five flower” gin is made with 12 distinctive botanicals and makes itself known in spirit-forward cocktails like a Negroni or a 2:1 Dry Martini with orange bitters. It’s an aromatic affair, with earthy floral notes courtesy of chamomile and marigold, along with accents of jasmine and lavender and a bit of bee pollen incorporated into the mix for a waxy body.
Save 15% off any online order using promo code LASTCALL15.
Try it in…
Pick Up
Picture a White Negroni, but with a subtle green hue. Created by Jeremy Hois, former manager of Amor y Amargo in NYC’s East Village, his Pick Up brings in a noticible level of bitterness from Suze and Cocchi Americano, while a bit of January Spirits Genepy adds some heft to the palate and an ethereal herbal quality.
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/4 ounce January Spirits Gin
1 ounce Cocchi Americano
1/2 ounce January Spirits Genepy
1/4 ounce Suze
Garnish: lemon twist
Add all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until to chill and dilute, but not as long as you’d stir a Martini. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over a big ice cube or regular ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
January Spirits Amaro
Lucky and Jon have both been exploring the world of bittersweet liqueurs since their earliest days in the industry, from Italian-born classics like Averna, Ramazzotti, and Amaro Nonino to Underberg, Unicum, Jägermeister, and Malört. The profile of January Spirits Amaro (32% ABV) takes inspiration from caffè corretto (“corrected coffee”), the Italian tradition of fortifying your after-dinner espresso with a pour of amaro, grappa, or anisette. It’s dry, snappy, and brightly botanical with a lingering bitterness. Among the 21 botanicals in the batch you’ll find coffee bean, sweet orange, a heady dose of cardamom, a bit of cacao nib, and roasted chicory root as a nod to New Orleans-style coffee culture. After a 15-day maceration, the blend is strained and sweetened with honey from the Catskills and ages in ex-rye whiskey barrels for a season before bottling. It’s terrific served neat, but plays especially well in a bourbon Old-Fashioned or boozy Espresso Tonic.
Save 15% off any online order using promo code LASTCALL15.
Try it in…
Petrolero
For their Petrolero, Jon and Lucky call for a tequila with a little age to it to soften the edges a bit. They also recommend that when it comes to coffee drinks you want to shake them pretty hard to achieve a thick, creamy head. Shaking with big ice helps “beat the drink up” and minimize dilution, which is helpful as you’re already adding a good measure of coffee to the drink.
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/2 ounces reposado tequila, preferably Fortaleza Reposado Tequila
1/2 ounce January Spirits Amaro
1-1/2 ounces cold brew concentrate
1/2 ounce Demerara syrup (2:1 Demerara sugar: water)
Garnish: dried chili
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing tin. Add one or two big ice cubes and shake vigorously. Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a dried chili.
January Spirits Genepy
Jon and Lucky understood that no one can rightfully replicate the historical, crafted-by-monks elixir Chartreuse, but it didn’t stop them from taking inspiration from this storied tradition to develop their own Alpine liqueur, January Spirits Genepy (50% ABV). This passion project turned into a homegrown success with the first barrel selling out in three months. Year two’s run was capped at three barrels (about 900 bottles), and this fall’s release is the result of ten barrels’ worth. They plan to double that for next year’s annual release.
January Spirits Genepy is made with 27 macerated botanicals, including cultivated white genepy sourced from farmers in the French Alps, and its distinctive hue comes from a natural green tincture. The blend is then sweetened with Catskills honey and rested in Sauternes barrels for a number of months before bottling.
This year, January Spirits Genepy earned Double Gold at the San Francisco International Spirits Competition and was award Best Liqueur at the New Orleans Spirits Competition.
As with all their spirits, Jon and Lucky love it neat, or with seltzer in their signature Genepy Soda. Swap it into any cocktail calling for Chartreuse, or a drink that might benefit from an extra touch of body or a unique herbal quality.
Save 15% off any online order using promo code LASTCALL15.
Try it in…
The Levée
This is a take on a Swamp Water, a much-maligned yet celebrated ‘70s-era New Orleans cocktail made with Green Chartreuse and pineapple juice—that’s it. This updated version uses a base of Paranubes, a beautiful white rum from Oaxaca. If you can’t find it, do try for something with a little “esterey” funk on it—maybe a white Jamaican rum, but maybe not a full-on agricole. The whip-shake technique used to make the drink properly chills it without over-diluting it without immediately melting the crushed ice in the glass.
Makes 1 Drink
1-1/2 ounces January Spirits Genepy
3/4 ounce white rum, preferably Paranubes White Rum
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/4 ounce honey syrup (2:1 hone:warm water)
Garnish: fresh mint sprig, pineapple frond, lime wheel, pineapple wedge
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing tin. Add a small amount of crushed or pebble ice and quickly whip shake until the ice is diluted and you can no longer hear it rattling in the tin. Strain into a collins glass or stemmed glass filled with fresh pebble ice. Garnish with fresh mint sprig, pineapple frond, lime wheel, and a pineapple wedge.
Our thanks to January Spirits for underwriting today’s LAST CALL dispatch.
Save 15% off any online order using promo code LASTCALL15.
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Great products. Got to try them at aya last year.