A certain intimacy comes when a bar or restaurant works with small brands. These spirit companies, often with just a handful of dedicated employees, add a personal touch to their products that you can’t find with larger brands. I’ve usually learned about these small brands through my own research or when a local bar takes the initiative to stock them. Wandering the aisles of my favorite liquor store, I come across many of the more familiar brands with flashy advertising, but the smaller companies really catch my eye.
In New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood, a late-night hideout is changing how people enjoy their cocktails with a focus on local-made and small-brand spirits. Nightbloom, owned by Joaquin Rodas, Adrian Mendez, and Justin “Juice” LeClair, who have roots at Bacchanal Fine Wine and Spirits, a laid-back wine spot that features small plates and live music, the vibe here is part speakeasy, part cocktail lounge with some Parisian inspiration mixed in.
LeClair explains that when developing the idea for Nightbloom, he wanted to create a laid-back cocktail bar that isn’t pretentious, balancing reasonable price points with complex yet approachable drinks for both the seasoned cocktail drinker and the novice. The menu includes drinks made by local brands such as Exclave, a New Orleans Black-owned distillery founded by Andrew Albert that pays homage to the lost stories of the Black community. Exclave’s unique flavor profile is highlighted in the bar’s version of a Vieux Carre, a classic New Orleans cocktail. The Vieux Carre by Exclave and Yebiga is made with Exclave Rye, Yebiga plum brandy, Cocchi di Torino, benedictine, and bitters by Bitter Queens bitters, a queer-owned bitters brand based in San Francisco but distilled in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans.
In addition, LeClair chooses to work with smaller, women-owned spirit companies.
One of these brands is LaGritona, a tequila distillery located in Valle De Guadalupe, Jalisco, and owned by Melly Barajas. Barajas and a staff of women distill LaGritona’s tequila with agave between eight and ten years old. The plants are harvested at the height of their sugar production and are put into thick-walled earthen ovens within twenty-four hours of trimming. The plants are steam-cooked for twenty-four hours and rest for another twenty-four hours before they are crushed. The liquid is placed into steel vats, where it naturally ferments and oxygenates for eight to twelve days. When fermentation is complete, the tequila is distilled twice before being barrel-aged for six months in reused Jack Daniels and Balcones barrels and then bottled.
Another tequila brand LeClair integrates into his cocktail menu is Tepozán Tequila, a ‘farm-to-glass’ brand. This concept, which emphasizes using locally grown ingredients and a transparent production process, ensures its final product’s highest quality and freshest taste. Agave is grown organically and then distilled and bottled in San Julián, Jalisco. Founded in 2021, Tepozán is distilled by Master Distiller Don Carlos Padilla. The distillery produces three types of tequila: a blanco, a reposado, and an añejo. The Blanco is twice distilled, the reposado is aged four months, and the añejo is aged fourteen months.
These tequilas are highlighted perfectly in Miss Vanjie, a juicy cocktail named for the famed drag queen made with tequila, mezcal, cilantro, mint, jalapeño, pineapple, lime, and salt.
At Cure and Cane & Table, owners Neal Bodenheimer and Kirk Estopinal integrate Southern brands into their cocktail selection. Cure, an elegant cocktail bar in Uptown New Orleans, opened in 2009 on Freret St. and has been named one of “America’s Best Bars” by Esquire and listed as one of the “Best Cocktail Bars in the U.S.” by Food & Wine. The bar is known for its innovative cocktails in a city that invented cocktail culture. The pair’s restaurant, Cane & Table, takes its cocktail inspiration from the islands, focusing on Caribbean and Cuban influences.
At both establishments, Bodenheimer and Estopinal construct some cocktails with Cheramie Rum. The brand is distilled by Porchjam Distillery in New Orleans, utilizing seven different varieties of Louisiana sugar cane to produce delicious rum that mix well into cocktails. Owner Gordon Stewart and distiller Jason Zeno built Porchjam on vodka before adding rum to their repertoire. Bolden Vodka, a European-style vodka made from six-row malted barley and malted red winter wheat, has been distilled since 2017. Because of the sugarcane’s harvest timeline, Zeno only distills rum about fifteen weeks a year; vodka takes up the rest of his time nicely.
Cheramie Rum stands out because it’s made with cane juice rather than molasses. It would be easy to take a deep dive into the science of rum production, but the difference comes down to yeast and bacteria. Cane juice is full of these magical things that make rum tasty. Molasses rum is more processed, and fermenting molasses rum is much easier than fermenting cane juice rum. Using cane juice adds to the complexity of Cheramie’s Rum.
Back at the bar, Estopinal says that building a personal relationship with a local brand has been beneficial, and the product creates memorable cocktails that resonate with customers.
He explains, “Working with Cheramie has been great as we were able to easily visit during the process. Their white rum is one of the best around so as a frequent user we were interested in working with them on an aged product. They allowed us to taste many different rums in various barrels and ages. This allowed us to choose a perfect balance between a fresh dry rum that we love with just enough oak aging to get it just right for our needs.”
One of my favorites at Cane & Table is a cocktail called A Last Minute Idea, a tropical White Negroni that finishes with notes of coconut made with Turning Tables Cheramie Rum. This cocktail, with its unique blend of flavors and the use of local rum, perfectly captures the essence of New Orleans in a glass.
Bodenheimer and Estopinal also employ Oxbow Rum. Located in Baton Rouge in Pointe Coupee Parish, this family brand of rum is made from sugarcane that has grown on the banks of the Mississippi River since 1859. The distillery, led by Olivia Stewart, uses sugarcane molasses to produce Oxbow Small Batch White Rum, Oxbow Barrel Aged Straight Rum, and Oxbow Rhum Louisiane Cane Juice Agricole, which is bottled only once a year during the fall season.
Estopinal likes using local brands when he can and finds creating those relationships to be beneficial, especially in a small city like New Orleans.
He says, “For me, relationships are a big part of being a New Orleanian. I try to work with local producers whenever we can provide the product is well made and works for our brand.”
At TANA, an Italian restaurant owned by Chef Michael Gulotta and located in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, the bar program focuses on Southern brands to create a relationship between the community and business. TANA’s bar manager, Amber Garcia, finds local brands elevate the restaurant’s cocktails. Like Bodenheimer and Estopinal, she uses Oxbow Rum, and Cathead Distillery vodka, and gin in her cocktails.
Cathead Distillery is the first legal distillery in Mississippi, which is quite an accomplishment considering it has only been around since 2010. Founded by Austin Evans and Richard Patrick, Cathead produces an array of vodkas, chicory liquor, Bourbon, and canned cocktails.
Garcia says, “In terms of the spirits, we use Oxbow Rum’s Rhum Louisiane which is a rhum agricole that uses freshly pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses, so it has super earthy vegetal notes that give our cocktails extra dimension. It’s just a super pure product with no additives. As for Cathead, I’ve been a big supporter of the brand for a very long time, and we use their vodka and gin at TANA. The vodka is six times distilled and charcoal filtered, and proceeds from every bottle go to charities that support live music, so we love that they give back to their communities as well.”
I love integrating smaller brands into my cocktails at home because it makes me feel like I’m being let in on a special secret. Small brands, especially those with familial connections, tell an essential story of people working to keep traditions alive while competing in a vast market. Next time you’re shopping for spirits try the smaller brands over your favorite “mainstream go-to’s.” You might be surprised at what you discover.
