Recently, two of our editors found themselves in the bar of the Michelberger Hotel in Berlin.
Delightfully hip place.
The bar has a neon “Cocktails and Dreams” sign behind the bar from the movie Cocktail.
The Big Lebowski plays on repeat in the hallways.
They pipe whale song into the bathrooms.
And they also happen to make the best damn herbal spirit we’ve ever set lips to: Michelberger Booze, the hotel’s house-brand hooch, coincidentally now available for the first time stateside.
Your home bar needs some. Stat.
The recipes were discovered in the catacombs of a 140-year old distillery in Berlin run by a fellow referred to as “The Professor.”
There are two to try.
The first: Michelberger Mountain. Clear. Bracing. Notes of anise, sage, fennel. “Like herbal jet fuel,” says our NY editor. “In the best possible way.”
The second: Michelberger Forest. Amber-hued. Mellow. Notes of juniper, coriander, vanilla. According to our executive editor, “Like Fireball, if it were made by an artisanal beekeeper on a rooftop in Bushwick. In the best possible way.”
As they say in Berlin, prost.
Nota bene: You’ll find a list of all Michelberger’s American stockists at the bottom of their webpage. Not in your neighborhood? DrinkUpNY stocks both Mountain and Forest and delivers nationwide.
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