Hanging and the Hangar

Yesterday I visited the Hangar One and St. George Spirits Distillery in Alameda. It was a business trip, of course. I wanted both to visit the place to write about the distillery, and also to try the Hangar One Infused Vodkas for an article I'm writing about flavored vodkas for the (soon to be relaunched) CHOW website. For ten bucks, you get to sample about 12 different spirits: A couple of Eau de Vie, five vodkas, some liqueurs, and a whisky. I was really surprised by the Qi liqueur, bottled as its own brand name. I haven't tried any of the green tea vodkas, assuming they were gross. This liqueur isn't sweet, but has a dark smokiness and complexity associated with a whisky. I couldn't help picking up bottle on the way out. I also liked the St. George Spirits whisky and bought some of that with all the money that I don't have. The Hangar One infused vodkas I thought were mostly fantastic. The lemon citrus one was my favorite, which was a surprise to me because I think of lemon as such a simple, easy flavor. But the way these flavors are made using real fruit (as opposed to flavoring) makes a real difference in the outcome. That was the question I was there to answer for my story. And the answer was delicious.