Jackie Summers was hosting an in-store tasting at the wine shop I help manage in Brooklyn, and I was badgering him with the usual questions: What inspired you to start distilling? What’s your secret recipe? What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Etc.
I forget his favorite flavor of ice cream, and he was less forthcoming with his secret recipe, but he did tell me what inspired him to follow his dream: “I started making Sorel after a cancer scare.”
“I started writing after a cancer scare!”
I like people who’ve had cancer scares. There’s a sense of kinship that comes with sharing a struggle, but there’s also this trend I’ve noticed: those who are aware of their mortality tend to do more interesting things with their time. Jackie Summers, better known as Jack from Brooklyn, is no exception. After a successful neurosurgery, Jack quit his day job, perfected his recipe, and started distilling Sorel, an artisanal variation on a Caribbean classic.
“In Barbados, after the kids went to bed,” Jack said, “the adults would add rum and the party would start.”
Jack saves us a step: infusing hibiscus flowers, whole cloves, cassia cinnamon sticks, nutmeg seeds, and ginger root in organic grain alcohol. The result is gorgeous.
When I first tried Sorel, on a cold autumn evening around this time last year, Jack served it piping hot from a thermal pourer. The steam wafting from my mug made the whole store smell like a bakery.
My first tasting note: “This is like drinking alcoholic Christmas cookies.”
Each of the botanicals offers its own contribution to the liqueur’s unique flavor, and one of the great pleasures of drinking Sorel is singling out each of them in turn, as a listener attends to the different instruments in an orchestra. Whether warmed up for a chilly night, consumed straight, topped off with Prosecco, or mixed in one of the many cocktail recipes available here, Jack’s concoction is phenomenal: at once a nod to his Caribbean heritage, and a brilliant innovation in the booze world.
Visit Sorel online at http://jackfrombrooklyn.com/
*Photos 1 and 2 by Beth Ellestad.
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