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THE BUSINESS OF EATING

I’ll have a coffee bean and scrapple martini on the rocks, please

December 19, 2015

We at Cape Gazette like to keep you on your toes, so here’s a little quiz to test your local knowledge: What are Candy Manor, Silver Screen, Time Warp and Off the Hoof? If you guessed online games that Facebook friends annoyingly invite you to play, then you would be wrong (mercifully). They are actually a few of the core products from Smyrna’s Painted Stave Distilling, one of Delaware’s own micro-distilleries.

Candy Manor is Painted Stave’s take on western gin, sporting overtones of lavender, goldenrod and lemon balm. Mix this with their house-made tonic syrup crafted from cinchona bark (a natural source of quinine), hibiscus flower, lemon balm and natural cane sugar, and you have yourself a delightfully different, slightly pink but not-at-all-sweet gin and tonic. And if the South American lore is correct, it’ll also cure what ails ya’.

Silver Screen is a proprietary vodka made from wheat. It is not overly filtered, so a gentle sweetness lingers after the first sip. Time Warp is what happens when Silver Screen is infused with freshly roasted espresso beans from nearby Young Bean Coffee Shop. Whispers of smoky chocolate hint at the open flame over which the beans are roasted.

Regular readers of this page will correctly assume that I have a particular fondness for Painted Stave’s Off the Hoof vodka. This one’s distilled from corn and is flavored with sage, black pepper and … wait for it … real Delaware scrapple. In truth, I was sure it would be heavy with greasy overtones. I was wrong. The impact of the sage, pepper and scrapple brings nothing more than a clean and light spark of spice to the liquor. In fact, Steve “Monty” Montgomery at the Starboard in Dewey Beach (aka bloody mary central) features Off the Hoof in his signature bloodies. Add a little Tabasco, tomato, maybe a pickled veggie or two, and you’ve got a nice little holiday lunch.

What sort of minds could possibly come up with these unusual but skillfully understated potables? A mad scientist, perhaps? Well, you’re close. Co-owner Ron Gomes isn’t mad, but he is a scientist with several degrees, one of which is a PhD in physiology. He came to Delaware in the late ‘90s, and earned his post-doctorate fellowship in developmental bone biology at University of Delaware. He also served on the faculty at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey. I asked him why he didn’t proceed toward his MD degree and he said, “I never wanted to work so hard as to put myself through medical school.” Then he laughed, “Now all I do is work!”

Ron’s business partner, Mike Rasmussen, came to Delaware to work for AmeriCorps. He ended up working in education, spending lots of time on the road in Delaware and elsewhere. In his free time, he loved to visit craft breweries and distilleries. Even as a teenager, he was fascinated with the distillation process. “I was the young guy who showed up at parties with scotch when everyone was drinking Bud Light.”

Local bourbon maniac (and managing partner of Bethany Blues in Lewes) Kevin Roberts serves Painted Stave’s Delaware bourbon and will soon possess a barrel of the tasty stuff for his private stash. Few things go together as well as bourbon and barbecue, and Roberts does them both very well.

As Painted Stave Distilling helps to reinforce Smyrna’s rightful place on the map, another Delaware crafter will soon be part of the Smyrna foodie scene. Eric Williams from Mispillion River Brewing in Milford has teamed up with longtime Delaware chef/owner Kevin Reading to open Brickworks Brewing and Eats in downtown Smyrna. The food will be reminiscent of Reading’s popular Abbott’s Grill in Milford, and of course the beer will be Eric’s popular brews with the great artwork.

It looks like the culinary and craft explosion in Delaware will continue unabated into 2016. That cannot be a bad thing.

Bob Yesbek is a serial foodie and can be reached at byesbek@CapeGazette.com.

 

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