While the celebration of a good catch is sufficient reason to tip back a fishing-themed spirit, knowing that your selection is supporting a good cause, makes that big fish toast taste even sweeter. So, whether celebrating a new personal best or saying “Cheers!” to a new year, try these fishing-themed spirits for their conservation efforts and their tasty appeal.
Industrious Spirit Company, Providence, RI
Price: $40, 750mL
Cause: Green Wave, a non-profit that sponsors a network of regenerative ocean farmers.
Liquor: Vodka make with a 100-percent organic corn base, distilled with fresh-from-the-sea oysters in the actual still.
Taste: Savory, briny with a subtle hint of oysters and a buttery texture
Best Enjoyed: In a Blood Mary after a long night of surfcasting.
The Industrious Spirit Company (ISCO) in Rhode Island developed this distinctively briny spirit using locally sourced, fresh-from-the-sea oysters in the distilling process. A single oyster is capable of filtering 40 gallons of water per day, so ISCO incorporated their filtration abilities in creating their smooth, slightly salty vodka. A portion of sales from each bottle goes to GreenWave, a non-profit organization that supports a network of regenerative ocean farmers. Additionally, each bottle of Ostreida vodka is tagged with the specific oyster farm and harvest location used to make that batch. Top off your next Bloody Mary with Ostreida for a cocktail you can feel good about.
Bluebird Distilling, Phoenixville, PA
Price: $55, 750mL
Cause: The Jetty Rock Foundation, to protect our oceans and coastal waterways, and support those who build their lives around them.
Liquor: Well-aged bourbon whiskey, lightly smoked with cherry wood
Taste: Light smoke, sweet cherry and vanilla
Best Enjoyed: While changing out hooks or tying flies for striper season.
In partnership with the Jetty Rock Foundation—a non-profit arm of the Jetty lifestyle brand—Bluebird Distilling of Pennsylvania created this subtly smokey bourbon to give back to fishermen and their coastal communities. Ten percent of proceeds from Breakwater Bourbon sales are directly applied to the maintenance, restoration, and continuous care and protection of the Atlantic Ocean and its coastal waterways. After being aged for 5 to 7 years in charred American Oak barrels, the blended bourbon carries pleasant notes of vanilla, cherry, and toffee, making it a suitable mixer for conservation-minded anglers from Maine to Maryland.
Tamworth Distilling, Tamworth, NH
Price: $65, 200mL
Cause: Trout Unlimited, to safeguard cold-water fisheries.
Liquor: Apple brandy blended with smoked trout distillate
Taste: Sweet maple, apple, and a light finish of trout
Best Enjoyed: In a flask, streamside.
Joining House of Tamworth’s growing list of limited-release, wilderness-inspired spirits comes this trout-flavored brandy that aims to protect and preserve the delicate habitats of native trout in New England. A smoked trout distillate is infused with Tamworth’s 4-year-aged VSOP Apple Brandy to achieve a slightly sweet salmonid flavor profile. Each bottle includes a scoop of edible trout roe that has been preserved in apple brandy, and a dollar from every bottle sold is donated to Trout Unlimited, a conservation group dedicated to keeping our cold-water trout fisheries free of environmental threats. Pour it over ice or stir it into a sweet and smoky concoction fit for the flask on your next trip to the trout streams.
Papa’s Pilar Distillery, Key West, FL
Price: $51, 750mL
Cause: Advancing literacy and promoting water and reef conservation.
Liquor: Dark rum finished in rye whiskey barrels
Taste: Oak forward, baking spices, dark chocolate and vanilla bean with subtle hints of coffee.
Best Enjoyed: After cleaning the boat from a trip to the canyons.
The newest addition to the Papa’s Pilar rum lineup is a dark rum designed for whiskey drinkers, like Papa (Ernest) himself. With aromatic notes of oak and burnt sugar, and a flavor profile consisting of vanilla bean and coffee, this rum has a warm finish best suited for sipping around the fire after a day on the water. The Hemingway family, along with the Papa’s Pilar brand, have donated millions of dollars to communities and groups that work to advance literacy, and promote water and reef conservation, in the interest of giving back to causes of which Hemingway would have approved.
