Blog - Payless Liquors

October 18, 2022

Why Not Rye?

Whiskey has, of course, been around for years, but rye is seeing a new and exciting resurgence in the drink market. As a versatile grain, rye is used for vodka, beer, and whiskey. With distilleries across the country, both large and small, rye whiskey is a flavorful beverage that is gaining a whole new following.

Cask finishing is one way that all the many types of rye whiskeys separate from their competition, and the body of rye lends itself well to the process. Its clean finish is better suited to casks than bourbon’s heavier one.

While the United States has a long tradition and history of rye whiskey, its origins aren’t necessarily stateside. German immigrants brought the tradition with them in the mid-1600s while they were settling in modern-day Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Germany had a rich history of rye whiskey production, even then.

We can credit the German immigrants with bringing the rye process to the United States. Still, we can also credit the Dutch with the industrialization of distilling, and they made a spirit very similar to rye whiskey. The Dutch had been making genever with rye for many years. Luckily, rye grew plentifully in America, thus solidifying rye’s usage in distillation.

Before Prohibition, rye was America’s dark spirit choice rather than bourbon. Because of Prohibition, many distilleries that produced rye closed and never reopened, and rye was notoriously difficult to find for several years.

As for rye whiskey, a serious resurgence has been going on for some 15 years after its production had previously died off in the 90s. We’re lucky today that so many people in the industry have taken rye whiskey on as a quest, and while innovation can be great, staying power is excellent too.

Bulleit Rye is one of the classics that Payless Liquors offers. With its smooth, crisp finish and notes of vanilla, spice, and honey throughout, this is a great sipper on the rocks, neat, or as the base spirit for a number of cocktails.

Rittenhouse is another rye whiskey offering. Long a beloved choice for bartenders, Rittenhouse has an herbal, sweet taste to start, then transitions quickly to roasty, dark flavors, such as oak and licorice. Perfect for a classic Old Fashioned or Manhattan, its flavor can handle nearly every kind of whiskey-based drink.

Did you know that Old Overholt is America’s oldest rye whiskey brand? In production since 1810, this rye whiskey is no spirit to turn your nose up to. They’re still capable of producing an excellent core rye that’s being aged for four years rather than the previous three. They also make some higher-octane distillations and offer an 11-year-aged rye as well. Old Overholt has a citrusy bouquet and sweet caramel and vanilla scents. A perfect cocktail or sipping rye.

Rye has a long and rich history in the United States. With over 200 years of production and enjoyment, it has a staying power worth noting. See our full list of Rye Whiskey offerings, and try a new Rye today.

October 11, 2022

Cognac For Fall

Cognac has been around longer than the United States has been a country, and that can be a little intimidating. Its staying power is as evident as its typical flavor notes and fascinating aromas such as fig, toffee, spice, pear, and most exotically, passionfruit. With tastes that vary depending on the season, cognac is a great spirit to get into this Fall while trying to kindle those feelings of coziness as the temperatures cool.

Cognac is produced in the Eastern French region, and it has been for over 500 years. It gets its name from a town in the area. This place also has a prosperous history in wine production.

The reason cognac is as it appears today is due to Dutch traders who were attempting to import wine from the region but weren’t having a lot of success. The wines they were importing would typically spoil before arriving back in the Netherlands. To get the wine to make it that far successfully was to distill it two times. From this, it got the name “brandewijn,” or burnt wine. If you say that out loud, you can hear where the term brandy comes from. Over time, the production of this spirit in that region became notable, thus distinct with the name Cognac.

Cognac is made from grapes. They are fermented anywhere from five to seven days, and the wine produced during this process is then distilled twice. What results is a colorless brandy that is then aged for two years in oak barrels.

Cognac is distinguished by different labeling systems such as VS (Very Special), meaning it has only been aged for two years; VSOP (Very Special Old Pale), suggesting it has been aged at least 4 years, and XO (Extra Old), meaning it has been aged for at least 10 years. After that, there is XXO (Extra Extra Old) which means it has been aged for at least 14 years; and then the granddaddy of them all, Hors d’Age, meaning it is beyond age, being aged for at least 30 years, but possibly up to 100.

This spirit should be treated as special as it is with proper glassware. While a snifter is an excellent option, any fluted glass will suffice. This allows the spirit to come to room temperature carefully, and the glass will allow the imbiber to swirl it and introduce oxygen into the cognac. This can awaken new flavors.

The Cles Des Ducs VSOP can be an exciting place to start. With a fruit-forward aroma, you’ll notice flavors of spice and almonds. The fruits you can expect to experience with this cognac are pear, plum, apple, and apricot.

Hardy Cognac VSOP is a midrange spirit, again with fruity flavors. Pear is apparent here, as well as spice and toasted wood. The taste lingers and leaves behind Fall fruits, perfect for this time of year.

Payless Liquors carries a range of cognacs to fit any budget. From the very affordable all the way up to more luxury brands. Stop by today to find your new favorite Autumn spirit.

October 4, 2022

Fall Cocktails You Need to Try

Fall marks the end of long, hot summer days. It also means the start of the harvest of many crops such as pumpkins and apples. Ironically, there’s just something warming about fall flavors coupled with the welcomed cool, crisp temperatures of autumn. To commemorate this uniquely satisfying season, we’ve compiled a collection of fall cocktail recipes.

Pumpkin Vodka Martini

If you’ve ever tasted pumpkin pie so good that you wished it were a drink, well, now it is. This fall twist on the classic martini tastes like pumpkin pie in a martini glass.

For one drink, you’ll need:

1 oz. Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka
1 oz. Baileys Pumpkin Spice
Dash of pumpkin spice
Demerara sugar (raw sugar)

To mix:

Shake the vodka and Baileys in a martini shaker with ice for at least one minute until very cold. Rim a chilled martini glass with demerara raw sugar. Strain mix into glass and sprinkle with pumpkin spice.

Crown Royal Regal Apple Cider

Hot apple cider likely adorns the memories of autumns passed for many, young and old. But spiked hot apple cider is a taste reserved for those of drinking age.

For one mug, you’ll need:

2 oz. Crown Royal Regal Apple
4 cups apple cider or juice
6 sticks of cinnamon
4 tbsp nutmeg
10 cloves
Orange zest
Orange twist

To make:

Combine nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, and cider (or juice) into a pot or slow cooker. Simmer and stir for 15-30 minutes. Strain the hot liquid carefully. Throw away the solids but keep the liquid. Combine Crown Royal Regal Apple with four ounces of the hot spiced liquid cider mix. Garnish with an orange twist.

Autumn

This drink recipe, developed by bar veteran and writer, Naren Young, is named after the season because it tastes like fall.

For one drink, you’ll need:

1.5 oz. Laird’s Applejack
0.5 oz. amontillado sherry
0.25 oz. Clear Creek pear brandy
0.5 oz. maple syrup
3 dashes apple bitters
Allspice tincture
Dehydrated pear crisp

To mix:

Combine sherry, brandy, maple syrup, Laird’s Applejack, apple bitters, and ice in a glass and stir until well chilled. Strain into a glass over one large cube of ice. Spray with allspice tincture and garnish with pear crisp.

Southern Comfort Hot Cocoa

This drink is best saved for the chilliest of fall evenings and promises to warm your palate and your soul.

To make four servings, you’ll need:

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
4 cups milk
3 ounces Southern Comfort
Whipped cream

To make:

In a saucepan, combine sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Heat milk in a separate saucepan over medium heat until hot, not boiling. Add a few spoons of the milk into the other saucepan with the cocoa mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon into a smooth paste. Slowly add the rest of the milk, gradually incorporating it into the cocoa. Simmer for five minutes on low heat. Next, add the

Southern Comfort and, with an immersion blender, froth until creamy with foam. Pour into pre-warmed glass mugs or cups and top with whipped cream.

Order your spirits online or come by the store, and get ready to enjoy these delicious fall cocktails!

September 27, 2022

Make Your Own Spiced Wine

Pumpkins have been grown in North America for roughly 5,000 years — hence, the short-lived, but annual, obsession with this fall fruit (yes, pumpkins are, in fact, fruits). Furthermore, pumpkins are one of the largest fruits on earth, the largest pumpkin on record weighing in at 2,702 pounds.

Though the excitement for pumpkin spice tends to lessen each year as winter’s end looms, in early fall, practically anything goes that is flavored with pumpkin spice — even wine. Below is an easy recipe for making your own pumpkin spice wine.

What you’ll need:

8 cups pumpkin 1 4-inch cinnamon stick 1 whole nutmeg

1 inch fresh ginger root 1 gallon (boiling) water 1 tsp yeast nutrient

5 cups sugar 3 tsp acid blend 1 package wine yeast

1 pound golden raisins

For the first ferment:

Wash, trim, peel, and chop/grind the pumpkin and mix it with raisins. Add spices. Add boiling water and ferment in a large crock (primary fermenter) overnight. Then add all remaining ingredients (except yeast). Don’t skip the acid blend because pumpkins are low in acid, and they need this for proper fermentation.

Stir well to ensure the sugar dissolves completely. Using a hydrometer, ensure the specific gravity ranges between 1.090 and 1.095. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture. Stir daily for three to five days until the specific gravity is 1.040. The mixture should get bubbly and have a pleasant aroma that is mildly yeasty. At the end of the first ferment, the pumpkin should have a mushy consistency, and the raisins should be nice and plump.

At this point, you’ll want to strain the “mush” and raisins using cheesecloth or an unbleached coffee filter. Squeeze as much juice out as possible. This is an important step because when not strained properly, leftover sediment in your wine can produce an undesirable texture.

For the second ferment:

Siphon the pumpkin wine into your secondary fermenter. Fill with water to volume and lock it in airtight with an airlock attachment. Your wine will look very cloudy at this point.

For the final aging:

After three weeks, rack your wine — transfer it into another fermenter or out of the fermenter long enough to clean out the sediment in the original). This removes the good wine from the bad sediment. Sediment can alter flavors in the fermenting process, so it’s a good practice to purify your wine often during the aging process.

Once your wine is removed from the fermenter, add ½ cup sugar and dissolve it in one cup of your wine mixture. Do this each time you rack your wine. Stir the wine gently and place it back into the secondary fermenter in the same manner as above. Do this process every six weeks until adding sugar does not restart fermentation. Then rack every three months until the wine is one year old before bottling. The wine should look clear now with the particles settled at the bottom.

Refrain from drinking your wine for one year from the first fermentation. The longer it ferments, the better, and this will ensure a sweeter-tasting pumpkin wine. If you start now, your wine should be just right by this time next year, just in time for fall! While you wait for your wine to ferment entirely, you can stop by the store to pick up a bottle that’s ready to go or place an order online.

September 20, 2022

Score a Touchdown With GameDay Spiked Seltzer

At around 9:00 p.m. on September 22, the fall equinox will occur. During the equinox, the sun will shine directly on the equator. This alignment causes the days and nights to be roughly the same duration, about 12 hours — and that is where it gets the name “equinox.”

After the fall equinox, the northern hemisphere starts tilting away from the sun, causing longer nights and shorter days, as well as cooler temperatures. This phenomenon is also what causes the leaves to change colors because of the reduced amounts of sunlight.

In ancient civilizations, the equinox let farmers know when to plant their seasonal crops. Today, the equinox signifies another season — football season.

With the first game of the 2022 NFL season on the books, football festivities will be in full swing by the time the equinox rolls around, and the shelves will already be stocked with GameDay Spiked Seltzers. These new canned cocktails from GameDay All American Spirit come in three fruity flavors, each with only 99 calories. Six times distilled and gluten-free, these all-natural carbonated cocktails boast a 5% alcohol by volume content. Thus, they pack a punch without the heavy caloric content of other alcoholic drink options.

Flavors

GameDay Spiked Seltzers come in three flavors:

The Goat (fruit punch). The Goat GameDay Spiked vodka cocktail in a can is a good contender for the greatest cocktail of all time, featuring 60mg of electrolytes. Whether you’re trying to pre-hydrate before the big game or recover later, this one is a high-performance alcoholic beverage.
Cleat Chaser (lemon-lime). For those fans who prefer the sour to sweet, the Cleat Chaser GameDay Spiked vodka features a lemon-lime twist and packs 75mg of electrolytes. Stay hydrated while you chase the cleats.
Cinderella Story (strawberry lemonade). This underdog-inspired spiked vodka canned cocktail is for fans who like it sweet with a little sour. Drinkers who choose the new Cinderella Story GameDay drink have blocked out the haters and defied all expectations.

GameDay All American Spirits

Since 2020, GameDay Spirits have been a hit at sporting event parties across the United States. GameDay All American Vodka is the official vodka of 14 NFL and NCAA teams, and many more teams are joining the party.

Born out of a missing necessity of game day parties for team-branded booze, the unique business strategy of GameDay Spirits features attractive team-colored labels and bottling. Geared toward the 200 million sports fans who love to celebrate their favorite teams, the GameDay brand is quickly becoming a staple in the American game day ritual.

Whether the game day festivities are small or large, partygoers will be impressed by these new team-adorned canned cocktails. They are especially popular among the ladies, so if females are going to attend your party, this is your go-to game day drink.

Make GameDay Spiked Seltzers a new essential ingredient for your football party. You can purchase all three flavors of GameDay Spiked Seltzers at Payless Liquors locations in packs of four for just $8.99. Place an order online or visit us in person today!