Freelance Food & Drinks Writer

Tag Archives: The Rieger

Of Cognac and Sidecars

I’ve always preferred Cognac in my Sidecars. It’s what my husband used the first time he made one for me, and it’s now hard to settle for plain old brandy. So I was happy when Ryan Maybee showcased the drink during a Cognac tasting hosted by Alexis Ganter of Glazer’s at The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange.

The occasion? To introduce Landy Cognac to Kansas City bartenders. The take-away? It’s delicious stuff, in cocktails and on its own.

Ryan Maybee of The Rieger & Manifesto, Jean-François Bonneté of W.J. Deutsch, and Alexis Ganter of Glazer's
Landy’s a small Cognac house (at least compared to giants like Hennessy) owned by Cognac Ferrand, a boutique spirits producer that also makes Pierre Ferrand Cognac and Citadelle gin. And small is good, said Jean-François Bonneté, vice president of W.J. Deutsch & Sons Ltd.’s spirits division, the brand’s importer. That allows Landy to do things like use copper pot stills and distill on the lees, meaning some sediment is left in during the first distillation.

“All those organic components give it aromatic potential,” Bonneté said.

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More Manifesto favorites

Deciding which recipes to run with articles is painful at times, and my recent piece in Imbibe! was no different. The magazine’s editors picked the Girl From Cadiz, a Hendrick’s cocktail created by Ryan Maybee to represent Manifesto and The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange. It is indeed a delicious drink, good enough to be… Continue Reading

GKCBC Recap

It’s still a buzz seeing something I wrote in print, even 20-odd years on as a journalist. But I’m a perfectionist, so reading my own work can be as frustrating as it is satisfying. In today’s case, it was the realization that I didn’t list all the winners and finalists in my Kansas City Star… Continue Reading

Four Roses, four years on

Four Roses Bourbon’s only been in Kansas City for about four years, but it’s already a favorite among bartenders. That much was obvious during a recent tasting session at The Regier Hotel Grill & Exchange, courtesy the Kansas City Bartenders’ Alliance and Lohr Distributing. Al Young, the brand’s ambassador, was already introducing the Four Roses… Continue Reading

Campos Tops 5th GKCBC

The Fifth Annual Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition had it all: inventive cocktails, impressive bartenders, demanding judges and even burlesque. Much of what I’ve gleaned in recent weeks—including plans for a week-long cocktail extravaganza called Paris of the Plains in 2012—will appear in the Kansas City Star on Sept. 7, but so much more will… Continue Reading