American Spirits

Part of a national trend, craft distilleries are popping up in small towns and big cities across Virginia. In this special holiday episode, we connect the present to the past as we uncover little-known stories of Virginia spirits, from a recently revived 19^th-century julep recipe to an event that draws “women who whiskey.” We’ll do a tasting with Ironclad Distillery and Vitae Spirits and talk with Sarah Hand Meachum, author of “Every Home a Distillery.”

This Christmas, you might be having some bourbon in your eggnog or a hot buttered rum or two, but biologist Lytton Musselman is making his own cordials and spirits from wild roots, berries, and mushrooms. Musselman says he loves the distinct differences in flavor each plant (or fungus) brings to the liquor because, he says, “we are reminded of the glens, marshes, prairies, lakes, and forests where they live, who they hang out with, and their seasons of life.”

Delores Phillips researches how multicultural families deal with holiday foods that will be on the table at this time of year. She speaks from personal experience as an African American married into a Vietnamese-American family with in-laws from both cultures.