Brand Mysticism

Steven Grasse is an entrepreneur equally influenced by punk rock and New England transcendentalism. After creating some of the most outrageous booze brands of the twenty-first century seemingly out of thin air (Hendrick's Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum, Art in the Age Craft Spirits), he opened the award-winning Tamworth Distilling & Mercantile in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 2015. Steven is also the author of Colonial Spirits: A Toast To Our Drunken History, The Good Reverend's Guide to Infused Spirits, Evil Empire, the IACP-nominated The Cocktail Workshop, and Brand Mysticism. He lives and works in Philadelphia, but his heart is always at his farmhouse in the White Mountains.

Adam Erace is a food and travel writer and co-author of the cookbooks Laurel: Modern American Flavors in Philadelphia, Dinner at the Club: 100 Years of Stories and Recipes from South Philly's Palizzi Social Club, and the IACP-nominated The Cocktail Workshop. He contributes to many publications, including Travel + Leisure, Fortune,  and Food & Wine, and his work has been recognized with awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Association of Food Journalists. He lives in South Philly with his wife, Charlotte, and three maniacal rescue dogs.

Aaron Goldfarb is a novelist, author, and journalist, who frequently writes about the spirits industry and drinking culture for Esquire, Playboy, PUNCH, and VinePair. His two most recent books are Hacking Whiskey: Smoking, Blending, Fat-Washing, and Other Whiskey Experiments and Gather Around Cocktails: Drinks to Celebrate Usual and Unusual Holidays. His 2018 VinePair article on Grasse, “How Do You Make a Booze Brand Go Viral?,” fittingly, went viral itself and has since been shared online hundreds of thousands of times.