Eyjafjallajökull — American Fifth Spirits

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That’s right, Eyjafjallajökull. No, I didn’t fall asleep on the keyboard. Nor are we discussing a minimalist armoire from Ikea. Eyjafjallajökull is a cocktail from American Fifth Spirits, just across the street from Cooley Law School Stadium. The drink is named after an Icelandic volcano that erupted in 2010, leading to an international crisis of poor pronunciations as news reporters all over the world wrestled with the name. (There’s a less than helpful YouTube video of an Icelander teaching newcasters how to pronounce the name, and it involves sounds I didn’t know the human mouth was capable of making.)

Fortunately, American Fifth gives you a way out without twisting your tongue, parenthetically calling the drink the Icelandic Volcano. This cocktail features the distillery’s Capital Gin mixed with lingonberry jam, honey and ginger beer. To finish it off, the drink is dusted with a light layer of ground cardamom.

I’m a big fan of Capital Gin. It’s heavy on floral botanicals and light on juniper, which makes so many other gins taste like a Christmas tree. This gin is versatile and works great in sweet or fruity cocktails.

In this drink, the sweetness of the lingonberry and honey is offset by the subtle bite of the ginger beer and the herbal spiciness of the cardamom. It’s sweet without being too sweet, perfect for sitting and sipping with friends in the distillery’s industrial deco tasting room.

If you want to try this drink, you’d better get to the tasting room soon. The distillery revamps its cocktail menu on the fifth of every month, dropping some drinks and rotating in new ones. Will your favorite drink still be on the menu next month? Who knows? It’s the tastiest, least consequential game of Russian roulette you can imagine.


American Fifth Spirits

Monday-Wednesday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Thursday-Friday 4 p.m.-midnight Saturday noon-midnight 112 N. Larch St., Lansing (517) 999-2631 americanfifthspirits.com


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