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HGS Blog Sip, Sip, Hooray!


Harvard General Store Now Sells Distilled Spirits and Fortified Wines!

And a Pouring License is in the Works.

Have you noticed anything new at HGS? We are displaying our new alcoholic beverages in the back of the store near the staircase. Come check out what we carry and feel free to make suggestions to our staff.  The addition of distilled spirits was a year in the making. First, waiting for approval for our All-Alcohol Liquor License and then, selecting the best brands and values to appeal to our local market.

You may not see your favorite brands.  Consolidation and big box stores are the wave of the future for retail alcohol.  Most producers today are large corporate entities that have bought up your favorite brands over the last few years and in turn only sell in large quantities to retailers. For a store like ours that offers alcoholic beverages as a service to the community, we need to carefully select products that insure high quality without breaking your budget.  We need labels that exhibit the highest quality in handcrafted and local products that people can afford. We understand you may be loyal to a brand that you have bought for years but we believe if you give our products a chance and work with us to get our offerings right, we can get your business on a regular basis. We can be innovative in our marketing by focusing on education and tastings.  Cocktail making classes and tastings will be scheduled throughout the year. For instance, to celebrate the issuance of our All-Alcohol License on March 14th, we had our first Cocktails 101 Class with Charles Oliver and expert mixologist, Jake Parrott. The class focused on vermouths, gin, rum, and liqueurs.  Those attending the class tried 10 of our 15 different liquors. They each had the chance to play with different proportions, adding different fruits, ice, seltzers, and Prosecco, and experimented with how these simple ingredients changed the flavor of the drink and learned to feel confident with their own particular taste preferences. As an example, they made Martinis  with our amazing Hayman’s Gin with different proportions of gin and vermouth as well as using different vermouths to find just the right combination. Charles shared his go-to beverage for parties with our class—everyone loved it so much, we want to share the recipe! Violette Royale

Pour 3/4 ounce Crème de Violette into a Champagne flute, then fill to the top with sparkling wine (about 5 ounces). Garnish with a lemon twist.

As with all our wine classes, at the end of the night we gave 10% off any bottles purchased that evening  The number one seller was the Hayman’s Gin, followed by the Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette..

While you are around town this week, stop in to see for yourself the newest additions to the General! Don’t forget to keep an eye on our other social media pages for other new and fun plans for the store.
