Page 26 - Valley Table - June-August 2024

C. Cassis Tasting Room
Beverage maker Rachael Petach wants you to love blackcurrants as much as she does. Take a trip to C. Cassis’ new tasting room, opened in October 2023, to find out why.
B Y iM E G A N W I L S O N
llegal to cultivate
in New York
State until 2003, blackcurrants (which
used to carry a fungus that threatened white pines)
are a mystery to many—but Rachael Petach, the founder and CEO of C. Cassis, wants to change that. A brand that churns out a vermouth-like, low ABV aperitif made from blackcurrants, Petach’s recently opened C. Cassis Tasting Room (CCTR) in Rhinebeck invites guests
to take a seat at the bar and get acquainted with the unfamiliar berry.
Petach fell in love with blackcurrants, the star ingredient of crème de cassis liqueur, while farming in France in 2008 (as a volunteer with World Wide Opportunities
on Organic Farms), but it wasn’t until over a decade later that she’d try making her own version of the beverage. Launched in December
of 2020, Petach crafts C. Cassis with lightly fermented blackcurrants from Walnut Grove Farm in Staatsburg, clean distilled spirits, a touch of wild honey, and a range
of botanicals—whole green cardamom, lemon verbena, citrus rinds, and bay leaf.
The next step? Open a tasting room at the production facility for guests to try C. Cassis and get a behind-the- scenes look—through vintage steel-frame windows—at how it’s made. “It has long been a dream for me to create a space to host people; something that
would feel like an extension
of my home. But it wasn’t until starting C. Cassis that I knew what form that would take,” says Petach. She describes the locale, a former dairy barn, as “artsy European farmhouse meets contemporary factory;” the space is flooded with natural light and accented by blue motifs that complement the liqueur bottles. Wooden bar stools with seats sculpted into the brand’s logo complete
in-house. “It’s the best point of entry,” she says, but don’t miss the full cocktail list designed with mixologist Natasha
David (author of “Nitecap”
and “Drink Lightly”). The CC Tini, made with Neversink Gin (crafted from NYS apples), Method Dry Vermouth (Finger Lakes), chamomile, verjus,
and C. Cassis, puts a fun spin on a classic drink, as does the Man in Hat, with C. Cassis, Arrowood Rye (Accord),
with an emphasis on local ingredients. When you visit, expect to see dishes such
as the Current Camembert with cheese from Chaseholm Farm Creamery (Pine Plains), a smoked Hudson Valley Fisheries (Hudson) steelhead trout salad sandwich
on Sparrowbush Bakery (Livingston) bread, and a flavorful salad with radicchio, sprouted rye berries, and shiitake mushrooms.
CCTR has a fridge stocked with grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, and locally made provisions, too. “It can serve
as a convenient shop to
pick up last-minute cocktail party supplies (spirits, wine, beer, snacks), as well as a
space where you can spend
a leisurely afternoon. Come
for lunch and then tuck in to
a relaxing corner to luxuriate over a good book or interesting conversation for the rest of the day,” says Petach.
For now, CCTR is open on weekends only from 12 to 7 p.m., but you can find bottles of C. Cassis and cans of CC Spritz at wine and beverage retailers nationwide. “We are excited to continue to work with farmers in the Hudson Valley on what’s possible
with blackcurrants both in our drinks as well as pantry staples,” says Petach. Follow @ currentcassis on Instagram to keep up with the latest tasting room news, from small-batch cassis releases to events such as food pop-ups and collabs with local brands.
C. Cassis Tasting Room
108 Salisbury Turnpike, Rhinebeck ccassis.com \ 845.516.5053
24 TheValleyTable | June–August2024
Petach fell
in love with blackcurrants while farming in France.
the design.
Petach recommends
ordering the tasting set, a flight that features the aperitif on its own, the CC Spritz sparkling cocktail, and the exclusive barrel-aged cassis alongside a salted currant cracker made
spruce, and lemon balm. While the liqueur is the
main attraction, Petach
has partnered with Katy Moore—the former chef de cuisine of both Gertie and Marlow & Sons in Brooklyn— to create a rotating menu
PHOTOS BY WINONA BARTON-BALLENTINE/SHELTER UPSTATE