Marshall Dawson is our guest on Brew Ha Ha today, with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras all in studio. Marshall Dawson is one of the founders and owners of Jardesca low-alcohol spirits, which is located in Sonoma. With Jardesca, Marshall Dawson’s company had started a trend with lower alcohol drinks, which have nice flavor “…but you don’t have to get schnookered,” says Marshall.

Jardesca makes Californian alternatives to European aperitifs. Both their white and red blends have a blend of three kinds of Californian wine with eau de vie (which is French for Grappa) some botanicals. Marshall and his business partner have both lived in England, where there is an aperitif culture, which begins daily at around 5pm. When he moved to wine country in 2006 he wanted to create something from California that was appropriate for aperitifs. He thought that if it’s Californian it should be based on wine and other flavors that grow here. An aperitif is a light drink that prepares your palette for a nice meal. It’s a common practice throughout Europe.

The heart of the white wine blend is a Viogner and the heart of the red wine blend is a Zinfandel. Marshall used to run global marketing for Bombay Sapphire and Grey Goose. The principal botanical ingredients in the white aperitif are pink grapefruit, pink peppercorn and bay leaf. It lends itself to any kind of blending and mixing. “You can’t break it,” says Marshall. The recipes are on their website. Jardesca.com Get 15% off with promo code THEDRIVEBREWHAHA for the next 15 days.

They are in all the local retailers including Bottle Barn. Jardesca is 17% alcohol so when mixed, it is equivalent to a wine cocktail. The key botanicals in the red aperitif are ginger, tangerine and cardamom.