CULTURE

On the North Fork, a Spirited Laboratory of Unexpected Flavors

At Matchbook Distilling Company, Leslie Merinoff Kwasnieski’s succulent experiments transform into seaweed single malt whiskies, smoked pineapple eau de vies, and even a carrot, peppercorn, gentian, and chardonnay concoction for Eleven Madison Park.

Courtesy of David Benthal

In Greenport, New York, Leslie Merinoff Kwasnieski’s Matchbook Distilling Company might not look like a Wonka-esque factory. And yet, the work that happens within is nothing short of wondrous. A quick visual assessment reveals a bag of wormwood resting not far from a box of exotic botanicals. One wall of colorful Post-it notes outlines production timelines for the likes of strawberry amaro, blood orange aperitivo, and smoked sunchoke spirit. The storage space houses aging seaweed single malts and bourbon whiskey distilled with roasted oats that lend a sesame sweetness.

Merinoff, Matchbook’s co-founder and a distiller for fifteen years, speaks with a scientific vocabulary, though acknowledges that there’s something intangible to the work she does. “I don’t think magic and science are mutually exclusive. They’re mutually entangled,” she tells Surface as we tour her facility. Walking among custom stills, casks, and bottles, Merinoff points out signature products, and curious creations she’s crafting for partners—including an Americano component for Eleven Madison Park.

Courtesy of David Benthal

“We roast carrots from their partner farm, Magic Farm, with algae oil and finish it with sweet miso macerated into a distillate of Timur peppercorns, and chardonnay,” she says. “The chardonnay is not distilled. It’s just blended in. Then there is gentian, which gives it a bitter note. Then we add a little bit of sugar.” The liquid’s abundance of aromas and nuanced profile seem almost impossible.

Courtesy of David Benthal

Matchbook’s capabilities are as advanced as Merinoff’s imagination. “When it comes to our custom spirits, we produce Uncle Boons Thai Spiced Rum for Thai Diner, and we’ve been making botanical distillates for Oxalis, Café Mado, and Place des Fêtes since we opened,” she says. “I’ve lost count of how many we’ve created for Nightmoves—some of which also end up on the limited cocktail menu at Four Horsemen. One of my favorites was a guava whey chardonnay spirit with beach roses and hop leaves.”

“For Andrew Tarlow, we made Forever Bread, a spirit distilled from day-old loaves from his bakery, She Wolf, then infused with his favorite olive oil and juniper,” she adds. “We’ve also crafted spirits for Netflix gifting—a whiskey for The Irishman, a vodka for Russian Dolls, and a gin for Bridgerton.

Courtesy of David Benthal

Coupled with these creations are those that define Matchbook’s own portfolio, like the roasted pineapple eau de vie Ritual Sister. This liquid was born during the pandemic as a way to demonstrate to her team that no one was going to lose their job. “I had thousands of pounds of pineapple delivered,” Merinoff says. “We made a fire pit because we needed a place outside to hang out. I said let’s go put the pineapples in the fire pit and, as a team, figure it out. Two days later we went and picked up the pineapples and started fermenting them.” Ritual Sister is now the distillery’s second biggest volume driver after Daytrip Strawberry Amaro.

Courtesy of David Benthal

Merinoff marries her foundational knowledge of distilling with her quest for the unexpected in Matchbook’s whiskies. Two, Land Race Whiskey (which will debut this fall) and Metamodernity Bourbon, incorporate subtle tweaks that allow them to taste both familiar and serendipitous. The former presents a maturity well beyond its five years in a barrel. That’s thanks to Merinoff’s distillation techniques, as well as the old-world style barrels she sourced from Kentucky’s Kelvin Cooperage.

Courtesy of David Benthal

Metamodernity Bourbon might be Matchbook’s pinnacle product. “The signature in that bourbon is the roasted oats,” she says. “They get roasted in a coffee roaster. It’s only five percent of the mash bill but it gives it this rich mouthfeel and this aftertaste of sesame seeds. Bourbon is hard to distill. It’s an important flex, even though we produce these whacky spirits that don’t have a comparison. There are so many bourbons out there. There is a benchmark. This is my way of saying, test me.”

“These two whiskies are my pride and joy,” she adds. “We are using such gorgeous, flavorful grains from farmers who are stewards of the land. They care about their soil. This translates into the flavors. My job on the production floor is to make sure that I am capturing the flavor of the raw material, and that I am also doing unique things in fermentation. It’s very different than the cowboy-style of American whiskey production.”

Courtesy of David Benthal

Merinoff designed the distillery herself, after acquiring the 38,000-square-foot location—a former building for storing boat parts—which she found on Zillow. “The mechanical design of the distillery is intentionally inefficient so that I can produce all these different spirits and wines at all different scales,” she explains. “It makes it more labor intensive but it’s like a Swiss armory knife for R&D. It allows us to be dynamic, which is required when you are moving in response to the farms and the seasons.”

Courtesy of David Benthal

In addition to the distillery, and the tasting room (which is open to the public), Merinoff further contributes to the cultural fabric of the North Fork. She owns the Lin Beach House, a boutique hotel in Greenport that channels all the values she infuses into her distillery. There, every first Friday of the month, guest bartenders are brought in to imagine drinks with Matchbook liquids—and guest chefs whip up complementary dishes, too.

All Stories