Hello Friends, my name is Matthew Gore...

 I'm a friend and coworker of Tereasa's and helped photograph part of her book Found Flea & Free. Tereasa and I share a great passion for travel and I was lucky to go on vacation last week to Berlin. It was a last minute decision, mostly driven by a need to use up some vacation days and a big chunk of my credit limit.

On Sunday, I was invited by a new friend in Berlin to go on a tour of the Preussische Spirituosen Manufaktur. (http://www.psmberlin.de/) It stands for Prussian Spirits Manufacturing, an old-world style liquor/spirits/schnapps producer who works to create highly custom, artisanal liquors of their own and for select clients. On this particular day, the tour was a part of celebrating the launch of two custom liquors created for the Michael Berger Hotel (http://www.michelbergerhotel.com/#/en/hotel), the place I should have stayed and an impossibly hip and artistic place that you must check out if you happen to be east of the fallen wall in Berlin someday. It is run by a group of friends, very affordable and well designed.

Over the span of a year working with the PSM, they created two beautiful spirits, one that is inspired by the forest and one by crisp mountain air. 

"One clear, fresh and bracing, like soaring through the mountain air and the other dark, mysterious, warming, and mellow, like padding through the rustling leaves of a forest. Think of something beautiful, drink it." - from their website. You can see the beautifully designed bottles (and website!) here: http://www.michelbergerbooze.com/

Below are a few pictures I took of the lab/production space where they concocted these amazing drinks using a process that is practiced by almost no one else around the world. I was in love with all the medicine jars filled with raw ingredients and distilled flavors, not to mention the big suitcase of pretzels that was waiting for us when we got there. They even let us big an enormous ladle into an enormous ceramic storage container to sample their 500€-a-bottle gin. A truly fascinating, delicious and boozy experience. And I knew that Tereasa would love that their entire creation process takes happens in turn-of-the-century hardware and vintage glassware. Also adding to the charm was that it was run by an ex-chemistry professor named Dr. Ulf Stahl who personally oversees the creation of their unique and special liquors.

(they even have a substantial inventory of vintage liqour bottles that date back to the 1930's--- used to compare tastes & how they age)