The Five Questions sits with Steven Grasse, founder of the Quaker City Mercantile and Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

I met Steven Grasse about a year ago at his office in Philadelphia.  He works standing up, just like my editor Joy Stocke.  I like working while standing as well.  We also share another interesting factoid.  We all use Macs.  It might not mean anything to some people, but I think it is the identity of a certain kind of intellect.  Steven is a thinker.  He is a conceptualist. A modern renaissance man.  He is a film-maker, an advertising agency owner/spirits guru and a bon vivant.

Would you believe he is also a back to the land organic farmer with a historic farm in New Hampshire?  He is up nearly every day at 5:00 in the morning using Facebook.  Doesn’t this man sleep?  He cannot, and this is obvious to me because he is always working.
His book, The Evil Empire seeks to dispel the popular concept of a gratuitous country.  I read a few pages and knew immediately, this is a busy guy!  He’s in the process of re-writing history!
He is always busy thinking of the next great thing.  I’ve seen his movies.  They are as complex and captivating as the man who made them.  They aim to exploit the known human experience and are really quite violent in a tongue firmly in cheek kind of way.  You many not like them, but no matter.  He’s on to the next, unknown thing.  He’s going to put that product in your glass, on your feet or in your head.  And then the next.  You may not have heard of Steven Grasse, but I’ll take a bet that you’ve enjoyed some of his products.
He is the creative force behind Hendrick’s Gin, Sailor Jerry Rum, Root, Snap and Naragansett Beer.  One of his talents is Brand Reinvigoration.  There are not enough hours in the day to keep up with his myriad of projects and intoxicating, liquid driven dreams.
Originally I was attracted to Steven’s product named Root.  I’ve created a number of drink recipes using this USDA Certified Organic Liquor.  The product is reminiscent to the root tea that was prepared to ward off colds or malaise.  Root tea has lasted in this country for several hundred years.  Down South, the medicine healers in the Low Country of South Carolina prepare a Root tea.  You don’t want a Root (a hex) to be put on you, but you might want to taste a Root tea.  Art in the Age’s product named Root has a serious flavor of birch and bark, earth and spices.  Black tea weaves its way through the haze of star anise and you enjoy a long heart warming finish.  This liquor is not a sickly sweet cordial.  Root is more akin to Bourbon than candy.  It is serious stuff at 80 proof.  I like it.
Snap on the other hand is also USDA Certified Organic.  This drink hails to the colorful memories that Steven might have enjoyed as a child… dreaming of Ginger Snap cookies.  It is not sweet in any way.  This new spirit reminds me of Rye Whiskey soaked into a pile of spicy Ginger Snaps.  Sweet and hot and like firewater with a three minute finish.  I created a recipe using Tuthilltown White Whiskey as an ingredient.  The drink should “whet the whistle”  of two people, so adjust the pours accordingly.  If you are really thirsty, drink one yourself.  Then prepare to ramble.
Steven Grasse owns the advertising, conceptual art agency named the Quaker City Mercantile.  Take a look at his visual interpretations of advertising.  It will certainly make you think.
Isn’t that what good advertising is supposed to do?
Steven, here are your Five Questions.

1. Where did you grow up? Was it on a farm?
I grew up in Souderton Pennsylvania.  It’s a small town filled with Mennonites.  I went to high school with Jamie Moyer (Phillies).  We lived above my dad’s print shop. When I was in my teens we moved to a farm.  The whole area was very Old School Pennsylvania Dutch.  This heritage very much inspired what I am currently doing with Art in the Age.

2. Do you cook? If so, who taught you? Mother, Father, Grandparents, Television Cooking Shows, cookbooks?
The cook in our family is my wife, Sonia.  She is very much into eating healthy, organic, local.  Her mom is Chinese and her father is Pennsylvania Dutch.  This makes for very interesting influences.

3. Tell me about your organic farm in New Hampshire, do you go there for creative inspiration?
The farm in New Hampshire is both a retreat and an experiment.  We have begun the process of restoring the fields and getting them organically certified.  Eventually we will hope to grow the ingredients we use in our spirits, wines and ciders.  We began tapping the maple trees this year.  Real Maple Syrup!  Yum!

4. If you could go anywhere in the world where would that be? What would you want to eat/drink when you got there?
It’s funny.  I spent many years traveling the world.  I have lived in Thailand, New Zealand, Hong Kong and England.  I had to travel for business extensively.  As a result, I really don’t want to go anywhere.
Luxury for me is being at home with my wife and kids eating a home cooked meal.

5. Social Media brought us together.  You are on Facebook and Twitter – where do you see this type of Real Time internet going for your business?
We have used Facebook and Twitter very effectively to build Art in the Age.  It is amazing.  We don’t use traditional media at all really.  Social networking also built our Sailor Jerry Rum, Hendricks Gin and Gansett Beer brands.

I have a great staff who keeps me up to date on the latest with this stuff.  They are patient teachers.  They know to give me a tutorial on how to use it, then I dive in.