Photo by Catherine Borgeson
Progress on the Long Now Salon continues. We have told you a lot about the design and building of the space (most recently about our cardboard prototyping night) and the library we are building for it. But while renovating the physical space is an important aspect of opening this new venue, there’s a lot more to launching a public space that celebrates long-term thinking. And so we are hard at work planning things like drink menus and programming that will really bring our beautiful space to life.
We think a lot about beverages and time. The histories of civilization and distillation are synchronous and intertwined across many cultures. There are so many fascinating stories associated with spirits through the ages. One example is a liqueur whose 400-year-old, 130-ingredient recipe is kept secret by French monks.
At the turn of the 17th Century the alchemical formula of this “elixir of long life” was named after the Chartreuse mountains and the Grande Chartreuse monastery where it is still made today. The spirit’s distinctive shade of green is the origin of the color chartreuse (not the other way around). It’s a safe bet you’ll find Chartreuse in the Salon when we open next year.
Alcohol will generally be reserved for the evenings at the Salon, so we’ll have plenty of thought-provoking liquids for our daylight visitors as well. Our partners at Samovar Tea Lounge helped us find a rare Pu-erh tea for Salon donors, and we’ll have a variety of other non-alcoholic beverages including local artisan coffee for those who visit while the sun’s out.
Photo from Wikipedia
A big announcement about the Salon is coming soon and there’s more news to share about our drinks menu. And time. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, a video we’ve posted before, but it’s a must-watch if you haven’t seen it. Lance Winters of our partners St. George Spirits discusses the relation of time and distillation.
