Unless you’re one of those people whose nose had been blessed with an outstanding olfactory sensitivity to everything blossoming (in that case, we feel you *sniff*), you can smell that Spring and love are in the air.

Let’s admit it, we all get a little frisky the second the days get longer, sunnier, and warmer, nature wakes up, and the world gets a tad more vivacious. Following the locked-in winter we all experienced, this year’s Spring couldn’t be more welcomed.
 
As the world awakens from the long, covid-induced slumber, our appetite for friendly interactions and all sorts of pairings increases.

Whether you are oh-so-ready to plant a new seed in your dating life or refresh and reflower your long-time relationship, here are 7 Flaviar’s suggestions on Spirits and brunch pairings that will revitalize you and make you fall in love again. 
 
Created to indulge your senses (even the slightly stuffy ones), these pairings combine the best of Flaviar Originals - drinks made for Flaviar members - with the best of slow mornings with your favorite half.
 

1. My HoneyBourbunny: Corn Trooper United Craft Bourbon + Honey-Glazed Ham

Get beesy (we know, we know…) and cross-pollinate the sweet and spicy maple, cinnamon, ginger, orange peel, dark cherry, and oak notes of Corn Trooper with the sweet and savory honey-glazed ham.

Served warm or cold, the sweetness of the ham will find its perfect match in a zesty, honey-forward, and vitamin-full Brown Derby cocktail made with Flaviar’s first-ever Straight Bourbon, a masterblend of 7 US craft Bourbons.

Corn Trooper United Craft Bourbon + Honey-Glazed Ham
 

Brown Derby

Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz Corn Trooper
- ¾ oz grapefruit juice
- ¾ oz honey syrup
- Grapefruit twist
 

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add a few ice cubes and shake well until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, garnish with a twist of grapefruit and serve with a meaningful wink to your SO.
 
If you don’t have a sweet tooth for ham or want to swing around the entire field of sweet and savory combinations, pair with a cold charcuterie of your choice.
 

2. A Caribbean Rumance: Larga Vida XO Rum + Banana Flambé

If you want to bring some tropical flavors to your table, look no further than Larga Vida XO Rum. This Flaviar blend of 10 tropical Rums from 10 specific Rum-making countries will warm your mornings with notes of banana, vanilla, cinnamon, citrus, dates, honeycomb, oak, and nuts.

It’s perfect on its own already, but let’s double-down this time and make the Rum the pairing and the star ingredient in your brunch! 

Larga Vida XO Rum + Banana Flambé
 
Use it to make banana flambé to top your Belgian waffles, pair with a Jungle Bird, and transform your dining experience into a tropical getaway for two. Kookaburras can sing love songs too, you know… 
 
You can also try a Yummy Rummy Tiramisu and pair it with some other Larga Vida cocktails.
 

3. Frerot Liaisons: Frérot Extra + Pâté and Jam

Here’s a Spring fling that will put your baguette to good use (if you know what we mean…). Spread some good-quality duck liver pâté on a toasted baguette slice and top with fig jam, mixed with a few drops of Frérot Extra. 
 
This Flaviar Original combines Eau-de-vies of 30 to 50 years old to produce an exquisite bouquet of raspberries, apricots, and fresh orchard fruits that will elevate the humble fig jam to an opulent celebration of fruity flavors.

Bring the Rendez-Vous to a climax by pairing it with the French 75 cocktail, a refreshing double-take on “the people’s Cognac.”

Frérot Extra + Pâté and Jam
 

French 75

Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 3/4 oz strained, freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 oz Frérot Extra
- Champagne or sparkling Wine, chilled
 
Instructions:
Combine the simple syrup, lemon juice, and Frerot Extra in a mixing glass. Fill the glass three-quarters full with cubes, cover, and shake vigorously until thoroughly chilled, 15 seconds. Strain into a flute, top with chilled Champagne and serve on a silver platter.
 

4. Muffin’ Compares To You: Hercules Mulligan + Muffins

OK, so some Spring mornings might still be a little chilly, so here’s a warm pairing that will surely encourage you to leave your warm bed—or if you choose to remain there and make it a brunch in bed, that’s fine with us, too.

But, nothing gets us up faster than the smell of freshly-baked muffins. Chocolate chip, blueberry, banana, lemon, honey, apple-cinnamon, they’ll all pair well with a Hercules Mulligan Hot Toddy.

This 2021 Flaviar Award-winning ready-made cocktail combines Caribbean Aged Rum and American Rye Whiskey with macerated, fresh organic ginger, and bitters for an Old-Fashioned combination of flavors that will compliment or counterbalance your favorite muffin recipe.

Hercules Mulligan + Muffins


Hercules Mulligan Hot Toddy

Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz Hercules Mulligan
- 2 tsp honey
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 ½ oz water
- Cinnamon stick to garnish
 

Instructions:

Warm all the ingredients slowly in a pan - it'll make your home smell amazing - until hot, but don't let it boil, then decant into glasses. Go for something with a handle for that traditional vibe, or some heavy-based tumblers. Garnish with a thumb-sized piece of lemon peel, twisted over the glass to release the oils in the skin, and a cinnamon stick.

Enjoy all snuggled up to each other.
 

5. You’re a Peach, Brandy: Shakmat + Peach Crisp Yogurt Bowl

Be a peach and whip your SO this healthy, refreshing brunch combo that will get you thinking about Summer together. Peach crisp yogurt bowl will find its Summer romance in a neat serving of Shakmat, the Armenian Brandy. 
 
The abundance of exciting flavors inside this 23-year-old Spirit includes dried fruits (plums, raisins), walnuts, cloves, molasses, vanilla, and oak among others and will perfectly complement the caramelized peach and toasted granola flavors featured in the bowl.

Shakmat + Peach Crisp Yogurt Bowl

Luckily you don’t have to wait for the peach season these days, but if you want, you can also substitute fresh peaches with canned ones, just make sure to pat them dry and omit the sugar, they’ll be sweet enough.
 
And if you want to go full traditional on the Brandy and feel like you’re one of the locals, serve the drink inside a halved peach. You know, we think they’re onto something here...
 

6. Good Moaning: Quarantine Vodka + Anything Hearty

If you love doves are more the partying type and you just woke up after a long night of *khm* Spirits tasting, you might want to cure yourselves with a hearty brunch treatment.

The prescribed classic here would be a Bloody Mary. Made with Quarantine Vodka, an incredibly smooth, and six-times distilled premium Spirit, this is certainly THE medicine. 
 
The combination of savory tomato, refreshing lemon, spicy Tabasco, and horseradish will heal you almost instantly, but pair that with a hearty choice of brunch classics, such as a breakfast quiche, eggs Benedict, omelet, frittata, shakshuka, a full English breakfast, or literally anything your stomachs can handle and you’ll both live to see another sunny day.

Quarantine Vodka + Anything Hearty
 

Bloody Mary

Ingredients:
- 1 pinch celery salt
- 1 pinch ground pepper
- ½ oz lemon juice
- 1 ½  oz Quarantine Vodka
- 3 oz tomato juice
- horseradish (optional, to taste)
- 2 dashes Tabasco or other hot sauce
- 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Garnish: lemon wedge, celery stalk, green olives, parsley sprig
 
Instructions:
Rub the lemon or lime wedge along the lip of a tall glass. Roll the edge of the glass in celery salt you poured onto a small plate until fully coated. Fill the glass with ice and set it aside. In a cocktail shaker, combine Quarantine Vodka, lemon juice, tomato juice, horseradish, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and a pinch of celery salt along with ice and shake gently. Strain into the prepared glass, garnish with a lemon wedge and a celery stalk and serve oh-so-quietly.
 

7. Rainy Morning Redeemer: Son of a Peat + Poached eggs w/ Smoked Salmon

Perfect for those misty, murky mornings, when the plan for the day is having no plans whatsoever, this brunch combo will cozy up your home like a warm fireplace. Enter Son of a Peat: The Reedemer, Flaviar’s 3rd peated Scotch, a twelve-Whisky blend that combines the magic of Islay, Speyside, the Islands, and the Highlands in one diabolical Spirit. 
 
The potion’s warm notes of smoke, oak, nuts, and Sherry will be wonderfully elevated in a Highball and will be best complemented with smoked salmon and poached egg on toast. Of course, feel free to experiment with other hearty dishes and find the match that will fire your stills.

Son of a Peat + Poached eggs w/ Smoked Salmon


Son of a Peat Highball

Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz Son of Peat The Redeemer
- 3 oz Fentiman’s Ginger Ale
- Lemon to garnish
 
Instructions:
Use a chilled, tall glass. Pour the Whisky into the glass, add ice and pour over the soda. Garnish with lemon and serve with a warm smile.
 
There you have it. Now, spring into action, get your hands on these Flaviar Originals, and start pairing up with gusto!