The first thing you notice when you crack a bottle of Liberty Gin open is a strong lemon aroma. Walter Palmer, a Manayunk resident who founded Palmer Distillery just a few blocks from the neighborhood’s Main Street attributes this ingredient to his own preference.

“It really is wonderfully citrus-y,” he said of his gin.

Palmer said his approach is methodical and artisanal, insisting that he doesn’t want to expand to the point of sacrificing the high quality, organic ingredients he imports from around the world.

“From my perspective, a good gin should be pure to exactly what gin is,” Palmer said. “I do have a personal philosophy that everything has a sweet spot, as it should be. Our company motto is ‘as it should be.'”

Palmer spent months researching, trying to identify what made a good, Philadelphia gin before opening up 10 weeks ago.

He found himself looking at the American Revolution, a defining time in American history. And Philadelphia played a big role. He wanted to make a gin as strong and robust as the city he’s working in.

“Generally, the people who were having those thoughts [of revolution] drank,” He said. “They weren’t drunk, but they drank. I mean, they drank a lot. ”

He said he was fascinated with the idea of being able to walk in the steps of the Founding Fathers, holding a drink with the same properties as theirs. His gin is meant to, in a way, wind back time with every sip.

Palmer officially earned his permits and licenses in May and will be moving his product onto a few Pennsylvania liquor store shelves in September. He makes small batches, but has the capacity to distill 220 gallons at a time.

Palmer is also working on a corn whiskey product called Manayunk Moonshine. His plan is to bottle half and barrel half, and maybe sell it in flasks. As tempted as he is to dig into the bourbon business, there are more restrictions involved in that.

“Even if I end up selling gin from New York to D.C., I’ll be perfectly happy,” Palmer said. “My goal is not to be Diageo. I want to be a high quality, craft distillery. I want to use high quality products and make high quality products.”

Palmer Distilling is located at 376 Shurs Lane in Manayunk. If you see a sign that says “free gin tasting” you are welcome to go in for a free shot.

Originally posted on Newsworks.org

Almanac, a Germantown-based circus troupe, has been practicing since October for their performance later this month titled “Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes.”

The group of five is taking an interpretation of faith into a performance that joins theater, dance and acrobatics in a non-linear story about a group of four performers. In the show, they redefine time, create friendships and turn their relationship into a whimsical and almost confusing story.

“We’re trying to make a piece that is episodic,” Ben Grinberg, an Almanac acrobat said. “There is a narrative, but not just one narrative. And it’s not linear.”

The group has performed silent shows in the past to push their audience into interpreting their story, but their upcoming show involves scripted parts that paint more colorful scenes.

The performers teamed up with Josh McIlvain, a Philadelphia-based writer, in January to help curate the unusual story of the acrobats’ performance about devoting their lives to circus while interpreting what they describe as “sublime human idiocy.”

McIlvain also curates the increasingly popular pop-up performance series in Northwest Philadelphia called “Nice and Fresh.”

The show will be held at Fleisher Art Memorial at 7th and Catherine streets from June 25 to 28. The group said they were enamored with the space and especially inspired by the idea of performing in a church.

“We were looking into performing this piece in a church because it’s all about faith,” Grinberg said.

The performers acknowledge that they are not particularly religious, but hope their show can inspire people on a deep, personal level, the way some people are inspired by their faiths.

“For us to be able to ask our questions in a sincere, searching way and leave space for everyone to come comfortably into it will be our major task — without being overly sacrilegious or purposefully shocking,” Nick Gillette, one of Almanac’s performers, said.

The group said that by colliding three realms of performance in their show, they are creating an opportunity for the audience to interpret their show from multiple angles.

“People see it in a way they are brought to it,” Gillette said. “In a way we can intentionally try to craft one thing but a dance crowd will see it as dance, a theater group will see it as theater and a circus crowd will come in and look at it as circus and acrobatics”

The show’s name, “Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes,” comes from the group’s determination to define faith for themselves and the audience.

“Leaps of faith has everything to do with us becoming an ensemble that will throw each other in the air and catch each other,” Grinberg said. “It’s a big commitment of trust.”

While the church itself is a well-reserved and conventional space for artists to perform, the group wants to maintain their contemporary theme and push boundaries — both for themselves and the audience.

“We don’t want it to stay safe,” Grinberg said. “Something we have been exploring for years is how can we make circus not just this ‘thing!’ that [seems] so easy.”

Many circus performances highlight impressive and surreal moves while acrobats maintain a wide smile. While performers swing effortlessly into the air, the reality of blisters and sore muscles are lost in translation. Almanac’s performers said they hope to use Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes to hint at their own experience as acrobats, reminding the audience of the months of practice and the steady strength they must maintain for a safe show.

Information on tickets and the group’s previous performances can be seen at their site, http://www.thealmanac.us

Originally published on Newsworks.org