Gin, Ghostface, and Mothers' Day ruin(ed)

Hi Friends,

Why yes that is a new logo! How nice of you to notice!

Over the next few weeks you’ll the Makers & Lovers cinematic universe shifting, evolving, coalescing, and expanding. As any healthy baby universe should. I’ve been at this for about three months, so it’s kind of my first business trimester milestone? Things are looking a little less blobby and more like what they might become. My business is the size of a raspberry.

Specifically, I’ll be working on developing three different event formats - an intimate dinner with makers, a tasting/talk pairing spirits and music, and a more schmoozy, open format thing. A friend suggested we create Catskills Cupid?? The point is to create easy ways to meet up and create the momentum required for real relationship building.

The logo, and the rest of the brand that will be rolling out across platforms, is decidedly not an output of the AI slop cannon. It is the product of a real human designer, Horacio, who I met through my role at Do the WeRQ. I wanted to work with him immediately because he has the three green flags of a good collaborator: He makes beautiful things, he sees opportunity in all feedback, and he knows what a deadline is. Amazing!

Collaborating with people who make real, tangible things, feeds my little paper-pushing soul. It is the heartbeat of Makers & Lovers.

The photos that have just come back from Wheels & Whiskey are likely fueling this heartfire. Take a look at a few beauties over on Instagram.

Here's a gin that absolutely delivers, from a house you'd never expect it from. Nikka built their reputation on Japanese whisky — and then went had to start beef with me by making a very good gin. They run their gin through Coffey stills (named for inventor Aeneas Coffey, not your morning ritual — a column still designed for continuous distillation), which gives it a rich, silky texture that's genuinely unusual. Pair that with four types of Japanese citrus in the botanicals and a 47% abv, and you've got something worth actually paying attention to.

Worth noting, given the occasion: gin picked up the nickname "Mother's Ruin" during the 18th-century Gin Craze, when it became the cheap drink of the working poor and gin joints allowed women to drink alongside men for the first time — leading to moral panic, government intervention, and a whole lot of propaganda. The phrase itself didn't appear in print until 1904, but the reputation stuck. Anyway. We're reclaiming it. Slingsby Gin UKWord Histories
Boutique Wines, Spirits & Ciders in Fishkill is doing a Mother's Day cocktail class this Saturday, May 9th — two time slots, 1pm or 2pm. Spots are limited. Details and tickets here.

Thursday, May 7

Gays of Hudson Meet-Up + Happy Hour at Half Moon in Hudson: Their very first meet up! Get in on the ground floor of making friends.

Kingston Waterfront Thursday Night Market: A music-filled night market on lower Broadway where local businesses throw open their doors and it starts to feel like summer. This is the first of four throughout May.

Left Bank Ciders: Last Soup Night of 2026 at Left Bank in Catskill: Ending the season with a benefit for the Catskills Agrarian Alliance — slurp up with friends and support an org that protects the right of all people to healthy, culturally appropriate food.

Lee Lam Love UPCO Happy Hour at Camp Kingston: Lee Lam Love is back for their UPCO Happy Hour at Camp Kingston. Pool in the back room, games in the canteen, or bring something fun to share with friends.

Friday, May 8

(Out) On The Road: Radical Joy of Queer Travel with Lindsey Danis at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck: Author Lindsey Danis talks queer travel and her new book (Out) On The Road at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck — the rare author event that also functions as permission to book the trip.

Vernacular Design Open Listening Sessions in Kingston: Restarting their biweekly open listening sessions at Vernacular Design's new Kingston space with Rob of Freakout Spot — drop in, chill out, drift away. Free; 12–4pm every other Friday from 12-4.

Literally Books: Zine Release Party at Cronin Gallery in New Paltz: Maiden Nother Crone presents a zine release party for Voices from the Other Side of Forty. Poetry and music. Not, as you might think, a transcript of my group chat with the girls.

Saturday, May 9

Second Annual Catskills Cider Fest at Seminary Hill in Callicoon: Brooklyn Cider House, Uncommon Kin, Indian Ladder Farms, Heather Hill, Pennings, Nine Pin, and Occam Cider Co. all pouring, plus tours, tastings, live music, and cider dinners at 5pm. Mr. Gunks asked me to marry him here!

On Building A Home In A Body — Opening Reception at Super Secret Projects in Beacon: Biomorphic, evocative and shape shifting watercolors present the often hidden experience of living in a changing body.

Mothers Day Flower Shop Pop-Up at Darlings in Tillson: Darlings teams up with Icona Flora for a Mother's Day flower shop pop-up at the Roadhouse — bouquets in all sizes, colors, and flavors to save you from your last minute desperation, Saturday and Sunday May 9–10, noon to 2pm. I celebrated my marriage to Mr. Gunks here!

Sunday, May 10

Serial Mom Screening at Rosendale Theater in Rosendale. Buy something campy from the newly reopened Soiled Doves next door and have a campy catharsis.

Wednesday, May 12

Barnfox x ConnectHV May Meet-Up at Union St Brewing in Hudson: A two-part Hudson Valley creative community day: free coworking at Barnfox Hudson during the day, then roll into the ConnectHV meet-up at Union Street Brewing Co. in the evening. RSVP for both via respective links.

POUGHKEEPSIE CISTERN AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH

This week we’re going deep underground for our music picks. Quite literally. On Saturday, we’ll get our first glimpse of what is arguably the Hudson Valley’s most compelling venue (sorry Widow Jane Mine.)

On the northside of College Hill Park in Poughkeepsie is the city’s municipal water supply. Water is pumped from the Hudson into two freestanding tanks for treatment and and delivery throughout the city. Those tanks have been in operation since 2017 but prior to that, water was stored underground in a 5-million gallon cistern. The cistern was decommissioned in 2018 and has sat dormant since 2021. But in essence, this is a giant underground concrete bunker with soaring 21’ vaulted ceilings. It takes 14 seconds for the reverb from clapping your hands to dissipate. This thing is effectively its own musical instrument.

Some genius within the city of Pougkeepsie decided to host an open house inside the cistern this weekend and they invited Max Alper aka Peretsky to curate an ensemble of the HV’s greatest experimental musicians to play [in] the cistern for the open house [note to my editor please read about how Peretsky started as a meme account on Instagram and has since become a tour de force community builder for underground/experimental music scenes in and around NY and feel free to delete this runon sentence before you post] [NB: Editor is tired and neither read the thing nor deleted this commentary.]

The lineup isn’t officially announced but you can find it if you know where to look. This is not to be missed.

Also, while you’re in Poughkeepsie on Saturday - Ghostface Killah is playing at the Bardavon! This is a hot take but Ghostface has had the most prolific career post Wu-tang. I don’t understand how any of this works but I’m very happy that it’s happening.

Cheers,
Amy