Dry January has come and gone. For those dipping their toes back into the alcohol pool, consider checking out one of the few distilleries spotting Sacramento County and the Sierra Foothills.

Distilleries are notoriously difficult to open. One distiller I spoke to said the necessary permitting and infrastructure resembles what’s required of oil refineries. They can also be seen as less family-friendly than breweries. That could be one reason there were none in the city of Sacramento until November 2020.

But cocktails carry roughly the same alcohol as a glass of beer or wine, and most distillery tasting rooms are attached to on-site restaurants. While shots are a possibility, local distilleries aren’t typically much more rowdy than craft breweries, and many feel the same community connection.

Amador and Dry Diggings Distillery, joint businesses headquartered in El Dorado Hills, make plum brandy almost exclusively for the Slavic community that attends St. Sava Church in Jackson. Midtown Spirits has embraced its view of Truitt Bark Park’s pooches by building its food menu around hot dogs, and regularly donates to animal welfare causes.

Consider picking up a bottle of these five spirits for a Valentine’s Day gift, a special toast or just a shot of life in this dreary winter.

WheelHouse Absinthe Verte from Gold River Distillery ($55): Distilled from wormwood, anise and fennel, this soft yellow, somewhat bitter spirit out of Rancho Cordova is best enjoyed over ice or combined with a contrasting mixer. And no, it won’t make you hallucinate, but you can try.

Dill Pickle Vodka from Midtown Spirits ($30): Midtown Spirits is all about infusions, such as this eclectic combination of corn vodka and housemade pickle spears. Give your martini a sour twist, make a Bloody Mary with the distillery’s popular mixer or throw it back for a self-contained pickleback shot.

Visnjevaca Cherry Brandy from Amador & Dry Diggings ($30): Legendary Sacramento gourmand Darrell Corti helped name this brandy, which takes its title from the Polish word for sour cherries. It’s a complex drink that isn’t as fruit-forward as one might think; the makers recommend pouring a little while muddling cherries for a Manhattan before adding bourbon.

Darjeeling Gin from California Distilled Spirits ($40): That’s Darjeeling as in the tea, one of nine botanicals in this gin from an Auburn-based distillery. The original is described as earthy, floral, and spicy; there’s also a version aged in whiskey barrels.

Vintner’s Road Bourbon from J.J. Pfister ($50): This Rancho Cordova distillery’s limited-edition series features house-blended, high-rye bourbon aged in Sangiovese or cabernet sauvignon casks. Both have noses of allspice, dark caramel and saddle leather, with notes of black cherry and plum.

What I’m Eating

The former de Vere’s Irish Pub space is unrecognizable as Seoul St. Midtown, Minnie Nguyen and Trinh Le’s exhilarating Korean restaurant and bar that opened in a bustling segment of Sacramento’s urban core in September.

Most of Sacramento’s Korean restaurants are either traditional, family-run joints in Rosemont or Rancho Cordova, or all-you-can-eat meat dens (including Daikon Korean BBQ in Natomas, one of Nguyen and Le’s other restaurants).

Seoul St., by contrast, is a vibrant metropolitan going-out spot with happy hour bites, murals of Korean nightlife and creative cocktails such as a reinvented Midori sour or a mojito with Malibu, coconut milk and mixed berries.

That social air is best exemplified in the chimaek ($12), a terrific value that gets you two pieces of Korean fried chicken and a draft beer. Both wing and drumstick were nicely crispy coated in a smoky-hot gochujang marinade, so I cooled my tongue with Track 7 Brewing’s Bee Line blonde ale.

Galbi baos ($14 for two) weren’t the enclosed steamed buns I expected, but rather open-ended wraps that more closely resembled tacos. The boneless short ribs inside were tender and tasty, but at that price, it’s far less of a deal than the chimaek.

Lovers of banchan, complementary trays of pickled vegetables and other snackables served with Korean mains, will want to order a hearty skillet dish such as the spicy garlic prawns ($20). But don’t miss the buffalo kimchi wings ($10 for five), as their fermented sauce adds a layer of flavor you won’t find at sports bars around town.

Info

Address: 1521 L St., Sacramento.

Hours: 3-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Phone Number: (916) 292-9744.

Website: https://www.seoulsteats.com.

Drinks: Full bar, with specialty cocktails.

Animal-free options: Not much — a hot tofu skillet is the only vegetarian main.

Noise level: On the louder end.

Openings & Closings

• Mr. Dosa just opened in Elk Grove’s Laguna Village Plaza, offering biryani family packs and vegetable thalis (platters) on its largely South Indian menu. There are traditional dosas and curries, and also cross-cultural items such as paneer tikka tacos and chicken sheek burgers.

• Moon Tree House is Roseville’s newest boba shop, opening Jan. 14 at 1990 Blue Oaks Blvd., Suite 130. It has fried snackable bites such as fish balls and chicken wings in addition to a range of Taiwanese tea flavors.

• Big Stump Brewing appears to have closed in midtown amid an eviction legal battle with its landlords, who also own Old Soul Co. coffee roastery in the same building, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. The sour-focused brewery at 1716 L St. was closed during normal business hours and has deactivated its website after six years.

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