For this issues’s Cocktail Culture column, we visit Catch restaurant
In one corner of the kitchen at Catch restaurant on Market Street, they’re fermenting Carolina Gold rice to make sake.
Behind the bar, red and Szechuan peppers are soaking in local honey.
Hovering over both is bartender Ricky Watson, thinking about how he can use any of that in a cocktail.
It’s a Catch thing. Chef and owner Keith Rhodes likes to keep his menus driven by local and seasonal ingredients, be they main dishes or cocktails. “Anything I can imagine, like using sweet potatoes, I pitch it to Ricky and we work together to bring it to life.”
And now, given the growth and maturation of the breweries and distilleries in the Port City and after 17 years in the business, Rhodes says options have grown tremendously. “There is something for everyone,” he says. “Some products are for every day, and some are for special occasions.”
He is especially pleased with Momentum Distillery, which he believes has brought a level of integrity and excitement with products that are consistent and seasonal. It doesn’t hurt that he and Hunter Ford, the distillery’s owner, go way back. “We worked together at Deluxe restaurant in 2005,” says Ford. “I was the front-of-the-house manager and Keith was the chef. We worked hand in hand at the best restaurant in Wilmington at the time.” He adds, “I wouldn’t be where I’m now without Keith. He pointed me to the Small Business and Technology Development at UNCW; it gave me my start.”
In 2009 Rhodes left Deluxe to move full time at the first Catch restaurant, on Princess Street, and to open his existing restaurant on Market. Ford and his wife, Misti, opened Momentum Surf and Skate shop in 2008 at 5 North Front Street, and then Burnt Mill Creek Billiards & Wine 2014, where they started thinking about going into making spirits.The skate shop closed in 2019 due to Florence; that’s when the couple decided to start distilling full time.
The couple opened Momentum Distillery in 2022 in the Cotton Exchange. They plan to move the whole operation with a tasting room back to the skate shop location by 2026.
Momentum started with vodka and has been adding new spirits, including a limoncello and their International Gin; the last two are used a recipe for a Red Dragon cocktail.
That gin, says Ford, is good for drinking on the rocks with its low juniper and pronounced citruses boosted by schisandra berries. Botanicals include peppercorns and cardamom. The limoncello, rich and bright, has an involved production process, and requires 25 pounds of lemon peel, five pounds of lemongrass and 10 pounds of sugar beet sugar. “I think a lot of American limoncellos taste syrupy,” he says. “This feels like a more healthy version.”
Momentum also has a orangecello and plans for venus fly trap–infused gin. “I’m usually the first to do stuff,” he adds with his always evident enthusiasm, and you believe him.
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue.
