Hello, my name is David Schlapper.  The story of Natural Spirits, LLC begins in 2009 when I traveled to Italy with my future wife.  It was an amazing journey, on which one of our goals had been to explore where, and how my Sicilian great-grand parents lived.  The priority given to being with family often, naturally while enjoying food and drink-was an important part of that time, & of my childhood.  Immersing ourselves in the relaxed, local culture, we worked slowly through our meals while sometimes near families & friends enjoying the same experience.  During this time, I became fascinated by the social & traditional use of apertivos (served before meals to stimulate appetite) and digestivos (served after meals to aid digestion)

I particularly enjoyed the limoncello (lemon liqueur), meloncello (cantaloupe liqueur), and crema di meloncello (cantaloupe liqueur with cream) served locally.  I asked as much as I could about what they were, how they were made, and how they were enjoyed.

Upon my return, after finding that it was very difficult to buy high quality Italian apertivos & digestivos, I began experimenting, trying to replicate the liqueurs I had so enjoyed.  It was a lot of fun, though in retrospect it was quite a slow process, with many less then successful attempts. Eventually though, I developed recipes I was happy with, and began to refine my techniques.

Over the next couple years, I shared with friends and family, pretty much any time I had an excuse! I was encouraged by many of them, and was driven to keep at it until I was making liqueurs at home, which were quite possibly on par with the best I had tried in Italy.

A couple more years passed, having moved once our family grew, and my daily commute took me past Yahara Bay Distillers. Once in awhile, I would stop on the way home to sample something new and interesting, and chat with the staff. At some point, I mentioned my interest in infusions and creating liqueurs to the distillery owner, and was encouraged to bring a bottle or two to share.

I did a few weeks later, they were very well received!  Shortly thereafter, I was honored to be presented with the opportunity to work with them to bring my products to market.  After some careful thought and planning, I decided to move forward.  I began learning how to greatly increase my recipe size, and worked for formula and label approval, until finally ready.

Today, Natural Spirits, LLC has our first product ready to share with the world, Cantaloupe Cream Liqueur!   I hope anyone who tries it will enjoy it as much as I do, as a relaxing end to a day, after a wonderful meal, on a warm summer evening, or whenever the mood strikes you!

I prefer to enjoy Cantaloupe Cream Liqueur chilled or on the rocks, though it is excellent in mixed drinks such as these here.