Connoisseur: Steven Grasse

What the Quaker City Mercantile founder is drinking, where he’s traveling and what he’s working on next.

Steven Grasse. Photography by Courtney Apple.

Steven Grasse. Photography by Courtney Apple.

The founder of ad agency Quaker City Mercantile has long been involved in Philly’s booming spirits scene, but now he’s adding a twist by partnering with Kensington’s New Liberty Distillery on new liquors and turning his Old City boutique, Art in the Age, into a booze-and-barware-only spot.

At Home

Photography by Courtney Apple.

Photography by Courtney Apple.

On my desk: “Many old, arcane history books, from which I pull ideas for new brands.”

Hours I sleep: “I religiously go to bed at 9 p.m. and get up at 4:30 a.m. — even on weekends.”

On my nightstand: Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Currently binge-watching: Taboo on FX, starring Tom Hardy.

Prized possession: “Furniture and quilts that my mother and father, both artisans, made for me.”

DIY cocktail: The Double Dutch Quaker City Wide. “It’s a shot of New Liberty Distillery’s Pennsylvania Dutch Malt Whiskey and a can of our new Quaker City Malt Old Dutch Hard Birch Beer.”

Favorite Things

Collection: Antiques from the Federal period.

Must-have accessory: Fitbit. “I must walk at least 16,000 steps a day or I get really grumpy.”

Musician: “David Bowie and everything in his orbit.”

Photo by Courtney Apple. Morimoto via Starr Restaurant Organization.

Photo by Courtney Apple. Morimoto via Starr Restaurant Organization.

Bar essentials: “I use tools from Art in the Age. We teamed up with Jinxed and receive vintage barware from them on a weekly basis that we sell at the store.”

Entertainment: Any movie at the Ritz.

Go-to restaurant: Morimoto in Washington Square West. “Stephen Starr should really issue frequent-buyer cards, because my family spends way too much money at his restaurants.”

On His Calendar

Last trip: “We go on a big family adventure every year. This year, it was Thailand.”

Field trip: Old City’s new Museum of the American Revolution.

Photo by Courtney Apple Bhutan via iStockphoto.

Photo by Courtney Apple Bhutan via iStockphoto.

Working on: “The follow-up to my history and cocktail book, Colonial Spirits.”

Next trip: Bhutan. “While I’m there, I want to drink tongba, which is a fermented millet drink. I used to drink it when I lived in Kathmandu.”

Summer getaway: “Our farm in New Hampshire.”

Photography by Courtney Apple.

Photography by Courtney Apple.

Recent release: “We just launched two new spirits, Blue Lion Chicorée Liqueur and Von Humboldt’s Natur Wasser Turmeric Cordial.”