Our Goddess of Libations: Leslee
by Donna Hecker
A “tiny person” who once took drink orders in her Grandpa Jim’s basement bar ~ mixing Bloody Marys and pouring bourbon for friends and family ~ grows up to be the director of operations for a Kentucky restaurant company.
Holly Hill, so rooted in Kentucky foodways and so connected to Bluegrass food and farmers, dreams of developing a beverage program to equal its culinary reputation.
Enter Leslee Macpherson who moved to Lexington in 2017 to open Honeywood and is now director of operations for Holly Hill.
From day one, Leslee has been the driving force in forging a craft cocktail renaissance and expanding our focus on local ingredients and creative menu development from the kitchen to the bar. Bespoke cocktails may be on-trend but handcrafted is in Leslee’s DNA.
Leslee grew up working on farms or in restaurants or bars and sometimes all three. Today she tends a small plot in the London Ferrill Community Garden, not far from her downtown Lexington home. It’s where she grows or forages many of the ingredients in her spirited creations, such as the Honeywood bitters she bottled last year.
The garden is within an old cemetery, full of apple, pear, persimmon, and sour cherry trees that inspire and inform Leslee’s recipe research, as does the herb and tea garden she and David Wagoner planted at Holly Hill Inn.
She is part of a tight-knit local food and drink community who are passionate about sourcing, flavors, and preparation, and take their mission seriously as both stewards and innovators. One of them is Tim Wright of Wise Bird Cider, who sent Leslee a supply of his 128 proof eau-de-vie for future bitters experimentation.
Like those bitters, Leslee’s cocktails are built from scratch ~ with each singular component there for a reason ~ just as any dish prepared in the kitchen would be. Her palate is so well-developed that she’s the go-to person when a chef needs a second taster to evaluate a new dish.
Leslee’s unerring sense of taste, and skill in blending flavors are beautifully expressed in the many unique cocktails she’s created for our restaurants.
There’s the namesake drink at Honeywood, the Hermosa at Holly Hill Inn (so called for the home’s original name), and The Zim at The Thirsty Fox, after Ouita’s Grandpa Zim, who owned a soda bottling company. Each evokes its sense of place and heritage in a way that’s both timely and timeless.
It’s so easy to imagine Honeywood Parrish Rouse tossing back a citrusy rye concoction on the upper deck of an ocean liner, or her daughter-in-law Jean daintily sipping an aperitif on Hermosa’s front porch, or Grandpa Zim sweetening his pre-dinner bourbon with a little cola syrup.
And it is so easy to enjoy any of those drinks yourself, knowing they’re prepared with Kentucky-distilled spirits, not only our famous bourbon but gin, vodka, and brandy, too.
Luckily for all of us, Leslee’s expertise also extends to beer and wine. Having spent years in the craft beer industry, and as a wine buyer, she has a wealth of knowledge about both and is enriching our liquid assets by adding Old World-style ciders like Tim’s Wise Bird to our menus.
You can see now why we consider her our goddess of libations. With a tangle of brown curls and gray-green eyes that turn up ever so slightly at the corners, she could easily be a modern-day personification of Xenia, the Greek tradition of welcome to all.
When we asked Leslee to help us get into the holiday spirit by doing a stock-the-bar story, she suggested sharing festive DIY gift-giving ideas instead. It fits perfectly with her favorite way of spreading cheer: offering presents with a personal touch. It’s the ultimate expression of hospitality.
In today’s world of corporate “concept” restaurants and their constant proliferation, Leslee’s fierce commitment to real ingredients, grown locally and prepared with care and respect, binds our Holly Hill family together and quenches our thirst for integrity and ingenuity. Leslee Macpherson has filled our cups to the brim.
Eating with the fullest pleasure – pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance – is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. Wendell Berry
© 2021, Holly Hill Inn/Ilex Summit, LLC and its affiliates, All Rights Reserved
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