thirtyoneknots

We call it something else, but the Elderflower Sour has been a big hit for us. Made with something fairly delicate like Hendricks its a fantastic gateway for those who don't know they like gin yet.

Yeah on some level I kind of feel like 'premium' or 'botique' gins are a scam, particularly the ones that are clearly produced on a huge scale at industrial distilleries, as opposed to something like, say, Junipero. Is there really a good reason for Sapphire to even cost that much? I would suspect not. I think it may have more to do with the market share they are competing with-- Bombay Sapphire is competing with Grey Goose at least as much as it's competing with Beefeater, if not more. I don't think it's a coincidence that the more expensive gins in general tend to be soft, "beginner-friendly" gins that are unconventional in their juniper profile. They're chasing the "super-premium vodka" customers with more accessable spirits and I fear that's where they're trying to take Plymouth. And that's a damn shame for such a historic product to end up as a corporate gimmick.

Holy crap that's preposterous. Interestingly enough when I was in Spec's the other day I noticed the liter bottles of Plymouth were on sale for like $2 off (didn't pay much attention but that probably makes a liter around $24). Might have to go stock up a bit. When I first noticed and started buying Plymouth a few years ago it was like $12/btl all the time and was in the old, (imo) better looking bottles (wish I'd bought a case now). The steady price increase has led to me using it less and less and I can guarantee that if it goes that high I'll stop using it completely, and so will Veritas. I know botanicals aren't free but I think brinza is on to something; how can an unaged spirit be so expensive? On top of that it's the lowest proof of any gin that anyone around here would bother with. Seems like it should at least be affordable.

I'm with you there; I only excluded Junipero based on the price, which is a tad high when you consider that all the others mentioned can be had for under $25/750 and all but the Plymouth can be had for under $20/750. Around here Junipero pushes $30 for the same amount. Not that I'm going to stop buying it or anything... -Andy ← No Hendricks? ← I like Hendricks, and I use it a lot at work because it's so approachable for the vodka drinking crowd, but when I'm drinking at home I want a more traditional profile. Also, it's freaking pricey...if I have to pick just one $30 gin, and I sort of do, it's definitely Junipero over Hendricks. There's nothing wrong with it at all though, aside perhaps from the price (and the extremely bartender-unfriendly bottle shape).

I'm with you there; I only excluded Junipero based on the price, which is a tad high when you consider that all the others mentioned can be had for under $25/750 and all but the Plymouth can be had for under $20/750. Around here Junipero pushes $30 for the same amount. Not that I'm going to stop buying it or anything... -Andy

Only 4 dry gins, the horror! Sorry, I've been meaning to follow up on this for a while, but just now got around to it. I was wondering, Andy, if you could elaborate, with respect to Beefeater -- what about it do you find indispensable, especially given the company? What kind of drinks do you prefer it in? I would have put it, with Broker's, in the good-but-not-indispensable category, but I haven't made a serious study of it. ← I feel like Beefeater's is the best choice for most cocktails that contain lime and/or absinthe or it's analogues. It has more of an 'all-purpose' balance imo, like Plymouth but with more spine, and is cheaper to boot (Plymouth is getting expensive ). There are times when Tanqueray and Boodles have too heavy of a juniper character, Tanqueray is too sweet (maybe rich is a better word), Boodles too floral, Plymouth too soft. It's these times when I reach for the Beefeaters. On top of all that I just really dig the profile and have a soft spot for it since it's what my dad used to drink when he wanted to spoil himself a bit (moving up from the Gordons!). Now of course this is all just my opinion, and I'm more than open to discussion on the matter. I don't know if I would say I find Beefeater's indespensable, I just really dig it and like to use it. For that matter I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that I think even mighty Tanqueray is indespensable. I once read an article where Dr. Cocktail himself recommended that one keep on hand 3 styles of gin: sweet and heavy of juniper (Tanqueray), dry and heavy of juniper (Boodles), and dry and light of Juniper (here we differ, he said Sapphire and I like Plymouth--less light). I think Beefeater's represents a good compromise between all these styles, and is thus a good one to have around. Now if pressed to go down to only 3 choices, it would get the axe I think (depends on my mood right then) but honestly if I could have only 5, I'm not sure what would be the 5th one. This week probably Junipero but who knows, maybe Hendricks next week. What would your choice for 4 gins that you must have on hand? -Andy Edit: continuity

If you want more spice character, maybe try a spoon or half a spoon of pimento dram? In my experience using Campari like a cocktail bitter, ie in dash amounts, tends to contribute richness without really balancing the drink the way a normal cocktail bitter goes. Without trying the stuff I might recommend a normal orange bitter. Of course if you've found something you like then by all means stick with it. Sounds very intriguing, to say the least.

Been playing around with Routin 1883 Strawberry syrup in place of the raspberry syrup called for in many of the recipes in Imbibe! Best so far, I think, is actually the gin punch, even when made with London Dry or a 2:1 mix of dry gin and Irish Whiskey. The raspberry may work better with the brandy, but I think the brightness of strawberry works better with gin. Worth a try anyway.

I have a bit of a hard time wrapping my mind around this flavor combination, but I really like the way that rum, particularly medium-bodied amber rums, go with coffee and related flavors. Nearly as good as rum with coffee is brandy with coffee, and rum and brandy go with each other like pie and ice cream. So even though it's a bit difficult for me to imagine coffee lemonade as a flavor, on paper I'd start with rum and work my way from there. Wish I could be more help, I'm sure somebody around here has something worthwhile to add.

Had some rum I wanted to use up since it didn't fit neatly in my new liquor storage apparatus, so I was messing around with the recipes in Imbibe! and came up with the following: Knickerbocker variation (a modest variation, to be sure): 2 oz Santa Cruz rum (about 1.5 of Cruzan Amber, made up with Cruzan Single Barrel) 2 tsp Strawberry Syrup (1883 Brand) 1.5 tsp Brizard Curacao juice of half a lime fill the (small) glass with crushed ice, shake, and pour back into the glass. The original directions call for berries on top, some frozen ones last forever and do no harm to the drink. I normally use a lemon here, which is a little more tart. Lime certainly isn't bad but it's a tad sweet for my taste--maybe cut back a smidgen on the sweeteners. Still...rum and strawberries...yummmmmm

Agree completely that the "sweet" Martini is a sublime drink, I especially like the Hearst variation from Esquire Drinks, made as above but including a dash of both orange and Angostura bitter. Hard to beat, really.

I agree about the Brokers, it's certainly not bad, in fact you could do a whole lot worse when choosing a newer brand of London Dry, but when you compare it to the old soldiers of Tanqueray, Beefeaters, Boodles, or Plymouth, well there's not that compelling of a case to be made for having it around, at leat in my book. I enjoyed the bottle I bought to try, but found it unremarkable on the whole. In fact I think if I were to only have 4 dry gins on hand it would be the 4 mentioned above, with Junipero being a fifth. No other dry gin has really cought my fancy in a meaningful enough way to keep it on hand regularly. I guess there's a reason those are the old-time brands.

If it's got enough barrel age to take the edge off, I might never get beyond an Old Fashioned with it.

Finished early today so I wanted to try the gin sling from Imbibe!: generous 3/4 oz John Powers made up to 2 oz with Plymouth, a tsp of rich simple, an ounce of water and a few ice cubes. Not earth-shattering, but way tastier than it has any reason to be, next time I'll try it with the Steinhager gin, see how that comes out.

If an honorific is needed for the giants of drink-making (in whatever setting), why not borrow the one given to the greatest of all? "Professor" It somehow manages to sound less pretentious, to my ear.

Just as a point of order, I think the Little Italy is Audrey's, but believe the Slope came from Julie Reiner at Flatiron Lounge, the Red Hook from Enzo Errico at Milk and Honey, and the Greenpoint from Michael Mcilroy. ← I stand corrected, my apologies to the creators of these drinks.

If the drink must be a new creation, then I agree that Audrey Saunders would probably have to be the creator. I would, however, maybe suggest the alternative of the Red Hook and its variations (Little Italy, Slope, etc) for perhaps their better espousement of the zietgeist, being variations on old-school drinks, all containing Rye, and all having bitter flavors as primary components. I think that the difference between some of Audrey's better-known cocktails, such as the Tantris Sidecar, Gin Gin Mule and Earl Gray MarTEAni, and something like the Red Hook and its variants, is that these drinks of Audrey's are clearly evoked from a paradigm of classic mixology, but are also modern in a way that makes them wholly of our time. The same cannot be said of the Red Hook, et al. One would not be served the MarTEAni or Tantris Sidecar at the Old Waldorf=Astoria . The Red Hook, on the other hand, would fit right in. ← I agree completely but I don't think that necessarily is a mark against those drinks as candidates. Maybe I'm an iconoclast, but I would put the Waldorf observation as a mark in the plus column for their qualifications. The decade has been all about the return to classical principles, and I think that part of the trick should be to be a drink that can be made anywhere with stuff bought from the store as is. Fancy infusions and house-made ginger beer are wonderful things, I have made and enjoyed all of the recipes you mention, but I think that to be reasonable one should focus on recipes that can be made if someone has a respectably-stocked bar and the recipe. Infusions and homemade mixers to me are more about the cleverness of the recipe creator and perhaps less about the instrinsic greatness of the recipe itself. Although I have unfortunately never (yet) been to Pegu, I would in a heartbeat vote aye for Audrey Saunders as bartender of the decade, however to be fair about a drink I think it should be something that would fit in at the Waldorf, or at least at the Savoy, at least in principle. I'd be willing to bet Harry Craddock made very few infusions in his career. Just my rambling $.02

If the drink must be a new creation, then I agree that Audrey Saunders would probably have to be the creator. I would, however, maybe suggest the alternative of the Red Hook and its variations (Little Italy, Slope, etc) for perhaps their better espousement of the zietgeist, being variations on old-school drinks, all containing Rye, and all having bitter flavors as primary components.

Try this: 1.5 oz blended scotch 0.5 oz dry vermouth 0.25 oz aquavit 0.25 oz agave nectar I read your post in the thread on simple syrups and, having finally picked up some agave nectar, I was intrigued by your quest and saw it as an interesting challenge. I tried to come up with something that wouldn't just end up being a Rob Roy variation, so I discovered that Scotch and dry vermouth is a combination that, while unusual, is not unheard of, so I started with that. Looking for another favor component, but not something sweet, since it will already have that in the agave nectar, I settled on aquavit--just a little--as an accent. I thought it was quite good, and I'd make it again. But you'll have to be the judge as to whether it's the earth-shattering cocktail you're looking for. You'll probably want to tweak the proportions a bit. I fiddled with it myself and don't really know exactly what I ended up with. ← Wow that certainly looks like it would be worth a try. I'll have to snag some aquavit to try it. Any recommendations on a brand? I remember hearing that one of the favorite brands was recently dropped by it's importer, and then I saw it locally shortly afetr reading that. Trouble is now I can't remember which one it was.

What do you think? What cocktail (or cocktails) would best represent this exciting decade of mixology? What would the criteria be? ← My vote would be, I think, for the 50/50 gin martini, with orange bitters. A more genteel drink than the Old Fashioned, and still a symbol of the return to classical form in America's (and other places') best bars. Damn tasty to boot. Good cases can be made for many others, but that, I think, best embodies the ideals that the current renaissance espouses. -Andy

A very short dash of Angostura into the Sprite/Coke mix will add a subtle but important ginger note, as well as cutting the sweetness a tad.

I think this is a case where a 'Mixologist' is something distinct from a 'bartender' and one of the few places where they word could have a useful application.

This might be better discussion for the Spirits Forum, but I agree bigtime with the rum-cigar pairing. With more robust cigars I've found that an Old-Fashioned with something like Cruzan Single Barrel with it's charcoal notes is very good indeed, the touch of sweetness in the cocktail serving to keep my mouth from drying out. Kind of makes me want one right now (at 10 am ).

My first day in nearly two weeks with no prescription painkillers and so I decided a cocktail was in order. I had been thinking about the flavor combination of the Culross Cocktail, and was trying to think if there was a way to get that nice apricot brandy/rum interplay in a drink that could use the cheaper barack palinka (not as pleasant in the original). My mind turned to the Vieux Carre formula and here is my first attempt: 1 oz White rum (Flor de Cana or similar) 1 oz Barack Palinka (or other dry apricot distillate) 1 oz Lillet (or whatever you like in it's place) 2 dashes Orange bitters (Hermes was what I grabbed first) 2 dashes Peychauds tsp of liqueur (Van der Hum, but Yellow Chartreuse, Maraschino, or whatever you want would probably work here) Build on rocks. Lemon twist cos I didn't have any oranges. I like what's happening here but it really screams out for a flamed orange zest. The liqueur modifier might need adjusting. Not bad though, and the interplay I was looking for is there. Unfortunately the Barack Palinka is still a bit edgy here; I can assure you it would be immeasurably better with the Alpenz stuff, which I unfortunately have to husband since I can only get it when friends travel out of state.

I kind of feel like that's the kind of term that people who merit it aren't generally going to self-apply. Edit: superfluous pronouns