Gin-related liquors?

[Penwu]

I've been dabbling with rum for a while, and I've built up a pretty good stock of the various styles of rum, and a bunch of liqueurs and such that are generally used with rum (orgeat, falernum, etc). Now I'm looking to get to know gin better. I'm making a mail-order purchase from Hi Time Wines, and to save money on shipping, I'd like to pick up as much as possible at once. I have a pretty good selection of gins at my local liquor stores, but I'm wondering what specialty items go particularly well with gin, so that I can get them with this order.

I do already have Maraschino (Luxardo), Green Chartreuse, Cointreau, Apry, and Benedictine. Any others that would jump out as important for gin cocktails? I'm a bit leery of getting any really good vermouths simply because I don't go through booze very quickly, and I expect vermouth would go stale on me before I had drunk much of it...

[thirtyoneknots]

A bottle of orange bitters is a good idea, Angostura (original) you should be able to find at the grocery store. If they've got Violet liqueur that one can be fun to use, and the bottle will last a long time. Another one not to be missed is of course St. Germain, which does very pretty things indeed with gin.

[Chris Amirault]

Get little vermouth bottles. You're missing out on a ton of fantastic gin cocktails without them.

I'd also recommend Campari.

[thirtyoneknots]

Agreed on the Vermouth. Good-quality vermouth can be had for around $4 for a 375 ml bottle, Martini & Rossi for the red and Noilly Prat for the white are pretty much standard. Carpano Antica is supposed to be very nice if you can find it, but its more than 3x the price. WRT Vya, you'll find as many critics as proponents of it; personally I give it a major pass. While many folks will say that vermouth should be pitched relatively often, I think if you keep it vacu-vined (vacuum stoppered, like for normal table wines) and in the fridge you should be able to expect a few months of decent cocktails out of a bottle of vermouth. Vermouth, being a wine, does oxidize, so the drinks won't be quite as good at the end of the bottle as with a fresh one, but they certainly won't be offensive either. If you want to turn over your vermouth faster, drink it on the rocks with a twist, which is a nice aperitif all it's own.

[Alcuin]

Agreed on the Vermouth. Good-quality vermouth can be had for around $4 for a 375 ml bottle, Martini & Rossi for the red and Noilly Prat for the white are pretty much standard. Carpano Antica is supposed to be very nice if you can find it, but its more than 3x the price. WRT Vya, you'll find as many critics as proponents of it; personally I give it a major pass. While many folks will say that vermouth should be pitched relatively often, I think if you keep it vacu-vined (vacuum stoppered, like for normal table wines) and in the fridge you should be able to expect a few months of decent cocktails out of a bottle of vermouth. Vermouth, being a wine, does oxidize, so the drinks won't be quite as good at the end of the bottle as with a fresh one, but they certainly won't be offensive either. If you want to turn over your vermouth faster, drink it on the rocks with a twist, which is a nice aperitif all it's own.

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To my mind, there is little more gin-related than vermouth: neutral-grain spirit + aromatics marries perfectly with wine + aromatics. Plus, as thirtyoneknots says, good vermouth is cheap and readily available. If it goes bad to your taste, throw it out. You can also use it for cooking of course.

I've recently been drinking drinks with lots of vermouth in them such as the delectable Imperial, which I discovered in the Stomping through the Savoy topic. I usually don't have much trouble going through a bottle.

[feste]

Hi Penwu!

Try some yellow Chartreuse. I find it mixes better than green. Here's a cocktail a few of us in San Francisco have been enjoying:

Shanghai Gin

3/4 oz lemon juice

3/4 oz Benedictine

3/4 oz yellow Chartreuse

3/4 oz gin

Shaken, up.

I see it as a variation of The Last Word, but in my opinion, infinitely more delicious.

[Penwu]

Thanks, guys. I'll definitely be getting Campari and R&W Creme de Violette. I do have Fee Bros orange bitters, but I've been meaning to get some Angostura orange as well. Dunno about the yellow Chartreuse, though - it's just pretty expensive, and I really like my green Chartreuse...

As for vermouth, I should have been clearer. I do have some 375s of M&R sweet and dry, it's the more expensive stuff I'm leery of getting, like Carpano Antica.