The Alcohol Enthusiast

One of the perks of working for a large hospitality company is having access to talent across the network. In this case, Kevin, the bar manager and lauded bartender of Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen. If you’ve met him, you know that Kevin is the nicest guy in the world and an expert in the field, so I was very excited when I found out he was going to be doing a gin tasting for all comers at Grand Cafe. Here is what I learned.

 
There are essentially four styles or classifications of gin:

London dry

Characterized by big juniper flavor, these gins are great for drinks that you want to have a strong flavor of gin to cut through your modifiers (think gin & tonic or Negroni). Some of the better known brands are: Tanqueray, Beefeater, Boodles, Gordons and Bombay.

 
Plymouth gin

Plymouth gin is a style only produced by one distillery (Black Friars Distillery) and has been demarcated, meaning no one else can call their product “Plymouth” gin. Much milder than your standard London dry, Plymouth is made using a special water only found in that city.

 
Bols Genever

Another demarcated spirit, Genever gin can only be produced in Holland. Bols uses a blend of corn, wheat and rye for the distillate, a combination know as malt wine.

 
Old Tom gin

Old Tom is essentially like a London dry but with sugar added making it sweet, and almost syrupy.

 
Western style

This is an unofficial category that classifies the newer gins produced in recent years. Generally characterized by more botanicals than juniper (setting them apart from London dry), some Western-style brands include Hendrick’s, Aviation and the St. George Distillery suit of gins. These tend to have lighter flavors and can definitely stray from the traditional juniper we associate with gin. Kevin recommends against simply replacing a London dry with a Western-style gin in classic gin cocktails as it may not hold up against the modifiers. Rather you should consider the flavor profile of the specific product and incorporate other ingredients accordingly.

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After explaining the basic types of gin we got on to the fun part, the booze! Kevin had brought six brands for us to try and I also had him bust out the Bols at the end just for good measure. Here are the tasting notes:

Tanqueray

Lots of juniper and citrus. Tanqueray has a very traditional gin flavor and will definitely hold up against other strong ingredients like citrus or Campari. It can be readily used in all the gin classics like the Negroni and Gimlet and makes a fine Martini.

 
Plymouth

Much softer with less juniper than a London dry. Kevin described it as “a good starter gin” for someone who’s not particularly into the traditional flavor (looking at my co-editor here). What really sets it apart, though, is an interesting viscosity that gives it a smooth, almost oily mouthfeel. Definitely recommended for a nice, light Martini.

 
Aviation

Very much a Western-style gin, Aviation has a whole lot of cardamom on the nose and palate—something to consider when making cocktails. Kevin recommends combining it with vegetable flavors like green pepper. I also suspect it would work well with orange.

 
Cap Rock

Another Western-style, Cap Rock is light and floral with hints of apples. A very delicious drink on it’s own, this deserves careful considering when mixing.

 
Beefeater 24

Beefeater 24 is named as such because of a 24-hour steeping process with two kinds of green tea. Flavor-wise you get citrus, particularly grapefruit, and what can best be described as “green notes” from the tea. Fairly light in flavor, it can still hold its own. Kevin recommends mixing with shiso or mint. I’ve used it quite successfully with Lillet and St. Germaine.

 
Bols Genever

Bols actually has an almost whiskey-like nose from the malt wine distillate, something I found very appealing. There is hardly any juniper on the palate and it definitely can be described as having a dry flavor. Bols deserves special consideration in cocktails as well, given it’s departure from classic gin and the similarities to whiskey.

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I found the tasting to be extremely informative and want to give big thanks to Kevin for sharing. I’d previously not really understood the category. I walked away with some great new knowledge and a nice buzz to boot. Now get out there and try some gin!

—Christian

Three weeks passed and it’s time for step three! First I strained the liquid out through cheesecloth. This initial infusion is very strong on the tongue. There are strong overtones of cardamom with definite notes of clove and citrus (ed. note: the Imbibe recipe calls for coriander, but the author was not 100% sober when he put everything together. Some mistakes may have been made). There is also a big punch of bitter: sour/tart from the dandelion root and deep from the gentian. The wormwood appears to provide a smoothness, like tea. The mint is subtle, at best, although there is a slight menthol effect present. Ginger appears to have been omitted (see note above).

Next I placed the bundle of solids into about 4oz of hot water.

After cooling to room temperature, I combined the infused alcohol with the steeped liquid. And here is the final result, stored in a cool, dark place.

And that’s it for five days. I’m looking forward to trying the finished results!

—Christian

I’ve thought about making bitters for a while now. So I was quite excited when the Jan/Feb issue of Imbibe magazine (thanks, Amy & Phil!) included a recipe for grapefruit bitters. I’d already been toying with gentian flavors in the form of Salers Gentaine aperitif and really want to understand the potential of bittering agents better. What better a way than to directly work with them myself?

The fundamentals of bitters are essentially the same. Combine bitter things with herbs, spices and other flavorful components in high-proof alcohol and let them sit for a period of time. These bitter things tend to be the roots of flowers, with the gentian root being perhaps the most recognizable (think of the bitterness in Campari, Angostura and Fernet). Salers is a bottling of just that flavor cut with a little sugar, and will give you the full depth of flavor the root has to offer. The recipe (below) also calls for dandelion root, wormwood and whole coriander—among other things, so I headed over to Rainbow Grocery, the SF goldmine for random stuff in jars, to stock up.

Stuff to make bitters with

Read more »

—Marissa

My family has a bit of a morbid streak and likes to way over-prepare for people’s imminent deaths. My grandmother, for instance, is 94 years old and as fabulous as ever. She actually performed better than I did on a stress test at the cardiologist. Sorry, pride, you lose this round. Anyway, ever since she became the last living of six children a couple years ago, she’s been cleaning out her house so that we’ll have less stuff to throw away when she dies. Giving away jewelry, tossing old Christmas decorations—things of that sort. This last time my sister and I went home, we had the lovely task of cracking open the liquor cabinet.

Now this liquor cabinet probably hadn’t been opened since before I was born. Her husband used to be an alcoholic (a real one, not the enthusiast type), but gave it up some time in the late 70s if my calculations are correct. And my grandma, while she loves herself a glass of White Zinfandel, isn’t really the type to chug hard liquor on her own. There was a lot of dust and weird smells in that cabinet and, sadly, every single bottle—except for the pomegranate grenadine—was open. We took them all out, sniffed them, lost some brain cells and some lung function, and poured them down the drain. If you ever get the chance to take a whiff of 50-year-old rum that’s been chilling in a cabinet unsealed and half-drunk, OMG DON’T DO IT. Seriously. Read more »

—Otto

Cheers to drinking at work!

After a long hard day at work it’s nice to hit the bar for happy hour. But it’s even nicer, and more relaxing, to have the bar come to you!

That is the concept behind a new, 2013 initiative that I launched at my work, the San Francisco office of branding and design firm Landor. I call it Sip ‘n Learn™—and I think the name says it all.

It’s great to drop by the local bar with some co-workers and it’s nice to have occasional internal happy hours, but I wanted to offer a little more: a high-quality cocktail experience presented in a salon format. Read more »

—Christian

My interest in cocktails blossomed my senior year in college. Flush with a little money from a summer job, I dropped probably $600-$700 outfitting my dorm room closet with spirits, modifiers, barware, and glassware of various kinds. And we lived it up for the first couple months of school, while supplies lasted. It was then that I learned how to mix a Manhattan, a proper Martini, and White and Black Russians. I also started to appreciate the nuances of liquor that came from glass bottles with corks vs. plastic ones with removable pour regulators.

Prior to that my drinking included the usual high school and college nonsense. I acquired a taste for Old Crow and would go on about how each batch was different and it really varied from bottle to bottle. I loved (and still do) Pabst Blue Ribbon, the hipster champion that actually packs a healthy 5% ABV punch. And I’d occasionally experience cocktails in the company of my ex-bartender parents who appreciated the classics. But it was that dorm closet bar that gave me the first twinges of pride about drink. That made me invest in quality and making sure “it was done right.” And from there a love grew. Read more »

—Josey & Loosey Goosey (& L.G.’s sister)

Ladies, while science (pffft…whatever, science) may say we can’t drink as much as men—apparently that sexy extra fat we carry makes our bodies metabolize booze at about half their rate—we as females have a distinct advantage in hiding our hangovers from the world’s judgiest-judgers: makeup.

Here, from guest Enthusiast Loosey Goosey (ed. note: NOT HER REAL NAME!!!) and your very own Josey (ed. note: me) are some tips to help you take advantage of the cosmetic tools at your disposal.

(Ed. note: Oh and men can totally wear makeup, too if they want. Something about gender!!! I’m being PC! I’m being PC!!!!)

Look how good I am at hiding my wretched hangovers! #notconvincing #reno

1. First thing’s first: Drink lots of water. Also coconut water. Trust us, your skin will be soooooo much less hideous when it’s (semi) rehydrated. Cause hungover you look like, 30 years older than you actually are (ed. note: no offense). Read more »

Christmas time in San Francisco brought with it the epic pub crawl known as Santarchy. People from all around flocked to the city dressed in seasonal attire and got their drink seriously on. Here are but a few of the moments we captured. See even more on our Facebook page.

The girls warming up at The Boardroom.

Read more »

—Josey

When you’re known for drinking a lot, or when your entire public identity is say, based on the fact that you write an alcohol blog, people tend to be afraid to go on pub crawls with you or come to your house (although in retrospect that second one might have nothing to do with the drinking…).

Anyways, my point is this: You receive almost exclusively as gifts bottles and bottles and bottles of booze. I swear I’m not complaining—pretty please don’t ever stop giving me booze!—but let’s say you want to stand out in the eyes of a special drunken someone, or maybe you want to give your favorite drunk a present that will take them longer than 34 minutes to ingest (huh, that didn’t come out right). In any case, here are some solid gift ideas:

Drinkwel: Since you don’t have magic powers and can’t exactly banish from your favorite drunks’ mornings forever their wretched hangovers, we suggest buying them Drinkwel. We’ve written extensively about our favorite hangover-alleviating vitamin, and if you’ve partied with us, we’ve probably tried to force-feed it to you (those were just vitamins, I swear!)

Read more »

On December 5, 1933, the 18th Amendment passed, ending that time of great debauchery in the U.S. we call Prohibition. Drink up today to celebrate the freedom to drink up. Read more »