Category Archives: gin

Aviation Gin

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Aviation Gin

From the great state of Oregon comes Aviation Western Dry Gin, a $30 bottle with quite a bit of character. When I taste gin, I always have it stirred on ice and strained into a chilled glass, like a 100% dry martini. I’ve found it helps me nail down the stand-out flavors of each bottle, and with gin, there’s always a stand-out flavor. Juniper may seem the obvious choice, but depending on the distillery, citrus, spice, or some other botanical may lead the way.

Aviation says that Western Dry gin takes its cues from London Dry gin, but also lets another flavor “share the stage” with the juniper. With Aviation, it’s lavender, and this is the most floral gin I’ve tried yet. So what do you do with a floral gin? A martini is always a great way to enjoy the subtle differences between gins, and making one with lavender flower garnishes instead of an olive is great. Beyond that, though, is the classic cocktail that shares it’s name with this very gin: the Aviation.

Aviation

  • 2 oz gin
  • 1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (like Luxardo)
  • 1/4 oz lemon juice
  • Shake and strain into a cocktail glass
  • Garnish with a cherry

Old Fashioned

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This is simple in it’s ingredients, a little fancy in it’s preparation. Oh and it’s the best cocktail ever.

Rye Old Fashioned

Old Fashioned

  • Add 1 sugar cube (or spoon of sugar) to an old fashioned glass
  • Douse with 3 dashes of Angostura bitters
  • Add a splash of club soda and stir well
  • Fill glass with ice, add 2 oz of rye whiskey, stir until cold
  • Take a piece of orange peel, squeeze over the glass and rub it around the rim
  • Top with another splash of club soda
  • Garnish with the orange peel and a cherry (I wrap the cherry in the peel)

Gin Old Fashioned

Gin Old Fashioned

  • Add 1 sugar cube (or spoon of sugar) to an old fashioned glass
  • Douse with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
  • Douse with 2 dashes of orange bitters.
  • Add a splash of club soda and stir well
  • Fill glass with ice, add 2 oz of gin, stir until cold
  • Take a piece of orange peel, squeeze over the glass and rub it around the rim
  • Top with another splash of club soda
  • Garnish with the orange peel and a cherry (I wrap the cherry in the peel)

Caorunn Gin

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Caorunn Gin

Caorunn is a new Scottish (or is it Scotch?) gin in the tradition of small batch, handcrafted Scottish gins. As a gin lover, I’m always looking for new stuff to try, and when I saw this gin, I was surprised that I had not yet heard of it. Caorunn (pronounced ka-roon) has 5 unique ingredients: rowan berry, heather, bog myrtle, dandelion, and coul blush apple. This idea of 5 translates into the marketing too, as a five-pointed red asterisk appears on the bottle and the stopper. The bottle shape itself has five edges and there’s a five-pointed star hidden below the bottle, too. Apples are used often in Caorunn’s marketing, too, and many of their signature cocktails have apple slice garnishes.

I would describe the flavor of Caorunn as mild, floral, and soft. Juniper, the primary ingredient of gin, is the “pine tree taste” that people usually love or hate. Juniper is very subtle in this gin, unlike more juniper-heavy gins like Tanqueray or Beefeater. Caorunn also lacks the sweet citrus of Bluecoat or Bombay Sapphire. This is not a gin to use in a complex cocktail because it’s delicate and the flavor is overpowered easily. So far, I’ve enjoyed this gin most in a very simple cocktail, the totally dry martini.

Totally Dry Martini

  • 2 oz high-quality gin
  • stir vigorously on ice for 20 seconds
  • strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • no garnish

Bluecoat Gin

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bluecoat gin

Bluecoat Gin is an “American Dry Gin” distilled 5 times in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It’s made from all natural, organic ingredients, including a “proprietary citrus blend” (more on that in a moment), and it comes in a sexy etched blue bottle. I tried it for the first time in a martini, which I’d argue is the perfect apéritif (before dinner) drink. I added 2 1/2 oz of Bluecoat, 1/2 oz dry vermouth, and stirred until ice-cold, then strained into a chilled glass with an olive garnish.

Gin geek rant (everyone else, skip down a paragraph): Bluecoat is a very tasty gin, and as I taste more and more gins, I’ve come to realize that unbridled citrus can spoil the flavor of gin for me. John Bernasconi (KGB Spirits owner) told me he discovered that too much citrus causes a gin to clash with the olive garnish in a martini. Since I made this discovery, I realize that my gin palate has me loving a gin like Tanqueray the most and further down would be a gin like Bombay Sapphire. The more prominent the juniper and more muted the citrus, the more I like it. Here’s a quote (by me): “I want my gin to taste more like pine trees and less like an orange grove.” A gin like Martin Miller’s Gin, though, has some subtle, soft citrus flavors, but still tastes good to a juniper lover like me. This brings us back to Bluecoat.

Unless citrus is handled properly in a gin, it can detract from my enjoyment and the mixability of that gin. While Bluecoat proudly touts citrus on the ingredient list, the gin still works incredibly well in a martini. The unique flavor you’ll find in Bluecoat is a mid-drink sweetness that still finishes quite dry. This is a good gin to drink straight, too, as it’s got some great complexities to it’s flavor. If you love gin, I think you’ll appreciate Bluecoat. God bless America.

Hacienda Gin

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Hacienda Gin

KGB Spirits in Alcalde, New Mexico has a gin that everyone should try because it’s great. Winning a bronze medal at the San Francisco Spirits Competition this year, Los Luceros Hacienda Gin is unique in that it has a potato base (instead of neutral grains), and according to KGB owner John Bernasconi, it’s the only potato-based gin in the world. Hacienda is a London Dry Gin, so you’ll notice the juniper immediately on tasting it, but there are elements that are unique to Hacienda that I found familiar as well, from its earthy finish to Hacienda to it’s pleasant freshness. Bernasconi said that he wanted to make a world-class product with his gin, so he’s sought out rare botanicals to use in Hacienda from around the world.

After a sip of straight Hacienda, I made my favorite cocktail, the Gin Old Fashioned. I tasted the difference in the flavor profile and it was great. A minty, herbal freshness told me I was dealing with something southwestern, but the flavor was still very comfortable for a London Dry gin lover. Even the bottle will draw you in, with a small, classy label, a handmarked distillery tag, and a crystal-clear glass stopper to match the gin. If you’re in or near New Mexico, buy yourself some Hacienda gin – it’s an excellent buy at $35. The rest of you? Start praying now for distribution to your part of the world.

Hacienda Martini:

  • 2 1/2 oz Hacienda Gin
  • 1/2 oz dry vermouth
  • olive garnish

Cucumber Martini

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Cucumber Martini

This recipe comes courtesy of Sami Capshaw, bartender at Apothecary and my fellow Albuquerque the Magazine publishee.  This recipe will be one of many featured in my upcoming ebook “Simple Cocktails from the Experts.”  This is a tasty beverage (recipe below)!

Cucumber Martini

  • In a shaker, add a 1/2″ cucumber slice and 1/2 oz simple syrup.
  • Muddle that cucumber to bits.
  • Add 2 oz of Hendrick’s Gin and shake with lots of ice.
  • Double strain into a cocktail glass (pour through the shaker and a tight mesh strainer too).
  • Garnish with a cucumber wheel.

Don Quixote Bourbon and Gin

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“Clear alcohol is for rich women on diets.” ~Ron Swanson

Don Quixote Distillery in Los Alamos is one of only 3 distilleries in New Mexico right now (Santa Fe and KGB are the others).  Don Quixote makes 5 spirits, some ports, several wines, and even vanilla extract.

Don Quixote Bourbon

Don Quixote Blue Corn bourbon is “the world’s only bourbon made from New Mexico blue corn” and there’s no other way to say this: it’s outstanding.  I prefer gin most of the time and generally don’t like whiskey much, but this is by far the best bourbon I’ve ever had.  The sourness I usually dislike in whiskey (is it the “malt”?) isn’t there, and when you swallow, it’s cool and fresh tasting with very little alcohol burn.  This bourbon is smooth and sweet and I’m not going to use it in cocktails because it tastes too good on its own.  This will be perfect in a frozen glass with just an orange peel in it.

Don Quixote Spirit de Santa Fe Gin

Don Quixote Distillery also makes two types of gin, and I tried the Spirit de Santa Fe Gin, with “natural botancials; including juniper, pinion, chamisa, sage, and rose hips.”

This gin surprised me.  It’s extremely aromatic, and has a unique “desert” quality to the flavor, I think maybe the sage stands out the most.  The issue I had with this gin was the fact that the alcohol overpowers the initial flavor of it, only to be followed by a big aromatic, botanical finish.  This really prevents it from being good for sipping straight, as it’s just not smooth enough, so I tried it in some cocktails.

A Gin Old Fashioned is one of my favorite drinks, so I mixed the Spirit de Santa Fe Gin with simple syrup, aromatic and orange bitters, a splash of club soda, and an orange and cherry garnish.  This is a cocktail where the aromatics of the bitters and fruit tend to be the first thing that hits you, but not with this gin – that aromatic-desert-pungency remains the primary smell and flavor, just like when you drink the gin straight.

I finally got the idea to try this gin as a substitute for tequila in a margarita, and because of that aromatic-desert-pungency, that combination worked pretty well.

Don Quixote Blue Corn Bourbon is available for $30 at the Don Quixote Store online, or you can buy it at the distillery in Los Alamos.  The gin is sold in half or full bottles for $20 and $30 and it’s certainly something to try because of its unique flavor, though it may not be for everyone.

Don Quixote Distillery and Winery

Genever: “Dutch Courage”

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boomsma genever

Genever (or jenever), pronounced “YUH-nee-vur,” has it’s roots in the Dutch word for juniper, as that’s the primary botanical in it, similar to gin. Genever is the most popular spirit in the Netherlands. There are a few brands of genever available in the U.S.: Bols and Boomsma, and American-made “genever-style” Genevieve, but only one is currently distributed to New Mexico, and that’s Boomsma.

There are two types of Boomsma Genever, jonge and oude, and they’re very different from each other. Wikipedia summarizes it great: “Jonge genever has a neutral taste, like vodka, with a slight aroma of juniper. Oude genever has a smoother, very aromatic taste with malty flavours. Oude genever is sometimes aged in wood; its malty, woody and smoky flavours lend a resemblance to whiskey.”

I made the mistake of expecting genever to be like gin when I first opened the bottles. Like it says, there is a light aroma of juniper to the jonge genever, which I smelled when I first opened the bottle, but that was it. After tasting the jonge genever, it was very much like vodka, with a very faint hint of herbs. The oude tasted a lot like American whiskey, which was frankly pretty alarming for me as I’m normally not a fan of American whiskeys.

boomsma genever

Once I got over the fact that I was not dealing with gin (it took me 2 days), I made a Holland Martini with the jonge genever. It was really good, and unique enough that I’d recommend it as a herbal alternative to a vodka martini:

  • 2 oz jonge genever
  • 1/2 oz dry vermouth
  • olive garnish
  • stir, strain into a cocktail glass

I also found a recipe to use the oude genever in the Holland Razor Blade:

  • 2 oz oude genever
  • ¾ oz lemon juice
  • ¾ oz simple syrup
  • shake, strain into a cocktail glass
  • sprinkle a pinch of cayenne pepper over the top
holland razor blade cocktail

Surprisingly, the Holland Razor Blade was good and very easy to drink.  I didn’t like the taste of oude genever straight, but it worked really well in a cocktail, just like the jonge.

I would ultimately describe genever as a botanical/interesting alternative to vodka and whiskey, but not much of a gin alternative. As a bartender, genever is a great tool for some variety in your cocktails. As a gin lover, the jonge will give you an occasional alternate flavor to London Dry, but will not ultimately replace your Tanqueray.

Boomsma Oude and Jonge can both be found in Albuquerque at Jubilation Wine & Spirits.