Booze mail. “What kind of a score is this?” 6 base spirits. We taste Lepanto Brandy. Greg mentions “the other brandy” on Instagram – here it is. We make an (original) First Snow cocktail. White….or clear? Greg loves Tillen Farms Bada Bing Cherries. The evils of sugar rims. Taco Bell.
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It’s not often that I find myself surprised by a liquor, particularly by a vodka. Once you’ve tried several dozen, they all taste pretty similar to each other.
It caught me off guard, then, when we opened and tasted Skyy for the first time on a recent podcast episode. A pretty common staple in bars across America, Skyy is a 20-year-old brand in a familiar cobalt blue bottle, distilled in San Jose, California.
From what I can tell, Skyy is distilled from wheat, which contributes to the surprising sweetness of the vodka. I find it to have a smooth, sweet vanilla flavor, and it’s got more flavor character than the usual “odorless, flavorless” vodka I’m used to.
Vodka is a subtle product, more so than anything that I’ve encountered. The varieties of taste are wide, but overall, the differences in flavor are sometimes difficult to tell. It’s also a pretty polarizing product, ignored by craft cocktail enthusiasts in some cases and yet beloved by lots of drinkers everywhere. In the case of Skyy, it’s a moderately priced ($15), good-tasting vodka that you can find from coast to coast and it’s also a vodka that can easily find it’s rightful place in your home bar.
Here’s a tasty cocktail I dug up from Gary Regan’s Bartender’s Bible this week. I keep thinking that I’ve done a cocktail with similar ingredients before (maybe gin-vermouth-triple sec?), but I don’t see one on the Recipes page, so I present the Deanne:
Deanne Cocktail
* I learned my lemon twist method from Robert Hess. Once you cut your twist with your channel knife, wrap it gently around your bar spoon and tighten it up with a squeeze. This will give it a great curl that will hold up on the glass.
The “Flavored Vodka Box.” Lisa made Paella. We taste Sub Rosa Saffron Vodka. Everything is yellow or green in this episode. We make a Sun and Moon cocktail. Lime nipples cutting. Exploding bottles.
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New Holland Spirits was relatively unknown to me until I ran into them at Tales of the Cocktail this year and tasted their fantastic orange liqueur (more on that in a minute).
Born out of New Holland Brewery in Michigan, the spirits line is pretty diverse and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried so far, including their Beer Barrel Bourbon. They were generous enough to let us try many of their other spirits. Here’s what we think:
Walleye Rye, $40-50. A rye with more fruitiness than I expected. Spicy, yes, but there’s a lot more dried fruit and sweetness than I’m used to in a rye. I feel like this rye’s fruity flavor is possibly due more to its younger age than what it’s distilled from. It;s fun to use this to make more fruit-forward rye cocktails, like Manhattans.
Knickerbocker Barrel Gin, $35. I love barrel aged gins. They helped me transition from being mostly a gin drinker to whiskey. When you take a sip, this is in the very end of the taste you get a caramel-barrel sweetness that’s really great. We tasted this on an episode of the podcast as well.
Clockwork Orange Liqueur, $30. This is the drink that drew me to New Holland initially. A high-proof (40%) triple sec that can easily be a stand-alone sipper. I know folks who like to drink straight triple secs or curacous while smoking cigars, and this is leaps and bounds better than the $10 bottom-shelf triple secs you see at the grocery store. It’s not too sweet, it’s slightly bitter and spicy. I’ll be saving this bottle for high-end cocktails and for sipping.
As their distillery line is relatively new, there isn’t national distribution of New Holland’s spirits. Mostly available near and in the areas surrounding Holland, Michigan, USA, if you get a chance to try their line, you won’t be disappointed.
The Blood Moon rang in the fall. “I’m better than that.” We taste Wild Turkey 101. “Good job Tom Cruise.” The meaning of the work cocktail…explained!? Mark Twain’s favorite cocktail. We make a “trashy” drink….a Choco-Mint-Chata (with Iceberg and RumChata). Greg has trouble remembering Toy Soldiers.
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Hailing from the U.S.’s “oldest city,” St. Augustine Distillery distills New World Gin from sugar cane.
St. Augustine Distillery is based out of St. Augustine, Florida, a city founded in 1565 by the Spanish. The distillery was established in an old ice plant and distills all their products from Florida Cane Sugar. To my knowledge, Florida cane has never made its way into gin. I’ve always associated cane sugar with rum of course, or maybe sodas like Mountain Dew and Pepsi in their “Throwback” line, but gin?
New World Gin has a solid juniper base and a fragrant nose. I was surprised by the powerful but welcome bite that came with the first sip. If bite is your game, then this is the gin for you. The juniper is followed by a blend of orange, lemon, and cassia bark, angelica, and a number of other botanicals. then there’s the Florida cane sugar that adds a sweet and unique quality to New World. There’s a pleasantly sweet, spicy finish and lingering bite in the finish.
New World Gin can be purchased directly at St. Augustine Distillery Co. or on their website for about $30. They also distill Florida Cane Vodka and their Discovery Rum there, and are working to get their product distributed nationally as well.
Our first podcast tasting of cognac. Cognac defined. “Very special other people’s property.” We taste Hennessey (Ryan McGinness edition bottle). Cocktails with cognac? Sophistication to ghetto drinking. Greg teaches us to make “Tinis” of various sorts. The ratio is 2:1.
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I talked about National Bourbon Heritage Month on The Morning Brew in Albuquerque yesterday! Check out the video which includes the background behind the Month, some raving about Bourbon Curious, and drinking Four Roses at 7 am!
Here’s a link to our National Bourbon Heritage Month blog post if you’d like to read more about it. Lisa took some great behind-the-scenes photos as well: Continue reading
“I caught you on a good year”: we go to the State Fair. Many types of fried food. Lisa talks about fried tequila shots. We taste Skyy Vodka. “If you haven’t heard Greg…” Greg’s signature drink? We taste Knickerbocker Barrel Gin, too, and make a Gin Old Fashioned with it. “Breaking records left and right.” The real reason for no orange garnish. An eyeball sucked out of a mummy. Lisa’s genius coffee mixing technique. The problem with stemless glassware.
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If you enjoy the show, please tell us so and write an iTunes review! Thank you!
