Monday, August 1, 2016

Booze and Books is back

And this time it's all about gin. I really enjoyed trying to match drinks to books last December and had been thinking about doing something along the same lines for a while. My summer drink of choice is gin, and when I started making a list of gins I've known and gins I love it was more than long enough to fill a month so here we are...

Wines and spirits (the selling of) is my day job, and will have been so for 17 years this week. In that time the rise and rise of gin has been easily the most exciting thing I've seen, in the last few years I've started to amass enough of the stuff to make my wardrobe (it's where I keep the bottles - it's dark and has the steadiest temperature in a flat that gets very hot in summer) stop resembling a tiny cellar, and instead look like a particularly cramped speak easy.

The reason for this is that I might buy quite a bit of gin, but I don't drink much, so it hangs around. It's one reason to love spirits - a good wine has to be finished within a day or two to be at its best, but spirits don't and if you're only going to have a glass or two a week I feel there's room for a certain amount of extravagance regarding choice.

The first gin is an American one, bought simply because I hadn't tried any at the time and it was the most glamorous looking bottle I found locally (the glamour matters!). Named for a Cocktail first officially recorded in 1916 Aviation is the least ginny gin I've yet tasted (the juniper is, in my opinion, very restrained). It also seems to be a gin that divides people somewhat. I liked it for its smoothness - it's a gin that could easily be sipped on its own in an exceptionally dry martini, would blend beautifully into cocktails, and gives some scope to playing around with garnishes.

In contemporary terms it's a gin that was made with the specific intention of moving away from the classic juniper led English take on the spirit and as such is part of something new and exciting... But there's something about that not very traditional palate which suggests a refined take on what I imagine prohibition era gin might have been.

There's an element of fantasy to that of course, bathtub gin certainly wasn't smooth, never mind as smooth and complex as this one, but it's the image in my mind and in turn that suggests John O'Hara (who I think has a bit more sympathy for his alcoholics than John Cheever does). BUtterfield 8 which traces a tragedy as it unfolds against the speakeasy's of prohibition era New York seems like just the book for this gin.

9 comments:

  1. I've never tried gin; nice to have a good sized stash of it.

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    1. It is if you like it! (I do, though always in moderation). If you do drink (I don't like to assume either way) and like dry things gin is great. I also came round to hot gin toddy's in a big way last year, and Pimm's no 1 is gin based, so there's a whole world of fruit cups to explore too.

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  2. Gin is the only spirit I drink these days. Just got a bottle of Portobello to try. Never seen Aviation gin - love the bottle!

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    1. Portobello is good! And a gorgeous bottle. I'm told they do a great gin experience as well, where you get to blend your own bottle. It's on my wish list to try doing that sometime.

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  3. I now have serious candlestick envy! Those are beautiful.

    Gin with little Juniper - howcan that taste right? I'd be willing to try it though.

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    1. Theoretically to be gin the dominant flavour has to be juniper, some modern gins (and Aviation must be one of them) really push that definition, but I love variety and like a challenge when it comes to drinks - something to think about - so I'm pleased to have this one in my collection.

      The candlesticks were an extravagant present for my partner (they seemed very extravagant at the time, they're quite old Sheffield plate - around 1870 - and came from a jewellers closing down sale, £795 reduced to £150) they're a bit grand for my flat but I love them.

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  4. I think that I will pass on that one.

    What a bargain! Anything that beautiful looks good anywhere.

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  5. I am seriously into my gin. Especially since I went to a gin festival back in May.

    Rock Rose is my current favourite, then there is Gin Mare, Mermaid Gin, Conker, Monkey 47 the list is endless!

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  6. That's the second mention of Conker gin this week, I think I might need to find a bottle. Mermaid gin sounds intriguing too... I have Rock Rose, and Gin Mare, and should probably try Monkey 47 at some point... The list is indeed endless. Collecting gins seems to be as habit forming as collecting books!

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