"The important thing to remember is that gin is a flavored spirit. Without flavoring, it would not be gin. It would be vodka." (Poister p.45)

Gin, my favorite spirit

I have a rule about base spirits. It mirrors my rule about pants. No white between Labor Day and Memorial Day. And while I never break the "pants rule" I do, from time to time, break the spirts rule. When I do, it's because I'm craving gin, so it seems appropriate that I dedicate my first blog post on cocktails to my soon-to-be-back-in-season companion. Maybe it's because my mother loves gin & tonics and drinking one always makes me think of her. Maybe it's because it works so well in cocktails, or maybe it's because I tend to like spirits that have rich botanical flavors... Vermouth, Amaro, Chartreuse, Benedictine and so forth. Who knows? The point is that I'm going to start with the base spirit I know best.

Finding the right gin

The other day I spoke with Tim Adams at Addy Bassin’s MacArthur Beverages about this project. His astounding knowledge of all things alcoholic reminded me of how widely variable gin can be and how picking the right one for a given cocktail is essential. I was at the store because I needed a different gin for a couple of my recipes. I told him what I had, and the cocktails I was making. After some great discussion, we came to a decision that played out even better than I could have hoped! The three gins I used for the recipes were:

Barr Hill Gin
Caledonia Spirits • $45
Hardwick, Vermont

Green Hat Gin
New Columbia Distillers • $35
Washington, D.C.

The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
Bruichladdich Distillery • $35
Islay, Scotland

These selections work well for me on a personal level. I'm from Vermont. I live in D.C. (well close, Arlington, VA) and I'm 25% Scottish. Personal connections aside, they each bring unique qualities to the table.

Here I am learning about bees and honey from Todd Hardie, founder of Caledonia Spirits

Barr Hill Gin

Style: Kinda Old Tom

Beekeeper Todd Hardie founded Caledonia Spirits. He is a wonderful man with a mission to support his community by creating good paying sustainable jobs. He wants to save the world by taking good care of bees. I met him several years ago when he sponsored a cabaret performance of mine and got to know him better when he took two friends and me on a beautiful hike in Vermont. You could justify drinking Barr Hill gin (and their Vodka) solely on the basis of his company's mission. But you don't have to, the gin is great. The essential components of its formula are simple; corn spirits are distilled with juniper and finished with raw honey.

It's useful for me to think of the characteristics of gin the way I think of the characters in a musical. The all play their parts individually, and they all need to work together as an ensemble. Barr Hill Gin is a smooth tasting and luxuriously textured spirit. The Juniper gets to play the lead while notes of pine, grass and sweet honey shine in supporting roles. Because of the honey and the resulting added sweetness, Barr Hill Gin could be classified as part of the "Old Tom" family of gins. You can read more about Old Tom gins at The Gin Is In website.

Green Hat Gin

Style: More Contemporary American

Michael Lowe and John Uselton started D.C.'s first crafter distillery in 2011. Green Hat Gin, "handmade from grain to glass," is the result of their inspired efforts and attention to detail. While juniper is present, especially in the nose, floral and citrus notes play a larger role here. This is lovely product and very versatile. If you can get it where you are, I would! It should be noted that they produce a variety of gins at New Columbia Distillers including a "Navy Strength," and I am looking forward to trying more over the summer! The Green Hat Gin website is exceptionally creative and has a lot of fun information on it. Especially about the legend of the man in the green hat.

Botanist

Style Close to a Classic London Dry

Sticking with theater terms, I'll consider the Botanist as the "swing" in this musical. The swing's job is to be prepared to play many roles in a show. Swings are supremely talented and versatile performers, and the Botanist aptly deserves this classification. I used it to make all the cocktails, and while it wasn't my favorite in all of them, none of them suffered because of it. Its flavors are very well balanced and this came as a surprise when I saw the extensive list of botanicals used in its making. There's a lot going on, but it is very harmonious and depending on the application different elements come forward. It is well balanced, smooth, and the best choice if you are only going to have one bottle of gin on your shelf. Plus, it's a little harder to find so it has a degree of snob appeal.

A side note on ingredients

When it comes to cooking, I have some rules. One is "if you wouldn't drink it, why would you cook with it?" The notion that undrinkable wine is fine for cooking is detestable. It's not. It would be like saying, "I don't think my car is safe enough for me to drive, so I'll give it to my kid." Maybe the analogy is too strong, but the point needs to be clear, a dish is only as good as its weakest ingredient. Same holds true for cocktails: the five-year-old cheap vermouth collecting dust in the back of the cabinet will define a martini as much as top-shelf gin. Juice from a plastic lemon or cloying sour mix from a plastic jug or packet of powder will undercut the quality of your expensive base spirits irreparably. Therefore I hope you will consider all the ingredients wisely. I have indicated my top choices for each in the recipes that follow.

The cocktails

Last Word

This Prohibition-era cocktail can be traced back to the Detroit Athletic Club's bar in the early 1920s. The last word is not only my favorite gin-based cocktail but likely my favorite cocktail period. The Chartreuse and gin deliver herbal and floral notes that play well with the citrus from the lime juice. These are lengthed and softened by the sweet and subtle maraschino liqueur. I find the Green Hat Gin the perfect choice for this cocktail.

.75 oz Green Hat Gin
.75 oz green Chartreuse
.75 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz freshly squeezed lime juice

Shake with ice
Double strain into a chilled coupe glass
No garnish

Aviation

I was at a bar just finishing a Last Word. When asked what I wanted next, I said, "bartender's choice, gin-based." This beautiful violet cocktail soon appeared, and it's been a love affair ever since. It should be noted that I've been making A LOT of these lately. The other night I had a Last Word in my right hand and an Aviation in the left. I kept going back and forth asking "which do I like better?" This to me is an example of an outstanding dilemma!

The first published recipe for the Aviation appeared in Hugo Ensslin 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks. It called for gin, lemon juice, maraschino, and crème de violette. It is the final ingredient that gives the drink its beautiful and unique color. It is a shame then that for many years recipes did not include this ingredient, likely because it was and is quite hard to find. It seems that now most guides include the Crème de Violette and that is a good thing for both flavor and presentation and the search is worth the effort. My personal history with the Aviation is not as storied as that of the cocktail. Here's a good synopsis of the Aviation's history if you are interested.

2 oz. Botanist Gin
.75 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
.5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
.25 oz. Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette

Shake with ice
Double strain into a chilled coupe glass
No garnish

Singapore Sling

The Singapore Sling is a classic cocktail suffering from a dizzying array of "definitive" reinterpretations. This is my blog, so I get to share my favorite. The drink was created by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in the early twentieth century. Many recipes add grenadine, pineapple juice or sour mix while omitting Benedictine and bitters. This results in more of a college-bar-panty-dropper than a refined cocktail. This version, from Imbibe Magazine is light and refreshing. It works with all the gins I listed but Botanist is my favorite.

1 oz. Botanist Gin
1 oz. Rothman & Winter Orchard Cherry (alt. Cherry Heering)
1 oz. Bénédictine
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Soda water

Shake the gin, cherry liqueur, Bénédictine, and lime juice with ice
Strain into a chilled collins glass
Fill with ice
Top with a dash of bitters and soda water
Garnish with a cherry and slice of orange or pineapple
A thick spiral of lime peel is also traditional

Ramos Gin Fizz

I heard about this drink on the Speakeasy podcast years ago and couldn't wait to try one. The problem, of course, was that I didn't want to ask any bartenders I liked to go through the trouble of making one for me! If you want to read a complete Ramos Gin Fizz history, Imbibe Magazine's is great. Here's my abridged version. The "New Orleans Fizz" was created by Henry C. Ramos at the Stag Saloon in the Late nineteenth century. It became so popular that it was renamed Ramos Gin Fizz after its creator. Legend has it that Mr. Ramos would have as many as a dozen "shaker boys" behind the bar just to make the drink. It was incredibly popular and some say it surpasses even the Sazerac as New Orleans' most significant contribution to cocktail culture. History lesson complete, back to my story.

Sometime after hearing about the drink, I was recounting the story from the podcast with Sean, a favorite neighborhood bartender back in Vermont. This move had a surreptitious intent. Sean worked out a lot and seemed to enjoy flexing his enormous biceps during flamboyant cocktail shaking sessions. He was also a great craftsman, and I suspected that between his mixology skills and desire to show off his biceps to my date that evening I'd get a Ramos for sure. True to form he went to work on my cocktail! I'm happy to say that it isn't that hard to make. Do it for yourself, or a date, but not at a big cocktail party (unless of course, you have a shaker crew at the ready).

2 oz. Barr Hill Gin
.75 oz. heavy cream
.75 oz. simple syrup
.5 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
.5 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 drops orange blossom water
1 egg white (approximately 1 oz)
Soda water

Dry-shake all the ingredients (except soda water) for approximately one minute.
Shake all the ingredients with ice for approximately one minute.
Double strain into a chilled collins glass.
Top with soda.
No garnish

Martinez

One would not be wrong to say that this is a vermouth cocktail being that there is more vermouth than gin in this recipe. By the same logic, we should call it a "tonic and gin" as opposed to a "gin and tonic." I will let others debate this point; I personally don't really care. I love this drink. In this case, however, you do need to be very particular in your vermouth selection as it will completely define the drink. Good vermouth is drinkable, solo, and you should try it. I highly suggest you find a bar that has a lot of them and spend some time tasting. My favorite is del Professore. Both the sweet and dry are excellent despite being vexingly labeled (the sweet has the greenish label while the dry has the red). Regardless, when paired with Barr Hill Gin, you get a magical, boozy Martinez. Most recipes call for an Old Tom style gin and this makes the Barr Hill a perfect choice. The Martinez is a wonderful wintertime gin-based cocktail and a great stand-in for a Sazerac or Manhattan. I hope you'll try one and let me know what you think. I'll leave it to the team at Imbibe to provide you with a great history of the Martinez and the folks at Newsweek to fill you in on the history and resurgence of vermouth.

2 oz. del Professore Vermouth Rosso all'uso Torino
1 oz. Barr Hill Gin
1 tsp. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
2 dashes Boker’s Bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice
Stir
Strain into a chilled coupe
Garnish with a lemon twist

Final thoughts

While finishing up this article my neighbor and her boyfriend knocked on the door. He is a successful restaurateur in the area and she is a very talented florist. I was excited to make them cocktails. As I type these final words (three hours and nine drinks later) I am reminded of why I am writing this blog. Food and drink connect people. Serving a well-considered cocktail in a beautiful glass is a way of saying "welcome to my home." Cocktails lubricate conversation and provide the backdrop for convivial connection. While this certainly can work in a bar, it is even better when you take the time to do it yourself. I hope you'll enjoy these recipes with your friends. Let me know what you think, send me pictures, and please, if you have suggestions, I'm always ready to hear them.

Happy Drinking!

P.

Acknowledgments

I wish I could reach out and thank the many bartenders who have over the years provided me with the education and inspiration for this article. Finding a great local bartender and liquor store can make all the difference in your ability to explore the world of cocktails. From a visual perspective, I want to thank Victoria and Carolyn at The Hour on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia. They have a shop that specializes in vintage cocktail glasses and accessories. It is a magical place and I look forward to working with them as this project moves forward.

References

“Find a Gin.” The GIN Is IN, 9 Mar. 2018, theginisin.com/find-a-gin/.

“Green Hat Gin.” Green Hat Gin, greenhatgin.com/#distillers.

Janzen, Emma. “The Martinez Gets Its Groove Back.” Imbibe Magazine, 20 Sept. 2016, imbibemagazine.com/martinez-cocktail-comeback/.

Meehan, Jim, and Chris Gall. The PDT Cocktail Book: the Complete Bartenders Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy. Sterling, 2012.

Poister, John J. The New American Bartender's Guide. Second ed., Penguin, 1999.

Imbibe. “Ramos Gin Fizz.” Imbibe Magazine, 23 Apr. 2018, imbibemagazine.com/ramos-gin-fizz/.

Imbibe. “Singapore Sling.” Imbibe Magazine, 16 Feb. 2016, imbibemagazine.com/recipe-singapore-sling/.