What I'm drinking: Monday edition
Life has been crazy busy! According to my calendar, this is the first night since 3/17 that I haven't done things with people. Oh couch, you are so wonderful. I've done many things! Meetings! Conference! More meetings! A million emails! Several good parties!
But tonight, oh tonight. I vacuumed. I did laundry. I ran the dishwasher. I got my inbox down to almost 1,000 unread emails. Good times, y'all, good times.
More importantly, lately I've been concertedly trying to break out of my booze rut. I'm a girl of simple tastes, booze-wise. I've been drinking Bombay Sapphire gin & tonics pretty consistently for over a decade now. They're my go-to drink at a bar and I usually have the supplies for them at home. I had a long phase of drinking dirty martinis with the same, back when I was working a real job and martini lunches were a real thing, but they're pretty rare these days. I like Hendricks, too, and recently decided that Hayman's Old Tom gin made a better dirty martini than Bombay Sapphire, because it is less floral than the other two.
(Before this goes any further, let's assume that we all agree that Tanqueray tastes like a juniper bush brushed up against a rotten lemon and speak no more of it.)
Since starting grad school, I've learned to enjoy other boozey things like beer and tequila. My first beer in a can tasted exactly like can, and then I found out they mostly all taste like can. I mostly avoid beer in a can, but I like easy to get stuff in a bottle, like Shiner Boch and Big Bark. I'm super-picky about tequila after that one time I learned what cheap tequila was like. Apparently I'd been drinking the good stuff all along, and, wow. Uh. You can't really go backwards on tequila quality. O_o
Anyway, I've been in a rut. So the other day when Flourish mentioned Ransom's Old Tom Gin and then I ran out just a couple of days later, I decided to pick some up.
Confusingly, it is absolutely nothing like Hayman's Old Tom Gin, which is a decent, clean, very even flavored kind of gin. Ransom's Old Tom Gin tastes like gin & whiskey got together and had a baby. Gin mixed with cardamom, cinnamon, orange blossoms and woods sounds like it should be awful, but this stuff is really delicious with layered flavors that keep you intrigued sip after sip.
The maker's website says it is a replica of an 1800's era gin; which means it should be a perfect fit for a bunch of classic cocktails. I tried it in a Martinez (1 shot gin, 1 shot sweet vermouth, 2 spoons of maraschino and a dash of orange bitters) and a martini with elderflower liquer that doesn't seem to have a name but is 1.5 shots gin, 1 shot elderflower liquer & some rose water (variations everywhere). I tried it with tonic, and I tried it with soda water.
Although all of these were drinkable, none of them were really great. I think the cherry/rose flavor doesn't mix well with the cedar in the Ransom's, for my palate anyway. Although I'm going to try it in a few really sweetened up drinks like a Tom Collins, for now I like it best straight. This stuff is really good, and designed for sipping, I think.
This entry was originally posted at http://concinnity.dreamwidth.org/51434.html. Comment wherever you like.
But tonight, oh tonight. I vacuumed. I did laundry. I ran the dishwasher. I got my inbox down to almost 1,000 unread emails. Good times, y'all, good times.
More importantly, lately I've been concertedly trying to break out of my booze rut. I'm a girl of simple tastes, booze-wise. I've been drinking Bombay Sapphire gin & tonics pretty consistently for over a decade now. They're my go-to drink at a bar and I usually have the supplies for them at home. I had a long phase of drinking dirty martinis with the same, back when I was working a real job and martini lunches were a real thing, but they're pretty rare these days. I like Hendricks, too, and recently decided that Hayman's Old Tom gin made a better dirty martini than Bombay Sapphire, because it is less floral than the other two.
(Before this goes any further, let's assume that we all agree that Tanqueray tastes like a juniper bush brushed up against a rotten lemon and speak no more of it.)
Since starting grad school, I've learned to enjoy other boozey things like beer and tequila. My first beer in a can tasted exactly like can, and then I found out they mostly all taste like can. I mostly avoid beer in a can, but I like easy to get stuff in a bottle, like Shiner Boch and Big Bark. I'm super-picky about tequila after that one time I learned what cheap tequila was like. Apparently I'd been drinking the good stuff all along, and, wow. Uh. You can't really go backwards on tequila quality. O_o
Anyway, I've been in a rut. So the other day when Flourish mentioned Ransom's Old Tom Gin and then I ran out just a couple of days later, I decided to pick some up.
Confusingly, it is absolutely nothing like Hayman's Old Tom Gin, which is a decent, clean, very even flavored kind of gin. Ransom's Old Tom Gin tastes like gin & whiskey got together and had a baby. Gin mixed with cardamom, cinnamon, orange blossoms and woods sounds like it should be awful, but this stuff is really delicious with layered flavors that keep you intrigued sip after sip.
The maker's website says it is a replica of an 1800's era gin; which means it should be a perfect fit for a bunch of classic cocktails. I tried it in a Martinez (1 shot gin, 1 shot sweet vermouth, 2 spoons of maraschino and a dash of orange bitters) and a martini with elderflower liquer that doesn't seem to have a name but is 1.5 shots gin, 1 shot elderflower liquer & some rose water (variations everywhere). I tried it with tonic, and I tried it with soda water.
Although all of these were drinkable, none of them were really great. I think the cherry/rose flavor doesn't mix well with the cedar in the Ransom's, for my palate anyway. Although I'm going to try it in a few really sweetened up drinks like a Tom Collins, for now I like it best straight. This stuff is really good, and designed for sipping, I think.
This entry was originally posted at http://concinnity.dreamwidth.org/51434.html. Comment wherever you like.