Gin, with and without tonic!
In my continuing exploration of gin (see the last paragraph of this post from 2011), I participated in a gin (& tonic) tasting at Chaos Castle last Friday night. Had a lot of fun!
Gins:
Beefeater
Bombay Sapphire
Boodles
Death's Door
St. George (all four: Botanivore, Dry Rye, & Terroir; and Faultline from K & L Wine shop)
Tanqueray Rangpur
Hendrick's
Gin from Texas (need to get the official name from Dom)
New Amsterdam
Nashoba Gin (from last year's trip to the winery in Bolton, MA)
Tonic water:
Schweppes
Tonic elixer (and fizzy water to make it tonic water!)
Q-Tonic
Fever Tree (regular and light -- left the Mediterranean in the trunk, darn it! -- plus the Bitter Lemon mixer that tastes good on its own)
We started with tiny tastes neat, then tasted the tonic waters, and then set about making gin & tonic combos from the various choices. And yes, we also had limes and lemons and ice -- oh, my!
As with the single malt tasting earlier in the year, I brought some additional spirits. This time I brought a maple liqueur from Vermont (thanks, Alex, there's still some left!), pear brandy also from Nashoba, and asian pear brandy from a local-to-me place. Kathy added her DeKuyper Buttershots Schnapps to the table.
The evening was warm-ish, which was nice, and the conversation lively, which was nicer. I wouldn't mind doing it again, even with the same gin line-up!
Gins:
Beefeater
Bombay Sapphire
Boodles
Death's Door
St. George (all four: Botanivore, Dry Rye, & Terroir; and Faultline from K & L Wine shop)
Tanqueray Rangpur
Hendrick's
Gin from Texas (need to get the official name from Dom)
New Amsterdam
Nashoba Gin (from last year's trip to the winery in Bolton, MA)
Tonic water:
Schweppes
Tonic elixer (and fizzy water to make it tonic water!)
Q-Tonic
Fever Tree (regular and light -- left the Mediterranean in the trunk, darn it! -- plus the Bitter Lemon mixer that tastes good on its own)
We started with tiny tastes neat, then tasted the tonic waters, and then set about making gin & tonic combos from the various choices. And yes, we also had limes and lemons and ice -- oh, my!
As with the single malt tasting earlier in the year, I brought some additional spirits. This time I brought a maple liqueur from Vermont (thanks, Alex, there's still some left!), pear brandy also from Nashoba, and asian pear brandy from a local-to-me place. Kathy added her DeKuyper Buttershots Schnapps to the table.
The evening was warm-ish, which was nice, and the conversation lively, which was nicer. I wouldn't mind doing it again, even with the same gin line-up!