Lamb Martini

When I first heard from Mike Sherwood of Sub Rosa Spirits about his new offerings, I didn’t know what to expect. While I have a tarragon plant and cook with it from time to time, I’d never actually tasted it alone, and just assumed it fell into the same flavor category as thyme and parsley. I had no idea what to expect from the saffron.

Taking my first sip of the Tarragon, I was expecting “Italian seasoning”, but was pleasantly surprised by a nice anise flavor. I immediately ran outside to try some leaves of the tarragon plant, which had the same flavors. I love cocktails with pastis, so the tarragon flavor was something that really appeals to me.

However, I didn’t know why one would need an entire bottle of tarragon vodka when a drop or two of Pernod could do the same. Ah, but it really doesn’t. Diluting Pernod in vodka to about the same strength as the Tarragon, there’s an incredible difference. The Pernod is a strong but simple flavor that I perceive as sweet because it’s very similar to a candy licorice flavor. Next to this, the Tarragon tastes more savory and closer to the flavor style to quality gins. Definitely a “sophisticated” flavor, and one that will serve as a useful ingredient as culinary cocktails gain greater mindshare.

The Sub Rosa website has a few recipes up, but I’ve mostly been substituting into classic recipes. The strength of the flavor is such that I substituted at about 1 to 1.5 for gin in cocktails, but can substitute it directly for vodka without overpowering the drink. There’s a new recipe up from Jamie Boudreau of Vessel called the Esdragon, with passion fruit syrup, grapefruit juice, and the great Fee’s grapefruit bitters. I’ll have to do this, since I have yet to find a good use for my grapefruit bitters.

The Saffron is a more difficult flavor for me to think about. The flavor is like curry, and the Bloody Mary is the only cocktail that really calls for this type of flavor, and has spawned Sub Rosa variations in the Bharat Mary and Mumbai Mary. The other few recipes include Asian fruits, like mango, and interestingly draw from the Indian culinary palette. I have some heirloom Yellow Pear tomatoes on kitchen table, and I think this these are begging to be paired with the Saffron vodka.

Before I sat down to write this, I intended to make a martini with Aviation, the Tarragon, and Lillet, but I grabbed the wrong bottle and made it with the Saffron. The Aviation is already strong and spice-flavored, but the Saffron actually goes nicely with it. The curry flavor isn’t immediately perceptible, but fits in well with the Aviation and actually moderates the strong spice flavors a bit.

Overall, both of these are really nicely made and are going to be fun with which to continue experimentation. The first batches are currently going out, so it may be a bit hard to find. Distribution is currently only to Washington, Oregon, and NoCal. As for bars, the only two I know right now are Meriwether’s in Portland and Vessel in Seattle.

I also think their labels are gorgeous, so here they are:

I only caught the finals of the Mixmaster’s Cup, but Imbibe has the full rundown here. The first round allowed the contestants to pre-plan and be ready to mix up something good, but where’s the fun in that? The finals were exciting in that the mystery ingredients were revealed to the contestants in a la Iron Chef (but without the rising platform and dry ice).

The ingredients were an interesting choice: G Joy sake and blackberries. The blackberries are in full production in Oregon right now, and are some the best I’ve ever had– an obvious and excellent choice of fruit. The sake was a bit of a challenge in two rites– it’s uncommon, and it doesn’t have a strong that cocktails typically require. The second is a more fundamental problem, and was evident by the multiple re-tries in mixing a drink that didn’t overwhelm it. Some sakes work well as moderating agents in place of vermouth, but actually getting an expression of the sake itself to be evident in the drink is another thing entirely.

Suzanne used the infamous ginger syrup. I asked her about it between rounds, and knew I was in for something when she started, “Okay, take seven pounds of fresh ginger…”. Imbibe added it as a comment to their post, and I’m reproducing it below so I’ll actually be able to find it in the future. Her recipe of muddled blackberries, vodka, sake, lemon juice, and ginger syrup is a bit surprising. Without trying it I don’t know, but it would seem that the acid from the lemon would change the flavor of the sake, in the way that acidifying carrot juice makes not taste like carrot juice. The strong flavor from the ginger might also overwhelm the sake. She won, so it was apparently good.

In the photo here, Suzanne is putting on the finishing touch of scraping lime zest/oil on top of drink with her fingernails (I don’t believe this is a Health Department-approved garnishing technique, though).

Watching Kelley compete was quite amusing. I think he ended up making about 6 cocktails total, as he kept trying new proportions and ingredients. After he completed and poured his first two glasses, someone joked “and you’re going to be able to make another one of those?” The final concoction was Bluecoat gin, sake, M&R sweet vermouth, peach bitters, and Regan’s orange bitters, with the rim of the glass wiped with crushed blackberry and a berry garnish. At one point, he also tried Krogstad Aquavit, but decided against it. The strong flavors of the bitters going against the sake surprised me, considering peach is similar to the flavors the sake was described as having.

The defining feature of Charlie’s act was that he tasted many different things before settling on his ingredients: sake, H Huckleberry Liqueur (from Idaho, of all places), lime (Imbibe says lemon), maraschino liqueur, tonic water, lime zest, and muddled blackberry. Leaving out a base spirit probably hurt this drink, since it wouldn’t have the alcoholic crispness to balance the acid and sweetness. The H was surprising, since it would have nearly the same flavors as one of the featured ingredients, and the fresh berries shouldn’t have their flavors impeded upon.

Overall, the competition was very fun to watch, and I’d love to see someone organize some more of these in Portland.

So I can find it:

Suzanne’s Ginger Syrup
1 lb. ginger, sliced, but not peeled
7 C water
2-2 1/4 C sugar

Boil ginger until water is reduced by half. Strain when cooled but still warm enough to add sugar. Add sugar to taste of the ginger.

Gale Force Gin and Hurricane Rum, from Triple Eight Distillery, located on Nantucket. I thought the rum tasted nearly the same as Appleton V/X, but at $28/bottle is quite a bit more. Nantucket and Jamaica may both be islands, but the production costs on each are way different. The gin was nice, but not particularly notable. Looking at their marketing materials, it’s a bit disconcerting to see that they don’t know the difference between percent ABV and proof, since they say the gin is “over proofed at 88.8%”.

Brandy Peak Pear Brandy, distilled in Brookings, OR, was very nice. Pot distilled from Bartlett pears and aged in French and Oregon oak casks. I love pears, and this was fantastic. The pear flavor came through crisp and strong, with the oak-derived flavors giving it just enough depth with which to present the pear. $19/half-bottle in Oregon.

Clear Creek Distillery is the granddaddy of Oregon distilleries. They produce something out of nearly every fruit grown in the state, and at least one tree. Their Douglas Fir Eau-de-vie is probably the most esoteric spirit produced by anyone. Most pine/fir/spruce flavored beverages have flavor just like a certain cleaning product, but I found this to actually be pleasant. It’s very strong, so I think neat not the common way to use it. While tasting, Charlie Hodge of Clyde Common said that he uses it by the drop in martinis, to just float the flavor in the background. $50/half-bottle. The other CC product I was excited to try was their McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey. Distilled from peat smoked malt from Scotland, it tastes serious and complex, deliciously smokey. $45/bottle.

Bendistillery Desert Juniper Gin was great. I was surprised to discover that the juniper from Oregon is the only flavor added. It gives it a nice clear juniper flavor, and was perfectly pleasant neat. In a cocktail, I think this would be a perfect complement to mix with the spice-based Aviation to mix a custom juniper-spice blend to match with whatever other components the cocktail has.

Rogue Spirits Spruce Gin was interesting, with the spruce flavor displacing the prominence of the juniper flavor. The spruce is introduced to the spirit as an extract, but all of the other components are whole. $35/bottle. The Dark Rum is made from block Hawaiian brown sugar from C&H. Call me a purist, but I’m of the opinion that rum should be made primarily from molasses, rather than mostly sugar with some molasses mixed in (if anyone has any more specific info on what traditional producers are doing these days, let me know). It wasn’t terribly impressive, and at $35/bottle, there are plenty of Caribbean-produced rums that better.

The Modern Spirits Black Truffle Vodka from Monrovia, CA, was interesting. I was expecting it to taste like truffle oil, but not really. I picked up more general earthy/mushroomy flavors, but not at all overpowering. It would probably be nice in a savory martini. $34/half-bottle (!).

I finally had a chance to try Bluecoat American Dry gin, distilled in Philadelphia. Imbibe gave it 5 stars in their gin tasting, but it’s only available in a few states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Viriginia, that I know of). The distillery states that it contains organic juniper, organic orange peel, organic lemon peel, and a third “secret” citrus peel. I like this minimalist approach better than the “we have 8,356 botanicals in OUR gin” approach, since the flavors come out very clean and recognizable. I found this to be really tasty and really smooth, one of the few I’d care to drink straight.

Prichard’s Rum, distilled in Kelso, Tennessee, described as “an accurate recreation of the ancient rum of an older time”, made from Louisiana grade “A” fancy molasses and aged in 15-gallon charred white oak casks. The owner describes that the water from a spring in Kelso is key.

I found this to be well-balanced, tasty straight, with nice round aged flavors, and not to strong on the vanilla like some.

The other product in the photo is Sweet Lucy Bourbon Liqueur, a bourbon/apricot/orange in the style of Southern Comfort. I didn’t try this.

With all of the hype around Aviation and the now ubiquitous Aviation Aviation cocktail, I didn’t know what to expect. Simply, this is one of the finest spirits I’ve ever had. It’s a Dutch genever style, so the flavors are more on the spice side rather than the citrus or juniper side. Included on the bill are juniper, Indian sassparilla, coriander, lavender, anise, cardamom, and orange peel. The flavors are crisp and well-balanced, and fade in and out of the palate.

Distilled on Nantucket. I thought the rum tasted nearly the same as Appleton V/X, but at $28/bottle is quite a bit more. Nantucket and Jamaica may both be islands, but the production costs on each are way different. The gin was nice, but not particularly notable.

The Great American Distillers Festival was great fun. At least half of the craft distilleries in the US are based in Oregon, so Portland is the natural location to have it. Hometown heroes Rogue and Imbibe sponsored and helped put it on.

The Mix Master Cup was great fun, particularly the final round, where the contestants were given two mystery ingredients (g sake and blackberries), and had 15 minutes to make something. The GADF is really the only place you can try a large number of craft distilled spirits, none of which are on the cheap side, and not break the bank. There are some amazing craft distilled spirits out there right now.

I have a flickr set up with a few pics here.

So, the highlights now, and more detail in future posts:

• House Spirits will “soon” be releasing a rum made from Hawaiian turbinado sugar, is currently into one year into a six year aged whiskey, and is planning a line of bitters(!). Their Aviation Gin and Krogstad Aquavit blew me away, so I can’t wait for these new products.
• Bluecoat Gin was a really nice and flavorful gin, and definitely deserved the 5 stars it got from Imbibe’s tasting. It was amazing to try so many different styles of gin next to one another.
• Clear Creek Douglas Fir eau-de-vie was one of the most interesting things I’ve tasted. Most uses of fir/pine/spruce just taste like PineSol, but this was pleasantly piney.
• Now I know why the leftovers from wine are called must. Grappa is nasty. (Edit: yes, I know it’s actually called pomace. And I’m sorry I called grappa nasty. )

A few other descriptions of the GADF:

• Imbibe Unfiltered talks about the MixMaster Cup
• Jeff Morgenthaler
• Booze Council
• Trader Tiki

After so much waiting, next month I will finally have access in Oregon to the super ultra premium Trump Vodka. For the classy price of $33.95 a bottle, I too can be among the elite with my clear, tasteless bottle of alcohol. Compared to that trash Ketel One at only $22.95, this is the only drink for discriminating millionaire.

I kid you not, this is what the press release says: “Donald Trump commented, Trump Super Premium Vodka is a big idea. Drinks Americas management team understands our vision for the Trump trademark. The Premium Vodka category is where the very best of fashionable spirits brands compete. That is the place for the Trump brand. By the summer of 06, I fully expect the most called for cocktail in America to be the T&T or the Trump and Tonic.”

Any guesses what the garnish will be?

Oh, and I found a bit more info on it: “Under the craftsmanship of Jacques de Lat, a third generation master distiller at Wanders Distillery in Holland, a carefully crafted vodka five times distilled is now among the finest in the world.” Wow! Five times! It’s the tastelessest!

According to the OLCC’s price sheets, Oregon liquor stores will be carrying Rogue Spruce Gin for $34.65 a bottle starting in February. Also new in the gin column, Tanqueray’s new Rangpur gin, flavored with rangpur limes.

And finally, after all of my petitioning, they’re finally going to start carrying Hardy Perfection cognac. According to the price sheet, there’s a special this month; with the discount of $1,001.50, a bottle will be the low-low price of $5,870.45.

And if you don’t want to sell a kidney to buy a bottle of the Hardy, the oh-so-sexy sounding Vixen 151 rum will also be making a debut (not only does it taste like lighter fluid, it ignites like it too!).

It was announced today that Oregon’s own Rogue Distillery won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Spirits Competition. It’s a really new product and isn’t even available at Oregon liquor stores. Rogue’s House of Spirits in Newport, Oregon, (where it’s distilled) menu (pdf) still lists it as “coming soon”.

From the info available, it seems that they do a corn mash with “free
range coastal water” (much better than that industrially-farmed, caged water). Champagne yeast is used to ferment. The distilled spirit is the infused with spruce, cucumbers, angelica root, orange peel, coriander, lemon peel, ginger, orris root, grains of paradise, tangerine, and, of course, juniper berries. The infusion is done via the suspended-basket method (as Sapphire is), rather than the more common maceration method.

More info on the spruce gin can be found here.

Another thing I noticed was the announcement of their Wasabi Vodka. Should be interesting.

I usually don’t watch TV much, but tonight I learned (1) Chablis and 7-Up makes an acceptable Champagne substitute, and (2) we are using the wide, wide world of web.