What are you drinking RIGHT NOW?

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by TwoEars, Apr 16, 2016.

  1. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    Pretty cool, I'll have to look out for that. I do like that Japanese gins tend to be lighter on the juniper so have a bit more perceived sweetness which works well for certain drinks.
     
  2. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    I bought it at Total Wine in DFW area. Another gin that I really liked a lot is called Dutch Courage…I plan to get another bottle after my current trial of Caorunn from Scotland, which has no juniper at all.

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  3. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Had a bottle of Caorunn a few years back and enjoyed it, though I think as far as Scottish gins go I may have a slight preference for The Botanist. I always used both in a G&T with Fever Tree or other good tonics though, so if you are going to drink neat or in some other form then YMMV etc.
     
  4. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    Oh yeah, the Fever Tree Elderflower tonic is awesome for my tastes. Currently using Fever Tree Indian.
     
  5. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Yeah their stuff is great and they do deserve a lot of the credit for creating the market for good tonic, though to be fair there are several other good options available back in the UK that kinda get forgotten these days (Fentimans is also nice if you can get it on that side of the pond). It was a happy day when I found a source for Fever Tree here in Istanbul, though at 3x the price I pay in the UK!

    With the Elderflower I find matching with gins is more tricky than the Indian or even the Mediterranean (which might actually be my favourite), but when you stumble across a good combination it can work great.
     
  6. Tchoupitoulas

    Tchoupitoulas Friend

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    One of the best gin and tonics (or gins and tonic?) I've had was at Jaleo, a Spanish restaurant in Vegas. The drink's called the "Cítrico" and is made with Oxley, Fever-Tree Mediterranean, grapefruit, lemon, coriander seeds, and a sprig of mint.

    As it's overpriced in the US, I used to pick up bottles of Oxley in duty-free when heading back from the UK. I've also come to find diet tonics to be preferable with some gin as they cut down on the sweetness.
     
  7. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    I quite enjoy Oxley as well, it has a nice clean character but still retains a fair amount of the subtle character of the botanicals. My goto gin these days though is https://eastlondonliquorcompany.com...-vodka/products/premium-batch-no-1-gin-45-abv The grapefruit and darjeeling tea make it refreshing and savory at the same time, it's really a great drink that's starting to get a bit more distribution in the US. Can also be found as East London Gin Batch no. 1.
     
  8. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Yep completely with you on that. Seems that with every year that passes I get a lower tolerance for sweetness in my drinks. With Fever Tree stuff I'll happily drink normal or diet, but with a slight preference for the latter.

    Thanks for the tip! Looks interesting - certainly an unusual combination of botanicals. Will have to try to find a bottle whenever I manage to get back to the UK next.
     
  9. JohnCarter17

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    Had a gin tasting on Saturday. We didn't make it through all.

    We had
    Gin Foundry Europa
    Greenhat
    Only Premium
    St. Laurent
    Tanqueray Malacca
    Dogfish Jin (2008)
    Death's Door
    Green House Artisan
    Highclere Castle

    Europa: excellent, very floral, this was one of my favorites.
    Greenhat: sweet finish (fennel seeds)
    Only Premium: Cheap @ 25 (Total Wine) but good
    St. Laurent: minty, has spearmint and basil. Not a favorite
    Tanqueray Malacca. Holding up. I have held onto this since I discovered a year or so after they pulled it. It might be because they discovered that malacca is Greek for masturbator.
    Dogfish. Barely holding up. I remember this as being insanely smooth.
    Death's Door. Fennel Seeds again, sweet finish.
    Green House: sweet finish, bubblegum nose (this has acai berries, cardamom, bergamot, coriander, lemon, lime, orange and cucumber). Distinctly different.
    Highclere: Benchmark London dry gin, similar to Gordons.

    It was well paced. Me and my buddy started with a shot each, smelled, took a sip, then added 2 oz of tonic and a couple ice cubes. That and a glass of water every 4 samples led to a hangover free morning.


    Right now, having some Monkey 47 with a rock.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 15, 2021
  10. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    I am not aware of any other members who live here in Turkey (though I'd love to find out I am wrong about this), but maybe some of you have Turkish links via family/friends or even if you have just visited the country you may know what this is. For the others, this is the Turkish national drink raki, which is made from distilled grapes and aniseed. It's usually mixed with water and drunk with ice (the second glass has just water), typically drunk with food like fish, meat or mezze, but I am being lazy today. Anticipating the possible question, yes it's kind of similar to ouzo, tsipouro, etc. but in my opinion infinitely superior.

    As an aside, if you ask our current conservative political overlords what the national drink is, they will argue that it is ayran, which is a cold savoury yoghurt-based drink. Ataturk, the founder of the Republic, would however have begged to differ, given that he drank so much raki that he ultimately died of cirrhosis.

    Many of the more popular raki brands (Yeni Raki in particular) are overly sweet - they are often made from dried grapes (i.e. raisins) rather than fresh grapes and/or have sugar added during production because, well, people like sweet shit. However, better brands like my favourite distillery Beylerbeyi don't do this. We're still talking about a relatively sweet drink, but not that different from a G&T for example. This particular bottle is a special run that is only produced in very limited quantities. It's made from a specific type of red/black grape, instead of the usual green grapes and is absolutely awesome even by this distillery's standards.

    Edit: forgot to add - big thumbs up to JohnCarter17 for the previous post. Really good info there!
     
  11. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    That is my favourite:

    upload_2021-4-17_23-3-26.jpeg
     
  12. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Ah Altinbas - also a good choice!
     
  13. JohnCarter17

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    I am half Greek. I always thought of raki as a type of greek moonshine. When I was last in Greece my cousin's husband had some they made on the farm (wherever that was). I think I still have some of it left. Very similar to ouzo.
     
  14. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Yes indeed there is Greek raki too - I think that it is also known as another name over there too, which I forget. My understanding is that it is less widely produced than Ouzo etc. (maybe specific to certain regions?), but not sure about it always being moonshine or domestically produced - a few years back a friend brought me back a small bottle from a trip to one of the Greek islands and judging from the bottle it seemed like commercial production, albeit on a small scale. It was not bad and definitely an interesting drink (from memory nicer than many Ouzos I have tried), but quite different from any Turkish raki.
     
  15. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    I'm on vacation and blending whisky for shits and giggles. 1/3 Caol Ila 12, 1/3 Glenmorangie 10 and 1/3 Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky is actually pretty damn alright and then some.
     
  16. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    I'm a big fan of making my own blends, it's a good test of your taste fundamentals. A popular recipe I like to use is a 4:1 blend of low ester rum to high ester rum.
     
  17. JohnCarter17

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    OK, that description intrigued me. I hunted it down (in the greater Houston area). Total Wine was a nogo, as was Goody Goody. Specs carries it.

    What I also noticed was 2 other East London Liquor Co. products: Batch #2 (- Darjeeling, + fennel seeds and maybe something else) and their London Dry Gin.

    Any comment on the London Dry? That looks like a possible future purchase.
     
  18. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    I sampled London Dry with Batch no. 1 and no. 2, I can't say I remember too much about the Dry, but both of the batches were quite good and memorable in their own ways.
     
  19. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    Sweet as a nut
     
  20. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    It's nice being vaccinated. Margarita with friends at the local taqueria:

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