Ginning Up A Post

So the thing about gin is — and this is probably just me, and I’m sure it’s just me — that it’s kind of a weirdly uninspiring spirit. OK, I said it. I invite the one-and-a-half people who read this to challenge me, tell me what I’m missing or what I’m doing incorrectly. But the more I drink cocktails — and the more I notice what I’m drinking — the more I realize that I avoid gin.

Gin is OK, don’t get me wrong. I like a gin martini before dinner — but only one! — but it seems like something that gets covered up more than it gets highlighted. I do have some gin drinks I like: the mastic liqueur one and a Negroni both come to mind. But I don’t sit there and sip gin — I’m guessing no one does. [Googling: OK, some do, but I’m unconvinced; I also see that it’s classified as a neutral spirit, so OK, I can kind of trust my intuition sometimes.]

The first gin drink comes from Robert Hess’ The Essential Bartender’s Guide: How to Create Truly Great Cocktails. It’s the Caprice (page 137): an appropriate balance (3:1:1) of gin, dry vermouth and Bénédictine with a dash of orange bitters. It was OK.

The second gin drink comes from Mr. Boston was the Leapyear: basically the same proportions as above (4:1:1) but with more gin, then sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier (we substituted that Domanier Cognac A l’Orange for that) with a dash of orange bitters. The Leapyear was OK, too. I was sitting there thinking something along the lines of, “This would be good for people who really like gin because it lets that floral shizz through but adds a little flavor.” But then you’re like, “Who the fuck really wants to taste gin?”

And don’t even get me started on vodka cocktails; as far as I’m concerned they don’t really exist. Which probably means we should try making more of them.