Drinking The World

What’s That You’re Drinking? - The Least Well Known Spirits in the Land.
By Jonathan M. Forester

Brandy, Eau de Vie, Grappa, Marc, Pisco, Palinka, Slivowitz, Tuica, Rakia, Singani, Chacha, they’re all fruit spirits. In Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and all over the world except North America, there is a fine, old tradition associated with them. Everyone knows about them, drinks them, and loves them. Every region makes spirits from every fruit imaginable. In France grapes in the regions of Cognac and Armagnac are made into brandies that go by those names. Pisco is what they call grape brandy in Chile and Peru, usually unaged and rough in nature, it’s still well loved. Grape brandies are also made in many other parts of the world: Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Moldova, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and the Ukraine.

Then there are other fruit brandies, besides those made from grapes. In France apples are made into Calvados in Lower Normandy. Then you have other fruit made into spirits; pears, plums, peaches, cherries, elderberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots, rosehips, bilberries, quince, rowanberries, holly berries, you name it. In Sri Lanka, coconut brandy is made from the sap of coconut flowers. If it’s a fruit it can be distilled, or herbs and spices, and vegetables like asparagus or carrots; someone in Europe, or the rest of the world, is distilling it.

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G'Vine Nouaison Gin is 43.9% abv. / 87.8 proof. I wrote about G'Vine Floraison Gin and now have the pleasure to write about their new product which just rolled out in the US. Normally I let samples of spirits sit for awhile, but I was waiting eagerly to try this gin and had it opened the evening it arrived. G'Vine Nouaison contains nine main botanicals: ginger root, licorice, green cardamom, cassia bark, coriander, cubeb berries, juniper berries, nutmeg, and lime. Plus an additional botanical that their Floraison Gin is known fro, a small touch of grape vine flowers, but nowhere near the amount seen in the G'Vine Floraison

The aroma is elegant and refined, clean and pure, like how the air smells right after a Autumn downpour. Hints of ginger, lime, and juniper come through, with floral and spicy tones as well. A classic gin aroma, but with just a bit more oomph to it. Almost a metallic aroma at times, in a good way, like titanium and platinum. This is ginny, gin, gin. The taste starts off with a nice juniper hit, followed by hints of nutmeg and other spices, and lime. It's smooth, elegant, and in the classic London Dry Style, but with a slightly bigger and bolder, but not overwhelming, taste.

The G'Vine Nouaison Gin is a much more refined gin than the floral powerhouse of the G'Vine Floraison. This is a gin that seems made for sipping on the rocks, but even more so, for a classic dry martini, Just a little vermouth, and a lemon twist, or maybe a lime twist to bring out more of the light lime that's hiding in the background. I think you will see a lot of this gin in premium cocktails starting very soon, and from what I've heard it's sweeping the awards.

Pampero Aniversario is 40% abv. / 80 proof and is a dark aged rum from Venezuela. It's sold in a squat, rounded bottle enclosed in a tan leather sack. It is deep brown in color with a hint of amber gold to it. I've had several rums from Venezuela, going back to when I spent some time there on the beautiful, off-coast islands of Los Roches, one of the most incredible scuba spots in the world. While there I spent my time skin diving, sea kayaking, fishing, learning how to cook fresh fish in over thirty ways from my new chef friends eager to meet an American chef, and most enjoyably learning to appreciate the fine rums. I may not like the countries politics, (my friends and I had our lives threatened in an vicious attack on our taxi, when we got caught in the overflowing pandemonium of a riot where the police responded with automatic weapons blazing) but they make some damn fine rum.

Pampero Aniversario is one of my favorite of the rums with a touch of sweetness, although it is more in the dryer than sweeter part of the spectrum. The aroma is rich and warm with caramel, vanilla, toasted nuts and spice. The flavor is rich and very smooth, warming to the soul, full of vanilla, spices, hints of chocolate, and the holiday taste of fresh baked gingerbread, with just a hint of sweetness to round it out.

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Rhum Clement VSOP is 40% abv / 80 proof. It is an AOC Martinique aged rhum agricole, made from pure crushed sugarcane juice, estate produced and bottled. It's been quite awhile since I reviewed any spirits here on Slashfood.com and I have an enormous amount waiting for their chance.

My winery, brewery, and distillery projects take up so much of my time and energy that I rarely can fit in a nice sun-downer at the end of the day. The past year or two I have been a big rum fan, and Rhum Clement's products are at the top of my list. Although they do share the spot with a few other excellent rums. When you get to the top tiers the competition isn't really competition, more like a friendly rivalry. I'm enjoying the jostling for position on my tongue.

The Clement VSOP is a deep, dark gold with a hint of amber in color. The aroma is smooth, lush, and fragrant with vanilla and toffee, over an earthy, sensual base. Hints of lush, sexy, moist, dried apricots float on top, with a layer of spice in between; followed by a bare bit of sweetness to round out the nose.

This is a dry, not sweet rum. So it starts dry on the tongue at first, then a rush of big , tropical fruit and nut flavors comes along like a wave. Coconut, mango, papaya, pineapple, all melded together with a touch of the classic earthiness and herbal notes you find in good rum agricole. This is one of those spirits that a few minutes in the glass improve dramatically. What started out as excellent, soon became amazing, with the aroma and flavor becoming more full, warm, soft, and complex. Quiet floral notes started to come out, and then made their presence fully known. Like an orchestra quietly starting a piece of music that ends with percussive power. I recommend the VSOP sipped straight up, on the rocks, or in a premium and well crafted cocktail. It's hard to ask for more in a dry, aromatic rum. Quite a few of my friends agree with me, here's what the Rum Dood, Matt Robold has to say. Now I'm going to enjoy the last tiny sip in this bottle that I have been savoring for over a year, as I kick back after a long, hard day of building my own distillery.

Rum, Rhum, Ron, Cachaca, Aguardiente... The Rum family is a large one. The only thing you can say they have in common is their ancestry. They are all descended from Great Granpa Sugar Cane in one way or another. Sugarcane juice, sugar cane syrup, or molasses (which is a by product of cane sugar manufacturing) are the only things that rum may be made from.

Rum first came about back in the days soon after the discovery of the Americas. Sugar cane was imported and planted and the processing of sugar from its juices began. Molasses, a byproduct of sugar manufacturing was either thrown away or used as fertilizer when some slaves drank some of the waste molasses that had been sitting in the sun and rain for a few weeks ad had fermented into a sweet/sour 'beer' that was highly flavored but only mildly alcoholic. first only slaves drank this crude 'rum beer' but it came to the attention of the plantation owners and soon they started playing around with distilling it and rum was born. By 1651 it was already in widespread production and documents from Barbados, what may be the home of rum, show that 'rumbullion' aka 'kill devill' as it was known, was a fiery and cheap spirit.

Over the years rum came to be made wherever sugar cane was processed into sugar. Every sugar cane plantation also became a rum distillery as a way to make money off of the waste products. Soon more care was used during the process and fine rums were being made. The high temperatures, fast fermentation, long aging in barrels, and other factors of the tropics made rum become a spirit unique from any others being produced. The intense flavors were so different from the other spirits of the time like cognac, fuller and sweeter.

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With the six weeks of the holiday season rapidly approaching I thought I would take a look at some of our holiday traditions and ways we celebrate. For all of us it's a time when friends and family get together to give thanks. We think about life and religion, and exchange gifts to show we care. We also have parties to celebrate the old and the new, and to blow off some steam so we don't get too crazy. For many of us, libations are a part of how we celebrate. Eggnog and punch are some of the traditional holiday favorites that we serve, most especially eggnog for Christmas.

My parents came from opposite ends of Europe and moved to the US right after getting married. They were used to celebrating in vastly different ways, but ended up forming their own holiday traditions; some of which have changed over the years to meet our families needs. For us serving eggnog, and the tradition of my father sitting in the kitchen preparing it the day before, signified that we were coming together as family and friends. A time when we celebrate all the reasons why we know and love each other; and to try and forget all our disagreements, stress, and strife. While thinking about all this I thought I would do a little research on these two related holiday beverages: eggnog and punch.

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Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

Nouveau means new in French, which is basically what these wines are. They are very young Beaujolais wines of lesser quality that are created to be drunk weeks, as opposed to months or years after the harvest, and are the first wines of the season. Beaujolais are made from the Gamay Noir a Jus Blanc grape variety. The Beaujolais Nouveau style started in the 1800's and has developed and grown since then. All grapes used in making wine in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand, a law that is only enforced in one other wine region, Champagne. The Beaujolais region is 34 miles long and apx 8 miles wide with nearly 4,000 grape growers. Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be made from grapes grown in the 10 crus (great growths) of Beaujolais, only from grapes coming from the appellations (wines distinctive of a particular area) of Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages. Usually around one third of the crop each year is sold as Beaujolais Nouveau.

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Gin is one of my favorite types of spirits. Over the next few months I will post reviews on quite a few of them, but first I should cover some background on the subject. Gin could technically be called a type of infused spirit sort of like the infused vodkas that are so popular today.

Gin was first created around 1650 in Holland by a physician as a medicinal tonic and was called genever, which is Dutch for juniper. Genever as a tonic was very rough, heavy, and sweet. The English started drinking the spirit and shortened the name to gin, as well as changing the recipe over time to become dry, i.e. not sweet. Genever is still made in the Netherlands but has developed over time to its current form.

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