26 April 2025

From the bartender’s corner: Sugarcane Martini

Having sugarcane juice laced with some lime juice and rock salt from the street side vendor was a big part of our growing up in India. Tried making a martini today with sugarcane juice. For this round, used ginger and tajin salt. For the alcohol, used gin. Might try vodka the next time – the nose was a bit flooded by the gin aroma.

17 January 2025

From the bartender’s corner: Gin from the 19th country – Fiji

During the heydays of gin research, I had experimented with nearly 50 different gins procured from very different countries. Gin and tonic is still Sharmila’s favorite drink. Whereas I have proceeded to experiment with other alcohols like mezcal.

This gin is really good. Got a very unique, soft and sweet aromatic nose. The botanicals are mostly local. Interestingly, it has Yaqona – which is used to make Kava. The native ginger Layalaya, “ugly lemon” Moli Kula and fresh curry leaves add some nice tones to the palate.

The juniper berries are not grown in Fiji though. They are brought in from Macedonia.

Not sure if this is easy to procure in the USA, but I highly recommend it, if you can get a bottle.