Very citrus forward cocktail comprising of gin, maraschino liqueur, green chartreuse and lime juice.

The Harvey Wallbanger was a pretty big hit at Nanette’s birthday. Usually aniseeds evoke strong reaction – some just love it. And some just do not. I am one of those in the side of “love it”. From ouzo (Greece) to licor beirao (Portugal) to sambuca (italy), I like it in my cocktail as well as a post-dinner aperitif. Harvey Wallbanger uses Galliano (Italy) whic as aniseed as well as other herbs.

To mix it with Gin, I made a Lady Leon today. A LL is gin with Galliano, dry vermouth and orange curacao. It is usually shaken with crushed ice and served in a champagne flute.

Perfect pick me up drink after 350 miles of driving in some crazy traffic at times…

What started as an innocuous goal “Learn how to mix drinks” during one of the off years, soon became a passion. Most of my learning has been old style – I read up a lot of books and I experimented a lot. And bugged a lot of bartenders at bars to learn some of their unique tricks. Over the last four years, I have probably made 500+ different cocktails, visited multiple distilleries and collected some esoteric stuff from different countries to experiment with.

While I have bartended in a few informal events and a couple of corporate events, today was the first time I had a paid gig. Of course, I do this as a hobby. So all money – inclusive of tips was donated to the hostess’s favorite charity.

Thank you Tim and Nanette for featuring me as the mixologist at your private event. I loved the venue. And I loved the guests. Sharmila and I really had a great time. None of this would have been possible without Tim’s meticulous planning, Tanya working with us to set everything to the last bit of detail and an immense amount of help I got from Telvin.

It was Nanette’s birthday. 50th one in fact. It was a lot of fun to research what was America like in 1968 and what were the common drinks being served at New York bars. Eventually, I went with Bourbon Sidecar, Harvey Wallbanger, Seabreeze and Pegu Club. As always in such events, some guests have different tastes leading to some on the spot improvisations – there were a few Cosmopolitans, a couple of Old Fashioneds and a Cape Codder too!

I cannot wait for Nanette to be 40 now!!! 🙂

3 Howls gin, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, fresh lemon juice, yellow chartreuse and superfine sugar.

Very tasty and refreshing. The fresh grapefruit juice makes a big difference!!

To switch up a little, went with a vodka based cocktail rather than a gin based cocktail. Although martinis used to be originally with gin, most are made with vodka today.

This has Smirnoff vanilla vodka, Chambord raspberry liqueur and Godiva dark chocolate liqueur.

The proper garnish for this drink is a raspberry which I had none of. Another variation is to sprinkle chocolate on the rim…

3 Howls Gin, dry vermouth and orange bitters.

The first curiosity that I had to overcome was to understand where the name came from. From their website, I go to know that this goes back to a Scottish folklore of a red-eyed giant wild hound (looks like a wolf) that used to howl three times before taking souls to the underworld. A similar creature is there in Irish folklore as well as some Welsh folklore. All these consider the monster as a harbinger of death.

Beyond that, the website really does not have much helpful details on the details of the gin – including the botanicals used, the iterations of distillation and all that. They do not even spell out the base alcohol but do make some tall claims about how good their products are. The gin is made in Seattle, USA (and not Scotland as you might have thought by now).

It being a very young distillery (a little over four years old) and me never have taken a liking towards American Style Gin (3 Howls position itself between London Dry and American style), my expectations were very low. Also the fact that none of the other gin reviewers I knew had ever reviewed this prepared me to expect very little.

That said – or maybe because of the low expectations – I did not find the gin to be too bad. The nose is mostly citrusy. However, it is in the palate that you notice the distinction first. It fills in the mouth very quickly. There are the citrus notes and the juniper that make their presence felt almost immediately. But more than that, there is a certain bite to it. I almost want to suggest a faint hint of spiciness (peppery might be a better description). The finish was long and very rich with the junipers.

I liked the “on the rocks” version far more than I liked the G&T. In the G&T, I felt the tonic clashed too much with the biting of the gin in the mouth.

Overall, I would say this is a good gin. Not the most memorable. But at least it got me to start respecting American style gins a little.

I will try with cocktails and report back how it goes.

Gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth and Benedictine.

Very citrus forward cocktail. I am not too much into lime juice based cocktails, but the wine aperitif and chartreuse seemed to Soften the acidic edge just enough…

Gin, yellow chartreuse, lillet blanc and lime juice.

Angel Face is a fairly old cocktail. Like many cocktails, it originated somewhere during the Prohibition era. Savoy Cocktail Book had documented this drink way back in 1930.

Since I made this with the Death’s Door gin, I came up with that quirky name. This has Gin, Apricot Brandy and Apple Brandy.