This is a rather uncommon gin cocktail. It is a close cousin of the very traditional Martinez. Instead of maraschino liqueur, the twist in this drink is the Benedictine. This drink was created in the middle of last century in Sylvia Hotel overlooking the English Bay in Vancouver.
The ingredients include gin, sweet vermouth, Benedictine and orange bitters.
This is a gin from Belgium. In fact, the distillers – Filliers – originally were farmers who diversified into distilling genever (he original grandfather of modern day gin) back in the 1800s. It was in 1928 that they moved to making gin.
The gin has 28 different botanicals and herbs (thus the number in the name). Most of the ingredients are kept secret. However, they do let you know that other than the standard botanicals like juniper and cardamoms and such, they have Belgian hops and Belgian Angelica roots while the allspice is sourced from Jamaica and the oranges are sourced from Spain.
Overall, very enjoyable gin. I liked it neat better than with tonic water. Although at 92 proof, the tonic water will not drown your Filliers. The nose is distinctly citrusy (you cannot escape the effect of oranges). The palette is more creamy and orange-y (which is what Iiked). There is the slight bitter after taste from the hops and finally the finish has the distinct juniper breath. Very smooth.
What good would an Old Tom like Hayman’s be if not tried in a Tom Collins? The gin absolutely lived up to its promise. The cocktail itself is very soothing – especially in the warm evenings now in Atlanta.
This is made from gin, fresh lemon juice, fine sugar (I took the easy way of using simple syrup) and soda water. Usually garnished with an orange peel and a cherry.
To refresh our memories, a Old Tom Gin was the middle stage in the evolution of modern day gin (most prevalent style being London Dry gin) from the original forefather of gin – Genever which was typically aged in a barrel. Old Toms, unlike London Dry was marked by their slight sweetness which was added during the distillation process.
While Hayman Distillers in UK was originally founded in 1820, it really came of being in 1863 (the year is marked on the bottle) when the family the runs it still took it over. It is one of the oldest continuously running distilleries in UK. Interestingly, Old Tom Gins had completely died in the 20th century. Towards the beginning of this century, this was revived upon request from many bartenders who were looking to diversify the repertoire of cocktails.
Made from a base of grain, this Old Tom Gin has juniper, almond, orange peels, lemon peels, lavender, ginger, coriander and Licorice roots in it.
Hayman’s Old Tom starts with a flowery (lavender) and citrus (lemon and orange) nose. To the palate, it is clearly sweeter than most gins and the junipers and spice start coming out if you hold it for a few seconds. Has a considerable length – mostly sweet – in the finish.
On the Upper East Side of New York, there used to be a bar called JBird Cocktails. (I think on 75th Street). It is permanently closed now. But before that, there used to be a bartender called Jason Littrell (who has multiple bars now). The Maddow was an invention of Jason and comprises of Hayman Old Tom Gin, both kinds of vermouths, elderflower liqueur and a dash of whiskey bitters. Jason’s particular style for the garnishing of this cocktail was to take the citrus peel (mostly lemon and just squeeze the oil on the top and/or rub it along the rim).
Smooth and refreshing drink.
This week was Quantum Spatial’s Annual Partner Event at the beautiful resort of Osthoff on Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin. As the outgoing CEO, this was one of my last formal duties as the transition to our new leader and my personal friend of three and a half years – Bob Hickey – begins. It was great meeting our partners and thanking them for all the business they enable.
Like I had said during my last year’s event, while I have always enjoyed the formal duties of being a CEO and certainly very proud of what the team has done (some would even suggest – in spite of me 🙂 ) in the last three and a half years, the real thrill was always in the informal perks of the job. Getting to know the backgrounds of my team members, their kids, their personal aspirations, the personal history of my peers in the industry, picking up some sharp one-liners from Bob and so on. But the best perk of all was being the official mixologist at our Partner Event. I truly get to know each and every one of them as individuals, their struggles and dreams as they build their own businesses and has almost always inspired me to try out some new ideas.
This year, keeping in mind that it was going to be a cooler day than last year, the theme was Old Fashioned. And we tipped our hats to our team mates in Lexington, Atlanta and Sheboygan by having three varieties of Old Fashioned with – Bourbon (Kentucky), Southern Comfort (South) and Brandy (if you did not know, this is the prevailing Wisconsin style of making an Old Fashioned).
How many times does one get to put one’s personal passion and professional passion together? Thank you Quantum Spatial and all the team mates from QSI for letting me sign off in a passionate way!!
Continuing with the theme of experimenting with gin and apricot brandy. This one is so far the best of the lot. Gin, Apricot Brandy, Galliano, Cointreau and Lemon juice. So many ingredients make it very complex. The nose is still that of the gin but the palette is taken over by the citrus (both lemon and orange). Garnished with a maraschino cherry.
