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.

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.

The literature on this gin is as bland as the gin itself is. First off, I could not find where the distillery is exactly. All that materials that I could find – and that was not a lot, mind you – said that is is made in France and then imported by a company in California. There is more material on the internet about the company in California that designed the bottle label than there is about the pedigree or the uniqueness of the gin.

It is certainly of the London Dry variety. And the juniper is noticeable. It also has citrus and coriander that you can get in the finish. The official website of this gin claims “hints of cucumber”. I have to admit, I missed all those hints. This is nothing like a Scottish Hendricks gin or even an American Uncle Val Botanical.

On the whole it is a very middle of the path gin. Rather tame at that. I would suggest using it in cocktails where there is something else that will render a stronger nose and palette. e.g. mix it with Campari and Sweet Vermouth and have a Negroni perhaps.

In keeping with the theme of cocktails made of gin and apricot brandy, today’s cocktail for the evening is a Caroli. The only extra ingredient over and top of the gin and apricot brandy is orange bitters. (I used blood orange bitters for this particular one)

One thing I did not realize is the number of cocktails that have gin and apricot brandy!! Nearly 50 of them!!

Day before, I had tinkered with a Barnum. Yesterday, mixed up a Wembly Cocktail. Together with gin amd apricot brandy, this one has apple brandy as well as dry vermouth!

This is the cocktail from yesterday. Used Barr Hill Gin, apricot brandy, lemon juice and angostura bitters…

A very unique gin. And while I am not easy to use superlative words when it comes to any gin, this one absolutely ranks as Best in America for me. Unless there is some other American Gin that I have not tasted yet that might top this. And I have had quite a few …

First, just the uniqueness in its simplicity. While most gins vie with each other to compete with all sort of esoteric herbs and botanicals, this one simply has two that are added to the base that is made from corn. First is juniper of course – else it technically cannot be called gin. The other one – and this is really really unique – honey.

The honey is not actually put during the distillation – it is added after. And the distillation is done in a still directly heated by fire. Which is relatively uncommon. For efficiency purposes, steam heated stills are far more common today.

Did I mention this is made in Vermont? Hardwick, Vermont. Where a beekeeper (Todd Hardee) and a career distiller (Ryan Christiansen) put this idea together. Actually, it was Todd’s idea (who by then owned a lot of farm and beehives). He hired Ryan. And then many years later, Ryan bought out Todd. Todd simply bought more land with that and makes all the herbs and botanicals and corn today that go to make the alcohols in Ryan’s distillery.

Here is one kicker about this gin. You are not going to find a lot of consistency. In fact, bottle to bottle, the colors might be slightly different as well as the nose and the palette. You wonder why, right? Think about it – what is honey made of? The nectar that the bees collect from the flowers. And it all depends upon which flowers they collect it from. So, if you harvest the honey in summer, you will get very different floral nose than if you take a batch of gin that has honey harvested in fall or spring!!

In any case, because of the honey, the viscosity of this gin is very different than other gins and you will see a distinct white cloudy color to the gin when you put ice – or even tonic water to it.

That alone made it very cool and unique to me. If you have not tried this gin before, I would highly recommend it.

This is the last cocktail with The Botanist. Gin, lime juice, sugar and lime juice with plenty of ice – great afternoon cocktail for outside on a hot day like this…