August New Product Roundup
Chilgrove Dry Gin
Using grapes to produce the neutral spirit with which the botanicals are distilled to produce gin is nothing new, G’Vine has been around for a while for example. It is a relatively uncommon source of base spirit though, as is the use of savoury and wild water mint in the botanical mix alongside juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, sweet orange, bitter orange, orris root, liquorice, grains of paradise and lime peel.
Despite being privately owned by a small company, it is one of an increasing number of ‘small batch’ gins to actually be produced by the decidedly large-scale Thames Distillers. The grape origins are unbeknown to the nose and palate, with this gin standing out predominantly for a pointedly earthy and warm-smelling aroma, balanced with the headiness of citrus and oiliness of juniper. The palate too is deep, earthy and robust. A pleasant change from the citrus-dominated profiles of many gins.
Woody, but with a slightly jammy character too. Liquorice, coriander, angelica and more of the classics, this has a great texture and just enough spice. The savoury and wild water mint aren’t standing out particularly, but this is no great loss for the gin is a solid one in any case.
Kold Cocktails
As the home-cocktail trend continues to rise, so do the number of products available to cash in on the average punter’s preponderance to convenience over effort.
One such example is the ‘pouch’ cocktail that you pop in the freezer overnight, ready to squeeze out into your glass in the form of a slightly (these are pretty low abv) boozy slushy. Which is a shame, since there are several bars making names for themselves through their cocktail slushies, and seeking to replicate the results here would be an excellent idea.
Currently Kold offer Cosmopolitan, Mojito and Lychee Martini flavours, all apparently using natural ingredients and premium spirits. The Cosmo wasn’t tasted, but it is peculiar that this cocktail continues to be so popular among the ready to drink crowd, since its Sex and the City heyday is now so far behind it.
The choice of Mojito is of course much more understandable since it continues to condemn many a bartender to endless hours of muddling and churning every night of the week. Experience shows that aromatic ingredients such as mint and lime do not freeze well at all though, and sure enough the Kold version is little different. The bitter flavours of over-processed mint dominate the fragrant top-notes and the lime too has not retained its freshly-squeezed freshness.
The Lychee Martini by contrast principally offers the jammy fruit flavours that accompany juices reconstituted from concentrate, as these are. Neither are terrible, but it’s hard to see why you would repurchase after trying once.
The Real McCoy 5 Year Rum
This rum is part of a trio ranging from 3-12 years in age, named after a prohibition-era rum runner whose products were named the Real McCoy in recognition of their quality. A blend of 5 year old Bajan rum aged in barrels that are re-toasted and reassembled on the island, the rum offers aromas of cinder toffee, orange, toasted almonds, banana toffee, and dried coconut.
Quite the medley, although the palate is not to be outdone and offers sweet, chewy toffee with vanilla, creme caramel, nutty butter, dried figs, and hint of clove. This rum has been smartly aged and works exceedingly well in mixed drinks.
The Duppy Share Caribbean Rum
Never mind the Angels, it’s the Duppies you’ve really got to watch out for. According to local folklore, the duppies steal the best of the rums at night when the distiller’s back is turned.
This rum is a blend of 5 year aged from the FourSquare distillery in Barbados and 3 year aged from Worthy Park in Jamaica, blended in the Netherlands and bottled in the UK.
Aromas of pineapple, clove, sage, butterscotch, treacle, turnip, and dried mango are the highlight. The palate meanwhile is marginally less interesting; relatively dry, it is a grower as you head towards the finish.
Unsurprisingly, there is a healthy dose of aromatic esters from the Jamaican rum which at times make for a challenging play-off with a leathery and spicy base featuring, nutmeg and old raisins. Not so much yellow fruit as the nose and generally a somewhat murky feel to it.
Magner’s Orchard Berry
This is what happens when you let marketers lead your product development and chase profits at the expense of all else. This luminous red liquid, so offensively artificial that if it were a child’s drink you’d want it banned, is as far from proper cider as it is possible to get without requiring a hazchem warning on the label.
Artificially tongue-stripping chemical sweetness masks an equally unpleasant ‘fruit’ flavour.
Frankly, it is a disgrace that such blatant profiteering is permitted in a civilised society. Avoid at all costs, this is disgusting.
Pickleback
The trouble with drinking shots of whiskey, is that they taste of whiskey. Which for some people, weirdly, is a bad thing.
Follow the whiskey with a shot of pickle brine and as if by magic, you can no longer taste the whiskey. Sadly what you can taste is pickle brine, in all its spiced-acid glory. Which means that the fact someone has seen fit to attempt to establish a business out of selling pickle brine precisely for this purpose should cause you to be very suspicious indeed of the human race.
Prejudices against this most peculiar of drinking rituals aside, the pickle brine in question is a decent attempt. Dill pickles are fermented with ginger, mustard seeds, dill, garlic and dark sugar. The result is ravishingly acidic, but not burningly-so and the spicing is sufficiently subtle so as to allow the pickle flavour to shine through.
Firestarter Vodka
Distilled from winter wheat in Moldova, and filtered five times (who distils so badly they need to filter it five times?!) this vodka isn’t going to be winning any taste accolades, although its fire extinguisher-styled bottle is admittedly striking.
A creamy aroma gives rise to an equally creamy palate at first at least, yet this vodka quickly descends into a very neutral territory perked up only by the lip-tingling spice of cracked black pepper.
Written by the Cocktail Geek Geek
Posted: August 28, 2014