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In recent Doctor Who history, gravity mistakenly became mavity instead as Isaac Newton mis-hears the word as the Doctor crashes into his infamous apple tree.
Now there is a gin that uses apples from that very tree. It is really cool and makes me wish there was other famous trees that could have fruit used in spirits.
You can read about Newton’s Gin as well other lab experiments at the Cambridge Distillery right HERE.
We are starting to see the shoots of the Beachwood Distilling with a new cocktail menu at the Bixby Knolls location starting with rum, gin and (unfortunately) vodka too.
With many reviews of breweries, I give allowances for youth. Finding your footing is a process. And I will have to reserve some judgement until I can taste their spirits near but on first blush, the cocktails are pretty darn good.
I went with a classic Gin and Tonic but using the orange gin vs the botanical. I found it to be well in balance with citrus and gin and a light quinine touch to it. My beer and cocktail buddy Rich had two other gin cocktails, despite the allure of the special tiki glasses, and liked the Saturn and its constellation of ingredients over the lime tinged Gimlet.
I am excited to see how this spirits program develop.
This second report will be more spirited than the first. We head to 23rd Avenue and gin at Aria. A lovely little spot with all sort of cocktail accoutrements. You got to taste the gin plus the summer seasonal cocktail tasters including a preview of their upcoming G&T canned cocktail.
Then, more gin, over at Aviation. And, of course, the special July cocktail flight which was Weapon X themed. Deadpool drinks. Leaving out the jalapeno infused Aviation cocktail the rest were fun and weird and Marvel-ous.
Right down ( Wade ) Wilson Avenue is Brujos Brewing and their gothic-witchy theme. I like a brewery that leans into their theme and Brujos does. There is a pulpit of beer to order at as well as some serious collaborations which tells you the status of this new brewery. I had an IPA done with Goal Brewing in San Diego.
Lastly was a trip to Scotch Lodge in a random building in the basement. But there was a cellar of spirits there. I had an Old Fashioned but it was no ordinary drink. The bourbon was a blend of four bourbons. It was great and the atmosphere was tres chic.
More spirits as the drive sent us to Forest Grove and Sake One where I got the Happy Lotus Sake made with Eastern Gold hops. A very gentle drink but also pretty boozy at 14.8%. Their was a distributor tasting going on at the same time and I sorta wanted to hear their thoughts.
It was a hop, skip and jump to my college town of McMinnville and the Hotel Oregon of McMenamins. Two MC’s. My lunch was better than the beer which was supposed to be a rye DIPA but seemed more a slightly rye session ale.
From there we walked a couple blocks down 3rd Street to Acorn & Oak the wine bar of The Linfield University. So, I had to have a beer. A really good Helles Lager from local ForeLand Brewing.
The last stop was supposed to be a whisky distillery but the world’s longest train was in the way so an audible was called and we headed to the Emerald Room at Aimsir Distilling for a mega spirits taster tray and vegan dumplings. Aquavit, gin, vodka and bourbon too. Appropriate for Portland, my favorite was the Rose Gin.
It was inevitable. If there was a special Deadpool Aviation Gin bottle then there was going to be a Wolverine one as well. This will probably be hard to find and harder to find both.
Now, where is the Wrexham bottle?
When it comes to special edition spirits, I am not usually inclined to think twice about them if the label is the only difference between it and a lower priced standard version.
And as much as Ryan Reynolds is associated with Aviation Gin (whose space in Portland is really cool and should be on your gin bucket list), I don’t know if a Deadpool Gin is cool, now if it was a Sloe Gin, mind changed.
When I think of Alaskan Brewery, I do not envision lush tropics or gin but the brewery does have a Rainforest Gin & Tonic and in my experience, to date, G&Ts are the most consistent RTDs out there.
On my latest visit to Portland, I went to the Freeland Distillery and quite liked their gins. I missed out on trying their latest though, an Old Tom. It is their Dry Gin barrel-aged “for 6 months in hand-selected whiskey barrels from women-owned Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.” I do like their whiskey and story as well.
Also, “This exclusive release marries the art of distillation with a cause—supporting women entrepreneurs. AND $5 of each bottle supports Re:Her.”
That is a win, win and win.
Time to talk gin again bit this time with both a Belgian and beer twist to it as Lindemans, known for their sweeter fruited lambics and some harder to find distinctly Belgian beers also has a gin! And it is made from Old Kriek distillate!
You know that I will be seeing how I can get myself some.
I have been intrigued by barrel-aged gins and even have bought a couple but both were lightly aged and on not pungent wood, as it were. That changes with the new releases from The Botanist.
One is Islay Cask Aged and the second is Islay Cask Rested Gin. The latter “has been matured in cask for a minimum of 6 months, and Aged has been matured for a minimum of 3 years.”
The Botanist has a big selection of botanicals that just might meld with an Islay cask.
Starting the year with a Gin book that I heard about on the Food Programme podcast, The Gin Tasting Course by Anthony Gladman.
Two big reasons why I liked this book. One – it was British and world-centric. The U.S. gets a couple mentions but this book took me around Europe to Australia and South America too. Second – the book is centered on flavors. So instead of a section on Scottish gins or Spanish gins, you got classic gins, umami gins, citrus gins. Much easier way into the spirit in my opinion.
I also like the illustrations used. Bright and colorful without losing helpfulness in the mix. The cocktail list was tightly curated and actually seem doable for a gin enthusiast. On the downside, some font size choices made the book a little hard to read.
Gladman also accomplishes the feat of being opinionated while not being off putting about it or pedantic. To borrow the I would like to have a drink with him construct, I would like to have a G&T with him.
Books like these invariably rise or fall on the featured gins chosen. Here is where Gladman shines. His descriptions have repetition but it is due to the main required ingredients and less to adjectives used. I came away with a goodly long list of gins to be on the lookout for.