By Addison H
Courtesy of the author
The mid-Atlantic has recently come into its own in terms of winemaking, and the DC-area in particular has seen a resurgence in brewing, but (legal) distilling has been somewhat slower to follow. However, as consumer tastes have migrated away from mass-produced libations, more and more micro-distilleries have been established in the area.
By fedward
You may recall from previous years that July is Rickey Month. July’s over, but tonight the DC Craft Bartenders Guild wraps things up for 2011 with its Rickey Month Party at Jack Rose.
Finalists, announced via email on Friday, are after the jump, along with a few tasting notes from our team on the ones we tried.
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By Jenn Larsen
"Gin Flight, New Heights" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr
The first spirit I ever tasted was gin. It was that obligatory illicit shot from your parents’ liquor cabinet, the “hmm, what’s this all about?” experimentation. And – UGH – that first sip was enough to put me off “Mother’s Ruin” for life. For years afterwards the smell would provoke an instant reaction of, well, ick.
It’s unfortunate, really, as gin’s complexity is overlooked by many like me whose introduction was less than ideal. But this lady with a past (I love the old Hogarth engravings of depraved Gin Lane in the 1700’s) is beloved by mixologists and enjoying a revival.
Case in point – New Heights restaurant has turned their downstairs bar into a gin joint, complete with a “Gin Manifesto” menu and gin flights.
Wait, flights of gin? I just about fainted dead away when Rebecca first alerted us to this. In order to make it through a tasting without a PTSD attack, I needed back-up. It wasn’t hard to convince a gin-swilling friend – let’s call him Hogarth – to come along and help me get over the psychological trauma of my childhood sip, and enjoy a historic cocktail along the way.