/mix/ - Mixology and cocktails general

[Anonymous No.18856791]

What is everyone making, drinking, buying, or trying this week?

[Anonymous No.18856795]

Lemonade. Making a syrup and gonna leave it for like a month to see how it goes.

[Anonymous No.18856796]

Not-unpopular opinions:
Highballs aren't cocktails
A "vodka martini" replaces some, but never all, of the gin.
My house is not a public bar and my guests are not customers.
An expensive bottle is an investment. Its deliciousness is highly resistant to inflation.

[Anonymous No.18856799]

>>18856791
I bought some Fresca and grapefruit, and have some samples of gin left still, so I'll be trying some variants on the Finnish Long Drink (approximation) tonight. If I have the energy I'll also do some dry martinis as I picked up some "new" glassware from the thrift store this week.
https://theginisin.com/articles/the-story-of-the-finnish-long-drink/

[Anonymous No.18856865]

>>18856791
I mixed whiskey, sparking applejuice, and ice, it was okay. I had 2 but now just drinking whiskey in the rocks

[Anonymous No.18856870]

>>18856799
Based, that sounds like a nice mixie

[Anonymous No.18856935]

I've been collecting 50ml of gins around town (since there's no gin tastings) and did a flight over two nights last week, carefully measuring out enough to sample neat, pink, and sweet and dry martinis.

Maybe it's just me but Tanqueray tasted awful in every way while Gordon's was absolutely pleasant -- but I see online plenty of people like Tanqueray as a cheap London Dry. New Amsterdam's London Dry should be avoided at all costs -- it has strong ethanol on the nose that persists in the taste, so if you're looking for a London Dry to mix, just get Gordon's (or Kirkland, which I've had and is also good, but Gordon's is the classic and often the same price).

For everything else I am just agreeing with reviewers: New Amsterdam's contemporary was quite nice -- I can see why people like it. Bombay Sapphire is what it is -- it's great in everything, and it bridges classic LD and contemporary. I also tested Damrak which is a contemporary Dutch gin that is... frankly hard to distinguish from Bombay Sapphire -- so I'm glad I got it at a closeout sale.

I also impulse-bought an El Tesoro Anejo at a really good deal yesterday. But I had tasted their reposado recently and wasn't impressed (even though everyone seems to love it). And this one too is just not what I was looking for in an anejo, so, disappointment. I think I just have to give it to a friend who won't mind an open bottle.

[Anonymous No.18856956]

>>18856935

[Anonymous No.18857598]

>>18856791
I like martinis. Not sure if the fancy gins are worth it. I also like scotch & I saw the botanist islay gin, is it worth using something fancier like that in a martini? Or is it better straight? (Also if you have any gin suggestions for martinis that'd be good).

[Anonymous No.18858431]

>>18857598
I'm not really that experienced, but martinis of course can be very sensitive to the quality of the gin, especially when you go very dry. That said, the classic London dry is something like Gordon's (or Bombay Classic or similar, all of which are very cheap), which is juniper-forward and is the profile that is called for in most martini recipes, so something like that should probably be your workhorse. It's just a matter of whether or not you just don't like the taste of the juniper-forward classic gins, at which point something like Bombay Sapphire (a bit more expensive) might be your better pick for a dry martini.

And I think New Amsterdam Stratusphere Original is a perfectly fine representation of contemporary with a very low juniper profile for mixing that calls for that (and it's very cheap, though it's a rather flavor weak overall). If you like gin (and flavored vodkas to a certain extent) in general the craft gins are quite good), but otherwise you may find satisfaction in only the occasional nip.

However, a good amount of martini variants and other classic cocktails will call for old tom gin, of which Haymans is around the cheapest in the US and a fine brand, but it will be more expensive than the others. Then there's Plymouth which from what I've heard does its own thing, and then there's genever and barrel-aged gin which are their own thing with their own cocktails and can substitute for whiskeys and the like. These latter types are all typically in your $30-$40+ bottle range, with aging going a bit higher.

[Anonymous No.18858488]

>>18856935
tanqueray is awful you're right. it's only drinkable in a g&t or gin & orange juice. my go to cheap gin is beefeater