New subject: [wine] Ingredients Wine Dinner - thur - May 10th RESERVATIONS NEEDED

3 May 2007

Greetings,
Looks like (some of us?) we're taking another week off.
I'm including an article on Gin from the times.
Strong marks for Plymouth, Seagrams and Gordons.
C,
J
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" &lt;jellings(a)me.umn.edu&gt;
-----
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:26:50 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" &lt;jellings(a)me.umn.edu&gt;
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: [wine]  Ingredients Wine Dinner  - thur - May 10th]
Just wanted to get this out, onto your calendars.
Limit is 12.
There has been some pre-selling in order to set the date.
Joyce
Russ/Sue
Lori
Alicia
Jim/Louise
Sheila
----- Forwarded message from jhegstrom(a)csom.umn.edu -----
Subject: Ingredients Wine Dinner  - thur - May 10th
To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu, jellings(a)me.umn.edu
From: jhegstrom(a)csom.umn.edu
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 09:05:07 -0500
Jim
I've set up a dinner for the Thursday night wine group up at Ingredients,
which is right across the street from Ursula's in White Bear Lake.  Cost is
$55 which includes meal, tax and tip.  Wine of the night is pinot noir.
I need to let Ingredients know about numbers Tuesday the 8th.  I was
thinking about sending the announcement out around May 1st....or would you
like to do it?
If you want you could put a short sentence in your next group e-mail which
mentions Ingredients dinner on May 10th.  I'll also call Bob and let him
know.
JJ
Tempura shrimp, Mango and spicy chorizo
goat cheese and mush tart, arugala 25 year old balsamic
roasted duck breast figs and braised cabbage
baby rack of lamb, rattitulli with rosemary jus
Flourless choc cake, Bananas and carmel
May 2, 2007
Spirits of The Times
No, Really, It Was Tough: 4 People, 80 Martinis
By ERIC ASIMOV
HAVE I told you about my 80-martini lunch?
I exaggerate. Actually, four of us shared 80 martinis, so it was really a 20-martini
lunch.
Frankly, once you get past the first 12 martinis, it might as well be 80. But it was worth
it.
The occasion was the spirits panel.s martini tasting. Florence Fabricant and I were joined
by Audrey Saunders, bartender extraordinaire and an owner of the Pegu Club on West Houston
Street, and Pete Wells, editor of the Dining section, who has written extensively about
drinks.
The subject was supposed to be solely gin. But because gin is often consumed in a martini,
we decided to taste the gin as expressed through the world.s most famous (and perhaps
least understood) cocktail. We discovered that while great martinis require great gins,
great gins don.t necessarily make great martinis.
The gin category has exploded in the last decade, with distillers offering unusual riffs
on the classic theme. Some of these make for striking gins, although they struck out as
martinis. Our task was to sort out which gins produced classic martinis, which added
welcome nuances and which really ought to seek another line of cocktail.
Before we discuss the findings, though, we need to clear up a little matter. It.s come to
my attention that some people believe martinis are made with vodka. I hate to get snobbish
about it, but a martini should be made with gin or it.s not a martini. Call it a vodkatini
if you must, but not a martini. Gin and vodka have as much in common hierarchically as a
president and a vice president. Vodka can fill in for gin from time to time and might even
be given certain ceremonial duties of its own, but at important moments you need the real
thing. Vodka generally makes a poor substitute for gin in a martini or any other gin
cocktail.
The panel found common ground here. Each of us is partial to the classic martini made with
gin, although Audrey was sensitive to the desires of her clientele.
.You have to revisit which generation is drinking the martini,. she said. .We might be
classicists, but is the newer generation?.
Still, after perhaps 8 or 10 martinis, Audrey fessed up, referring at one point to .a
generation lobotomized by vodka..
Indeed, gin is more of a thinking person.s spirit. Vodka is neutral in aroma and flavor,
which is also how gin begins life. But where vodka stays neutral, gin is infused with
botanicals . a witch.s pantry of roots, berries, herbs, dried fruits and spices .
dominated by the piney, breezy aroma of juniper berries. Other common botanicals include
angelica, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, lemon peel, licorice, fennel and ginger. It is
the closely guarded combination of botanicals that makes each gin distinctive.
The dividing line between vodka and gin has always been the addition of juniper to gin.
But among the spirits sold as gin today, some have reduced juniper to a secondary
component while others seem to have dispensed with it altogether. We found that cardamom
was prominent in quite a few of the 20 gins we had stirred into martinis.
.You see cardamom over and over,. Audrey said. .It.s exciting but you have to guard the
category or you.ll just be drinking flavored vodkas..
Speaking of guarding the category, let us now speak of the martini itself. Daunted at the
prospect of mixing 80 cocktails, we handed that task over to Allen Katz, a mixologist who
consults with Southern Wine and Spirits and with Martha Stewart Living Radio. Mr. Katz set
a few parameters: the martinis would be stirred, not shaken; we would sample them as he
made them so they would all be fresh; and they would include vermouth.
This last is a touchy subject among martini drinkers, many of whom have reduced vermouth.s
role to no more than waving an unopened bottle in the direction of the glass.
.With the exception of a few artisan bars and restaurants, most people might get a 9-to-1
ratio, or just gin,. Audrey said.
A martini is also not a martini without vermouth. What is a cocktail but a blend of
disparate elements into a harmonious new whole? We used Noilly Prat Original French Dry
vermouth in a proportion of five parts gin to one part vermouth, perhaps a bit more gin
than might have been ideal (try 4-to-1), but we wanted to make sure that the gin was
featured prominently.
A century ago the typical martini recipe called for orange bitters. Most great cocktails
do require at least three ingredients. But as we.re already being rigid on the vodka
issue, I won.t press the case.
Let.s get to the tasting. In our martinis, we looked for balance, persistence and
character. A martini without balance cannot be elegant, and a martini ought to be a model
of elegance. By persistence I mean flavors that linger long enough to savor, intrigue and
refresh, a combination that demands another sip. Too little persistence, and there.s no
intrigue. Too much, and it won.t refresh.
Our favorite martini gin, Plymouth English Gin, could not have been more stylish and
graceful. Plymouth has the classic juniper-based gin profile, yet it is uncommonly subtle
and smooth. Still, it is assertive, its complexity emerging slowly but distinctly, the
proverbial fist in a velvet glove.
By contrast, our No. 2 and No. 3 gins emphasized power. The Junipero, made in small
quantities by the distilling branch of the Anchor brewery in San Francisco, came on strong
with the traditional gin flavors of juniper and citrus, hitting all the right notes,
though a little self-consciously.
The No. 3 gin, Cadenhead.s Old Raj from Scotland, at 110 proof, or 55 percent alcohol, was
by far the most powerful gin we tasted: Tanqueray and Tanqueray No. 10 at 94.6 proof were
the next highest. But while Old Raj packed a punch, its muscularity came across as bright
and in control.
Two standbys of the American cocktail cabinet fared well as martinis. Seagram.s Extra Dry
came in at No. 4. We found it surprisingly complex in the glass, with fruit, herbal and
gingery spice notes, yet it didn.t stray far from the gin ideal, while Gordon.s London Dry
adhered to the straight and narrow, with a slight emphasis of spicy cardamom and nutmeg
aromas.
Tanqueray London Dry made a classic though quiet martini. Its livelier cousin, Tanqueray
No. 10, with its emphasis on citrus flavors, may work well neat or with tonic, but was
discordant in a martini.
In fact, in the context of a dry martini, few of the newer, hipper gins worked. Aviation
is a popular gin out of Portland, Ore., but its predominant flavors of wintergreen,
vanilla and anise had no place in a martini. Nor did the menthol and peppermint in G.Vine,
a new French gin, the pronounced melon fruitiness in Hamptons, made in Minnesota, or the
cinnamon emphasis in No. 209 out of San Francisco.
.What was really striking was how un-dry some of these were . like bathing in canned fruit
or a postnasal saccharine drip,. Pete said.
We didn.t reject all of the less conventional gins. With its floral aromas, Hendrick.s
from Scotland seemed to work from a different palette of botanicals, and it made for a
lively, colorful martini. Bombay Sapphire was sort of jazzy . a martini that intrigued
without really hanging together. Both Quintessential and Martin Miller.s hit odd notes,
though they made pretty good martinis.
We each had a favorite that didn.t make the top 10. I liked Citadelle, a new-wave French
gin. I felt its unconventional citrus flavors merged well with evergreen aromas, but the
others disagreed.
Likewise, Audrey was pleased with that old standby Beefeater, while I found the flavors
indistinct. Florence, who adores Tanqueray, liked the Tanqueray No. 10 as well, while Pete
was more inclined to the G.Vine than the rest of us.
Still, the disagreements never really got out of hand. When you.ve just shared 80
martinis, you.re inclined to smooth things over.
Tasting Report: I.ll Take My Juniper Berries With Personality
BEST VALUE
Plymouth English Gin $22 *** 1/2
82.4 proof 1 liter
Subtle and elegant with crisp, lingering flavors of citrus and juniper: a martini in a
dinner jacket. (Importer: Absolut Spirits, New York)
Junipero Anchor Distilling $35 ***
United States 86 proof 750 milliliters
Smooth, clean and very dry with assertive, classic flavors of juniper and citrus: a
martini with one eyebrow raised.
Cadenhead.s Old Raj Dry Gin $50 ***
Scotland 110 proof 750 milliliters
Powerful, muscular and hot, but in a good way: a martini with a punch.
(Preiss Imports, Ramona, Calif.)
Seagram.s Extra Dry $15 ** 1/2
80 proof 750 milliliters
Surprisingly complex, with fruit, ginger, juniper and citrus flavors: a martini with a
thesaurus.
Tanqueray London Dry Gin $22 ** 1/2
England 94.6 proof 750 milliliters
Crisp with a hint of mint and juniper flavors: a martini peeking out from librarian.s
glasses. (Diageo, Norwalk, Conn.)
Hendrick.s $40 ** 1/2
Scotland 88 proof 750 milliliters
Unusual, intriguing floral aromas: a martini in a Hawaiian shirt.
(William Grant & Sons, New York)
Gordon.s London Dry $12 ** 1/2
United States 80 proof 750 milliliters
Gentle and harmonious with cardamom and nutmeg aromas: a martini in a gray flannel suit.
Bombay Sapphire London Dry $30 **
England 94 proof 1 liter
Jangly flavors of mint, herbs and citrus, with detectable alcoholic heat: a neurotic
martini. (Bombay Spirits, Miami)
Quintessential London Dry $30 **
England 80 proof 750 milliliters
Smooth and direct, but with an odd, bittersweet flavor: a martini with a blemish. (White
Rock Distilleries, Lewiston, Me.)
Martin Miller.s London Dry $32 **
England 80 proof 750 milliliters
Soft and slightly sweet, with floral aromas, but not a hint of juniper: a martini in pedal
pushers. (Skyy Spirits, New York)
WHAT THE STARS MEAN:
Ratings range from zero to four stars and reflect the panel.s reaction to the gins, which
were tasted with names concealed. The panelists this week are Eric Asimov; Florence
Fabricant; Pete Wells, editor of the Dining section; and Audrey Saunders, an owner of the
Pegu Club in Manhattan. The tasted gins represent a selection generally available in good
retail shops, restaurants and over the Internet. Prices are those paid in liquor shops in
the New York region.
Tasting coordinator: Bernard Kirsch

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