Maturity? I guess

[demiurgent]

There must be something to the whole "mature palate" thing.

I used to hate sushi with a passion. And then one year, I tried some with Eagle and loved it. I've loved it ever since.

And, like all sane (well, young sane) people, I hated gin. Tasted like expensive paint thinner.

And now, I'm totally all about the gin.

My favorite is the well made gimlet. A well made gimlet is refreshing and good tasting and makes you feel ready to be beaten down by gangsters before you give them the business. I should mention Philip Marlow drank gimlets so you understand why.

Tonight, I gave the gin and tonic a try. The gin is Bombay Sapphire. I'm a big fan of Bombay Sapphire. That it has water from "Lake Vyrnwy" in Wales is just a bonus. And the tonic's supposedly one of the best in the world -- Q tonic, which has the tang that one expects from a tonic water made in Brooklyn.

Q Tonic also has the advantage of being sweetened with agave nectar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Agave nectar's got a much lower glycemic index than sugar (and way lower than high fructose corn syrup, which is a glycemic bomb) and so it's way less likely this refreshing drink will cause a dumping reaction.

Okay. I realize I'm using quality ingredients, but I now officially get it. The gin and tonic is a goodness. It won't displace the gimlet (and I have the makings for that too), but two parts gin to five parts tonic? Improves both.

Man, what happens next, I wonder?

Comments

Pegu

[sben.livejournal.com]

I'm late to this party, but next up is the pegu cocktail:

1½ oz. gin
½ oz. Cointreau
½ oz. fresh lime juice
2–3 dashes Angostura bitters

You may substitute a generic triple sec for the Cointreau. If you must. (Though cut back on the amount slightly, as Cointreau is a little less sweet than others.)

Do not, under any circumstances, use anything but freshly-squeezed lime juice, from a lime that you sliced open yourself. Rose's is exactly what you want for a gimlet, and exactly what you don't want for a pegu.

See a copy of Hotwired's Cocktail article on the pegu (http://web.archive.org/web/20000523021620/hotwired.lycos.com/cocktail/99/15/index3a.html), courtesy of the Wayback Machine.

Re: Pegu

[cdave]

Later still, but with a British twist:

"Sir Winston Churchill made martinis by pouring gin into a pitcher while glancing briefly at a bottle of vermouth across the room"

Re: Pegu

[(Anonymous)]

There's also a story of a Los Alamos group that decided to make martinis by pouring gin into glasses and standing downwind of a vermouth bottle carefully placed on a thermonuclear bomb...