MARTIN MILLER`S GIN & SPONSORED TDN

When i first tasted Martin Miller´s gin i found it had a special flavor and i really like it, it has a smooth and a bit earthy-bitter juniper flavour paired with an overall pleasant spicinress and slightly bright citrus and herbal flavours in between.

There´s one thing i specifically like with good gins and its that you can make such refreshing cocktails as gin contains both fruity, citrusy, earthy and spicy elements.

Actually gin is flavored alcohol – but it isn`t that simple.The alchol must be re-distilled and made from grains of the highest quality, there´s a lot of herbs, spices, roots and citrus peels involved which are picked from all over the globe and individually treated. All done by recipes kept secret to only a few of the makers.

And then you have the distillation which is a whole process of its own.Martin Miller`s gin is distilled by a single pot still (as opposed to most gin`s using three pots) using only the heart of the distillate, discarding the rest which isn`t re-distilled.This single pot still which seems to make the flavours more concentrated is called Angela and was made in 1904.

This is the gin that uses pure soft glacier water from Iceland because this water is said to be cleaner, softer and full of life force. I find that pretty amazing that they actually ship the gin all the way to Iceland! There its blended with more neutral spirit and glacier water, then its shipped away again.

There´s no doubt that this is very soft and i wouldn`t mind trying that glacier water sometimes just to see how it tastes by itself, i just don´t know how a bottle of pure glacier water from island would reach me unless i go there myself.

As for steeping the herbs and spices the old traditional methods are used where the botanicals are steeped overnight in spirit and hot water and this gentle maceration is what is needed to create a premium gin.The dried citrus peels are also separately distilled in order to achieve a brighter citrus flavour.

The dried bitter seville orange rind is the most important botanical after juniper in gin making and personally i love the bright seville orange flavour – it has such a refreshing aromatic aroma, and my homemade seville orange syrup always goes fast.In Martin Miller`s gin lemon and lime rinds are also used.

These are the botanicals used as far as i know, surely there are some secrets too:

Juniper, seville orange, lime, lemon, coriander, angelica, liqorice root, cassia bark and to bind it all together and impart a floral aromatic flavour – Florentine iris.

I try sometimes to make just one cocktail in my posts but mostly it doesn´t work, and that is simply because i enjoy making them so much! So here are four, at least its not ten! three of them was submitted to the TDN. Unfortunately they are all quite similar, that is because i like the light and fresh style of drinks with gin, like gin&tonic.

GRAIN OF PARADISE  G&T (GOP)

1.5 oz Martin Miller`s gin
0.5 oz GOP syrup
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
Top with a good quality tonic water

Build in glass over ice and garnish with lime wedge or if you can find it – Grain of Paradise leaves.

This is a very fresh G&T with a slight peppery note, the flavor of Martin Miller´s gin shines through just perfectly – serve it with the glass loaded with large ice cubes!  This is for the moment my favorite cocktail.

GRAIN OF PARADISE  SYRUP

Make a simple syrup using 1:1 water and raw sugar, add a handful lightly toasted grains of paradise seeds and boil lightly for 2 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes, cool and strain into a clean bottle.

The grains of paradise seeds adds a slight earthy hot peppery aromatic flavour.The plant is related to cardamom and surely looks very similar but with thinner leaves, also reminding very much of the ginger plant. Its also called Guinea pepper or Melegueta pepper.

GOP`s are found (at least here) in speciality stores and by health or herbal medecine suppliers.To substitute GOP you may use a mixture of pepper and a little ginger.

GIN CHILI

2oz Martin Miller`s gin
Juice of ½ lime
piece of red chili
0.5oz simple syrup
1 stalk fresh mint
Tonic.

Muddle chili, lime, mint and simple. Add gin, shake and strain and pour into ice filled glass.Top with tonic.Garnish one large red chili and mint or other green leaf.

MARTIN MILLER´S SPONSORED TDN

As a grand finale after much gin in the mixoloseum chat room we were sponsored by Martin Miller´s gin this last thursday and there were many drinks parading. Part of the crew were doing TDN live from Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco.

This was the announcement:

TDN – Martin Miller’s Gin  Thursday Drink Night has had a love affair with gin lately, and I’m pleased to say it’s ending on a sultry note. Martin Miller’s gin is like the triple cream offering on the cheeseboard. You save that last cracker and dot of kumquat-vanilla jam for the final remaining sliver of goopy heaven.

This week, Martin Miller’s gin is that morsel of yum. Join us on TDN  where we’ll be mixing an endless onslaught of original ginny libations.  A contingent of freaky mixologists will be live at Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco, mixing up MM potions live.

There will be a webcam and Camper in the same location. Saying more would be pointless.

As far as i could see from the webcam Bourbon and Branch is a real interesting and nice looking place.

It has an intersting history taking you back to the era of Prohibition when the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverage was outlawed.Its  an actual speakeasy that operated illegally at this location from 1921 to 1933. During prohibition it was a “cigar shop” – The JJ Russell Cigar Shop –  and operated from 1923-1935 during the height of prohibition at the very same address that today is Bourbon & Branch.

This speakeasy featured five secret exit tunnels which are still there today and the exit tunnels allowed for a quick underground getaway from the basement speakeasy.The most obscure was specifically made for the ladies exit leading a safe passage a whole block away.The speakeasy actually managed to escape the the governments prohibition agents attention for the remainding time of the prohibition.

I find this fascinating, hope to be able to visit some day.

Its really fun to see your own and the other drinks being mixed up live and commented on in addition to the global mixing in the chat room that is TDN.

The prize for the best cocktail of the evening will be voted by a poll at mixoloseum blog and the winner will receive a bottle of Bitter Truth orange bitters courtesy of Mud Puddle Books.

Usually its about 30 cocktails per night that is made when its TDN and of course you cannot try them all, but of all the drinks that were submitted, here are a few of mine plus one whimsical late-night volcano fire drink and one tasty cocktail from cocktailnerd. Many thanks to the bartender Jon Santer for mixing up our drinks at Bourbon & Branch. He was one of the bartenders who was there when B&B opened.

All the drink recipes can be seen at http://twitter.com/mixoloseum

MEDITERRANIAN SUN

2  oz Martin Miller´s Gin
0.5 oz seville orange syrup
1 oz Aperol
Bitter lemon soda to top

Shake all ingredients except the soda, strain and pour into a hiball filled with large chunky ice. Garnish with a orange slice and fresh mint (also in the glass)

Very similar to the GOP but with a slighly orangey-bitter flavor of both the seville syrup and Aperol instead.

DANCING ELF

2 oz Martin Miller´s gin
0.5 oz simple syrup
1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1-2 thin slices fresh ginger
Dash Bob`s cardamom bitters (or muddle a few green cardamoms with the ginger and syrup)
Prosecco to top

Muddle ginger and simple syrup in shaker. Add gin and grapefruit juice, shake hard and strain into a highball and garnish with a ginger slice or cardamom leaf.

VOLCANO QUEEN  (by Tiare and Rick)

1 oz Martin Miller´s  gin
1 oz rhum agricole blanc
0.5 ox fresh lime
0.5 oz orgeat.

Top with bitter lemon soda or other soda. Float Jwray. Garnish: Pour Jwray in a passionfruit shell, set alight and dust cinnamon on top to get those flames alive and sparkling.

This is an example of the kind of drinks that are most spontaniously invented on the spot during the late TDN hours.

And here is a original concoction from no other than Cocktailnerd – the  King of Word Replacements in the Mixoloseum chat room – the recipe calls for Creme de Framboise which i didn´t have, so i made mine with Creme de Cassis, it was also tasty but i`ll have to re-make it later as i want to mix it the way its supposed to.

LONDON BRIAR (By Cocktailnerd)

2oz Martin Miller’s Gin
0.5oz Creme de Framboise
0.5oz Lime Juice
0.25oz Maraschino liqueur
0.25oz green chartreuse

Shake togehter the whole thing and strain into a ice-filled glass. Enjoy!

Every week cocktail bloggers, bartenders, enthusiasts, experts, and novices get together for a virtual cocktail party mixing drinks in real time, tweaking, rearranging etc until the night is gone and well into the morning. Join us every thursday at the TDN!