Winter Gin

Like many food and drink enthusiasts, when I think about these things (food and drink) it’s very often regulated by the season and my mood (which usually has something to do with the season). When I think of winter spirits I think of the brown stuff: whiskey (bourbon, Scotch, Irish whiskey, the whole thing), brandy, etc. And I love these things in the winter–that slight burn in the back of your throat is pretty welcome on a cold evening, where it might not as much be in a mid-summer heat wave.

But sometimes it’s nice to part from the obvious, so long as the departure works. And winter gin totally works. I wasn’t sure what I wanted as a first cocktail last night with my steak dinner (of course I was going to have red wine with the actual steak) but an intro cocktail is a beautiful thing because you can just get whatever you want and don’t so much have to worry about how it’s going to pair with whatever you’re eating.

As it turns out, not only is gin a wonderful winter drink, but it also paired great with my beet and (thank you, not goat cheese) blue cheese salad. The gin cut right through the rich tanginess of the blue cheese and added an herbaceousness, which it always adds to anything, to the whole situation.

So that was an unplanned bonus, but what’s really great about winter gin is what I’ll call the “Wint-o-Green effect.” Sometimes when it’s cold you want something cool, increasing (rather than mitigating) the cool effect. That’s what gin does. It adds a crispness to an already crisp situation. And as I sipped my very dry Tanqueray 10 (the restaurant didn’t have my favorite, Hendrix) gin martini with a twist–and my very cool date was having one too–on a nice, cold, crisp winter March evening, I have to say, I was feeling pretty chilled out, which can be really nice on a winter day or, you know, any day.

(photo credit: pedromourapinheiro)

April 12th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in General | (0)