Suppose the following scenario. A hectic day at work complete with the annoying retelling of their boring weekend from that bothersome co-worker. The draining subway commute home made even worse by the presence of the President's motorcade being in town and yet another train-halting water main break. All this happens only to find out that you rushed out the door this morning without taking out that restaurant cut of beef you had intended to enjoy for dinner. Chinese take-out it is; however, you called and they just ran out of the crispy duck special which is the only reason you keep their menu on-hand anyway. So what now? What allows you to salvage the day since, let's face it, you're going right back to it tomorrow? A satisfying cocktail!
Such a cocktail doesn't always require a trip to the bar, it could be that you walk over to your liquor cabinet. To combat such a day, think special, think characteristic, think comforting and think unique. This is, as I dubbed last week, the official 'Month of Gin' and I recently discovered a delightfully great gin that makes a good end of the day cocktail so redeeming. That gin is Caorunn.
Caorunn Gin is a small batch gin. If that means nothing to you then think of it in this way. Just as you may take pride in knowing that some items in your closet are made locally or lovingly with skilled artisanal hands, small batch simply refers to making strides to handcraft a gin to have more control over the unique and a distinguished flavor true to the original aesthetic.
As is the case with Caorunn Gin, this aesthetic boasts handcrafting from pure grains and time-honored Celtic botanicals. So I can take all this into consideration when mixing that cocktail or I can just know that if you've been making gin since 1824 then you're doing something right. So I went over to my living room bar and gave this recipe a go:
Caorunn Perfect Serve G & T
1 part Caorunn Gin
2 parts premium tonic water
Red apples slices for garnish
Mix in a balloon glass with ice
The result? A pretty great gin and tonic. It was smooth and the finish was crisp with an underlying note of sweet that only left me refreshed. The presence of the red apple garnish played nicely with the drink as part of Caorunn Gin's flavor profile actually consists of Scotland's coul blush apple variety. How fitting to enjoy a perfect G & T from a company that has taken pride in perfecting their gin to make sure, perhaps, that a less than perfect day could end up on such a delicious note.
Caorunn Gin is available at your fine wine, spirit and liquor retailers and as always please remember to enjoy responsibly.