Happy days are here a-gin

For a refreshing summer drink it’s hard to go past gin. Whether as the basis for a classic cocktail like the martini, with soda water and fresh lime juice, or simply mixed with its spiritual partner tonic water, gin just screams summer.

By DON KAVANAGH

It wasn’t always so cool and certainly not so cultured. In fact, far from its current suave image, gin was originally a medicine and was also once responsible for starting one of the longest and most extreme crime waves in British history.
The story of gin begins with the Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius, who is credited with its invention. He prepared it as a cure for lumbago, stomach ailments and kidney infections. The secret was the use of juniper berries, which had long been known for their medicinal properties and Sylvius simply re-distilled malt spirit with juniper and other herbs, known as botanicals.
These botanicals, still in use today, include herbs and roots such as angelica, orris, coriander, cardamom, star anise, liquorice, orange peel and even frankincense.
Juniper gave us gin’s name as well as its predominant flavour. The French word genevriere was corrupted into the more handily pronounced gin and began its journey to fame.
It was introduced to Britain when the Dutch King William of Orange was invited to take the British throne in 1688, but that brought some problems with it. For many years, the British government allowed unlicensed gin production, while heavily taxing other spirits. The raw spirit – often flavoured with turpentine and even sulphuric acid – kicked off a crime wave as the poor stole to buy the cheap rotgut and forget their circumstances for a while. At one stage more than half the 15,000 drinking houses in London were gin mills.
Once the government clamped down on gin by taxing it (and causing riots in the process), gin became a better-produced spirit. The London Dry style came into vogue as did the Plymouth style, which is less dry and more botanical in flavour. As Britain’s empire increased, so did the spread of gin.
In India, it returned to its medical roots, offering a handy way to prevent malaria. The usual vaccine against malaria in those days was tonic water, a form of soda water with quinine added to it. Very bitter to the taste, it became popular to mix gin with the tonic water, making the tonic more palatable and creating one of the world’s great drinks.
The glory days of empire were also seen by many as the great age of gin and for a long time it became something of a moribund sector, especially in New Zealand, where it was more associated with maiden aunties and retired colonels than younger drinkers.
However, the re-emergence of the cocktail culture has rescued gin from the retirement home and placed it firmly back in the spotlight. The range of gins available now speaks volumes about how far gin has come.
This month the panel sat down to a range of nine gins, all different styles and all offering different flavour profiles. Along with myself, the panel consisted of Vintage Wines and Spirits’ David Batten and Bart Burgers from the Whisky Shop. For the purposes of the tasting, we tried them all neat first to assess the flavour profile and then with tonic to see how the gins mixed. The tasting notes are a group effort.
There were a few surprises along the way – including how impressive an old stager turned out to be – and a few arguments about not just the relative merits of each gin, but also about the styles of gin represented. One thing was certain, however. No way is gin a spirit in decline – in fact, it is in robust health and the gins we tried were all special in their own way.

There is no spirit with such a history and heritage as whisky (or whiskey for our Irish and American friends). Here at Thirst we had the onerous task of tasting an even dozen whiskies recently, one American, two blended Scotches and nine gorgeous malts. It's tough at the top...

Click here to download whisky tasting PDF

I'll have the steak...and a single malt

We know a fine merlot goes well with a rare eye fillet steak and an oaky chardonnay partners perfectly with fresh salmon – but what about pairing cervena carpaccio or slow-cooked duck breast with single malt Scotch whiskies?

Glenfiddich, makers of the world’s biggest selling malt, is pioneering whisky and food matching with a series of specially created degustation dinners at three of the country’s finest restaurants in September – Clooney in Auckland, Martin Bosley’s in Wellington and the Crumpet Club in Christchurch.

“Wine and food matching has become second nature these days, but just as a great wine has unique characteristics that suit certain dishes, so too does a quality single malt,” Lion Nathan marketing manager Susan Browne says.

“Scotch whisky is a surprisingly versatile food partner, and the Glenfiddich range makes it easy to find the perfect match. Each member of the Glenfiddich family of whiskies – from the 12 year old through to the rare 30 year old – has its own distinctive flavours and characteristics that make for natural pairings with food.

“For instance, the Glenfiddich 15 year old – which is full of fruit, with notes of gentle spice, honey and a touch of oak – goes perfectly with seafood, or as the Crumpet Club has discovered, sea salmon with honeyed balsamic tomatoes and crisp bulb fennel.

“The Glenfiddich 18 year old features smooth, slightly sweet sherry notes with hints of spiced apple – perfect for matching with pork belly, or as per Clooney’s suggestion, cervena carpaccio with warm mushroom salad, macadamias and oloroso sherry jelly.”

“The Glenfiddich degustation dinners provide the ultimate single malt experience – but we hope we can also inspire Kiwis to get imaginative and do some Glenfiddich and food matching of their own. There’s a world of incredible culinary partnerships to explore, particularly at a time when the popularity of Scotch whisky is soaring.”

The demand for single malt Scotch whisky, particularly in Asia and the USA, has in fact resulted in a global shortage of aged whiskies as more consumers discover the versatility of single malts and opt to trade up to the premium category.

A special media preview was held at Clooney last month and was a huge success among the food and beverage writers present.

The night started with a Glenfiddich cocktail and was followed by an array of superb food created to compliment the whiskies. Starting with the 12 year old, chef Desmond Harris paired it with duck consommé, served with quail ravioli and enoki and morels.

That was followed by seared scallops with a foie gras mousse and iberica brioche crumb that combined to set off the 15 year old perfectly.

For the 18 year old, a commanding whisky of true class, the aforementioned cervena carpaccio with warm mushroom salad, macadamias and oloroso sherry jelly was ideal.

Slow-roasted duck breast with veal sweetbreads, confit chestnuts and medjool dates followed, accompanied by the elegant 21 year old, before the prized and rare 30 year old was served over two desserts, one a brulee with baked almond and prune, the other a chocolate fondant, made with chilli and cardamom seeds.

If the ensuing dinners keep up the perfect standard set by Clooney, these degustation dinners will be a roaring success.

Whisky, you’re the devil

Bart Burgers swore off whisky after tasting a popular but cheap blended Scotch many years ago in his native Netherlands. So how did he end up running a whisky business here in New Zealand and becoming an acknowledged expert in the field? He tells DON KAVANAGH a cautionary tale of passion, opportunity and tree surgery.

“It was awful, I didn’t like it at all,” Bart Burgers remembers of his first taste of whisky.

“It burned and it tasted terrible and it almost put me off whisky for good. I was just starting out with whisky and I couldn’t tell the difference between good and bad whisky; the harshness of the one I drank put me off trying any more for about four years.”

Not a great start to a career selling the stuff, then. However, like many great endeavours, Bart’s journey from uninformed quaffer to connoisseur was not a straightforward tale.

Born and bred in the Netherlands, he grew up drinking beer and following his encounter with the blended Scotch – which he still won’t name out of either politeness or good nature – he remained so.

It was – of all things - his arboriculture background that led him back to what became the great passion of his life.

He worked as a tree surgeon and was a forestry teacher in the Netherlands and a team-building trip brought him back in contact with the water of life, via a visit to Scotland.

“We were staying with a guy just outside Dundee and we were doing some hunting and some fishing and having a ball of a time. We did the guy’s trees on his property and he was delighted, but he couldn’t pay us. So instead he said he would take us off to the local pub.

“We had to use a rowboat to get there and once we got there he said it was all on his tab as long as we drank whisky.”

A fortuitous choice of whisky at the little crofter’s pub outside Dundee turned the Dutchman around and placed him ultimately on a path that led to New Zealand and a new career importing, distributing and retailing whisky and travelling the country extolling its virtues and creating yet more fans of the king of spirits.

“I can still remember what I had – it was a 16-year-old Lagavulin. I was blown away – completely hooked for life and I am here now because of that dram of Lagavulin.”

Here is the well-stocked confines of The Whisky Shop in the trendy Elliott Stables complex, a collection of gourmet food and beverage outlets in the centre of Auckland.

Surrounded by thousands of bottles, Bart waxes lyrical about them all – and he knows every one of them, from the better-known brands from Scotland and Ireland to the more esoteric offerings from Tasmania, Japan, America and New Zealand.

“After that first trip to Scotland, I started to take it more seriously. I went to tastings whenever I could and my interest grew and grew. I made trips to Scotland to visit distilleries and after a few such trips, doors started to open for me and I ended up in the trade.”

Arriving in New Zealand in 2002, he had no idea what he would do to earn a living, so decided to make his hobby his life’s work.

“I contacted four distilleries and got some bottles sent out. I had 72 bottles in total and I thought that if I failed as a salesman, at least I would have some good whisky to comfort me.”
And it has grown since then into an operation that he says knows no recession. Firstly there was Malts of Distinction, the distribution arm, and then in 2007 the Whisky Shop opened.

The whisky industry is in good health worldwide and there is a growing interest in it here in New Zealand, helped by some odd factors, including the popularity of the show Boston Legal, which invariably finishes with two main characters sitting on a balcony discussing life over cigars and heavy tumblers of Chivas Regal.

“We have whiskies that range in price between $40 and $10,000 a bottle, so we have something for every budget and every occasion. Whisky is the only spirit with a real story behind each brand and I want to tell those stories.”

To that end he does around 100 tastings a year and has introduced many people to the idea of whisky and food matching, something else he is passionate about and something he says that is essential to appreciating whisky to its fullest.

But mostly what he says about whisky reflects the traditional ideas associated with the spirit – friendship, warmth, conversation and a convivial atmosphere.

And his eyes light up when he talks about his all-time favourite whisky, the Ardbeg 1974.

“My favourite is the 1974, without a doubt. It’s not just about the flavour, but it’s about the people you drank it with and the circumstances and the memories that it brings up when you taste it.

“I have some of the 1974 at home, but if I was dying on the floor of this shop, I’d grab a bottle of Ardbeg Lord of the Isles to drink in my last moments on earth.”

Gin – the spirit of the ages

By Don Kavanagh

It started as a sweet-flavoured medicine and although it is much changed, gin still remains among the most popular spirits in the world.

Often derided as a prop for stuffy old buggers sitting in dusty clubs, gin has managed to maintain its sparkle through years of popularity, unpopularity and prohibition. And there is no sign of it disappearing any time soon.

From the time it arrived in England and became the fuel behind a massive crime wave, gin has always flirted with danger. Within the space of a century, gin had moved from the rough, vile drinking dens of the lower classes to the drawing-rooms of the rich and famous.

By the time the British Empire was at its height, gin was the spirit of the age, being sipped equally comfortably with hot lemon juice in wintry London and with quinine-rich tonic water to ward off malaria in the sweltering heat of India and the Far East.

During the first heyday of the cocktail, gin was an indispensable ingredient for the bartender. The classic G&T, the Long Island iced tea, the Singapore sling and the all-time classic – the Martini – were all based on the aromatic character of gin.

The “botanicals” – the flavouring agents of gin – might vary between brands, but the majority are blends of angelica, juniper, orange and coriander, at once luscious and clean, warming and refreshing.

In New Zealand, gin has had a bumpy ride at times. Once the staple of every housewife’s cupboard, gin remained remarkably popular for many years, before an ageing clientele and a shift to darker spirits bumped it down the popularity ladder.

However, the recent resurgence in popularity of cocktails has bolstered gin’s performance again, as increasingly sophisticated drinkers rediscover the joys of gin. As one of the more powerfully flavoured white spirits, gin has never been a drink for youngsters.

Grassy and phenolic when taken neat, gin’s abrupt and often intimidating nature is as far from the sweet, smooth flavours popular with our nation’s youth and dilution with tonic, lime or soda doesn’t do much to sweeten it. Where vodka’s quality tends to be identified through lack of taste, gin is proudly spirituous and forthright, which makes it the ideal base for a cocktail.

It allows the bartender to create something for an adult palate while also offering a wide field for experimentation. The fine botanical flavours can be mixed and matched with an almost endless list of ingredients and the clear spirit flavours still come through, adding enough backbone to provide a steely finish to even the sweetest blends.

The sales figures for gin are still strong and, since it offers such a perfect base for cocktails, bartenders should be making every effort to cash in and make sure that this noble spirit gets the treatment it deserves.