Just Berries, Seeds, And Roots

I never really “got� vodka. A clear, (mostly) white, grain-based spirit manufactured in virtually every civilized country on this planet, it always struck me as a relatively innocuous, gastronomically diffident ingredient that was present only to provide interest to a glass of fruit juice for the otherwise unimaginative imbiber.

   Gin has been a horse of a variant hue.The quintessentially British elixir also starts out as a neutral spirit but makes a second magical journey through the still and a series of botanicals, the primary of which is juniper berries. Various makers add roots, seeds and spices to a stack of filters through which the fluid slowly seeps. The end result boasts a pedigree that vodka can only dream of. That pedigree, however, was a long time coming and hard-earned; by the mid-1700s, beer was out-drunk by gin six-to-one in London, and a flurry of laws was passed to protect a besotted populace from themselves and severe I.Q. reduction.

   Take the cap off five top-end bottles of gin and you’ll find more variation in fragrance than at the perfume concourse at Bloomingdale’s. Beefeater’s, the best-known and the baseline of that cocktail cornerstone, the martini, begs you just lie back and think of England. Bombay, awash in a garden of ingredients including anise, lemon and orange, and almost a half-dozen others, is incredibly flavorful. Tanqueray is more refined, as is Gilbey’s. And, for a little extra kick in the glass, try Boodles which, at 90 proof, is said to have been Winston Churchill’s favorite.

   The history and discussion of the martini is worthy of a whole newspaper section by itself.

   The gin-and-tonic, that ubiquitous summer refresher straight from The Official Preppy Handbook (“Look Muffy, a drink for us!â€�), had its origins in Britain’s colonial jungles. Quinine, once the main ingredient in what we now call tonic, was the cure for malaria, and gin was added to dull the bitterness as well as to provide a little comfort for the afflicted.

   And one other word about tonic: most brands are sweet and, to me, a bit cloying.

   Schweppes is the driest and is best purchased in small bottles;  liter-sized containers lose the carbonation quickly and there’s nothing worse than flat tonic. p

The Tom Collins, the great alternative to the G & T, started life as a splash of gin in a glass of lemonade; here’s a more evolved version:

    â€¢    2 oz Gin

    â€¢    1-2 oz Lemon juice

    â€¢    1 tsp superfine Sugar

    â€¢    3 oz Club soda

    â€¢    1 Maraschino cherry

    â€¢    1 Orange slice

Gin and an equal amount of Rose’s Lime juice over ice nets you a Gimlet.

If some thirsty friends wander by on a hot, languid afternoon and you’re feeling beneficent, make a pitcher of Singapore Sings. One of these and the local lakeshore will feel like poolside at the Raffles Hotel.

8 parts Gin

4 parts Heering Cherry or cherry brandy

1 part Cointreau or triple sec

1 part Benedictine

2 parts Grenadine

12-16 parts pineapple juice

6 parts lemon juice

1 good, healthy shake of bitters

Stir well, strain into highball glasses and embrace the day.