Gin and Tonic

[Nick]

So, Gin and Tonic's deserve their own thread, period.

Seems fitting enough that I would be one of the first to throw a topic up about booze anyway, but, this is dually a tip on making an amazing drink. Use Hendricks Gin! This was Adrian or Zac's discovery originally, and has become an integral part of the the late nights. Hats off to Hendricks Gin with Schweppes Tonic and lime.

Anyone else have any life changing ideas for a good drink?

[Adrian]

Zac gets the credit for that one... a nice twist:

Hendricks Gin with Tonic (normal ratio)
Dash of lime, a couple thin slices of cucumber and a couple fresh mint leaves. yum.

[Nick]

*****, I have not tried this lime with cucumber and mint! Good stuff, will report back with results...


*leaves for smiths market place*

[cazter]

Nothing like a fresh drink of pine tree tasting gin. Yuck.

We have an amazing selection of microbrews here in SLC, no reason to drift off that. Except if your a fatty counting calories like myself. In which case you do your best to develop a taste for wine and sangria.

[[nh]LegShooter]

LOLNOOBS

[Adrian]

haha Jarrett... Give us your magic recipe!

[[nh]LegShooter]

Gin and tonic is all about simplicity for sure. Hendricks, tonic and fresh lime is the move. No muddling, no mint, no cucumber. It's not a technique beverage, but a quality of the ingredients beverage.

Costco's around here carry liquor, I picked up a 1.75 Hendricks for something like 30 bucks, and a 750 of Blantons for 40. 2 of the best purchases I've made in a while. I quickly discovered the tap water around here is poop, so I've been making ice out of bottled water for Blantons.

I've been waiting for heather to send me beer. If you see her, get on her case. I want some Outer darkness!

Best thing I've had lately was a Victory at sea float. Victory at sea is a SD breweries 10% Barrel aged imperial coffee porter. Its amazing served as a float with Almond espresso ice cream. It seems like such a waste of awesome beer to be mixing it with ice cream, but it's fantastic. Substitute any Barrel Aged porter/stout for Victory at sea, so long as it's got a strong sweet chocolate/espresso character. I'm sure you guys could find a couple bottles of Deschutes Abyss or Black Butte XXI at one of the liquor stores. Short of Squatters Outer Darkness which I believe is sold out and wont be rebottled until December, I don't know of a Utah brew that would substitute nearly as well.

Not surprisingly, I like the alcohol thread.   

[[nh]LegShooter]

While not Gin and Tonic related, I need to add another recipe.

I started making The Elko Martini at work. I'm sure there are a ton of other similar recipes with different names, but this is what we like around my place. I call it the Elko Martini, because it's classy, but just trashy enough to have Elko associated with it.

For a 4oz beverage

Centenario Roseangel Tequilla, which is a port barrel aged pink tequilla from Centenario. fantastic.
Gran Marnier
6-7 lime slices. squeeze and put into shaker
Splash sour mix. Splash Soda.

Shake it like a man. Strain into martini glass. Salt rim if you prefer, it's basically a margarita served up.

It's tasty. I may be forgetting an ingredient here... It's been a while since I've made one. The key is the Roseangel.

[Adrian]

I agree that the simplicity of the gin and tonic is key - however, the Ace Hotel in NY has a drink they call the Hendricks Tonic. I'm telling you right now, I've never had a gin and tonic served up like that. It was delicious. They also make a wicked Bloody Mary. Justin can attest to it's greatness (:

[[nh]LegShooter]

One more thing I've been experimenting with lately... Ballast Point is making a Ginger IPA which while isn't too gingery, was a fun kitchy selling point to a beverage I made a little while ago for a Ballast Point night. It's a Gin mule with their Ginger IPA instead of Ginger Beer. Mules themselves are nice when done correctly as well, and you guys should be able to buy Ginger beer in utah a lot easier than trying to find a Ginger IPA.

Add simple Syrup, Ice, couple sprigs mint, 3-4 limes into shaker. Muddle well. Add Gin, and Ginger Beer (or ginger IPA in my case). Transfer concoction from one shaker to another. Do a few transfers from one shaker to another to get things mixed but not agitated, you don't want a heady mess since you're working with carbonated beverages. Pour entire thing into pint glass with a few ice cubes. I like the contrast of muddled crushed ice along with ice cubes, but if you don't, feel free to leave the ice cubes out of the initial muddling. Great gin is not necessary for this beverage since you're throwing so much other crap in there, but well gin will make this taste like ass. I like Tang for an every day gin.

[[nh]LegShooter]

Quality of Beverage is directly related to quality of ingredients. NY hotel bars serving 10 dollar G+T better be using not only great gin, but a great tonic. I'm sure they're not using a soda gun based Tonic.  As an example how poor tonic can pooch a beverage, there is a bar by me who has their soda gun calibrated to use a high syrup to soda ratio, which makes their tonic taste super sweet, and my Gin and Tonics a little TOO drinkable. I can watch the bartender pour my beverage and i know he's using a good amount of gin, but the overriding sweetness in cheap soda gun tonic (and the fact the system is probably using too much syrup) eliminates the flavor of the gin... which in turn makes me drink more because i cant really taste the gin.

Bad for beverage quality, good for making Jarrett really really drunk... I generally slow down my intake when I actually taste alcohol.

A bar focused on making quality drinks will almost always use a bottled club soda and bottled tonic. Bars focused on gettin' er done will use soda gun tonic because it's cheap and much faster.

[Marshall]

Legshooter needs his own sub-forum called "Legshooter's Liquor"

[Adrian]

haha, I agree. I forgot to mention that the tonic water that the Ace was using was some kind of boutique tonic water... yes, boutique gin. I don't know how else to define it. So let's shift gears:

Legshooter: When you're not crouch killing your own teammates in quake, what tonic water would you suggest the G/T enthusiast? 

[[nh]LegShooter]

I like Schwepps for a good store bought brand. Past that it's kind of a regional thing. I tried Fever Tree and Q brands that I picked up from Bevmo yesterday. After a little experimenting I found I really liked the Q... but I'm not convinced you could get those in utah, but i'm sure there are some brands at Whole Foods that are just as nice. Problem is, they just about double the cost per beverage.

[[nh]LegShooter]

After a little more experimentation tonight...  I've decided that there is a bigger difference between good tonic and bad gin, than bad tonic and good gin, assuming Ice remains the same. but decent gin and decent tonic is by far the best value.

Moral of the story boys and girls? Schwepps + Tang 1.75ml + good ice + fresh lime is the probably the best G+T bang for your buck. You can go all gourmet with boutique gin and boutique tonic... example being Hendricks and California available Q brand tonic with filtered water ice, but considering that you will get 90% of the gin and tonic experience at half the cost per beverage with a little planning... Tang and Schwepps + fresh lime + good ice is my move. Please don't forget the importance of good ice... the stuff my tap water turns out leaves a half a millimeter of particulate crap at the bottom of all my 13oz rocks glass (5-6 ice cube) based beverages. This is probably a San Diego thing though, but it's been gross enough for me to start making my own ice with bottled water for my Bourbon.

According to UDABC, Hendricks isn't being sold in Utah in 1.75ml botles... so we're comparing golden delicious apples to granny smith apples here, BUT...


According to UDABC - Hendricks 750ml bottle = ~31.00 per bottle
According to UDABC - Tangeray 1.75ml bottle = ~46.00 per bottle

Assuming a 1.5oz pour, which is about normal at a bar in cali per beverage, you're seeing about:

750ml Hendricks - about 17 beverages.
1.75ml Tangeray - about 37 beverages (adding into account a little pouring error... it is a 1.75ml bottle.)

Cost for Schweps 1L Bottle is about 1.80 per bottle. Assuming a 4:1 tonic:gin pour, and about 10oz of ice per 16oz pint glass, your cost on schwepps tonic is about .05c per beverage.

In my area limes run about .50 cents a piece. I like a lot of lime, and i get about 4 or 5 beverages per lime.

Your cost on hendricks per beverage = 1.98. Which still aint too bad compared to bar prices.
Your cost on Tang per beverage = .98
 


If I'm concentrating on legshooting my team mates on UT, I'm probably not concentrating on the absolute quality of the beverage I'm drinking, but the idea that my beverage is of quality substance. It's not like I'm drinking dog poop plastic bottle gin, Tang is a solid choice, especially when considering the cost to oz ratio, it's my gaming G+T of choice. If I'm sitting in my smoking jacket and enjoying a nice tobacco filled pipe (i'm probably not drinking gin, but more likely bourbon), i'm probably drinking Boutique Gin + Boutique Tonic.

PS. These are the ridiculous kind of posts you can expect now that I'm here. I do this crap all day long. If i could get a solid cost on a boutique gin Available in UT my post would have been more accurate.