Reclaimed ground: How to drink Dutch gin, a.k.a. genever

As a lark for spring, I thought over the next little while we could take a little exploratory jaunt along the edges of the world of gin — a world more interesting, particularly lately, than many drinkers may realize.

We start with the gins of the Netherlands, which are beginning to enjoy an unlikely renaissance in the rest of the world thanks to cocktail hipsters who keep an eye on the past. Canadian drinkers, especially those with access to U.S. liquor stores, may notice genever, the mellow Dutch cousin of English gin, suddenly popping up in their view.

Genever goes by many other names — Hollands gin, Dutch gin, and so on — and it divides into two categories, “oude” (old, which is sweeter) and “jonge” (young, tasting crisper and drier). Both are flavoured with juniper just like the gin you’re used to, but the Dutch kind is considerably sweeter than the English.

Until the 1880s or so, oude genever was the preferred gin of North Americans (or at least New Yorkers), and we called it Hollands. That was a major discovery of David Wondrich, a leader of today’s hip wayback machine school of bartending (watch this video). Hence the recent flow of genever in smart cocktail bars in New York and London.

Retro Recipe Revival: A Rah Rah Rut for Mardi Gras

I made a Rah Rah Rut, that's what

In honour of Mardi Gras, and in belated celebration of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory, I decided to finally make a Rah Rah Rut, a promising-sounding concoction from p. 28 of Hugo R. Ensslin’s 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks (an unassuming but key volume for any serious cocktail book collection).

By combining rye, absinthe and Peychaud’s bitters, the RRR sounds a bit like a Sazerac, but involves less fuss to make.

Also, the recipe furnishes me with an excuse to use Sazerac rye, La Nouvelle Orléans absinthe and Peychaud’s bitter, all of which travelled from Louisiana to chilly Toronto in my suitcase.

To make this recipe with non-NOLA ingredients would be possible but sort of beside the point. Am I showing off my collection a little here? Yes, a little. But all I’m really doing is encouraging you to go to New Orleans too.

Here’s how I made my Rah Rah Rut:

• 1¾ oz. Sazerac rye
• two dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• ¼ tsp. Jade La Nouvelle Orléans absinthe

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass filled a third of the way up with ice (original recipe says shake, but surely not) and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

So what’s it like? Tasty, but not as delicious as a Sazerac (what is?). It lacks the sweetness of the Saz’s sugar and the sourness of its lemon twist. On the plus side, you really get to enjoy the contribution of some quality absinthe in a Rah Rah Rut.

I suppose a Rah Rah Rut is a fun experiment and a good substitute for a Sazerac if you’re in a hurry — mind you, being in a hurry is decidedly non-New Orleans and non-Mardi Gras.

Recipe: Blackberry Caipirinha with no blackberries

Blackberry Caipirinha

Given the duty of cleaning the bathroom and mopping the floors today, I found a new use for the Amora blackberry liqueur I bought the other week. Scrubbing the bathtub suddenly became much more enjoyable.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my version of a Blackberry Caipirinha:

• 3 tsp. turbinado or pale demarara sugar
• half a lime cut into four wedges
• 1½ ~ 2 oz. cachaça
• ½ oz. blackberry liqueur (crème de mûre), such as the elusive Amora, pictured above

Put sugar, a small splash of warm water and lime wedges into an old fashioned glass and muddle all together until sugar is dissolved. Pour in blackberry liqueur and cachaça and stir. Add ice, ideally crushed.

+ Naturally throwing in a fresh blackberry or two as a garnish is a good idea. I would avoid actually muddling the blackberry because the seeds will become a nuisance and the drink would have all sorts of gorey-looking purple blobs throughout.

On the other hand you could muddle some blackberry in with the lime and sugar in a mixing glass and then strain into the old fashioned glass before adding the booze. It’s up to you; I don’t personally think the result would be worth it.

Links: Rum Manhattan, Pearaschino, English Cobbler

Below, a trio of promising-looking recipes I happened upon during my stroll around the interweb today:

• The Pearaschino (bourbon, maraschino liqueur, pear syrup; served up), courtesy Savvy Housekeeping

• Rum Manhattan (based on rhum agricole, which I can’t get in Ontario, alas …), courtesy The Washington Post

• English Cobbler (reminds me of a Bramble but with tea instead of blackberry liqueur), courtesy Science of Drink

So does anybody out there know of a substitute for rhum agricole? In the meantime I’ll make a note to get going on the other two.

Link: You’d bitter run out and stock up on Angostura

According to this Washington Post piece, there’s an Angostura shortage gripping the United States, not that Canadians use enough of the stuff to provoke the same kind of problem (as I joked with some Toronto cocktail people last week).

Jason Wilson also writes:

Now, I’m not totally sure I buy into all the overheated chatter that some of my fellow drinks journalists and bloggers are heaping on rum. If you’ve missed it: Everybody in the know is drinking rum.

(He’s being sarcastic. He points out that it was mezcal a few months ago and rye before that.)

Happy Hour: Celebrate Burns Night without Scotch

Scotland isn't just about Scotch

Click photo to read my latest Happy Hour column in the Post.

Manhattan + Fernet-Branca = Fanci delicious

Mmm, fanci.

Click photo to learn how to use amaro to jazz up an old favourite.