As summer (finally) seems to be setting in after winter's reign of terror this year, I find my thoughts turning to all things light, crisp and earthy. This bar fly lives for summer, the hotter the better. There's nothing like sitting on a patio with something refreshing, whether it's a flowery hopped beer or a seasonal cocktail.Enter Caorunn gin, gold medalist at the 2012 San Francisco World Spirits competition. When I first opened Caorunn, I was surprised by the subtlty of the aroma. Rather being hit in the face with juniper, you get just a hint of a floral, citrus scent that is intriguing but not overpowering. Caorunn is a London dry gin, which I found a bit surprising since its marketing centers around its botanicals. In addition to the six traditional botanicals (juniper, angelica, orange, lemon, coriander and cassia), Caorunn features a blend of five Celtic botanicals that are native to the Highlands. These include rowan berry, bog myrtle, heather, coul blush apple and dandelion leaf.
Caorunn is milder than most gins, which may make it a nice entry point for a vodka enthusiast who is looking to branch out. The juniper and traditional flavors are there, but more as a backdrop for the more interesting Celtic botanicals, which lend just a touch of herbal sweetness. On their website, Carunn recommends serving the gin over ice with a fresh cut red apple, which really brings out the fruity crisp notes in Caorunn. Next we sampled it with two varieties of tonic, Whole Foods' 365 and Q tonic*. Caorunn's more subtle flavor almost felt like we were splitting the difference between a gin & tonic vs vodka & tonic here.
As part of their "forage to glass" mission, Caorunn's website also features a host of interesting cocktail recipes, including many that use wild herbs and botanicals. Caorunn is a great gin for cocktails and provides an interesting canvas for different herbal combinations without being lost in the mix. Inspired by the Lincoln Park Lost and Found, we used a combination of local and dried botanicals to create the cocktail below, which turned out rather well.
Bar Fly's Botanical Bliss
2 oz Caorunn gin
.75 oz Glenlivet 12 Year Old
.75 oz Flower Faerie syrup
1 oz lemon juice
Dash of Urban Moonshine Original Bitters
Combine all ingredients with ice in shaker and strain over ice. Garnish with lemon and fresh herbs. Another optional step would be to muddle some herbs in the shaker before adding the other ingredients. Rosemary, mint or catnip would work well.
Flower Faerie Syrup
2 tbs dried lavendar flowers
2 tbs dried jasmine blossoms
2 tbs dried elderflowers
1 tbs dried orange peel
1 tbs dried lemon peel
Pour 2 cups of just boiled water over dried ingredients. Steep for 6-7 minutes and strain. Dissolve 1.5 cups of sugar into mixture and cool.
* I love Q's tag line: "The world's best spirits deserve a superior tonic water." but in my opinion Q tonic water didn't necessarily deliver. Although it features handpicked quinine and agave, the taste was a fairly uninspired and it seemed undercarbonated, perhaps as a result of the large glass bottle.
