ITT: Barware, Cocktail Accessories, Bitters, etc.

[b1os]

Just cooked a new batch. Added some allspice, pepper, cardamom and a kaffir lime leaf (removed it after some time) and cut down the gentian root to 8-9g. Pretty good.

Cross-sampled it with some Thomas Henry tonic water (a notch below Fever-Tree in my favorites). Two different worlds. The bottled stuff tastes pretty flat, borderline artificial, compared to the syrup. I guess both camps have their fans. I find the syrup much more refreshing. It also works with less gin and is absolutely refreshing (like fill a caraffe with 150 ml of syrup, 500 ml seltzer, 150 ml or so of London dry gin, ice cubes.. delicious even though the amount of gin is relatively low).

 

[b1os]

Couldn't find that other purchase thread.. and I think it doesn't hurt to concentrate all the discussion in this thread since the others are basically dead anyway.
So, since some of you guys (Piob, indesertum, ...) recommended The Botanist, I obviously went looking for it. Prices were pretty high at around 30-35 € / 0.7 L. Then I found a shop which stocked it for 33 € / 1 L (at Helgoland). Had to order a bit more to save on shipment costs and just relied on your recomendations, never had sampled the gin before...

Was not disappointed. Good gin! The Flor de Caña 7 isn't one of my favorites, but the price was great (17.50 € for 1 L) and it's pretty much only used for Cuba Libres anyway. (FWIW, I'll keep at most three bottles of the Botanist, I've promised at least one of them to my mom ).

Thanks for the rec!

 

[Gibonius]

The Botanist seems to have a different bottle now. I think I liked the old squarish one better.

Excellent gin though.

 

[indesertum]

i think they're the same? not sure but i have the one b1os got. was confused at first cuz i was expecting a square bottle. i like it. rather balanced and not overwhelming on any front

 

[b1os]

Seems like they've changed it earlier this year.
http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2...-launches-new-bottle-design-in-travel-retail/

 

[Piobaire]

Just got half a dozen of these: http://www.amazon.com/Martini-Champ...r_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1410488194&sr=1-2

A restaurant we were at last week was using them and I loved the classic shape. They're also not monster glasses which I like. I plan to get another box so I'll have an even dozen. Look for some pics of classic cocktails with these glasses starting this weekend.

 

[indesertum]

Those look nice. All the cocktail bars I've been to use these cheap short champagne coupes with big rolled lips. Dislike (mostly the lips)

 

[Piobaire]

I was musing to Mrs. Piob last night that I wonder who's tit these particular glasses are based on.

 

[Gus]

One of my favorite stores in London is Bentley's. They always have a range of cool, manly gifts, especially cocktail related.

 

[akatsuki]

Heh, the Botanist has been on my "to try" list for a while now. Also sort of curious about Elephant Gin

 

[Piobaire]

I was given half a dozen of these to experiment with. They've been used only once but I plan to soak in water, dry, then use my kitchen torch to char:

Also, had this Buffalo Trace in a cask for six weeks and now it's getting orange peel and vanilla bean pods:

 

[Bhowie]

Hudson made some stuff like that. I haven't played with them. I've got like 10.

 

[Piobaire]

I'm going to fill one with Wiser's 8 y/o this weekend. Might do one with Maker's.

 

[Piobaire]



Also, had this Buffalo Trace in a cask for six weeks and now it's getting orange peel and vanilla bean pods:

I harvested this today. Smells so good. I made a manhattan with 2 oz of this, 1 oz of red NP, an eye dropper of my homemade #1 aromatic bitters, and a splash of Luxardo. Once the ice melted a tad it was awesome. So much had evaporated it needed a little H20. When I harvested it was down about 10oz in the bottle so I added back in six oz of water.

 

[b1os]

Isn't it mostly alcohol that evaporates?