November 2013 Featured Tipples of the Month! The BEST Blind Dates Ever...All in one night!

I want to open this part of the series with the answer to a question I've received a number of times since beginning this series - what is a tipple?

 

tip·ple¹

ˈtipəl/

1. To drink an alcoholic beverage (verb)

2. An alcoholic beverage (noun)

Now, consider that your CE for the month!

Sahil Mehta is one of Boston's top bartenders!  I had the pleasure of meeting him at a USBG (United States Bartender's Guild) Boston Chapter "Secret" Destination Luau last Summer.  We had an absolute blast on the bus into the unknown!

 One evening last winter, while attending a Bacardi event at The Citizen Public House, Sahil promised that one day, he'd help me to fall in love with gin.  

Now gin and I have not be friends for many years now and I only sample it straight or in cocktails for writing purposes but rarely found one that I can tolerate.  Typically, it is the juniper that I find intolerable.

Last week, Sahil made good on his promise.  I visited him one evening at Estragon Tapas and enjoyed one uber creative cocktail after another made with handcrafted and imported ingredients, dried flowers and aromatic leafy herbs!  I didn't know I was in for such a ride!  Here's how Sahil carried me through my first blind date ever...with gin!

The Sylvia Plath

1.25 oz Martin Miller's gin

.5 oz Saffron-Chrysanthemum syrup

.5 oz Verjus

Absinthe rinse

Cava float 

The Sylvia Plath cocktail was featured at a recent Halloween "Dead Poets" Dinner at Estragon.  I have a love affair with sour and bitter cocktails.  The Sylvia Plath was the perfect herbaceous cocktail featuring smart sour and acid components imparted by the verjus (a sour mixer typically made from unripened grapes).  The Chrysanthemum is my birth flower.  The cocktail was a nice ode to my birthday month and a great introduction to the other notable potables to follow.

The Sylvia Plath

The Pondicherry

1.5 oz Old Tom gin

1 oz St. Germain

.5 oz Lemon juice

Curry leaves

1 drop Cardamom bitters 

The Pondicherry

The Pondicherry cocktail is a tip of the hat to Sahil's home of Southern India.  This cocktail was both floral and herbaceous, the elderflower notes carried the baking spice of cardamom well as the Hayward's Old Tom gin nudged a bit of sweetness to awaken the palate.

Interesting back story on Old Tom gin: 

"The name Old Tom Gin purportedly came from wooden plaques shaped like a black cat (an "Old Tom") mounted on the outside wall of some pubs above a public walkway in 18th century England. Owing to a scandalous news report of a tragedy involving a murdered family, gin was outlawed and went underground, changing from a cloudy liquid to its modern clear form so as to appear like water. After a pedestrian deposited a penny in the cat's mouth, they would place their lips around a small tube between the cat's paws. From the tube would come a shot of gin, poured by the bartender inside the pub." 

 The Gol

2 oz Martin Miller's gin

.5 oz Canton ginger liqueur

.5 oz Luxardo apricot liqueur

.75 oz lemon

1 heaping teaspoon of rose jam

2-3 drops of rose water

Garnish: dried rose

 

Gol is Persian for rose.  The Gol cocktail was a beautifully light, floral, gingery blend balanced with citrus and rock fruit notes.  

You absolutely MUST head over to Estragon to visit Sahil behind the stick!  He has talent beyond imagination.  Not only will you imbibe in a beautiful space with terrific bites and lovely staff, you'll learn more than you ever thought you could in one sitting.

Cin Cin!