Ward 8
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A Ward 8 cocktailThe Ward 8 or Ward Eight is a cocktail originating in 1898 in Boston, Massachusetts at the bar of the Gilded Age restaurant Locke-Ober.In 1898 Democratic political czar Martin M. Lomasney hoped to capture a seat in the state's legislature, the General Court of Massachusetts. Lomasney held considerable power in the city for nearly 50 years. The story goes that the drink was created to honor his election, and the city's Ward 8 which historically delivered him a winning margin. Competing, but unfounded myths abound in print and on the Internet. One story purports that it originated in New York in an area known for political corruption, another that the cocktail is a traditional drink of the Scottish Guards.[edit] Ingredients and preparationLike the story of its creation, there are several variations of the Ward 8 cocktail. Various recipes call for blended whiskey, bourbon, rye, and even single malt scotch. Some recipes call for lemon juice, lime juice, no juice, grenadine, sour mix, and gomme syrup.Following the end of prohibition, Locke-Ober reopened its bar using this recipe
:2 ounces rye whiskey
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon grenadineMaraschino cherry (optional)Shake the rye whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, and grenadine with ice; then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.[1] Garnish with a maraschino cherry, if desired. Originally the drink was decorated with a small paper Massachusetts flag.[edit] References^ William Grimes (2001). Straight Up Or on the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail. p. 135. Hamilton, William L. (2004). Shaken and Stirred. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-074044-2. Haigh, Ted (2004). Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie. Quarry Books. ISBN 978-1592530687. "Martin Lomasney and the Ward Eight". The City Record and Boston News-Letter. 2007-03-15. http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/03/martin_lomasney.html. [edit] External linksBoston cocktails site

Mixology Monday seems to come around faster and faster every month, so much so that lately I have been a little lax in taking part every month and in doing so have missed some superb topics. Thankfully though today I find myself sitting in Hamburg airport with an hour to kill and a perfect drink for this months theme – superior twists hosted by fellow Englishman Tristan Stephenson.Tristan asks us to consider drink variations that “for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.” I’ve already written about several superb drinks that fall in to this category such as Bastian Heuser’s Guyana Manhattan, a Manhattan that replaces rye with Demerara rum, and Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro’s Pegu Club variation, The Juniper Club Cocktail. Of course there is even the humble Oh Gosh!, a Daiquiri variation that if not superior is at least interesting.The drink I’ve chosen, however, is a play on the Last Word – a cocktail that already defies common sense and logic by combining powerful ingredients like Chartreuse, Maraschino and gin, yet somehow manages to turn out delcious, complex yet incredibly balanced. Attempting to adjust such a recipe might seem foolhardy, but thankfully with a skilful bartender like Phil Ward of Death & Co. in New York you know you are in safe hands.Photo to come…Final WardView in: oz ml shots¾ shot / 22.5 ml / ¾ oz rye whiskey¾ shot / 22.5 ml / ¾ oz Green Chartreuse¾ shot / 22.5 ml / ¾ oz Maraschino¾ shot / 22.5 ml / ¾ oz lemon juiceShake all ingredients with ice and strain in to a cocktail glass.Swapping gin for rye, and lime juice for lemon juice, the ingredient list for the Final Ward, like its progenitor the Last Word, doesn’t look like it would turn out very well on paper. In a cocktail glass, however, is another matter. A deliciously bright drink for a rye cocktail, the Final Ward is at once fresh, complex and very herbal with the strange interplay of the Maraschino and Chartreuse from the Last Word further deepened by the spicy, aromatic notes of the rye. A wonderful drink indeed, and while it’s hard to find fault with the original Last Word for my money the Final Ward is even tastier and definitely qualifies at a superior twist…

It’s not every day you get a bottle delivered to your house of a new product that has a note from the brand owner telling you that this is the first bottle outside of his own house. So this past Thursday, when exactly that happened, and I found in my hands a bottle of Hammer & Son Old English Gin, I was pretty excited to say the least. I’ve been waiting for the release of this product for several months, ever since Henrik Hammer (of Geranium Gin) mentioned that he had found a 1783 gin recipe in the safe at a distillery and was going to have a go at recreating it.

But what exactly is an Old English Gin? Well essentially it’s the original style of gin produced in England, and is somewhere between the sweet rich flavour of Genever, and the dry style of gin we’re used to today. It differs from London Dry in that it is slightly sweetened, a tradition that goes back to a time when poor quality spirits could have some of their impurities masked by the addition of sugar after distillation. The decision not to refer to this new product as an Old Tom Gin, as some might expect, comes from Henrik’s research into the history of gin in the 1700s, and his desire to produce a spirit that would be true to the origins of English Gin.

In fact many of the things that make this product unique stem from the way in which gin was consumed before modern production techniques led to the introduction of the London Dry style of gin that we know so well today. It seems that Henrik has really done his homework and thought about every detail of this gin, not only the recipe, but also the bottle and label, in an attempt to bring a ‘new’ product to the market in a way that really reflects the history of gin as it was consumed at the end of the 18^th century.

WHAT”S IN A NAME?

At first it seems slightly crazy that this product is named ‘Old English’, after all there is currently a revival and fascination with ‘Old Tom Gin’, but as Henrik told me when he first thought about recreating this old recipe, he didn’t want to get caught up in the nickname, he preferred to call it what it is… the old style of English gin. So is Old English Gin the same thing as Old Tom? In essence yes; it’s a London style Gin that has been sweetened and made in the same tradition as what we now think of as Old Tom. As Henrik explains it “when buying Gin in the 1700s and 1800s you’d be offered a simple choice; English Gin or Holland’s Gin. English Gin was branded with many different names such as Samson, Tom, Old Tom, or with the name of the distiller. Thus Old Tom is not a style of gin but simply one of many names within the category of English Gin at this time”.

Staying true to the origins of English gin at the time that this recipe first came into existence, Henrik worked with the distillers at the Langley distillery to recreate it as closely as was possible. This meant using a copper pot still, in this case the oldest pot still currently in use in England. The still is affectionately known as Angela (or Grandma) and is one of the only stills left made from British copper. At every step of the creation of this new (old) gin, it seems like care has been taken to make it as authentic as possible. The only omission from the original recipe is turpentine oil, which while commonly used in the 1700’s is highly poisonous and not something you would want to be drinking today.

Having perfected the liquid, Henrik turned his attention to packaging, and once again decided to research what was authentic to the drinking customs from London in the late 1700s. His research quickly brought to light the fact that paper labels would have been uncommon, bottles were an expensive commodity, and in fact it was common practice to take an empty bottle to a gin shop and have it filled. A decision was made that recycled glass would fit the bill nicely, and as his research also showed that the UK was the largest importer of Champagne at that time, what could be better than to reuse old Champagne bottles? The bottles are simply washed and sanitized, which of course means that the packaging is almost completely carbon neutral, another thing that was important to Henrik in the creation of this Gin.

Instead of affixing a paper label, which wouldn’t be either environmentally friendly or particularly authentic, Henrik decided to silkscreen print the bottles instead, using environmentally friendly paint. Seeing the bottle for the first time I was struck by how very different it is from any other Gin I have ever seen. The bottle is finished with a cork and sealed with organic wax; it truly feels as though it’s from another era!

WHAT’S IN THE BOTTLE?

Well of course the simple answer is gin, and in this case that’s obvious from the second that you pop the cork and are rewarded with a crisp clean juniper aroma. As you pour some into the glass and take your first sniff you quickly realise that behind the juniper there is a rich earthy complexity, hinting at bitter barks, warm hay, warm black pepper and dry spice. There are green notes here too, crushed leaves, basil and mint, but they’re top notes that are just hinted at in the aroma. It’s immediately obvious that this is a very different Gin, and from the first aroma you want to take a sip.

On tasting this Old English Gin you are rewarded with a surprisingly controlled sweetness upfront that coats your tongue giving a silky mouth feel. Behind the sweetness comes orange, pine from the juniper and nutmeg spice, this leads through to the middle of the flavour profile, where bitter flavours emerge. These bitter notes aren’t at all unpleasant and they serve to dampen down the sweetness and dry out the gin and now we’re moving into earthy notes of bitter leaves, tree bark and woody, almost nutty flavours. There are hints of liquorice and an elusive floral note that is hard to pin down but very pleasant indeed, and as the flavour slowly fades you are left with a hint of sweetness and spice that reminds you to take another sip.

It’s a gin that makes you want to explore old cocktail recipes and try them in a new light, to see how they might have tasted when they were first conceived. It has you guessing at how different the Martinez might have been from the drink we know today, or if Old English Gin might actually make a lot of sense in the julep (I’ve never been comfortable with London Dry juleps!). Hammer & Son offers us a chance to explore well-loved cocktails and see where they came from, how they used to be and how they have evolved and changed. Most wonderfully it gives us a chance to connect with the bartenders of old and understand a little more clearly what flavours they were working with all those years ago.

So here are three cocktails for you to try (when you can get this product, which Henrik promises will be soon!) with Old English Gin that might make you look at the category in a whole new light.

MARTINEZ

The Martinez is one of those recipes that springs to mind when you think os the Old English style of gin, and this version is based on a recipe from 1884. This may not be a Martinez as you know it, but trust me it’s worth trying, the dry vermouth and sweeter gin play off of each other beautifully and the drink has plenty of depth and character. There will be more about the Martinez very soon, but for now, here’s the recipe:

60ml dry vermouth

30ml Hammer & Son Old English Gin

3 – 4 dashes Angostura bitters

3 dashes gomme

In a mixing glass stir all ingredients with cracked or cubed ice and strain into a chilled coupe before garnishing with a small lemon twist. While many associate sweet vermouth with the Martinez, we found this version using dry vermouth to be a great interpritation of this classic old cocktai.

HAMMERED GOLD

Our tribute to the exceptional Mr. Henrik Hammer, who has brought us another new (old?) gin and has ensured that we have a chance to experience what gin was like in the days before London Dry was first conceived. This is a twist on the gin sour, with notes of vanilla, cherry and fortified wine playing with the spicy and earthy notes of the gin.

50ml Hammer & Son Old English Gin

25ml lemon juice

10ml Galliano

5ml maraschino

10ml Dubonnet Rouge

Shake all ingredients with plenty of cubed ice and strain into a chilled coupe or a cocktail glass, with no garnish. This drink works equally well on the rocks and can be garnished with a small sprig of fresh thyme to add an interesting herbal aroma.

OLD ENGLISH DAISY

Ok so there’s nothing revolutionary about this basic twist on the classic gin daisy, but a simple drink with great ingredients is sometimes the perfect way to go!

50ml Hammer & Son Old English Gin

20ml lemon juice

10ml Grand Marnier

Shake all ingredients with cubed ice and strain into a chilled coupe before finishing of with an orange twist. I like to rest the twist on the edge of the glass so that with every sip you get the aroma of the orange oils, but that’s up to you.

Henrik has tried to achieve a gin that could be consumed the way it traditionally would have been in 1783, and that means neat as well as in early mixed drinks such as punch , sangarees and rickeys, and in my opinion he has succeeded marvelously. With new gins launching at a rate that’s hard to keep up with, it’s a rare thing for me to get excited about one of them. Most are simply alright gins that offer nothing new to the category, then there are those that have just chosen a random exotic ‘botanical’ in an attempt to create something ‘quirky’, there are even some that seem to think colouring their gin is enough to earn them a place on the back bar. In the case of Hammer & Son Old English Gin, we finally have a product that adds to the gin category, faithfully reproducing a lost style of gin and giving us an insight into how gin would have been consumed in the 1700s.

We salute you Mr. Hammer, and your most excellent Old English Gin!

Best Mojito in Paris 2010 Darth Vader

Merci Jean Claude

Words by: Simon Difford

Pictures by: Dan Malpass

09:33 GMT // 23 Aug 2011

The Poles use rye while the Russian use wheat, but Finnish vodka is famously made from barley. By far the best known Finnish vodka is Finlandia so we headed over there to discover what else sets the brand apart besides the Finnish six-row barley.

The Finns discovered the art of vodka distillation from their Russian neighbours and by the mid-1800s practically every household owned some kind of distillation apparatus. This inevitably led to regulations outlawing DIY distillation, and, in 1919, two years after Finland declared its independence from Russia, distillation all but ceased with the onset of Finnish Prohibition. When this was finally lifted on 5th April 1932, the state took over exclusive control of vodka production. Alko, the state-owned monopoly company, established Finlandia in 1970 and a year later the brand became the first Scandinavian vodka to be sold in the US. It is now owned by the American Brown-Forman Corporation.

Finlandia is distilled from Finnish six-row barley, a variety of barley found in Nordic countries that gives a lower yield than two-row barley. This is fermented and distilled at the Koskenkorva distillery, located close to the village of the same name in Finland's breadbasket, the Ilmajoki municipality - about 400km north of Helsinki.

The seven state-of-the-art, stainless steel distillation columns at Koskenkorva use a rectification process called 'Continuous multi-pressure distillation'. The stills are operated continuously with three columns operated under a slight vacuum, while another three columns are atmospheric and one column is pressurized. These seven stills have an average height of 25 meters and are, in the order of process, a beer still, rectification column, extractive distillation column, rectification column, a fusel oil column, an aldehyde stripper and a methanol column.

Koskenkorva was established in 1944 but the government funded so-called 'New Distillery' was built between 1971-73 and modernised in 1987. The sprit produced here is so pure that further development is unlikely. However, work here continues to increase efficiency and eliminate environmental impact. As they say at the distillery, "no waste is produced, everything is used".

• Barley husk is burned to help generate the pressurised steam used in distillation.

• Fibres are separated and sold to food industry.

• Carbon dioxide, from fermentation, is collected and sold to gas industry.

• After distillation the spent mash is converted to animal feed.

• Extra starch is separated and sold to paper and food industry.

• The cooling and heating water used throughout the process is circulated many times in a closed system to efficiently control the temperature in each production step and keep water use to a minimum.

• Finally, even the waste ash from the power plant is sold to farmers and builders for soil improvement.

The distilled spirit produced at Koskenkorva is transported by rail to the historic distillery in Rajamäki. This was originally established in 1888 by Mr. Vilhelm Juslin as a yeast factory for bread manufacture. He introduced distillation here soon after. Perhaps due to the link to bread production, during Finnish Prohibition it was the only distillery that remained operational. In the middle of Prohibition, in 1920, the Finnish state bought the Rajamäki plant to secure alcohol supply for pharmacies and other non-drink purposes.

During the Winter War (1939-1940) with the Russians, the Rajamäki distillery contributed to the Finnish war effort by producing Molotov cocktails responsible for putting hundreds of soviet tanks out of commission. Over half-a-million bottles containing the volatile concoction of alcohol, paraffin, gasoline and tar were produced at Rajamäki.

At Rajamäki, the barley distillate from Koskenkorva is blended with water drawn from nearby glacial springs. This is so pure that the water requires no filtration or chemical purification. To protect this precious water source from contamination, the company owns twelve square kilometres of unspoilt forest in the vicinity of their wells. They don't have to treat or tamper with the water at all - no deionization, nor osmosis treatment, nor removal of minerals. Only a mechanical filter is employed to remove visible particles.

The red sun and the white reindeer on the front of Finlandia's bottle owe their origins to a Finnish legend that goes something like this: One winter's night, a spell was cast on a beautiful young girl transforming her into a fearsome white reindeer. Many men hunted the beast due to its valuable white hide including the girl's boyfriend who had no idea what had become of his lover. He, like many other hunters before him, fell victim to her antlers and received a fatal wound. He, in turn, inflicted a lethal gash to the reindeer's neck. The blood broke the spell, the reindeer became a girl again and the couple died in each other's arms. The legend goes on to say that any wish you make will be granted if you are lucky enough to see the sun, the moon and a white reindeer at the same time. Touching.

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 1970 in packaging designed by top designer Mr. Wirkkala, Finlandia can rightly claim to be the world's very first designer vodka. Finlandia Vodka is an extremely pristine vodka through advanced distillation techniques and use of pure spring water. It is not charcoal filtered and does not contain any additives.In 2003, Harri Koskinen, noted Finnish tabletop glass designer and industrial designer, Wallace Church graphic design of New York, and Finlandia Global package design team, designed and launched the next generation Finlandia bottle, "Glacial Ice". The texture artistically mimics the sensation of pure melting ice. A glacial punt was truly a first for the vodka category, capturing the authentic origins of the brand's pure glacial spring water.

Tasting: An almost neutral nose is the precursor to an extremely clean palate with subtle barley and lightly spicy, nutty notes. Long, lightly black peppery finish. If vodka should be clean and neutral then this is textbook vodka. 5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in the autumn of 1994, this cranberry flavoured Finlandia expression was originally coloured red by the berries that flavoured it. In 2002, new contemporary packaging was introduced which contained colourless cranberry Finlandia, with an improved flavour.

Tasting: A nose of cranberry with sweet vanilla accents leads to a somewhat sweet palate with peach and honeyed cherry. More of the bitter dryness associated with cranberry is found in the black pepper garnished finish. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 2004, originally in the Polish market. Apparently when Finlandia changed their established cranberry vodka from red to clear there was uproar amongst the brand's Polish consumers so this red-coloured Redberry vodka (not simply coloured, the hue actually comes from the flavour components) was launched to appease them.

Tasting: A full-flavoured nose of ripe berries, cranberry and vanilla spice leads to a slightly sweet palate. The initial flavours of dark honey, milk chocolate and vanilla predominate over more subtle sweet cranberry and raspberry fruit. The finish is more tart with freshly ground black pepper. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

This citrus-flavoured line extension was introduced to the Finlandia range in 1999.

Tasting: Sweet lime Opal Fruit sweets (candy), lime zest with hints of lemon sherbet, lemon drops and barley notes balanced by peppery spirit particularly noticeable in the finish. 4/5

40% alc./vol.

This tropical addition to the Finlandia range was launched in 2004 and marries Finlandia's icy purity with warm tropical fruit flavours. Even the colourful orange punt that distinguishes it from the rest of the range hints at the combination with warm orange glowing on icy glass mountain peaks.

Tasting: A boiled sweet, fruity nose leads to a lightly sweet palate with a bust of lush candied fruit. It's what all of us who've infused boiled sweets in vodka sought and failed to create. It's too strongly flavoured to be like eating fresh mango but taste this vodka at room temperature and imagine the same flavour and alcoholic bite in an ice-lolly, then place your bottle in the freezer. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 2006, Finlandia Grapefruit is a good example of Finlandia's ability to source great tasting natural flavour extracts of fruit and combined these with their extremely clean tasting vodka.

Tasting: A sweet, fresh grapefruit zest nose leads to an equally clean and freshly zested grapefruit flavoured palate which is also made more convincing by being pleasantly acidic. The acidity grows through the tangy fruit finish. 4.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Tangerine is part of the mandarin family and is recognised for its sweet, almost honey-like character compared to other mandarin variants. Finlandia launched this tangerine-flavoured vodka in 2009.

Tasting: A light, inviting aroma with delicate hints of tangerine leads to a slightly sweet, warm and round palate with a zesty touch of citrus. The finish is warm and smooth with a lively fresh fruit tingle. 4/5

40% alc./vol.

Finlandia looked at their citrus dominated range of flavours and decided to introduce another berry flavour to Finlandia family. Launched in 2009, Finlandia Blackcurrant is full-bodied, richly flavoured vodka, which Finlandia say "brings back all those warm memories from grandma's homemade blackcurrant juice without losing the real vodka characters".

Tasting: A rich, fruity and natural blackcurrant nose leads to a smooth yet refreshingly tart blackcurrant flavoured palate with hints of pepper and a lingering warm aftertaste. 4.5 /5