Ginvent

Eastside Road, December 21, 2012—

I FIRST WROTE ABOUT this wonderful survey of spirits back on December 9:

…I forgot to mention that a box arrived in the mail a couple of days ago, a gift from a distant relative — a co-grandfather, I suppose you would call this degree of relationship, who lives in New York. What should be in the box but another box, and what should that turn out to be but a Ginvent Calendar: a box with twentyfour little pull-the-flap-and-open-the-door surprises, each of them a dram — three centiliters — of a different gin.

What a marvelous idea! It came too late to function as planned, countdown to Christmas: but then I'm not Christian anyway; I can make this an advent to whatever I like. What I like is New Year's Eve, so I opened the first flap yesterday, the second today. I open them in the morning after breakfast, so I can put the curious little bottle in the freezer to share ice cold with my consort before dinner.

The next day we suspended our survey, shifting instead to hot toddies at bedtime because of fierce head colds. Now, though, that's behind us, and we've been back at work. And now, here are a few tasting notes, with the demurral that it's difficult enough to remember tastes from one day to the next, let alone when you're limited to a dram or so; and one doesn't always record notes right on the spot…

1: Hendricks Gin (41.4%): floral, sweet but not sugary, tasting properly of juniper but with a hint, I thought, of lemon and maybe even marigold.

2: Tanqueray Export Strength (45.30%): also floral and a little sweet in the English tradition, juniper of course but also a hint of vanilla, seems to me.

3: Tanqueray No. Ten (47.3%): Very similar to the above, maybe more sandalwood, spice.

4: G Vine Floraison (40.5%): Herbal, dark, bitter, smoky; apple?

5: Greenalls Gin (35.5%): Light, accessible, pleasant…

Said co-grandfather pays a visit this evening, and we'll visit the next two bottles, and I'll try to take better notes. Hmmm: six and seven. We're at sixes and sevens, this last day of the Mayan sequence…