- I have tried a few of the spirits available from the Berkshire Mountain Distillers, and they are all very delicious.The rum, corn whiskey, and Greylock gin are all very good, but my personal favorite is the Ethereal gin. It is very complex in flavor. It is heavy on the botanicals, and has such a full, complex interesting smell you really want to take in the bouquet before you drink it. I don't even mix it with anything usually - it is that delicious. They also make them in small batches, and the label color changes to let you know it is a new batch and may taste slightly different. Before discovering the Berkshire Mountain Distillers I was almost always a Hendrick's woman (I love cucumber), but this stuff is great and I love that I am supporting a local company. I hope one day they will offer distillery tours.
- Undergrads have taken over college campuses everywhere wearing tights as pants, and everyone is spending their weekends going doughnut picking - so that means something else too - the return of pumpkin beer. And by far the best one in my opinion is the Southern Tier pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale. People I know who don't even like pumpkin beer love this. It is amazing - like dessert in a glass. It has just the right amount of spice. It is as much a part of fall as butternut squash soup and roast chicken.
- Is anyone looking for Christmas ideas for me? Inniskillin Icewines are so delicious, but unfortunately usually too expensive for me. Ahh, but with a little cheese for dessert? Divine! Their icewines burst with concentrated flavor and demand your attention almost completely as you sip them. I would absolutely love to go on a tour at the time of the harvest in say December or January and see how it is done (the fact that it is surely completely freezing on the Niagara peninsula in the winter is a testament to how much I love the stuff).
- I'll start out by noting that we don't drink a lot of vodka. But we do enjoy Penne alla Vodka, and I like a vodka gimlet, or some kind of a mudslide inspired coffee sort of thing once in a while. When I do buy vodka I often go for the Lake Placid Spirits offering. It tastes like nothing, which is the point of vodka in a cocktail, right? Clean crisp, nothing tasting - exactly as it should be. I will say that I gave a bottle to my friend as a thank you for putting on a bridal shower for me. She seems to be a connoisseur of vodka and seemed to like it, so there you have it.
Does anyone else have any local spirit suggestions?
Hmmm... I like Cornelius Applejack, from Harvest Spirits in Valatie (http://www.harvestspirits.com/applejack.html) interested to mix with and super yummy for deglazing. I'm not knowledgeable about whiskey but I've enjoyed the sips I've tried from Tuthiltown Spirits outside of New Paltz (http://tuthilltown.com/home). And Matt recently brought home Hard Cider from Slyboro @ Hicks Orchard in Granville, NY (http://www.slyboro.com/index.html). I haven't had it yet but he liked it enough to buy a bottle at a tasting.
ReplyDelete*interesting... not interested :)
ReplyDeleteI live and die for Hendrick's... how cool to have a local option near you! This summer at the Outer Banks I ran across a new local NC gin called Cardinal that I'm intrigued about (plus it passes the all-important cool bottle test). I think it's similarly (to Ethereal) heavy on the botanicals, which I'm less sure about... but certainly worth a taste test.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it is legal for us to have an exchange program, Maggie. I looked up that Cardinal gin and it looks delicious. I'll mail you some Berkshire Mountain Gin, and we can trade!
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