Calisaya

While a good number of bars are making their own cocktail flavoring bitters, few folks in the states have dared to tread in the realm of bitters meant to be enjoyed as an apertiveo or digestivo.

12 Bridges Gin

Initial taste is a touch minerally, with some citrus oil and juniper and some warming spice and salt to the taste. It is a bit astringent, but also has a sweetness to it as one of the first flavors that hits the mouth. Juniper and cardamom and oddly also some floral notes akin to rosewater follow.

New Amersterdam Gin

First taste is of orange peel and orange oil. It’s sweet almost to the point of candy and soft to the point of producing a soapy mouthfeel. There’s an overwhelming orange flavor, which builds on the palate to the point of tasting almost PEZ-like.

Maker’s 46

The initial taste is that of slight caramel, but more of oak and sourdough bread with some traces of sour cherry also coming out. It’s toasty and slightly nutty, with a trace of leather on the aftertaste.

A Shot of the Black Stuff

The Tales of the Cocktail seminar A Shot of the Black Stuff: Amazing Amaros and Brilliant Bitters, was well worth being part of the standing-room-only overflow.

Sobieski at Tales of the Cocktail

We went to enjoy the lunchtime circus in the room taken over by Sobieski and Imperial Brands. Definitely not craft distilling, given their huge presence in Europe, but when at Tales of the Cocktail…

Bar Tonique

Bar Tonique in New Orleans is a nice find during our trip for Tales of the Cocktail. They make their own tonics and other concoctions, taking a page, with a nod, from Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon.

Aviation Gin

Hmmm… An unusual nose for a gin. There’s an initial sweetness and citrus, with the scent of cardamom and a little nuttiness, as well. Little to none of the juniper note we commonly expect from a gin.

Dry Fly Gin

Dry Fly is a nice, light gin. There’s a slight sweetness and flowery note to the nose, with traces of citrus and coriander and some other mineraly scent I can’t quite place.

Mazama Pepper Vodka

First nose is of earth, and a trace of pepper heat. Then the more full scent of roasted red bells or other sweet peppers, comes out. It really makes me think of summer evening tapas and the scent of frying up some Nardellos or some Italian sweet peppers with some coarse sea salt sprinkled on top.

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