Tales of the Cocktail Small Batch Roundup

While big names like Diageo, Bacardi and Pernod seem to dominate Tales of the Cocktail, there are some small batch producers in the mix, too. Some nice stand-out spirits we tasted included the following.

Sensory Analysis With an Absolut Scientist

One of the most fascinating seminars we attended at Tales of the Cocktail was Per Harmansson’s Sensory Analysis seminar. Harmansson is a leading sensory analyst from Sweden and Director of Sensory Analysis for Absolut vodka. He led attendees through an examination of sensory experience as well as an in-depth vodka tasting.

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…

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.

Vermont Gold

Vermont Gold is actually distilled from the sap of a maple tree, rather than just flavored with maple, after the fact. So the effect is subtle and sweet, not some over-the-top, cartoon flavor. The nose is a light, sweet one, mostly of maple and a hint of sweet pecan.

Lovejoy Hazelnut by Integrity Spirits

At first taste, a smooth, almost sweet nuttiness comes through, with only a hint of burn at the end from the vodka. The finish has a lingering nuttiness, slight bitterness, a bit of warmth, and basically is very soft and smooth. It’s definitely not in the sweet liqueur category, but is not bad sipped on its own.

Prosciutto-wrapped Melon Shot

Going through the Bakon Vodka website, we did find one recipe that was pretty tasty. As a bonus it’s also maybe the third or fourth cocktail I’ve ever heard of that uses Midori, and is not sickening sweet.

Bakon Vodka – Meat & Potatoes in a Bottle

There’s obvious raw bacon flavor all through this, but the mouth feel is just not what you’d expect. I am not EVER going to try the likely hurl-in-a-glass that they suggest known as a “Bakon Flip,” which includes a whole raw egg, Irish cream, maple syrup and a shot of Bakon. [shudder]

Dirty as the Gulf of Mexico Martini

Tasting New Deal Distillery’s Hot Monkey Pepper Vodka caused me to try to create what I think is a HDirty as the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s an off-the-cuff recipe that we camp up with and enjoyed last night. All the better if the olives are stuffed with garlic or cheese to further “pollute” the drink.

Hot Monkey

Hot Monkey vodka has a slight nose of hot peppers at first whiff. Being a bit of a hot pepper connoisseur, it reminds me of a Sandia or some other green chile. But it’s only a slight nose. Tasting it, not so slight. POW!

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