Gin for Whiskey Lovers: Genevieve Genever Style Gin

My dad, who came of drinking age in the early 1960s, is an old-fashioned gin-drinker. His drink of choice is a "martini" with gin and two olives; no one even bothers to whisper the word vermouth. I've never had much of a palate for gin. In general, white spirits don't do much for me, and I dislike flavored white spirits in particular. I like my liquor with some age and oak on it: whiskey, brandy, reposado and añejo tequilas, you know what I mean. But that was before I discovered Genever Gin.

When people speak of gin, what they usually mean is London Dry Gin, which is essentially a juniper berry flavored vodka, Absolut Juniper, if you will. Two hundred years ago, though, another style of gin was predominant. Popular in continental Europe as well as the US, this gin was known alternately as Dutch style, Genever gin, Geneva gin or Holland gin. As cocktail writer David Wondrich recently pointed out in Malt Advocate Magazine, whereas London Dry Gin is an herbally enhanced vodka, Genever gin is an herbally enhanced whiskey. This caught my attention as it characterized gin as a brown spirit, albeit a flavored one.

As with many antiquated spirits, Genever Gin is making a comeback. I was excited to learn that one of my favorite distilleries, Anchor (makers of the excellent Old Potrero Rye Whiskey as well as Junipero Gin) makes a Genever style gin known as Genevieve. Genevieve is distilled in a pot still from a mash of wheat, barley and rye malts (i.e. whiskey, though unaged), with various flavoring botanicals. The resulting spirit is but a distant cousin to Tanquery and its ilk.

While the nose of Genevieve has definite gin characteristics, there is a softness to it, a perfumey quality with, yes, some grain notes. Its flavor is more understated than the thundering juniper notes of a London Dry, and there is more than juniper doing its work in this gin. I pick up a bit of anise and other herbal notes, similar to one of the more herbal Absinthes like St. George. In any case, this is a far cry from the stark London Drys that we all are used to.

How should you drink this new and exciting spirit? Over ice is the best way to absorb its unique flavor profile, but I most enjoyed a slightly adjusted version of the traditional gin cocktail suggested by Wondrich, which is essentially a gin old fashioned.


The Genever Gin Cocktail

Muddle one sugar cube with 3-4 dashes of Angostura Bitters and a splash of water until the sugar is dissolved. Add two ounces of Genever gin. Fill glass with crushed ice and stir until chilled. Garnish with a lemon twist. Note that this only recently rehabilitated drink meets the traditional definition of cocktail: a drink containing spirit, sugar, water and bitters.

The sugar, bitters and lemon accent and complement the herbal notes of the gin, and the added sweetness gives it a refreshing quality, making it the perfect cocktail for a sweltering summer day in Los Angeles. I would take this over a traditional gin and tonic any day of the week.

Wondrich suggests using Fee's Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters instead of Angostura, which gives the drink a nice, spicy cinnamon kick, though on balance, I think I prefer the Angostura.

Anchor's Genevieve goes for around $30. The only other Genever gin I've seen available is Bols which is in a similar price range.

Oh and my dad? He can't take the Genever style gin, so I'll still keep a bottle of Tanqueray just for him.

Whiskey Wednesday: Budget Booze - Ten High for Ten Bucks

Tom Moore Distillery, previously known as Barton Brands and recently purchased by Buffalo Trace, does great things with cheap booze. Known and loved for Very Old Barton in Kentucky, the distillery's biggest problem is that not much of their whiskey makes it out of Kentucky.

One of the few budget brands from Tom Moore that make it out west is Ten High. A Bourbon, Ten High usually weighs in at $10 or less so it definitely falls into the budget category, but at a mere 40% alcohol, it doesn't have the punch of some of the stronger versions of Very Old Barton.

Tasting

Ten High Bourbon (distilled by Tom Moore distillery), 40% alcohol ($10 or less).

The nose is a bit harsh, but then there is some caramel and even some wood. With the first taste this is unmistakably a Barton Bourbon, sweet but with some real depth and complexity. Beneath the sugar, there's polished wood and spice and savory notes as well.

No one does good, cheap booze like Barton Brands. This sip of Ten High makes me wish we could get the higher proof but still cheap Very Old Barton in these parts. Maybe Buffalo Trace will widen the distribution and bless us with some of it, but until then, you can't do much better than Ten High for less than ten dollars.

Back to the Frier: Fear and Loathing at the LA County Fair

I love the LA County Fair and head out to Pomona every year for the festivities, but this year, I am worried that the fair food at has officially gone overboard. It all dates back six or seven years ago when the first fried Snickers bar appeared at the fair. The fried Snickers bar created food-oriented media coverage that went beyond the typical corn dog and barbecue fair food staples and people flocked to the fair to check it out. That is the earliest I remember the fair being a real food destination.

The thing about the battered, deep fried Snickers bar is that it is terrific. When done well (which is not always the case), the innards melt into a mash of chocolate, caramel and nuts which soaks into the fried batter in a most pleasing way. There are several fried Snickers purveyors at the fair, but the best is the Texas Donuts stand, near the Blue Gate parking entrance. This year, the stand added a new candy bar, identified only as a Fried Reese's. Now, this was not a peanut butter cup, so it must have been one of the Reese's bars. Since I don't really eat Reese's candy bars, I couldn't really tell which one it was, but based on an internet search, I'd guess a Fast Break. In any case, it was delicious; peanut butter cream and melted chocolate oozed out into the battered covering and made for a gooey, peanut butter treat. I've always wondered why they fry all manner of inappropriate things at the fair but don't fry more candy bars. Clearly they should.

But I digress, the fried candy bar is a good product, but it started a trend of frying more and more absurd things simply to get attention. Then, they started covering equally absurd items with chocolate. Now, the fair food pavilions look more like something from This Is Why You're Fat than anything you would want to eat. It is a victory of shock value over taste.

This year, selections included chocolate covered bacon, cotton candy, pickles and Cheetos. The new fried item of note was the Zucchini Weeni [sic], a battered, deep fried hot dog stuffed zucchini. I couldn't bear to try one.



The battered, deep fried zucchini was courtesy of Chicken Charlie, the fair's most prominent fried food vendor. Charlie is the one who first brought deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, frog's legs, Coke, s'mores and White Castle burgers to the fair, as well as the monstrosity that is the Krisy Kreme fried chicken sandwich. Charlie gets a lot of publicity for his efforts, but the truth is, I've never really enjoyed anything that I've purchased from his stand. The Oreos are not bad, but most of the food is lackluster. It's high concept, low quality, and a symbol of what has gone awry in Pomona.



So what was good at the fair this year aside from the deep fried candy bars? Well, I finally stopped at the cute little gingerbread house near the farml. The warm gingerbread cake was moist and nicely spiced, but it was topped with an ultra-light tasting whipped cream. Had it been topped with a heavier whipped cream, or even better, a homemade one, it would have been great.

And Dr. Bob's ice cream is always a fair treat. I was looking forward to the soy sauce ice cream I had heard reports about, but they weren't serving it the day I went. Instead, I had some wonderful blueberry ice cream, with strong blueberry flavor and lots of mashed blueberries throughout.

Even though I've grown a bit cynical about fair food, I look forward to the experience every year, and I will undoubtedly be back in 2010 to try the chocolate covered, deep fried ostrich fillets or whatever next year's specialty happens to be.

Fair Report 2008
Fair Report 2007

Quickie: Village Bakery & Cafe

On Wednesday, I stopped by the new Village Bakery & Cafe on Los Feliz Boulevard at the site of the old LA Bread. I really liked LA Bread's sourdough boule and other breads, and luckily, the same baker is still making the same breads for the new spot, but there is a whole new line of pastries.

The maple bacon scone was delicious. The scone was flaky and buttery but not at all dry. The maple was subtle and the bacon wasn't overwhelming either, consisting of small pieces in the dough which managed to stay moist and chewy through the baking process.

I also had a blondie and an almond bar, both of which were good but not exceptional. The maple bacon scone was the real standout. They also have breakfast and lunch menus.

Village Bakery & Cafe
3119 Los Feliz Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 662-8600

Whiskey Wednesday: Budget Booze- Take a Peak at Pikesville Rye

Since writing up some good whiskey buys for under $20 a few months ago, I've been getting lots of inquiries about where to find cheap whiskey, so over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring some budget booze.

The only thing better than a good rye is a good, cheap rye, and Pikesville scores on both counts. A Heaven Hill product, Pikesville is a three year old rye which goes for around $15. Pikesville was originally a much beloved Maryland rye, but the old Maryland distillery is long gone. The label claims it is still distilled from an "old Maryland formula," which is curious since I believe it uses the same mash bill as Heaven Hill's Rittenhouse Rye, which is allegedly an old Pennsylvania style rye. Both, of course, are distilled in Kentucky. Marketing aside though, this is good stuff.


Tasting

Pikesville Supreme Straight Rye Whiskey (Distilled by Heaven Hill), 3 years old, 40% alcohol. ($11-16).

Good rye spice on the nose. This has a very straightforward rye flavor. It has good spice, a bit of caramel sweetness, good body, and the spice carries you all the way to a very nice, spicy finish. All in all, a text book rye whiskey. Great stuff for the price and easily better than some ryes I've had that are much more expensive.

Palatable Pickels+ Pottage

Tucked between the rental car centers and auto dealerships on Glendale's Brand Boulevard of Cars is one of the most talked about restaurants to open in the last year: Palate Food + Wine. Specializing in pickling and charcuterie, Palate does these things well, but falls short in other areas.

The Palate menu is delivered in a legal size file folder, which will make lawyers feel like they're still at work -- pig claims intentional infliction of emotional distress based on excessively porky menu. The menu divides into five sections, the "porkfolio" which is a charcuterie plate, potted meats, pickles, cheeses and other dishes (i.e. soups, salads and entrees).

The two dishes we had that were excellent came from the potted meat and pickles sections of the menu. The potted lamb was a wonderfully salty, preserved lamb with ample fat. Much of the lamb gaminess had receded in favor of the salt and brine, which made it akin to an addictive, salty snack with a hint of game; I found myself wishing for a larger portion. Other potted items on the menu the night we were there included pork and hamachi.

For pickles, out of a selection of onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and grapes, we chose grapes. These grapes exploded in your mouth with vinegar and tarragon, almost as if they were one of Jose Andreas' "spherifications"; in fact, I'm not sure I could have identified them as grapes in a blind tasting, though a slight grape flavor does emerge later in the palate. These little wonders left me intrigued about the other menu items and reaffirmed my commitment to eat more pickled fruit.

The porkfolio, aside from the great name, fell a bit flat. It included parma prosciutto, lomo, speck, and three salumi, but all of it was rather ordinary. As a pork and charcuterie house, I held Palate to a high standard, and I didn't think they came through on this, their signature dish. Of everything on the plate, the speck and lomo were my favorites, but the salumi suffered from lack of distinction between the varieties and parma prosciutto is just not that special in these days of charcuterie innovation.

If the porkfolio didn't meet my rather high expectations, the entrees really disappointed. Flat iron steak was overcooked and the accompanying marrow was completely unseasoned. Calamari on greens with chili paste and garbanzos was a nice enough dish if not particularly memorable.

Since I have enough good cheese in my life, I didn't order a cheese course, though the menu selections looked nice enough.

The Palate wine list is creative and I appreciate that they offered three different sized pours of each wine (this is definitely a trend that should catch on), but avoid the cocktails. This is a wine place and the mixology was lacking.

Given the raves that have been heaped upon Palate, I was surprised to be largely underwhelmed. That being said, rave reviews are a mixed blessing and so I came with high expectations. If the place were in a more restaurant heavy district, I could see going back for a pre-meal snack of potted meat, pickles and a glass of wine. Alternatively, they are open for lunch on weekends and the aforementioned would make a nice light lunch. That being said, I'd stick to the top of the menu.

Palate Food + Wine
933 S Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91204-2107
(818) 662-9463

She Wore Red Velvet

I'm not much of a cake baker. I tend to stick to chocolate desserts for my baking, but when your significant other loves cake and it's her birthday, what are you going to do? In fact, nearly all my cake baking has taken place around one of her birthdays over the past 15 years. I've fumbled a few, though I've had a few triumphs as well, including a nice tres leches that I made from an Alton Brown recipe.

One of her favorite cakes is red velvet, so this year I took it on. After searching high and low, I found this Chowhound post. All I can say is, use it. The recipe is near-flawless. The secret ingredient is a bit of vinegar and baking soda, which adds that fizzy CO2 to the batter. I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter with the exception of substituting butter for the Crisco, since I have a deep-seated fear of Crisco.

And the frosting is wonderful, though be warned it is a buttercream, and some folks prefer cream cheese frosting on their red velvet cake. As for me, you could frost dog shit with a good buttercream and I'd happily lap it up.

Enjoy!