Fraters Libertas

A Great And Sudden Glory

The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived.
--Bernard De Voto

Word has reached us here at Fraters HQ East that one of our own, The Atomizer, has taken to drink and is currently holed up in his West Bloomington home. Distraught at the savaging he suffered with Hugh Hewitt’s Horrific Horse Hockey Heresy, he’s not taking phone calls, responding to emails or answering his door. Knowing him as we do, we’re not really all that concerned, but I thought the following info gleaned from this morning’s Journal might be of interest to him if he decides to turn this bender into a week-long event (as he has been known to do).

Raymond Sokolov (one of the paper’s great snooty food reviewers) decided to review the superpremium gins and vodkas on the market and tell us which were up to his estimable snuff. In the gin category, somewhat surprisingly, the Scottish gin Hendrick’s was judged to be superior over all, despite the fact that it boasts of “a curious but marvelous infusion of cucumber.” (?)

Tanqueray No. Ten, a step up from the standard Tanqueray, was judged to be the smoothest of the gins, something I can personally attest to as I recently polished off a bottle after it spent a scant couple of days in my freezer. A bottle made quite an impression at a recent family reunion as well when I plopped it down next to a bottle of Gordon’s and sniffed “Okay, now who’s ready for a real drink?”

Apparently, Bombay Saffire (the Atomizer’s choice) was tested but did not win, place or even show.

Moving on to the vodkas, again surprisingly (given it is French) Grey Goose was chosen as the best all-around. Sokolov says: “This is smooth and far-removed from the rubbing-alcohol finish of most vodkas.” Olifant, a Dutch vodka, was rated second best and would be a good buy at only 15 bones a liter.

I think that’s why I’ve always been more of a gin guy than a vodka vulture. Gin is so much more adult, so much more masculine than vodka. You don’t often hear of people mixing gin with fruity kids drinks like grape juice, or putting it in fru-fru cocktails so young women can get loaded but not taste the hootch. Vodka screams out to be hidden, it’s taste deluded by as much sugar, corn starch and fruity crap as can be crammed into a glass. Gin just calmly says “Here I am. You think you can handle it?”

To me, this is why the quality of gin is much more paramount than the quality of vodka. If you’re going to just cover up the taste with mixer anyway, why buy the good stuff? I buy good gin because I like very, very dry martinis where the gin is doing all the heavy lifting, not the mix.

Sokolov concurs:
As a rule, the “ordinary” premium brands like Tanqueray were clearly less appealing than their superpremium label mates, but not dramatically better than those in plastic bottles, which suggests that those of us who have habitually spent bottom dollar for white spirits we were going to mix with tonic or orange juice had the right idea.

So there you go Atomizer, a few suggestions if you decide to stay holed up for a while. And it’s probably best just to leave that radio off for a while too.