I'm Back with GIN!

Let it be known that I am THE Cole Higgison and it has been way too long since I’ve posted on Swig Knowledge. I have a shot of Ketel One vodka waiting on me to finish this blog post just as James Caan had his smoke sitting in a dish next to his typewriter until he finished his book in the movie adaption of Steven King’s Misery .

It has been a hazy month of drinking, living, working, playing, composing on my guitar, and yet forgetting all about writing. There have been times at the beach, times in the kitchen, times celebrating birthdays, times watching baseball, times listening to new music, and times of baking in the heat of DC this year.

A few months ago, some “friends” made fun of this blog and what I write about. I was drinking a Miller Lite one night and one friend said, “Let me guess, you’re gonna blog about that Miller Lite in an hour.” Like an idiot, I got upset, tuned out, and turned off about the whole idea of what I was writing about week in and week out. I got caught up in the emotions of thinking about what others think. If you have read my book, you would know that I don’t care for what others think…nor do I listen.

So to my audience, I apologize.

To the doubters…I’M BACK A-HOLES!

I was reading an article today in “Beverage Dynamics” about how Gin was making a resurgence. Let me tell you something: Gin is as dead as Merlot.

Maybe I’m wrong? I have friends who love Gin (Snoop Dogg loved it in 1992) and I have just as many that love Merlot because it used to be as famous as Chardonnay. It is actually two on each side since I don’t know Snoop after all.

The “hot” brands of gin are the mainstays of Beefeater (1820), Tanqueray (1830), Plymouth (1793) and the expensive Bombay. New comers are Bulldog, Hendricks (cucumber infused), and New Amsterdam which are making a huge push. Well, what is Gin?

Gin is booze with a flavor derived from juniper berries. Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories: Distilled Gin (crafted in the traditional manner, by redistilling neutral spirits of agricultural origin with juniper berries and other botanicals) and the less regarded Compound Gin (made by simply flavoring neutral spirit with essences and other 'natural flavorings' without redistillation).

Therefore, Gin can be anything: sticks, roots, wild berries, or weeds (wait, I have an idea).

Juniper berries were recognized from ancient times as possessing medicinal properties. By the 11th century, Italian monks were flavoring crudely distilled spirits with juniper berries. During the Black Plague, this drink was used, although ineffectively, as a remedy.

The Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius is credited with the invention of Gin. By the mid 17th century, numerous small Dutch and Belgian distillers (some 400 in Amsterdam alone by 1663) had popularized the redistillation of malt spirit or wine with juniper, anise, caraway, coriander, etc., which were sold in pharmacies and used to treat such medical problems as kidney ailments, lumbago, stomach ailments, gallstones, and gout.  

In London in the early 18th century, Gin sold on the black market was prepared in illicit stills (of which there were 1,500 in 1726), and was often adulterated with turpentine and sulfuric acid. As late as 1913, Webster's Dictionary states without further comment, " 'common gin' is usually flavored with turpentine." TURPENTINE!!!!!

Dutch or Belgian gin, also known as jenever or genever, evolved from malt wine spirits, and is a distinctly different drink from later styles of gin. Jenever is distilled at least partially from barley malt (and/or other grain) using a pot still, and is sometimes aged in wood. This typically lends a slightly malty flavor and/or a resemblance to whisky.

Gin is a popular base spirit for many classic mixed drinks, including the martini. Secretly produced "bathtub gin" was commonly available in the speakeasies and "blind pigs" of Prohibition-era America due to the relative simplicity of the production method. Gin remained popular as the basis of many cocktails after the repeal of Prohibition.

A little known fact is that The National Gin Museum is in Hasselt, Belgium.

The minimum bottled alcoholic strength for Gin is 37.5% ABV (Europe), and 40% ABV (USA) and it can  include accenting citrus botanical (lemon and bitter orange peel), angelica root and seeds, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon, almond, cubeb, savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander, grains of paradise, nutmeg and cassia bark. I said it…BARK! There’s a lot of shit in Gin. No wonder it gives me a two day hang over.

So in closing of my first blog in six weeks, I am going to drink this shot of Ketel One and go to bed. I’m not going to lie: I want Gin and Merlot to come back and be strong one day. If I want to trip out for a couple of days, I may go on a Gin bender and listen to Snoop Dogg while drinking Gin and juice. Until then, I will continue to write no matter what anyone else ever says as there is no doubt I know my shit bout booze, wine and beer.

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