‘Tis the Season To Be Drinking!

Ok, I know there’s more to the holidays than merry spirits.  But, an opportunity is an opportunity.

I’ve got two libations to show you that thrive in this festive season.  Both are from England (sort of), but approach merriment from two different sides of the Atlantic:  Gin and Rum.

Noticed that the distilled spirit pundits have begun to edge away from Scotch whiskey and toward other ways to celebrate?  The Scotch whiskey song has been played so often the CD is thin and the ears weary.  Now we’re seeing a breakaway into more fashionable quarters.  First, vodka (mostly the bottles, in my opinion) showed new colors, new designs, and newly enhanced prices. 

I’m beginning to see the same curtains being pulled back in two more interesting areas.  Come ‘on now!  Once you’ve added lime or other flavoring to Vodka, what more can you do?  Triple distilled, quadruple distilled.  Gonna move on to completely dehydrated vodka?  For me, if you say Tito’s, you’ve said all you need to say about vodka.

Enough beating around the juniper bush!  Let’s move on to two of my new favorites, the first being The Botanist, a gin from Scotland, and more exactly from the Bruichladdich Distillery on the Isle of Islay.  Yeah, but gin is gin, n’est pas?  Oh, bite your tongue! Your taste buds have been neutered.  Traditionally, gin is a neutral spirit, flavored with juniper berries.  The Botanist goes far beyond that.  Two species of juniper go into the mix, along with twenty-two other herbs, all but two of which are harvested in the local area by two botanists.

Fine.  But, does all this rigmarole make a difference in the flavor?  Yes. 

It’s not that I can take a sip and suddenly pronounce all the Latin names, but my taste buds get a whisper of gin, instead of a hard bite.  That’s true whether I’m slow-sipping a marvelous martini, or nursing a gin and tonic.  There’s also a certain amalgamation of flavors that both calms and satisfies.  When I tried my first gin and tonic made with The Botanist, my melodious remarks were:  smoooooth, and flavorful.  In fact, The Botanist is so smooth, I normally go 1/3 to 2/3, gin to tonic.  Then I add a twist of lemon.  Then I have a second and a third.  (about $35 a bottle in England)

In the realm of rum,  I was drawn to Pusser’s because it’s a vital part of naval history.  First a word about the name.  From 1655 to 1970, a British seaman was given a ‘tot’ of rum a day and the man who dished it out was the Purser, later corrupted to Pusser.  From wooden ships to steel hulls, the Royal Navy floated on Pusser’s.

What happened in 1970?  The Admiralty Board (The Secretary of State For Defense is Chairman) decided that rum had no place in a modern Navy.  I’m thinking the blokes actually doing the fighting didn’t get a vote.  After all, Pusser’s Rum only contributed to victory after victory over several centuries.  Good reason to change.  And, what direction has the British Navy sailed since.  Downhill is a good guess.  Not the seamen, I might add, just the Royal Navy, as dictated by government rogues. Today, the once might Royal Navy has only 19 surface warships, including 1 helicopter carrier, and 10 submarines.

On July 31, 1970, referred to as “Black Tot Day, men raised their glasses as a long, unbroken tradition of the sea was cast aside.  They could have been drinking to the demise of the Royal Navy as well.

Thank god, the Admiralty Board didn’t have a say in ringing this marvelous rum’s death knell!  It’s still the only rum blended in accordance with the exact
Royal Navy specifications in place in 1970.  And unlike many rums, there’s nothing artificial about Pusser’s, not color and not flavor.

I’ve had plenty of rum, mostly from Puerto Rico, but also from various other spots around the Caribbean. Why there?  Rum is made from sugar cane.  ‘Nuff said. Haven’t had any that were  undrinkable, but neither have I had one that stirred me, made me purse my lips and scream, “Ahoy!”

Pusser’s is special.  A deep caramel color.  It’s also smooth as glass.  Often I sip it straight, as I would any other fine whiskey.  I like to let the aroma surround me, and the taste gently fade at the end of each sip.

Pusser’s Rum is bottled in Barbados, in the British Virgin Islands*, from stills in both Trinidad and Guyana.  Barbados has a strong tie to the United States.  Most planters and most of the early slaves came to South Carolina directly from that island.  There are lots of other Barbados rums and I admit I haven’t tried another.  This one is enough.  Not sure if my heart and my taste buds could handle anything better.  Pusser’s makes several varieties.  I drink the 42% alcohol variety.  ($18 a bottle)

     

   * Yes, it says British Virgin Islands on the bottle, but in fact every country I mentioned is independent, since the 1960s.