Grant's granting Grant's!

GRANT'S GRANTING GRANT'S!

(oh the puns)

Hello everyone! It is time for another grand tasting! Today's tasting include a set of three blended whiskies from the same manufacturer! I present you the Grant's tasting evening! (applause)

A brief summary first. As the shipment from Germany arrived bringing all kinds of liquid goods, my good friend (who is a big fan of Grant's blend) wanted to know whether their two special blends are worth their money. That is, if they're good. "Well let's give it a go then!" I said (not really but for the story's sake just play along) and within short notice managed to ask a colleague from work to join us as well. Alas, one friend (couple) couldn't make it after all so it was up to us three to objectively assess and evaluate the goods.

If you didn't know, Grant's is one of the biggest owner's in the whisky business, owning e.g. Glenfiddich. This evening's samples included:

1. Grant's Family reserve blended Scotch whisky
2. Grant's Ale Cask reserve (a blend finished in ale casks)
3. Grant's Sherry Cask reserve (a blend finished in oak casks that previously held Oloroso sherry)

As far as I know, the "regular" blend is widely available in pretty much anywhere but the special blends might be harder to come by. Then again I didn't know Grant's had a set of 12, 18 and 25yo as well so...who am I to decide?

Before we really get down to business, I must I just must stop you right there. I will interrupt the Grant's session with an outsider I just had to try before the official set!

This bourbon is the shit!

To the nose, an explosion of bourbon-vanilla and in the mouth starts strong and followed by a sweet toastiness. The following video explains the quality of this bourbon:

Okay! Let's get back to business.

Courtesy of Minttu Virolainen

We had a 4 cl measure of each and (if wanted) water to the side (to add). The "regular" Grant's smells like it (any household whisky) should; a bit stingy. In the mouth it has a very light peatiness and adding a drop of water verifies this. The Ale Cask had a softer nose to it and tasted softer as well. But the finish wasn't as pleasant as with the regular one, even slightly bitter! The true surprise was with the Sherry Cask blend! Smooth as fudge, light smokiness, peat and sherry notes (duh) really gave this blend an edge!

Out of the three the Sherry cask was a clear winner. The regular blend came in second and the Ale cask came in third. Price-wise the special blends cost pretty much the same as the regular one albeit having 0.3L less in volume.

Whisky tasting, serious business!

The event ended up being a great success! If not after the three full measures of whisky (my colleague had a G&T before), another bourbon glass and the last Glenfiddich 12yo, I enjoyed my time sampling these products! I can't wait for the next time a similar event is being organized!

Gin Sour

GIN SOUR

Hello again! Today we explore a truly classic cocktail, which in fact is one if not the easiest to make in its category. The Gin Sour. To simplify what a sour is, basically it comes down to

1. Choice of liquor
2. Fresh lemon juice
3. Simple syrup

The ratio might vary from bar to bar or even recipe-wise, but a solid 2:1:1 works just fine. So what liquor to use? That's the beauty of this drink! You could pretty much use anything you want and still have an amazing cocktail. Or an interesting one. A vodka sour, whisky sour, tequila sour, campari sour, midori sour and so forth. Only keep in mind if using a very sweet alcohol base, to cut back with the sugar syrup. You want the cocktail to be fresh and crisp, not overly sweet.

Let's get back to this one. Easy to make, solid in taste (love the pun).

• 4 cl gin of choice
• 2 cl fresh lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup
• (optional) garnish

Since gins have very different flavors nowadays, the choice of garnish is relevant. With Hendrick's gin I definitely would've used cucumber to garnish my drink. But since I used Schwartzwald dry gin, which is a very citrusy gin, the classic "lemon+cherry" worked out fine.

Pour ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake, rattle and roll. Strain, garnish and serve. There you go!

I liked it. It is all a rather "manly" drink, but has that nice citrusy note to it. Also it wasn't too sweet but just enough to be...well, sour :D To be honest though, I could've used 5 cl gin instead of 4 cl but that's alright. The drink tasted excellent!