So last night we got together with two other couples for a martini contest. Same couple as involved in last month's Manhattan contest, plus their pregnant daughter and her metrosexual Amazon exec husband up from Seattle. One each martini was made from five different gins, then divided five ways, so the portions were deliberately small--but enough. The mother-to-be took a tiny sip of each from her husband's glasses. Each glass held a tiny lemon twist. The vermouth was Dolin dry.
I made appetizers to go with the gins. To keep things distant but graceful, each couple got a square plate with three small pots (ramekins) containing: swordfish brandade, green pea hummus, smashed cucumbers with dill & chiles, and a pile of homemade sourdough crisps. I know food pairing for alcohol isn't exactly a 'thing', but I didn't want anyone drinking on an empty tummy and it made sense to play to gin's strengths. The generosity of herbs d'Provence in the brandade for the botanicals, the lemony sweetness of the peas for juniper and forest elements, and the salty freshness of the cucumbers for everything else (no vinegar) were all flavors that I imagined would speak, albeit differently, to the spice and botanical elements in the gins. And they really did.
Did we have a clear winner? YES!!! The Bluecoat from Philadelphia got five first place votes, all but one--incredibly complex and attractive nose, great on the palate. Here's how the voting went:
Bluecoat, Philadelphia: kaleidoscopic array of citrus and florals on the nose, bright and light on the palate, elegant finish. Not what you'd call perfumey or feminine, just unusually aromatic without being weird in any way. This one loved the peas.
Heritage Douglas Fir Gin, Bainbridge Island WA: smelled like a Christmas tree lot in December, plenty of juniper too and an element that reminded this wino of American oak. Intriguingly different, but not weird. Particularly good with the cucumbers.
Plymouth (England? Not sure): not much nose at all, but very balanced and silky on the palate. A good all-around gin with no sharp edges, you could blend it with anything, and it had the smoothest finish. This got the only first place vote that didn't go to the Bluecoat.
Bellewood Acres, Bellingham WA: the most outwardly botanical with the roughest finish. Not only did it pair well with the brandade, it almost needed the brandade to make it friendly. Best for a dirty martini, however. Olives would accentuate the botanicals where lemon just got in the way.
Bombay Sapphire: the sweetest by far with a mouth-coating viscosity that stood out from the others. My least favorite of the night. That said, it with the peas was maybe THE best food pairing of the night.
And lastly, I have to give a shout out to High Hitch from London, which was so spectacular and likely irreplaceable that we deemed it too good for the martini contest.
