![]() What more could you ask for?”Īs the rising spirit of the last decade-plus, whiskey has no shortage of subdivisions that each deserve their own acclaim. Brian Bartels, the Bar Director of Happy Cooking (the restaurant group responsible for West Village hot spot Fedora), agrees: “It’s a solid choice as a mixing tequila and even one would enjoy on the rocks.” Smith adds, “It makes a perfect Margarita. “Pueblo Viejo ($19) for me, hands down,” counters Smith, of Colonie and Gran Electrica. Don’t! Life’s too short to not drink Margaritas.Īnd you can do it cheaply: Harrell recommends Cimarron Blanco ($17) (“straightforward and clean tasting, perfect for cocktails”), while Gordon-whose expertise is reflected in the title of his old column, " Drinking the Bottom Shelf"-recommends Agavales ($13), “a steal for 100 percent agave tequila that tastes like honey and strawberries.” “I am not smart,” says Ben LeBlanc, one of Harrell’s compatriots from Louisiana and the founder of Good Stock Soups, “but I’m smart enough to know not to drink cheap tequila.” LeBlanc’s not alone seemingly every drinker has a regrettable story about cheap tequila, and some of those pour souls have sworn it off forever. “ a great London Dry-style gin that mixes easily in cocktails without being too heavy on the juniper,” says Harrell. ![]() If you prefer to travel a little off the beaten path, though, Gordon (no relation to the gin) believes this is a good opportunity to do so: “ about the only spirit that craft distilleries do worth a damn at a reasonable price.” One such gin is Ford’s ($25), the “go-to well gin” at Angeline, the acclaimed restaurant of Alex Harrell, Thrillist’s New Orleans Chef of the Year in 2016. Kat Odell, the author of Day Drinking: 50 Cocktails for a Mellow Buzz, says you “can’t go wrong” with another timeless titan from England: Beefeater ($19), which she finds “classic, balanced, and universal for mixing,” while Will Gordon, a beverage columnist at Deadspin, votes for New Amsterdam ($11), which he says, “tastes like a melted coriander creamsicle! Well, it tastes like gin, overall, but also more like a coriander creamsicle than one might expect.” It plays well with tonic and makes a perfectly fine Martini.” “It exemplifies gin perfectly-big juniper, citrus and herbs-while retaining a nice smooth finish. “I don't know that there is a more classic gin at a better price than Gordon's London Dry ($11),” says Smith. Sometimes, the obvious choice is the right one. “It’s distilled from winter wheat and offers a bracing fresh clean taste and a faint but pleasant sweetness in the finish.” “An amazing value vodka,” according to Brian Smith, the beverage director at two Brooklyn restaurants, Colonie and Gran Electrica. McDonald’s establishments also serve Tito’s ($20), a quality vodka with a budget price that was singled out by other experts I contacted, who called it “super smooth” and “perfectly good.” If you’re looking for a more ringing endorsement, though, pick up a bottle of Aloo Vodka ($13) from Seattle’s Oola Distilling. We’ve always sold Russian Standard,” he says, referring to his several upscale hotspots in downtown New York, including Lure Fishbar and Bowery Meat Company. John McDonald, CEO of Mercer Street Hospitality, recounted to me the rise of premium vodka during his days running MercBar in the 1990s-first Absolut’s explosion onto the scene, then the rise of Stoli’s flavored vodkas, and ultimately Grey Goose “crushing everybody.” But when I mention to him that everyone I know who’s been to Russia has returned with a supreme loyalty to Russian Standard ($16), McDonald is effusive. And if you have an affinity for a vodka more expensive than $25, those extra dollars are probably paying for advertising. ![]() Other spirits are hampered by the need for “flavor” or “aging,” but the bar for vodka is low as long as it tastes more like water than bathtub hooch, you’re getting most of what the spirit has to offer (for argument’s sake, let’s consider infused vodkas a separate entity).
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