As
someone who enjoys drinking Spirits as much as I do, I really need to get into
making more cocktails. And one I have been making more recently and really
enjoying is the Sloe Gin Fizz. Sloe Gin, being a combination of a Gin and Sloe
berry juice blended together, is combined with Gin, club soda and lemon juice. Sloe
Gin typically has a nice combination of fruitiness, tartness and can be
vegetal. It is the work of the juniper, club soda and lemon juice to balance
those flavors. Usually the standard Gin used for a Sloe Gin Fizz is more
juniper focused than spice focused. Something like St. George’s Botanivore Gin
is one usei to complete your Fizz. But the folks in Alameda make two other Gins
as well; their Dry Rye and Terroir. Both I decided to try the other night to
see how they rounded out the Sloe Gin Fizz.
With Sloe Gins being a little tart and earthy, I figured with the Rye
heavy Gin, the cocktail would take a woodsy feel. With 1 ½ ounces of Sloe Gin,
1 ounce of St. George Dry Rye Gin, Club Soda and a quarter of a lemon squeezed
in it, the drink in fact did. The fruitiness became more brambly like, as if
you were harvesting fresh berries in the forest while praying you read your
survival manual right and these are safe fruits. More of the stem/root flavor
popped out with the Rye spice making this a real cocktail of the earth. The
lemon provided a nice little pop of brightness on the finish, so while you
still might be in the woods, at least you’re in a tent and not on the floor.
St.
George Terroir Gin has a much more pine needle flavor up front. Meaning you
don’t need a whole lot of it to enhance a cocktail. With 1 ½ ounces of Sloe
Gin, ¾ an ounce of St. George Terroir Gin, Club Soda and lemon juice, this
version of the Sloe Gin Fizz was much bigger and bolder than the Dry Rye version. Those bold pine flavors pair
with the Sloe berry tartness up front giving it a nice complexity. The slight
fruitiness of the Sloe berries combine with the floralness of the Juniper
berries making a nice medley in the middle palate. Again, that pop of lemon
tartness on the finish is needed, this time to assist with the subtle tartness
of the Sloe berries.
