Chasing the cold away...

Those who know me, know that I am a creature of habit. I find something I like and then stick to it religiously.

That also includes beverages. But last year I decided to be a bit experimental. And in the process, I found two beverages with which I have fallen in love.

The first is sloe gin. Now this is NOT that sickeningly sweet stuff with which most Americans are familiar. I am talking about real English sloe gin. The real stuff is gin, into which sloes, also known as blackthorn berries, have been infused, with the addition of some sugar to assist in that process. American sloe gin is made from grain neutral spirits, corn syrup, and artificial flavoring and coloring. If you didn't notice, American sloe gin lacks every single ingredient of real sloe gin. Perhaps now the reason for the difference is apparent.

Luckily for me, Plymouth, the gin maker, has been importing their sloe gin, made with sloes from Dartmoor, into America, using an 1883 recipe from their archives. According to master distiller Sean Harrison, "It’s a winter warmer, the type of thing you tuck in your pocket flask when you go shooting on the Glorious Twelfth,” as the opening day of hunting season is known in England.

Plymouth sloe gin is a ruby red liquor with the tart snap of sour cherries and a sly finish of bitter almond from the leaching of the sloe pits. It has a great jamminess, it smells like sloes and tastes like sloes. It really is a entirely different creation than an Alabama Slammer.

My other new find was Grant's Morella Cherry Brandy, which dates from 1774 when it was first produced in Kent. It is mentioned in the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens and was a favorite with Queen Victoria.

It is light on the tongue, almost silky, with cherries in great evidence before the more maraschino notes emerge. It has a very ripe and authentic fruit character with the sweetness an afterthought.

And I know it might sound horrifying to some, but you can mix it 50/50 with scotch to create Chisky. Other than straight, this would be my only choice for mixing. But, unfortunately, Grant's is not imported into America.

And now with winter weather approaching, I know exactly how I'll be staying warm from now through the point-to-points.

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