Ingredients Cocktails Events Gin Tasting @ NRG Wines Amy Kundrat July 06, 2010 If your preferred cocktail is a gin martini or the summer staple, a gin and tonic, there is an event happening this week you will not want to miss. Peter Troilo at Nicholas Roberts Fine Wines will be hosting a gin tasting this Friday July 9 beginning at 5 pm at their shop located at 1053 Boston Post Road in Darien. Usually known for a great selection of wines, NRG is mixing it up and will be presenting four gins with equally different styles and approaches to taste. If you’re on the fence about the juniper substance, you may want to read my love note to the stuff as inspiration, Bringing Back the Martini. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let’s meet our contestants... Old Raj | Stylish and UrbaneCadenhead’s Old Raj is infused with saffron which imparts a slight spice and a tell-tale tinge of yellow to the usually clear liquor. Distilled in Scotland, Raj boasts 110 proof or 55% alcohol by volume which makes is one of the highest proof gins on the market. Hendricks | The EccentricThe first thing you’ll notice about Hendricks is its distinctly brown, round medicinal bottle hinting at its list of botanical ingredients (essences) of rose petals and cucumbers. But don’t let this delicate flower fool you, Hendricks packs 80 proof and has been wooing gin drinkers since 1886.No. 209 | An American Craft ApproachOur lone American gin in the tasting, No. 209 embraces a more craft-driven approach evident in a small batch distillery located in California. The revival of an actual old distillery, No. 209 fuses their gin with “citrus, exotic fruits and spices.”Hayman’s Old Tom Gin | Old School, babyMade from a family owned distillery in England, Hayman’s Old Tom is about as old school as you can get. Hayman’s is a “lightly sweetened style of gin that was particularly popular in the 18th Century,” when gins added botanicals to hide impurities and retains that same “botanically-intensive” approach today.
