In honor of the beginning of summer, this episode is all about gin. Cheers!
Gin
SPEAKERS
Michael Kashey, Connor Brekke
Connor Brekke 00:08
Hello, everyone and welcome back to The Ombibulous, a show where we discuss a variety of topics regarding alcohol. From specific beer styles, distillation, the brewing process, wine, spirits, and even a history of certain liquor laws. There's a fascinating world to explore. On today's episode, we have a discussion about gin. Joining me today is Michael Kashey of Thomas and Moriarty's here in downtown Mandan. I'm your host, Connor Brekke. Let's all raise a glass to... The Ombibulous.
Connor Brekke 00:44
Alright, everybody, welcome back to another riveting episode of The Ombibulous. Joining me once again is Mr. Michael Kashey. Thank you for coming back on the show... I haven't scared you away yet, so that's that's good thing.
Michael Kashey 00:57
Ah, you're gonna have to do do worse.
Connor Brekke 01:00
So today we have an episode about a favorite summer drink with summer... North Dakota summer, hopefully approaching pretty quickly here.
Michael Kashey 01:11
I mean, we could also get summer in December. Who knows?
Connor Brekke 01:14
Yeah, who knows? It's North Dakota. But we got an episode about gin today. You know, for people that know me, I didn't really know anything about mixed drinks or cocktails or anything. Gin was introduced to me buy this place two years ago and I really like it. It's... it's a good summer drink.
Michael Kashey 01:37
It has a... I would say an undeserved reputation. Gin is... it's a... one, it's a diverse spirit. But it is made right in the right cocktail it is fantastic. I think we've turned a lot of non gin drinkers into gin drinkers in the three years we've been open.
Connor Brekke 01:54
Yep. I'm one of them, definitely. So gin, it has a pretty far reaching roots... the history of it anyways. You know, a lot of this stuff is medicinal, you know, in origin.
Michael Kashey 02:07
Yep.
Connor Brekke 02:09
To my understanding that gin dates back to the medieval times.
Michael Kashey 02:13
Yeah. So gin, if you're going to trace it back to its origins actually originated in a Dutch spirit called ginever. Ginever literally, literally means juniper. And this is, it's a little bit different than the modern gin that we have today. It uh.. 1500s was a it was basically a rye malt that was distilled with juniper berries. So it's going to be a little little malty kind of has some whiskey characteristics, but then there's that also that kind of like, like freshness, that kind of like piney almost juniper kind of flavor to it. Basically, about 100 years later, or so... the English weren't able to get their ginever brought in, they didn't... and they didn't know how to make it. So they started distilling neutral grain spirits, basically vodka. Gin is, modern day and I should say, is the original flavored vodka. It's juniper flavored vodka with different botanicals, orange peel, coriander, sometimes cardamom, lavender in some.
Connor Brekke 03:20
So there's different types of gin too?
Michael Kashey 03:23
Yeah, so the kind of the original, the gin that everybody knows is... would be called a London Dry style. This is going to be that juniper forward, it's gonna it's piney. It's gonna taste like pine to think like your Tanqueray, your Bombays. These tend to be the gins that people associate all gin with, and the reason they don't like gin. First time I ever had gin, I was not quite of age. And it may or may not have been in a plastic bottle. And it may or may not have been sitting in a garage all summer long. And ironically, I really liked it. But I didn't drink it again for a few years. Until I... you know, drank.
Connor Brekke 04:05
The first gin I had was, was here it was... I've smelled it
Michael Kashey 04:08
Never never had.
Connor Brekke 04:09
I've never had it before.
Michael Kashey 04:11
What!?
Connor Brekke 04:11
I just always associate it with...
Michael Kashey 04:13
Pine?
Connor Brekke 04:14
..pine. And I'm like, I'm not sure about this. And I've smelled it. I'm like, ooh, it smells like... a forest in not a great way. But, the first one I had was here and I was like... this isn't bad at all. So I know, there's definitely different types. And obviously, quality's a pretty big deal as, as it should be with all these different types of spirits and whatnot. But you guys do several different types of drinks involving gin around here. So it's.. after seeing the ingredients that you guys use and how you mix it together, it seems like you can do quite a bit with it.
Michael Kashey 04:52
Yeah, you can do... I like to.... I don't like to break the mold too much with gin. I'd like to use gin and more of the like kind of bright, sort of summer focused cocktails. Usually they're fairly refreshing. We are bringing back or we've brought back I should say our gin and tonic menu. We make our own tonic here. And so we'll pair... we'll take a gin and then we'll take something that pairs with the botanicals in it. So if say we're using a Japanese gin that's going to have that like kind of tea, tea like flavors to it, those floral will pair that with Thai basil and then goji berries and then we'll mix it with our tonic and they are fantastic.
Connor Brekke 05:35
The goji berry one's really good, if you guys ever get to Thomas and Morty's downtown, I would go with that... definitely. Yeah, there's ah, different types of gin like the.. you mentioned Japanese distilled gin, London gin.
Michael Kashey 05:51
The London dry is the most popular one. There's Plymouth gin, which is a really fantastic one. And that was... I started turning a lot of non gin drinkers in using that right away. It's going to be a little bit more citrusy. That one has a little bit of a history to it, too. It was, by the name of it, you can guess where it originated. With Plymouth of course, and it was the gin that the pilgrims brought on, on their boats when they landed in America. These spirits the spirits tend to be old.
Connor Brekke 06:29
Speaking of old, there's one called Old Tom gin.
Michael Kashey 06:33
Yes, so Old Tom Gin, if you were drinking gin in the late 1800s, one you would have either been drinking, if it was called Holland gin, that would have been Geneva, or if it was just gin, it would be an Old Tom gin. Old Tom is going to be a little little sweeter. It's lighter on that juniper, and then it's had a little bit of sugar added to it to kind of round out some of those more botanical flavors.
Connor Brekke 06:58
Sounds better than the bathtub gin for the Prohibition era.
Michael Kashey 07:01
Yeah, yeah, do not.. if it's made in a bathtub, do not drink it.
Connor Brekke 07:04
Usually things that are produced in a bathtub are a pass. I mean, you know, to each their own, but I would highly say pass on anything made in the bathtub.
Michael Kashey 07:13
Some people pay good money for that.
Connor Brekke 07:15
I suppose. Um, there's kind of an infamous gin drink that I've heard of. I actually tried it in New Orleans called the Ramos Gin Fizz.
Michael Kashey 07:26
Where'd you.. where do you have it at in New Orleans?
Connor Brekke 07:29
I don't remember. I don't remember it was kind of a fancy place.
Michael Kashey 07:32
Did it have a rotating bar.
Connor Brekke 07:33
No, it wasn't that fancy.
Michael Kashey 07:35
Didn't go to the carousel?
Connor Brekke 07:36
But I just remember the guide saying I gotta order... I gotta order this now, 40 minutes in advance. It's like... Okay?
Michael Kashey 07:42
Wow. Yeah, you don't have to do that here. So yeah, the the Ramos Gin Fizz is a is an incredibly famous New Orleans cocktail. And personally, I think it should be the official cocktail of New Orleans. It's, it's, it's a very, it's a one of a kind, classic cocktail. It was created by a guy named Henry Ramos in the late 1800s, at a bar in New Orleans called a Cabinet Saloon. And he was actually, before he was a bartender, he was a, he worked in a pharmacy. So he made sodas, and he basically took one of these classic pharmacy drinks... pharmacy drinks? Is that what you know, you'd say?
Connor Brekke 08:22
I would say, yeah.
Michael Kashey 08:24
Medicines? And he turned it into a cocktail. So the Ramos Gin Fizz is made of gin lemon, egg white cream, something called orange flower water, and then seltzer or soda water. So originally, it took about 15 minutes to make. Definitely now people focus on that too much. But there's a reason why it took that long. Now it takes about a minute and a half, two minutes, if you watch us make it at least and it looks exactly the same. Back then they were shaking it with the soda water. And so they were shaking it till it was flat, but they wanted that minerality from that mineral water. Whereas now we add that for a little bit of effervescence. And when we pour it in, it's usually gets a really nice foam that can sit an inch or two over the glass. Looks like a push pop almost.
Connor Brekke 09:18
I remember asking why, finally, when we got the drink is "why did you order this 40 minutes ago?" and like "Oh, they shake the living daylights out of it to make it foam" and I'm like.. "ok?"
Michael Kashey 09:28
Yeah, you don't, there's a little bit of clinging to the past I think with that one. So I'm gonna I'm gonna break for most of the, the cocktail world on this right now. But you do need to shake it more than the average drink just because you're trying to areate that egg white and try to, you know, get that emulsion going. But 15 minutes, five, five minutes is honestly too much.
Connor Brekke 09:52
Fair enough. We were with a group but we only had three people in our group. So either way... it was definitely interesting in the foamyness and fizzyness of it it was...
Michael Kashey 10:05
Yeah, it's..
Michael Kashey 10:05
...it's, it's a ah, it is a fantastic drink, especially when you have one made properly. We uh, we had some in New Orleans and they were life changing.
Connor Brekke 10:05
Pertty good
Connor Brekke 10:14
There's a lot of life changing stuff down there.
Michael Kashey 10:17
That was also the first one I've had that I didn't make in 4 or almost five years I think.
Connor Brekke 10:26
Kind of nice to be the the one having it.
Michael Kashey 10:28
Yeah, I felt that asking for it. But I was like screw it... I'm on vacation and I gotta make these all the time.
Connor Brekke 10:34
I hear you. But there's another gin product that's kind of worth mentioning, I think a bit sloe gin.
Michael Kashey 10:42
Ah, now slow ginn. Everybody... well, I shouldn't say everybody but it seems that a lot of people know slow gin as that really, it's that purple stuff that they drank way too much of in... not drinking age times. High school, college. super sweet. Well, it is, it is sweet. It's purple. But it's it's a gin that's been infused with sloe berries. So it's gonna be a little bit sweeter than, it's going to be quite a bit sweeter than your average gin and then it's a lot lighter, it's more palatable I would say for the non gin drinkers and that's another hook that we use. One, it has a pretty color and it's got a really nice berry kind of flavor to it with a little bit of that botanical juniper kick to it.
Connor Brekke 11:23
So is it, it's technically a gin
Michael Kashey 11:26
Yeah, it's a gin,
Connor Brekke 11:27
Okay. I knew it had other things in it I just didn't know what it was exactly. Heard it was kind of in this weird realm.
Michael Kashey 11:35
Yeah, Ithink and I'm not sure how much sugar is added to it because I don't know, i don't think slow berries are that sweet, but it's still for all intents and purposes considered a gin instead of a liquour.
Connor Brekke 11:47
What is your go to method for gin preparation?
Michael Kashey 11:53
It depends on the gin depends on the day depends on the cocktail.
Connor Brekke 11:57
So your like your ideal... you got your bottle of gin that you want in your exact setup. What what what are you going for?
Michael Kashey 12:05
What's the weather outside that day? And am I gonna be drinking it outside?
Michael Kashey 12:10
It's gonna be sunny, probably mid 70s and you're patio is open.
Michael Kashey 12:15
I will probably honestly be making a Ramos. A Ramos Gin Fizz or a Tom Collins. I like those really light, kind of citrusy.
Connor Brekke 12:24
Tom Collins? What is the Tom Collins?
Michael Kashey 12:26
So yeah, the Tom Collins is another classic, classic cocktail Old Tom Gin, lemon and soda water.
Connor Brekke 12:34
Hmm. Pretty straightforward.
Michael Kashey 12:36
Yep, bright, refreshing. You want to make sure that water though is ice cold. Get those really nice bubbles going.
Connor Brekke 12:42
Summer can't get here soon enough and definitely can't wait for the gins to start rolling out here.
Michael Kashey 12:49
Yeah.
Connor Brekke 12:51
Yeah, gins's good. Don't let the pinyness scare you like it does some people. You can get good gins and stuff that're really flavorful and delicious.
Michael Kashey 13:02
It's a diverse spirit. And it's like any spirit. Honestly, there's there's a gin for everybody. I'll make ginger drinks all the time for people who say I want I'd like everything except gin like Oh, you're getting a ginger drink nine times out of 10 they like it.
Connor Brekke 13:17
It's a bit different than like whiskey or something. I mean that... I don't... those are kind of strong. There's definitely going to be people don't like it. But I... with all the gins I've had here, it's... there's a lot of good things I think. I think we can turn anybody into a gin drinker honestly.
Michael Kashey 13:38
Yeah, my my girlfriend who owns the bar with me never like gin and every drink I made for for three years was a gin drink and "what's this?" It's gin.
Connor Brekke 13:45
Kind of the magic...
Michael Kashey 13:46
Yeah.
Connor Brekke 13:47
...the magic spirit.
Michael Kashey 13:48
Well with a good drink too. Like it might bring out some of those other qualities in the gin that you do like that you wouldn't typically see in gin.
Connor Brekke 13:58
Yeah. So, if you guys are in the Bismarck, Mandan area... come on down Thomas Moriarty's on Main Street Mandan and get yourself a gin drink... once summer kicks in. Soon, I hope... sooner than later. That'd be preferable.
Michael Kashey 14:16
Well, maybe it'll be this week or a day and then... it's North Dakota.
Connor Brekke 14:20
Alrighty guys. Well, thank you for joining us, and I will see you next time.
Connor Brekke 14:27
The Ombibulous is made possible with Castos, giving creators the tools to connect with their audience and community. The music is courteous of Pond5. With over 25 million royalty free stock videos, music, photos, and sound effects, there's something for every creator. Today's episode was recorded at Thomas and Moriarty's in downtown Mandan, North Dakota. I would like to thank Mr. Kashey for his time and the use of his facility to make this episode possible. And of course, a big thanks to all our listeners for all of your support. Until next time, cheers.