Episode 257

Gin Tonica with David T. Smith

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Gin Tonica with David T. Smith

Episode 257

What’s shakin’ cocktail fans? Welcome to episode 257 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, we’re joined by spirits judge, consultant, and author David T. Smith, author of such books as The Gin Dictionary, Negroni, and, for the purposes of this interview, Gin Tonica, an exploration and recipe guide focused on the recent phenomenon of the “Spanish-style” Gin & Tonic.

In this lively chat with David, some of the topics we discuss include:

A history of the Gin & Tonic cocktail, which turns out to be a bit more punk and DIY than it’s often played up to be, as well as a bit more recent than we like to romanticize.
The ways in which cultural differences in the US and the UK, like the widespread adoption of ice and the proximity to fresh citrus, worked to generate strikingly different conceptions of what we imagine as a “classic” gin & tonic.
Then, of course, we explore how a few chefs in the Basque region of Spain took this drink into the kitchen in the last 20 years and completely transformed the way the cocktail can look, feel, and taste.
We also take a moment to zoom out – as we gin nerds like to do – and examine some of the current trends in the gin world, both here in the US, and elsewhere in the world, such as the strategic deployment of local botanicals and the targeted deployment of distillate base AS a botanical.
Along the way, we answer pressing questions like: why does David know what blood plasma tastes like?, is that a lego piece in your mixing glass?, did you just let Chat GPT write your tasting notes for you?, and much, much more.

Be sure to check out our two previous interviews with David, Episode 60 – The Gin Dictionary, and Episode 181 – Negroni with David T. Smith and Keli Rivers. And for even more fun, tune into our panel discussion with David, Keli, and others, Episode 137 – RTD Revolution.

David and Keli will also be releasing a new cocktail book on The Martini this coming May, so be sure to pre-order your copy!

Featured Cocktail: The Martini on the Rocks

This episode’s featured cocktail is the Martini on the Rocks.

To make this drink, you’ll need:

A standard pour of your favorite gin – this can differ from country-to-country, as well as on how much vermouth you intend to contribute to the cocktail, but generally, we hover around 2 oz, or 60ml.
A fractional amount of vermouth. 1 oz or 30ml is considered by many to be traditional, but your mileage may vary, so I’m not going to fight with you about it.
Several dashes of orange bitters.

Combine your ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir for 15-20 seconds until everything is properly chilled and diluted, then strain into a rocks glass over a single, large cube, garnish with a citrus twist – ideally lemon – and enjoy.

The martini is a deceptively simple cocktail, and it stands with the Daiquiri and the Old Fashioned as among the most difficult to truly master. But when attempting to serve this (normally) “up” cocktail on the rocks, there are two variables you’ll want to consider: the temperature of the ingredients and the temperature of the glass at the start of your cocktail build.

When we have an Old Fashioned, we generally don’t use a chilled rocks glass. We chill the ingredients in the mixing glass, then we pour them over the rock, and the single 2” cube is generally sufficient to hit that middle ground of keeping the drink cold and also allowing it to dilute slightly and evolve as we sip.

But when we have a martini, we normally want that sucker COLD, and we expect the level of dilution to stay constant from sip one to sip final. So the question is, do you pre-mix, pre-dilute, and pre-chill your martini in the freezer before pouring it over the rocks and garnishing? Do you even go so far as to chill the rocks glass? These choices are going to have a radical impact on the lifespan of the drink and how quickly or slowly you want to consume it, so we would encourage you to ponder these complexities, then test them, and let us know which you think yields the ultimate Martini on the rocks, in your opinion.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, and Gin & Tonic insights courtesy of author, spirits judge, and consultant Mr. David T. Smith. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2023.

This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

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Gin Tonica with David T. Smith

Featured Cocktail: The Martini on the Rocks

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