Tag Archives: calendar

Ginvent Calendar

Drinks by the Dram offers up some amazing holiday gift sets. In particular is their line of advent calendars filled with beautifully crafted glass dram jars of booze. You can choose from whisky, rum, vodka, cognac, tequila, bourbon, absinthe, armagnac, mezcal and gin (original and botanical), along with “premium,” “old” and “rare” versions of some, which contain an even better selection of drams than that which is already inside the standard versions. I can’t praise these guys enough; what they’re doing is ground breaking.

I’ve already chronicled my love of their whisky advent calendars (I’ve tried both the standard and the premium, thanks to my amazing wife), but this year I completed the “ginvent” calendar. On December 1st, my wife gave me this incredible early Christmas gift:

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Day 1: Edinburgh Gin – peppery and crisp, florals release when shaken with ice.

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Day 2: Filliers Dry Gin 28 – dry, very nice for a martini

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Day 3: Hayman’s Old Tom Gin – citrus / sweet lemon botanicals

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Day 4: Tarquins Handcrafted Cornish Gin – smooth, medium botanicals

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Day 5: Perry’s Tot Navy Strength Gin – Strong as FUCK – difficult to drink near at room temperature, heavy on the juniper/evergreen flavor and aroma, but shaking this up with ice really tames the flavors into a wonderful cold-sipping gin

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Day 6: Two Birds London Dry Gin – really smooth and clean, especially when shaken with ice – my favorite so far.

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Day 7: Darnley’s View Gin – nice and smooth, even neat and at room temperature – would be great in a martini, slightly peppery.

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Day 8: Dangley’s No. 8 Distilled London Gin – good amount of coriander and lemon peel.

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Day 9: Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin – tasted of slight bitterness and spice, definitely dry!

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Day 10: St. George Terroir Gin – strong flavor and aroma of the woods, tree bark, pine needles and sap.

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Day 11: Fifty Pounds Gin – this is my all-time favorite gin, and 11 happens to be my favorite number – its dry, has a little spice to it, super clean and crisp – excellent for either sipping neat or for an ice cold martini.

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Day 12: Warner Edwards Harrington Dry Gin – so I guess these gins have brand names like law firm partnership names – this one was clean and crisp after a shake with ice, but I wasn’t crazy about it neat at room temperature.

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Day 13: Da Mhile Farmhouse Botanical Gin – fragrant with florals on the nose, generous citrus peel / lemon rind and coriander flavors.

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Day 14: Elephant Dry Gin – strong, spiced, very nice for dry martinis.

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Day 15: FEW Barrel Aged Gin – amber coloring, like a whisky, with a slight whisky flavor to it from the aging process – fantastic gin!

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Day 16: Death’s Door Gin 2011 Harvest – taste was clean, crisp and strong.

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Day 17: Pickering’s Gin – tasted smooth, crisp and dry, with a hint of juniper and citrus.

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Day 18: Hendrick’s Gin – one of my top choices, this is a dry gin that’s excellent for a high quality martini. Unfortunately I let a few days build up so my photo here is from a catch-up day of several gins. And no, I’m not a pussy. I was busy drinking other shit on those missed days.

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Day 19: Dodd’s Gin (The London Distillery Company) – taste is heavy with juniper and pine, but not overpoweringly strong in the alcohol bite. Drink with ice or cold.

Day 20: Whitley Neill Handcrafted Dry Gin – this stuff is fantastic. I first became aware of this gin at a bar show in the Javitz Center a while back when I first started drinking gin. It has unique flavorings inspired by African botanicals like gooseberry, cassia bark, angelica root, florentine iris and baobab fruit, as well as the standard coriander, lemon peel, orange peel and juniper berries. The silhouette of a grand baobab tree is actually on the label as their logo. This gin is a surprisingly refreshing new take on the standard style London dry gin. Drink neat if you like!

Day 21: Pinkster Gin – the gin actually has a slight pink hue to it, as you can somewhat see in the image above. It’s really light, at 37.5% alcohol, but with a spicy kick. I drank it neat at room temperature, but I imagine it would be great cold, on the rocks, in a martini or in a mixed drink.

Day 22: Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s Bathtub Gin – crisp and dry, very nice when taken cold, shaken with ice. Somewhat like a good Beefeater or Hendricks.

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Day 23: Citadelle Gin – flavor comes with a nice black peppercorn hit, but with a nice scent of lemon peel on the nose. I enjoyed this neat, at room temperature.

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Day 24: Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin – tasted more botanical and bitter than I expected, but the scent was a pleasant citrus lemon. Much better, and more mild, when shaken with ice.

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The Whisky Advent Calendar

I guess this can serve as the Johnny Prime Christmas post. Some of you may have seen some links of this thing floating around this year (or maybe last year, if you’re cool like me). My wife gave me this as an early Christmas gift in 2012. I didn’t drink them at the time, thinking that I might save them for a special time. But when this year rolled around, I figured what the fuck – may as well drink them now. A whisky a day keeps the steak cravings at bay, and I decided to use the empties as Christmas Tree decorations. There were some really fucking great scotches in this collection. Seriously. Take a look at some of the vintages. Bottles for some cost upwards of $200. Only bad thing: the advent calendar only has 24 days rather than 25. Not sure if that is traditionally the way the calendars worked. My only real experience with them is digging the molded chocolates out each day as a kid, or looking at the pictures behind the windows without really reading the scripture. So anyway… Merry Christmas. Here are all the whiskies, in all of Jesus’ birthday glory, each day with some taste notes I jotted down along the way. The pictures get a little more creative and interesting as you get toward the end.

day 1: springbank 10
day 1: springbank 10

a mix of medicinal with a slight fruity nose

day 2: glenlivet archive 21
day 2: glenlivet archive 21

smooth and creamy up front with a slight peat and smoke sting at the back end

day 3: aberlour a'bunadh batch 42
day 3: aberlour a’bunadh batch 42

robust and peaty without overpowering

day 4: auchentoshan 12
day 4: auchentoshan 12

smooth, creamy and round, hints of caramel or vanilla

day 5: tomintoul with a peaty tang
day 5: tomintoul with a peaty tang

peaty, medicinal, but not blowing out the taste buds

day 6: bunnahabhain 12
day 6: bunnahabhain 12

smooth yet peaty

day 7: laphroaig cairdess origin
day 7: laphroaig cairdess origin

strong medicinal iodine, peat, smoke, leather, latakia tobacco

day 8: glendronach 12
day 8: glendronach 12

nutty, hints of chocolate

day 9: glenfarclas 40
day 9: glenfarclas 40

creamy, vanilla, butterscotch

day 10: dalmore 12
day 10: dalmore 12

cognac sherry, floral, fruity, hint of peat

day 11: longmorn 16
day 11: longmorn 16

citrus, fresh greens, oak spice

day 12: deanston 12
day 12: deanston 12

grassy, iodine, medicinal

day 13: poit dhubh
day 13: poit dhubh

creamy caramel with a peaty bite at the finish

day 14: edradour 10
day 14: edradour 10

fruity, sweet, vanilla, almond

day 15: aberlour 18
day 15: aberlour 18

smooth, creamy, oak

day 16: Macallan 21 fine oak
day 16: Macallan 21 fine oak

immaculate – very smooth

day 17: pikesville straight rye
day 17: pikesville straight rye

strong, woody

day 18: lagavulin 16
day 18: lagavulin 16

smoke, peat, leather, latakia tobacco, iodine, medicinal, but still smooth and round

*one of my personal favorites*

day 19: BenRiach Arumaticus 12
day 19: BenRiach Arumaticus 12

creamy smoke, with a sweet dark rum finish (as the label suggests)

*beside it are some bottles of snake whisky that I picked up in Vietnam*

day 20: aultmore 5 single cask
day 20: aultmore 5 single cask

 smooth but potent (66.7% alcohol/133 proof), sweet, spicy roasted cocoa

day 21: glenfarclas 30
day 21: glenfarclas 30

smooth and easy

day 22: Isle of Skye 8
day 22: Isle of Skye 8

spicy vanilla cream

day 23: compass box hedonism
day 23: compass box hedonism

fruity (black cherry) and creamy, with a toasty finish

*the grinch who stole whisky*

day 24: master of malt 50 yr speyside (3rd edition)
day 24: master of malt 50 yr speyside (3rd edition)

 toasted oak, cinnamon, nutmeg, coffee

*drinkin’ with JC*

christmas tree decorations made from the empties
christmas tree decorations made from the empties

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JOHNNY PRIME!