The Singapore Sling is Dead - Tiki Drinks and Food

T thejab Grand Member (1 year) Tradewinds Apartments, Alameda, CA Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 2992	T thejab Posted posted on Tue, Aug 2, 2005 2:09 PM Good book and web site recommendations. I have been enjoying Drink Boy for years and have many of the books mentioned on my wish list. I can't keep up with all the good new cocktail books! I just can't buy into the organic liquor (or wine or beer) hype, for these reasons: I can't believe that the herbs and other natural products used in the manufacture of gin are going to have any residue of pesticide remaining to cause a hangover. Alchohol (too much of it) causes hangovers. And organic gin probably has as much alchohol as any gin. I've heard that cogeners (that partly come from aging in wooden barrels and are more numerous in darker booze) may make a hangover worse. But you can still get a bad hangover from clear liquor if you drink too much! And how do we know that it isn't something natural that causes hangovers to be worse? Many plants are downright poisonous to our bodies, so why couldn't a natural ingredient in gin contriubute to a hangover? The company doesn't mention health benefits (probably because they can't make such a claim) but I doubt there would be enough of a quantity of pesticide residue to cause any ill effects. Just because this gin was certified organic by one group doesn't mean other brands of gin don't qualify as being organic too - maybe they just haven't gone through the certification. Someone mentioned the purity of the organic gin. What is purity? In the distillation of gin (as with vodka) the end result is meant to be at least 96% pure alchohol neutral spirit. With gin the flavors are then added by "compounding" natural plant products (see the link below for details). So almost all gin is very pure. And the ultimate purest liquor would have no flavor at all, so the goal of purity can go too far! My only possible reason for buying organic spirits over other spirits would be an environmental one, as organic farming generally produces less pollution then non-organic farming, but only if I knew that Bombay or other brands were in fact using plants from non-organic farms, and I know nothing of the kind, so I'm not even convinced enough by this reason. All that said, I would most certainly try Juniper Green gin for it's flavor, which I bet is more a result of the distiller's craft and careful selection of natural flavors more than any utilization of organic ingredients. It has won numerous awards and accolades for it's taste. How gin is made: http://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginproduction.html

Good book and web site recommendations. I have been enjoying Drink Boy for years and have many of the books mentioned on my wish list. I can't keep up with all the good new cocktail books!

I just can't buy into the organic liquor (or wine or beer) hype, for these reasons:

I can't believe that the herbs and other natural products used in the manufacture of gin are going to have any residue of pesticide remaining to cause a hangover. Alchohol (too much of it) causes hangovers. And organic gin probably has as much alchohol as any gin. I've heard that cogeners (that partly come from aging in wooden barrels and are more numerous in darker booze) may make a hangover worse. But you can still get a bad hangover from clear liquor if you drink too much! And how do we know that it isn't something natural that causes hangovers to be worse? Many plants are downright poisonous to our bodies, so why couldn't a natural ingredient in gin contriubute to a hangover?
The company doesn't mention health benefits (probably because they can't make such a claim) but I doubt there would be enough of a quantity of pesticide residue to cause any ill effects.
Just because this gin was certified organic by one group doesn't mean other brands of gin don't qualify as being organic too - maybe they just haven't gone through the certification.
Someone mentioned the purity of the organic gin. What is purity? In the distillation of gin (as with vodka) the end result is meant to be at least 96% pure alchohol neutral spirit. With gin the flavors are then added by "compounding" natural plant products (see the link below for details). So almost all gin is very pure. And the ultimate purest liquor would have no flavor at all, so the goal of purity can go too far!

My only possible reason for buying organic spirits over other spirits would be an environmental one, as organic farming generally produces less pollution then non-organic farming, but only if I knew that Bombay or other brands were in fact using plants from non-organic farms, and I know nothing of the kind, so I'm not even convinced enough by this reason.

All that said, I would most certainly try Juniper Green gin for it's flavor, which I bet is more a result of the distiller's craft and careful selection of natural flavors more than any utilization of organic ingredients. It has won numerous awards and accolades for it's taste.

How gin is made:
http://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginproduction.html

Post #176630 by thejab on Tue, Aug 2, 2005 2:09 PM