It seems to me that most people have one liquor with whom they just don’t get along. Sometimes it’s because they simply don’t like the taste. Sometimes it’s because they had one really bad experience with it, and that memory has stuck with them. Either way, most people seem to avoid a particular type of liquor. For me, that liquor is gin.
Now, I generally don’t like the taste of the gin I’ve had. It tastes very much like licorice to me, and I don’t particularly like licorice. The words that come to mind are “sweet” and “herby.” Neither one is necessarily a good thing. Worse yet, I had one night many years ago in Vegas that did not end all that well. It just so happened to end with gin. So yeah, two strikes against gin.
Still, it’s yet to earn itself a third strike. And I’m generally willing to give things a try, so every now and again, I will see if my tastes have changed. More often than not, the answer is a resounding "no." I simply haven't found a drink that makes me change my opinion of that liquor.
That all seems to have changed recently, however. I happen to have a couple of friends who are connoisseurs, and they have taken it as their personal challenges to sway my opinion. It's not even so much that they love gin themselves, it's that they think it's a little sad that I'm biased against gin the way I am. So, they will try to make their best gin drink, and have me try it. The idea is that if I have enough good gin drinks, the memory of the bad stuff will fade away.
One guy even conducted what he called a "science experiment" in his kitchen while mixing up a libation. There were clinking sounds, some "hmms" and "ahhhs," and even a scary sound crash type sound. Funnily enough, he ended up discarding of all the concoctions in favor of something very simple (it had like 3 ingredients). It was quite tasty, I have to say. I ended up liking it quite a bit, in large part due to its simple nature.
So, between this guy and a couple of other folks who insist I try "good" gin, I have slowly started to gain a grudging respect for the previously-foul beverage. The odds of me ordering it are still slim to none, but I can now tell you the rough "shape" of a gin drink that I will drink. It's a little bit like my relationship with dogs; I had a bad experience when I was younger, and ever since then, I've kept an eye on every passing dog. After having done that so much over the years, I've learned which dogs I think look nice and which ones I don't. I have a grudging respect for them, and I've almost gotten accustomed to having them around again.
So who knows, gin might end up being my favorite drink with all the attention that I've paid to it. Oh how things change.
That all seems to have changed recently, however. I happen to have a couple of friends who are connoisseurs, and they have taken it as their personal challenges to sway my opinion. It's not even so much that they love gin themselves, it's that they think it's a little sad that I'm biased against gin the way I am. So, they will try to make their best gin drink, and have me try it. The idea is that if I have enough good gin drinks, the memory of the bad stuff will fade away.
One guy even conducted what he called a "science experiment" in his kitchen while mixing up a libation. There were clinking sounds, some "hmms" and "ahhhs," and even a scary sound crash type sound. Funnily enough, he ended up discarding of all the concoctions in favor of something very simple (it had like 3 ingredients). It was quite tasty, I have to say. I ended up liking it quite a bit, in large part due to its simple nature.
So, between this guy and a couple of other folks who insist I try "good" gin, I have slowly started to gain a grudging respect for the previously-foul beverage. The odds of me ordering it are still slim to none, but I can now tell you the rough "shape" of a gin drink that I will drink. It's a little bit like my relationship with dogs; I had a bad experience when I was younger, and ever since then, I've kept an eye on every passing dog. After having done that so much over the years, I've learned which dogs I think look nice and which ones I don't. I have a grudging respect for them, and I've almost gotten accustomed to having them around again.
So who knows, gin might end up being my favorite drink with all the attention that I've paid to it. Oh how things change.
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