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A good idea can come from anywhere. It can be a combination of two different elements, and it can come to you when you are having a shower, or while taking the random cigarette break. Perhaps the most powerful form of an idea can be when an element sits for a long enough time and becomes steeped with other ideas, emerging as a rejuvenated idea, one that you would have never thought but makes total sense. Sometimes I just can’t say no to sparkling wine, prosecco, cava, champagne, or however you might want to call it, and when I see it combined with gin it makes even happier. The Vermont Gin Sparkler had both of these elements along with Chambord. I asked the bartender for a recommendation, but I decided against his suggestion and went for it.
Barr Hill Gin, Chambord, Strain, Pour Cava. Repeat.
Upon first sip, the Vermont Gin Sparkler is not inviting. There is something that doesn’t make sense. I was constantly trying to convince myself that I like this drink, but I couldn’t enjoy it. But then like a good inception, all the particles came together. They connected as the cava started to sit in and steep with Chambord’s raspberry flavor profile. Both of them coming into peace with the honey. And then the Barr Hill gin provided the perfect platform for all the elements to come together and make sense. Like the Northeast Kingdom, where the Vermont Gin Sparkler is served, the Barr Hill gin hails from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Its main elements are juniper berry and raw honey honoring the agricultural heritage of that part of Vermont. Along with the added honey and the raspberry profile of the Chambord, the combination becomes as interesting as a drinker of the cocktail wearing a pink shirt over the pink appearance of the drink.
Pink shirt on pink cocktail. Bold move from the author.
Its appearance is deceiving. The pink color with the lemon twist looks joyful and careless but the taste of it is a sophisticated one. The Vermont Gin Sparkler may be a little uninviting in the beginning, but then the proper nodes of the drink are connected and everything works like a Swiss watch, making every second of its consumption a happier one. The Vermont Gin Sparkler is a drink of sophistication that brings happiness and joy to the drinker’s life. It is, in a few words, a proper drink.
From the top with a nice lemon twist.
What defines a proper drink?
“A proper drink at the right time–one mixed with care and skill and served in a true spirit of hospitality–is better that any other made thing at giving us the illusion, at least, that we’re getting what we want from life.” (David Wondrich, Imbibe.)
Bushwick Mixer is a weekly column somewhere at the crossroads of pop culture and mixology in the bars of Bushwick. Hashtag your photos of Bushwick cocktails with #BushwickMixer and let us know why they should be tasted by the author of the column.
The Vermont Gin Sparkler is served at the Northeast Kingdom, 18 Wyckoff Ave for $11.
Reach out for the Vermont Gin Sparkler this weekend.
