Kronenhalle Bar, Zurich, 1 March, 9:07 PM
I likes me a Gin & Tonic. I think I always have, back to when I could barely drink one legally. Actually, I generally like gin in all kinds of ways. A gin that I am particularly fond of these days hails from the Black Forest of Germany, Monkey 47. I confess right up front that I like big, bold, super-aromatic, spicy gins. (According to friends this places me in accord with Monkey 47's distillers.) Another sign that God loves us and wants to see us happy is the advent of artisanal tonics - not the extremely sugar-heavy commercial stuff, the artisanals offer really interesting and complex companions for their alcoholic partners. So, here I am, at my favorite watering hole in Zurich, the Kronenhalle. Our beloved bartender is adamant that I should try the Distiller's Cut Monkey 47 with a Fentiman's Tonic. I confess to sometimes jump-starting festivities with the extremely potent Vesper, but I suspend my doubts and follow the mixologist's suggestions. I never expected the mix of the two, a version of the pedestrian Gin & Tonic, to be so overwhelmingly, so mind-blowingly delicious. The potency of the gin combined with it's assertive botanicals combined with a tonic that is nicely bitter and citrusy without being cloyingly sugary was a combination like nothing I have ever had before. It is refreshing, it is strong, it is complex on the palate, and very, very satisfying.
