FLORAL INSPIRED COCKTAILS

Spring Flower Cocktail with Lilac Syrup

The love of lilacs is universal. No one can get enough of the aromatic perfection. If you’re looking to feel relaxed and rejuvenated at the same time, this drink will do the trick. Sweet and worth savoring, it is a cocktail that encapsulates the enchantment of lilacs in every sip.

Ingredients Yield: 1 cocktail

1 oz light rum ½ ounce Crème de Violette ½ ounce lilac simple syrup* ½ lime ½ cup soda water

*Heat 1 cup of water and 2 cups of sugar in a saucepan over high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add 2 cups of lilac blossoms and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, allowing to cool slightly, and strain out the lilac. Store in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator.

Mix the rum, Creme de Violette, lilac simple syrup, and lime in a glass. Add the ice and soda water and stir to mix.

Jasmine TeaInfused Cocktail

Loaded with antioxidants, green tea is known for its health benefits and delicate flavor. The fragrant scent of this sophisticated, floral masterpiece is guaranteed to get you to a zen state of mind one glass at a time.

Ingredients Yield: 1 cocktail

1 lychee (canned, syrup reserved) 2-3 teaspoons lychee syrup (chilled) ½ ounce jasmine green tea gin* Prosecco wine or other dry sparkling wine (chilled) 2 fresh raspberries 1 strip lime peel

*Combine 350ml of gin and 1 heaping tablespoon of loose-leaf jasmine green tea. Stir anc cover with lid. Infuse at room temperature for 4 hours. Strain and discard tea leaves.

Pour jasmine green tea gin and lychee syrup into a wine glass and stir. Add 1 lychee and the raspberries. Top with prosecco wine and garnish with a strip of lime peel.

Photo by Adam Jaime

Chamomile Honey Whiskey Cocktail

If we were to play the comparison game, this cocktail would be like a hot toddy on ice. It is designed for those who want a simple, stress-free drink guaranteed to impress any guest. With the delicacy of chamomile serving as the foundation, this beverage is a delightful combination of sweet, citrusy, and earthy tones that are sure to grow on you.

Ingredients

Yield: 2 cocktails

1½ cups water 1 bag chamomile tea 2 teaspoons honey 2 ounces whiskey ½ ounce elderflower liqueur Squeeze of lemon juice Lemon wedge (for garnish)

Bring water to boil in a saucepan. Add one bag of chamomile tea and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag, stir in honey, and let it cool completely.

Meanwhile, stir 1 ounce whiskey and ¼ ounce elderflower liqueur and pour into a glass over ice. Add 2/3 cup tea and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, adding a lemon wedge as garnish. Repeat for the second cocktail.

A Different Red, Red Wine

by Jerry Hammaker

“Red, red wine, you make me feel so fine.”

—Lyrics from “Red, Red Wine” by UB40

Photo by Kelsey Knight

Most of us have heard the 1983 version of “Red, Red Wine” by UB40. But, the original was done by Neil Diamond in 1967. The lyrics are even a bit different. Listen to both versions. Maybe you think one version is better? Is the other unlistenable? Or, perhaps you are the type who can appreciate different versions of the same song? Reasonably, you might do the same when choosing your “go-to” versions of red wine. I often hear, “You have to drink Cab when you eat steak,” “Malbec goes best with grilled meats,” “Shiraz is the biggest red,” or “Merlot makes a great drinking wine.” Hopefully, you will have two alternative versions for your red wine playlist by the end of this article!

Zinfandel

Wait, aren’t we talking about red wine here? Yes! Zinfandel is a red wine. White Zinfandel is the pink blush-style wine, first produced by Sutter Home, which helped boost California wine sales in the ‘70s and ‘80s. White Zinfandel outsold “regular” red Zin six times over and became the third most popular wine style in the US. White Zin is made from the same grape but made into a lighter (and usually sweeter) type of wine. Zinfandel is a black-skinned grape that probably originated in and around modern-day Croatia. In Italy, a clone or cousin of Zinfandel was planted and called Primitivo. Zinfandel made its way to California and eventually became one of the most widespread varieties by the end of the 19th century. Prohibition hit hard, and Zinfandel fell into obscurity. In a way, Zinfandel in California was perhaps saved by the White Zinfandel craze. Old vines were preserved and used for the pink stuff rather than pulled up to be replanted by other vinifera varieties. More recently, following the White Zin boom, producers have rediscovered dry, red Zinfandel styles making it the third most crushed grape in California behind only Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Zin can look a bit less colorful than big, bold Cabs and Merlots from adjacent wine-growing areas. Zinfandel has a kick of acidity and tannin that help it compete with those red wines when it comes to drinking and food pairings. Aromas and flavors will have you thinking of jammy dark and red fruits with pepper, spice, and a smoky tobacco finish. The next time you decide on barbequed meats, pork belly, or even a nice steak, pull a Zinfandel off the shelf.

Photo by Roberta Sorge

Photo by Nicolaevna Arnautova

Tannat

Many people have heard of tannins in wine. Wine drinkers have a love-hate relationship with the mouth-drying feeling caused by tannins. “Beginner” wine drinkers have even called highly tannic wines “cotton wine” because it can leave you feeling “cotton-mouthed.” Once a wine drinker gets past this mouth feel, a whole new world of wonderful wines opens to exploration. Tannat is the “national grape” of Uruguay and has its origins in Southwest France. The “versions” of this red, red wine are different from Diamond’s and UB40’s songs. French Tannat can be a tannic bomb. Winemakers there have even begun to use more oak aging, limited maceration, and micro-oxygenation techniques to help soften the astringency. Aromas and flavors tend to be more red fruit-based with an earthy flair. Tannat from Uruguay leans more to black fruit and has somewhat softer characteristics. Either way, if you prefer a “big, red wine," you must try Tannat. So, what food goes with Tannat? Go for meats with a bit more fat to help balance the grippy character of the wine. A nice, marbled grilled ribeye is a perfect pairing for Tannat. Also, think of aged cheeses, sausages, and even duck dishes as an excellent pairing for this big wine.

Red, Red Wine… which alternative version will make you feel so fine?

Jerry Hammaker, Owner Certain Aged Ventures www.CertainAged.com Wine Consultant, PR%F Awards

GENDER EQUITY IN SPIRITS

EVALUATION

By George F Manska, Corporate Strategy Officer, inventor & entrepreneur, Chief Research & Development Arsilica, Inc.

Gender equity is often confused with gender equality Discussion raises the ire of many members of the “fraternal order of macho whisky drinkers.” They believe that everything is fine just the way it is. Although the climate is changing, the spirits industry is in denial that inequity exists. The Difference, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESDOC), “Gender equality, equality between men and women ... does not mean that women and men have to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities, and opportunities will not depend on whether they were born male or female. Gender equity means fairness of treatment for men and women according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations, and opportunities.” Different genders have different physiologies, dimensions, needs, and senses. Gender equity is the key to a product’s success. A product (or procedure) that favors the physiological traits of one gender over another is not the best solution to a problem, particularly if the gender which uses the product most imposes it as a guideline for all, regardless of gender. Many products designed by and for one gender may handicap the abilities of another, and the inequities begin when those products are accepted industry-wide without consideration of gender differences. Severe market limitations can be avoided if equity is a prime consideration at product inception.

EQUITY CONCEPT EXAMPLES:

• “One size fits all” the keyboard design for an octave span on the piano is based on a larger man’s hand. (Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Schnaber, Rubinstein,

Cortot, Richter, Lipatti, Gould, Van Cliburn, no female piano virtuosos in this group, could there be a reason? What if there was a piano designed for slender and shorter fingers?). Does the design limit female ability to become world-renown pianists? • Voice recognition systems favor lower pitches to create fewer recognition errors (It is correctable, but no one is rushing to add another range of errorfree higher voice recognition to the software, even though the technology exists) • Most automotive crash tests are conducted with dummies of male weights and proportions, placing women at risk of less protection from safety devices designed without consideration for female physiology (shoulder straps, side airbags, steering column adjustments, brake pedal reaches, etc. (the automotive industry is getting better at this as lawsuit awards climb). • Pregnant women still have to get out and shop and should be included in the use of handicapped parking (Add a few more blue signs? Single pregnant moms-to-be still have to do their own shopping even at nine months). • Men enjoy a lower mean temperature than women, yet male engineers and building staffers set workplace thermostats lower, and few understand the compromise (about 5F difference. More women complain about the thermostat than men, proof positive that one does not fit all, but a compromise could work. Skew temperatures to the workforce gender population in different areas). None of these issues seem the least bit important to most males or border on frivolous, yet inequity issues exist everywhere, from tool design to cell phone hand size to car seats. Existing spirits glassware clearly displays the lack of gender equity. Females have much more sensitive noses than men on average. Their lack of equal presence in the spirits industry has underlying causes that the spirits industry and fraternal drinking clubs ignore. The female nose is much more sensitive to pungency and numbing by concentrated ethanol. This elephant in the room is conveniently avoided, ignored, tip-toed around during discussions, or dismissed entirely. Much scientific research has been published in peer-reviewed journal papers since the early 1950s which prove beyond a doubt that females, in general, possess more sensitive olfactory than males:

• Lower aroma detection thresholds (lower ppm concentrations at which aromas are detected) • Lower aroma discrimination levels (lower concentrations at which differentiation between two detected aromas can be identified) • Lower aroma identification thresholds (lower ppm concentrations at which the aroma can be correctly identified) Physically, Olivera-Pintero published a peerreviewed journal paper in 2014, which establishes, with a 95% confidence level, that females possess 43% more olfactory receptors than males on average. More receptors = higher sensitivity = better female olfactory performance than males.

Scores in the UPSIT (University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test) are higher for females than males. An aspiring evaluator should purchase the kit simply to see how well they score (It’s under $30, available on the internet, Google UPSIT, available through Sensonics International). UPSIT is not alcohol beveragespecific, but it is an economic beginning to find out how well your sniffer scores across a wide range of aromas and is a good start on basic training to develop and perfect your sense of smell.

The disgust emotion describes the female reaction to those aromas, which may be threatening to their ability to nurture and protect the fetus and children. Test: pour a tulip glass of any spirit 40% ABV or higher, stick it under a female nose, and “Smell this to see if you like it” (duck quickly to avoid the right hook). Men don’t usually react. Instantaneous disgust emotion is characterized by a physical reaction, a sense of pain, and sometimes oral comment.

Repeated exposure (olfactory induction) to ethanol (and other compounds) lowers the female detection threshold, and men’s thresholds do not change. In other words, learning by exposure (but not too much) develops acute sensitivity in females. This natural female safeguard reaction may ensure self-protection, procreation, and future generation safety by learning what to avoid. Females have a higher degree of discrimination of ingestible compounds, higher social respect for ethanol than men, and a lower tolerance level (also proven fact).

Arsilica, Inc conducted AB testing, NEAT glass vs. tulip, same spirit, at 17 different spirits events with spirits consumer participants between the years of 2010 and 2015. The total number of recorded trials was 2914. Of the males who participated, approximately 13% preferred ethanol on the nose, standard deviation 2.23%, and less than 2% of females preferred ethanol on the nose, standard deviation 1.37%, confirming previous assertions that women are more sensitive to pungent, concentrated ethanol aromas. A significant number of females refused to test, stating they had no desire to sniff from the tulip glass. See the entire study at www. mdpi.com/2306-5710/4/4/93. Some expressed sharp pain from sniffing. Most spirits clubs are not gender friendly: For many members, whiskey (and cigar) clubs and blogs have become the same gender, fraternal camaraderie without the presence of female influences. A few, rampant with sexist jokes and comments, are more about brand adoration than serious evaluation. Peer pressure to drink from tulips “like the rest of us” probably hinders female membership.

Arsilica, Inc is a womanowned glassware research company that has monitored hundreds of spirits competitions and spirit-specific events and conducted many panel evaluations of our own over the last 18 years.

Arsilica’s observations are:

• Gender inequity exists when tiny rim glasses are used to evaluate. Distracting pungency and nose numbing, particularly when blind tasting multiple samples (flights), females become nose blind quicker than males

• Females can identify a larger number of aromas than males on average from a given spirit, at concentrations levels below male detectability. • Most competition judging panels consist of an inequitable percentage of females (less than 20%) in spite of superior smell-ability. • Examining female judges’ evaluation notes, they tend to detect, describe, and note more aromas and more detail than males

• There are many notable female noses (and sensitive male noses) in the industry who have successfully adapted to the tulip, and faithfully and diligently employ the tulipdeveloped safeguards against ethanol (wafting,

breathe through mouth and nose, don’t swirl, add water), or they refuse to sniff orthonasally only, preferring the retro-nasal after the spirit has been diluted with saliva (much less ethanol = reduced pungency). Males are much less diligent about using tulip developed safeguards. • In private conversations with female career industry executives, a surprising number prefer a simple tumbler over tulips yet will not argue with industry-wide accepted values.

The discussion is generally off-point, singles them out as rebellious or non-conformist, and dilutes their effectiveness.

• As discovered in the earlier AB test reference, a large majority of males prefer open-mouthlarge-rim-diameter glasses. Yet, at home, they identify with the fraternal tulip glass because that’s what their buddies drink from, and that’s what they take to the club events. Let’s kick the elephant out of the room and implement changes that benefit the industry by broadening the scope and horizons of spirits and placing knowledge above and out of the superficial, mythical, and biased as we include rather than ignore a sizable female demographic in the market place. The biggest future demographics are right under the noses of industry influencers, yet ignored for the comfort of long-standing traditional yet unscientific, equity-biased values.

George F Manska

Chief of Research and Development, Arsilica, Inc., engineer, inventor of the NEAT glass, and sensory science researcher.

Mission: Replace misinformation with scientific truth through consumer education.

Contact Information:

Phone: 702.332.7305 Email: george@arsilica.com Business mailing address: 452 Silverado Ranch Blvd, Ste #222, Las Vegas, NV, 89183.