WELCOME TO THE
SPIRITUAL GUIDE A guide for spiritual enlightenment by the pious team at Glengarry. Join us monthly as we explore everything spirit related.
Welcome to the eighth edition of our journey into the spiritual world. This issue, we have put together our ‘Summer Gin Guide’, much like a Gig Guide, only for your palate and providing a bench mark of which gins are must try and how best to enjoy them, we see the return to New Zealand of The Glenlivet 12-year-old and ask where has this popular malt been hiding? We also delve into the history of one of the most iconic cocktails of all time, the Negroni.
Our congregation meets monthly as we heighten our senses and understanding of the spirits surrounding us, we hope you’ll continue to join.
SUMMER GIN GUIDE
With summers long hot days fast approaching, we have put together our ‘Summer Gin Guide’, much like a Gig Guide, only for your palate and providing a bench mark of which gins are must try and how best to enjoy them! So, pour yourself a delectable Gin & Tonic, sit back and read the below to find your next summer sippers.
Scapegrace Dry Gin
Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin
Proudly produced here at the bottom of the
What could possibly be more Australian than a
world, the team at Scapegrace have made a
supply of sandpaper in your cricket gear bag?
real splash at the top of the globe with their
Bloody Shiraz, that’s what! This tasty beverage
Gold expression taking out “World’s Best
sees the classy Four Pillars Gin with a dose of
London Dry Gin” at the recent International
Shiraz juice from some of Aussies finest
Wine & Spirits Competition held in London of
grapes, leading to a stunningly individual gin.
all places. This is a classical style gin,
Spot fixing aside, this makes one stupidly
providing a great choice for a crisp and
delicious Negroni, so… “Where the bloody hell
refreshing G&T. We would pair it with the East
are ya?”
Imperial Tonic Water, with a slice of freshly shucked Orange!
Christian Drouin Le Gin
Gordon’s Pink Gin
A truly unique offering, Le Gin is distilled from
The latest craze, in what is already the latest
30 or more varieties of Apples originally
craze! This Pink Gin is inspired by a recipe first
destined for the production of Christian’s
developed over 130 years ago, combining the
Normandy Calvados. Each botanical is
traditionally crisp and refreshing character of
individually distilled with this apple-based spirit
the classic Gordon’s London Dry with the
before blending to produce an elegant offering
natural sweetness of raspberries and
with the complexity and gravitas to be enjoyed
strawberries. A good dose of this Gordon’s
solo on a bed of ice. If that isn’t quite your
Pink Gin over ice, accompanied by Fentimans
style, top it off with soda water and garnish with
Premium Indian Tonic Water and frozen
a slice of sweet, delicious apple.
berries, will feel awfully summery.
Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
Sundown Gin & Cucumber Soda
Based on an old family recipe, this Old Tom
Sometimes making your own G&T’s just isn’t
Gin harks back to a style rarely seen since its
an option. Luckily, Sundown Gin has your back
hay-day in the 18th Century but has made a
with a premium Ready-To-Drink offering that
resurgence of late as part of a changing
combines their uniquely New Zealand style gin
cocktail culture and the discovery of old historic
featuring Kawakawa and Horopito alongside
cocktails. A sweeter offering than the ever-
the usual suspect botanicals, with, in this case,
popular London Dry Gin, this is a gin that gives
natural Cucumber and Soda. Refreshing and
a mild manner to cocktails and shines bright in
only requiring the twist of a cap! Summer made
well-made martinis, especially those on the
easy.
dirty side. It is looking to be another long, hot summer this year and refreshing gin concoctions are one delicious way to counter the heat. The above is only a guide, and barely touches the plethora of stunning gins gracing our shelves. Come see our team in store or peruse our virtual shelves to find your perfect gin companion for the summer daze!
- T.J
THE GLENLIVET 12-YEAR-OLD
November sees the return to New Zealand of
By law, an age statement on a bottle of Single
The Glenlivet 12-year-old, one of the highest
Malt must be the youngest Whisky used to
selling Single Malts in the World and also one
produce that bottle. If you are selling 1 million
of the most notable absentees from the market.
plus cases per year of a 12-year-old product
Why did it disappear are you asking?
without careful management something is going to give. Unfortunately for us it meant the 12-year-old being pulled from a lot of markets to help relieve this pressure and even more so it heralded the rise of NAS.
Non-Aged Statements…such dirty words it seems. Depending on who you ask. We’ll start with me, shall we? I suppose my gripe in this instance is a product was ready to go, almost straight away. You can’t buy our 12-year-old any longer as we don’t have the aged stocks required to keep making this, but here is another product just as good for just a little bit less. No age on it but an inventive name, though it must at least be 3 years old by law to be called Whisky so at least we have some
The Glenlivet 12-year-old, not Glenlivet but
protection. The success of this release
'THE' as in the original Glenlivet Distillery from
suggests the opposite is felt, with over 200,000
the Glenlivet area, and not some illicit copycat,
cases sold worldwide – the accountants would
has enticing aromas of spiced apple pie, honey
take that any day. Thus, the NAS became a
and fruit typical of a Speyside dram. Rich and
success and we now many Private Release,
luscious in length leaving you wanting more
Owners Casks, Reserves, 'insert random
and more. As the best value Single Malt money
unpronounceable name here', being released
can buy, you should always have this one open
with stories from the marketing department
at home! The Glenlivet 12. Back at last! The
about terroir and the expensive price tags to go
end of the NAS movement? Not a chance.
with it.
- A.S
They are not all bad though. One of the true greats in the world, Ardbeg Uigeadail, has no age statement and has been around since before NAS was a thing. Go back to selling casks to independent bottlers to release rare single cask bottles I reckon. on Or you know just expand your distillery from a production of 11 million litres per year to over 20 million, that should help keep one of the classic malts in our little part of the world!
THE ICONIC NEGRONI
The Negroni is one of the most iconic cocktails of all time. The classic version is perfectly balanced, consisting of equal parts gin, sweet red vermouth and Campari, garnished with orange peel. Always stirred on the rocks, never shaken. It’s perhaps the king of apértif drinks, though
Camillo Negroni was a real character, his true
after tasting wine all day you’ll often find the
status as a ‘Count’ being questionable. He’d
local winemakers downing these at the bar to
travelled around America in his younger years
keep the night going.
and lived the life of a Cowboy. He also spent a lot of time in the gin bars of London. Perhaps
While the exact origins of the drink are
this evening he was feeling nostalgic, so asked
unknown, the most common story is that it was
the bartender Fosco Scarselli to substitute the
first made in Florence in 1919 at the Caffé
soda water for gin. Rather than the typical
Casoni. One of the regulars was Count Camillo
lemon garnish, Scarselli added orange to show
Negroni, who used to drink the ‘Americano’, a
it was a different drink. Before long word had
cocktail of Campari, vermouth rosso and soda
spread and people were coming into the bar
water.
specifically for one of ‘Count Negroni’s drinks’.
Camillo Negroni
Orson Welles a Negroni fan
If you’ve never tried one before it can be a The drink became so famous that the Negroni
shock to the system, as there is no escaping
family took advantage of its success and
the strong bitterness from the Campari, which
founded the Negroni distillery that same year in
is accentuated by the gin. If made correctly,
Treviso. There they produced a ready-made
then the sweet red fruit flavour of the vermouth
version of the drink sold as Antico Negroni,
comes in to balance at the end. Given its equal
perhaps the first RTD! Orson Welles was
proportions it’s also very easy to make well at
working in Rome in 1947 and wrote of this new
home. Generally, if you’re going to muddle with
drink called the Negroni. “The bitters are excellent for your liver; the gin is bad for you. They balance each other out.” James Bond often drank one when he wasn’t in the mood
the recipe though, it always pays to go heavier on the gin.
- R.M
for a Martini.
EVENTS AND TASTINGS
CARDRONA DISTILLERY | PONSONBY IN-STORE TASTING The family-owned artisan Cardrona Single Malt Distillery sits high in the Cardrona Valley between Wanaka and Queenstown. The driving force behind the enterprise is Desiree Whitaker: 'Our spirits are made from scratch by traditional handcrafted methods, using only three ingredients: malted Scottish two-row
WHEN: Saturday 10 November
barley, pure alpine water and yeast. This is an
WHERE: Glengarry Ponsonby,
in-store tasting so no need to book, just pop on
139 Ponsonby Rd Ponsonby
down to the store and try a selection of Spirits
TIME: 4:00pm-6:00pm
from 4.00pm - 6.00pm.
BOOK NOW ONLINE
NOVEMBER MALT CLUB | CHEESE AND MYSTERY TREATS | VICTORIA PARK Just like Wine, Whisky is up to the task of pairing itself with Cheese. So far the duo may not be a predictable match but the number of supporters are growing. Jak's Malt Club sure does its part in sharing the appreciation for the two. From creamy Brie to crystallised Edam WHEN: Thursday 15 November WHERE: Glengarry Victoria Park 118 Wellesley St West Auckland TIME: 7:00pm
and from Speyside to The Highlands. Join us on the 15th of November for our Whisky and Cheese match-up evening. You be the judge as we work our way through Whisky and Cheese together to find the ultimate pairing! Guiding us through the tasting experience will be Jak Jakicevich, our Malt Supremo and Tonci Jakicevich, our Malt Devotee. Finishing off the night with a challenge, our hosts will treat us to a couple of Mystery Malts to put us to the test!
BOOK NOW ONLINE
KHYBER PASS MALT CLUB -
Join as at Glengarry Khyber Pass as we
CHIVAS REGAL
journey through Chivas Regal’s extensive
The blended Scotch whisky made by the Chivas brothers can trace its roots back to
range and taste the incredible heights that blended malts can achieve! Is there a better way to kick off the festive season?
1801 with the opening of their grocer’s store in Aberdeen. The store specialised in selling luxury foods, coffee, exotic spices, French brandy and Caribbean rum to its wealthy clientele. By 1842 the brothers were supplying the royal family at Balmoral Castle and in 1843 Chivas Brothers was granted a Royal Warrant to supply Queen Victoria. The brothers began a tradition of cask-aging their whiskies in the cellars beneath their store, and they began to blend their stocks. In the 1850s they launched Glen Royal, their first luxury blend, which WHEN: Thursday 22 November
eventually lead to the creation of the Chivas Regal selection of blended, aged whiskies. The
WHERE: Glengarry Khyber Pass,
Chivas Regal home is the Strathisla distillery,
409 Khyber Pass Rd Newmarket TIME: 7:00pm
founded in 1786 and the oldest working distillery in the Highlands.
BOOK NOW ONLINE
TAKAPUNA GIN CLUB One might almost be forgiven for thinking that the 17th Century tulip mania has resurfaced in an infatuation with gin, such is the burgeoning range of mainstream and more boutique options available to Glengarry regulars. Fortunately nobody is having to mortgage their property to get in on this craze, but with such a huge selection to choose from the task of WHEN: Thursday 29th November
selecting what to sip on a sunny Sunday
WHERE: Glengarry Takapuna,
afternoon isn't quite as straightforward (or
Cnr Hurstmere & Killarney Takapuna TIME: 7:00pm
boring!) as it once was. With the goal of easing these tough decisions in mind, and the requests of dozens of aficionados ringing in our ears, we are hosting a tasting night focused
BOOK NOW ONLINE
entirely on gin, with a selection of fine options being opened to be explained, discussed and enjoyed. Book quickly as the gin craze is showing no signs of abating and places will fill quickly!
MALT AND CHAMPAGNE TASTINGS
Glengarry Head Honcho Jak Jakicevich and GM Liz Wheadon both have their fixation. Jak is a committed fan of Single Malt whiskies, while Liz is a champagne fiend from way back. They are teaming up to take their respective obsessions on the road, perhaps in an attempt to justify them to the rest of NZ, or maybe they just want to share some gems they know about
AUCKLAND
with those of you who don’t. Anyhow, there they both are, out on the road, taking it to the streets. Each of them will be flourishing the
TAURANGA
attributes of six of their favourites. Is it a duel? A face-off? We don’t know. Will it be
WELLINGTON
entertaining and enlightening? Absolutely.
VIEW ALL TASTINGS
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL SPIRIT TASTINGS
That's it for this month's Spiritual Guide. Issue Nine will be coming your way next month with more guidance through the spiritual world. Cheers,