Martini

Recipe: Martini (serves one)

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• Lemon twist or green cocktail olive

Stir gin and vermouth in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into chilled glass. Run lemon peel around rim of glass and drop into drink, or drop in a cocktail olive.

We got together with family last weekend in Paso Robles to catch up and taste wine. In addition to the wine-tasting, we also enjoyed a local gin at Re:Find Distillery, prompting us to make a Martini for this week’s post. This classic recipe is crisp and refreshing. For a bittersweet version, try the Early Martini.

While tasting at Re:Find Distillery, we learned a lot about what distinguishes different spirits. In California, wineries don’t need a special license to sell brandy, so before Re:Find had a license to sell other liquors, they labeled their gin and vodka as a brandy. So, what exactly is the difference between brandy, vodka, and gin?

Brandy must be made from grapes and is usually aged in oak barrels; vodka is typically un-aged and derived from potatoes or grain, but can actually be made from grapes as well. To be labeled as a vodka, the spirit simply needs to be distilled repeatedly to achieve a high concentration of ethanol, leaving minimal flavor (it’s then diluted with water to the standard 80 proof for bottling). Gin, in turn, is just a botanical-infused vodka. So, to make their gin, Re:Find starts with their grape-derived vodka as the base. This makes for a gin that’s a tad sweeter than usual, with the body you’d expect from a white wine.