We went to Anti:dote to try the excellent award-winning drink called Atas. It is made by award-winning mixologist, Tom, who also helped Barry to turn 40.
One mistake you can make, if you're just having a coupla-drink evening, is to tell an award-winning mixologist that your New Year's resolution is to learn to appreciate gin. He will see this as a challenge.
I learnt a lot. Above, Tom is teaching me about column-distilled gin, as well as the linkage with Dutch jenever. But I had to listen carefully, otherwise Tom got mad and his eyes glowed red.
To achieve ginpreciation, you have to drink teeny tiny cocktails, with successively fewer ingredients.
I have to admit that the lavender gin cocktail improved my appreciation for the column distillation process.
Barry also worked on his palate, while feeling like a giant with his tiny glass.
In order to graduate Giniversity, you must appreciate the subtle flavour nuances of juniper vs. citrus and sage. I'm not sure that I'm all the way there, but at least I've now passed Gindergarten!
