Typically, I don't go to events alone. There is something about going into a room of complete strangers that totally turns me off. But, for some reason, the allure of this particular event was very strong. I managed to move the mountains to clear my schedule for one of the tasting panel days. I rescheduled my appointment with my trainer to later in the week. I even came into the office before seven in the morning in order to get out in time to make it through the traffic to the other side of the Capitol.
Because we had just been to the distillery over the weekend, I had no problem finding it without use of a GPS. I turned in the opposite direction at the law school exit and then wound through the side streets until I saw the placard that prevented me from missing the parking lot entrance. The lovely Svenja welcomed me at the door and collected the $15 fee for the panel. She directed me to the tasting room in the back, where they had set up everything for the tasting panel.
While Sage poured samples of the liqueur, Svenja explained the key ingredient. Our samples were just a few millimeters of a plastic shot glass -about enough for two sips. After each tasting, we were supposed to rinse our tasting cups with water and then dump the water out into a large jar in the center of the table. There were also regular sized plastic cups and a pitcher of water on the table in case something left a bad taste in our mouths, or we were just thirsty.
My personal method was to first smell the sample of liqueur, and then to take my first sip. I'd make a few notes, and then take the second sip (i.e. finish the sample). Then I'd finish my notes, giving some thought to what the liqueur might mix well with. Since I had done the tasting tour over the weekend, I expected that each liqueur would have a strong alcoholic bite up front and then finish with the actual flavor of the infused material. Thanks to the experiments I had done at home with Wild Moon samples last year, I knew that the straight liqueur tasted so much better when mixed. So I kept that perspective in mind as I participated in the tasting panel.
Tea Tasting
The seven tea liqueurs were on the concentrated side, as they are envisioned to be mixed with lemonade and other lengtheners. Kind of like an all natural replacement for twisted teas, that are "grab and go" in package stores. These spirited teas will definitely be launched in the relatively near future. Given the amount of work (and paperwork) that goes into launching a new liqueur line, they would most likely be available next spring.
Roobis is a red tea from South Africa. I still have alot of it at home, because I'm not really all that fond of its indescribably distinct flavor. However, the roobis liqueur smelled like regular black tea. In fact, it tasted like black tea at first, and then it tasted of roobis. I thought that it might mix well with lemon.
Jasmine tea is one of my favorite teas to drink hot, especially after dinner. It is a green tea with floral overtones. However, I wasn't a fan of the jasmine tea liqueur because it didn't smell very floral and had an off putting slightly bitter taste. The liqueur tasted more like oversteeped jasmine tea than a perfectly brewed cup. But I suppose if the distillery tweaked their recipe to shorten the infusion, then it might be quite good.
I had never heard of shu me white tea, never mind ever drink it. According to Svenja's description, shu me white tea is the least fermented and the most delicate of the teas. However, the liqueur was not as delicate as it sounded; it was almost the perfect tea flavor, which was well balanced with the alcohol. Hands down this one was my favorite tea liqueur tasting.
Next up was a yerba mate liqueur. Like roobis, yerba mate doesn't come from the tea plant. Rather, it is a South American herb that is ground up and made into a tea, traditionally served in a gourd. I also have a ton of this at home, partially because I always think it is time consuming to prepare and partially because I'm not so fond of the taste that I'm motivated to invest the time in its preparation. The liqueur itself tasted like yerba mate to me: it was very herbaceous, almost grassy. The recipe could probably use a little tinkering because the liqueur was also very alcohol forward. But I thought it had the potential to pair well with tequila to create an interesting Latin cocktail.
Since I love earl grey tea, I was really looking forward to the earl grey liqueur. Earl grey is a basically a black tea laced with bergamot oil, which is what provides its signature scent and taste. I'm such a fan of the bergamot that the tea at my house is a double earl grey! However, I was a little disappointed in the earl grey tea liqueur. Although it smelled like the tea, it had a more mild bergamot flavor. I was hoping for a more "punch in the face" bergamot taste. But, compared to the jasmine tea liqueur, the earl grey tea liqueur was quite good.
I didn't know what to expect from the Assam tea liqueur because I don't recall ever having Assam tea. I very well could have, and just not known what it was. According to Svenja, Assam tea is an Indian black tea, which is grown at sea level and is supposed to be the strongest of the teas. The liqueur smelled like black tea, and tasted like a Tentley or a Lipton tea. I thought that this liqueur would mix very well with vodka and lemonade.
I know for a fact that I've never had genmaicha tea, which is a Japanese green tea mixed with puffed rice. After hearing that explanation, I didn't know what to expect from the genmaicha liqueur. It didn't have a strong scent to give me any clues as to its taste. To my palate, the liqueur tasted like toasted rice, but not in an unpleasant way.
The shu me white was my favorite tea liqueur. I awarded the Assam second place and the earl grey third place because they both had a distinct tea taste. The genmaicha came in fourth because it had a pleasant taste, even if it wasn't a tea taste. The roobis was my fifth choice, but seemed to be the first choice of most of the folks at my table. Yerba mate was sixth, because it was a little too herbaceous for my palate. Finally, despite my affection for hot jasmine tea, the jasmine tea liqueur took last place.
Reserve Tasting
The seven reserve liqueurs were envisioned to be made in microbatches so that they would only available at the distillery itself rather than distributed to package stores. The idea was to create buzz around the distillery and drive more foot traffic into the location. To my mind, there was the unifying theme between the seven different reserve flavors was that they each had some type of medicinal qualities.
Since no one in the room had ever heard of orris root, Svenja explained that it is the root of the iris flower. In the Victorian era, orris root powder was frequently used in perfumes and cosmetics. It is also the base flavor for violet hard candies, which I've personally neither seen nor heard of. The liqueur was quite sweet, but definitely didn't taste like violets or flowers.
Next up was the calendula liqueur, which is a flower that looks like a marigold. Unlike most of the liqueurs that were offered that evening, the calendula liqueur didn't really have an alcoholic bite. It didn't taste like eating a marigold (yes, I've done that!) In fact, it had a very mild flavor that should mix well with gin and tonic. Then again, I also think Suze mixes well with gin and tonic.
The carnation liqueur that followed was the co-founder's favorite experimental liqueur. It was also one of the favorites of a previous tasting panel. However, because carnations are very seasonal, the lime liqueur was brought to market instead. To me, the liqueur didn't seem to have a distinct scent and didn't taste like a flower. In fact, it tasted almost like a popcorn Jelly Belly.
Hawthorne berry liqueur followed the carnation liqueur. Hawthorne berries come from a flowering shrub, and have been typically used to treat both physical and emotional heart conditions. The liqueur was quite mild, and did not have a berry flavor at all. To me, it came across more like a tea, but that could have been because I still had tea on the brain. I thought it would mix well with bourbon and ginger ale.
Elderberry is an actual berry that has medicinal uses dating back to ancient Egypt. Svenja almost waxed poetic about the elderberry syrup that her German grandmother used to make to cure her colds. The elderberry liqueur definitely had a distinct berry taste to it. It was so good that I could see just mixing it with seltzer water to make a soda.
I was really looking forward to the ginger liqueur, and it did not disappoint. It was awesome. The liqueur smelled more like a sweet ginger than the sharp ginger that you get by grating the fresh tubers. Despite the sweet smell, the liqueur retained the characteristic spicy ginger taste that was really good. I could easily see this mixing well with bourbon.
Although ginger and tumeric are from the same plant family, I had very different strong feelings about the two liqueurs. I loved the ginger liqueur but hated the tumeric liqueur, which smelled like either tumeric or curry powder. I couldn't quite put my finger on the exact smell. It also had a very strong taste that I found kind offputting. It might be possible to mix into a Bloody Mary, even though you could probably achieve the same effect by adding curry powder.
In general, the ginger liqueur and the elderberry liqueur were overall favorites in the room. Someone suggested toning down the sweetness of the ginger liqueur so that it would have more of a spicy bite. I marked the ginger as my favorite and the elderberry as my second favorite. After that, I ranked the hawthorne berry liqueur, then the orris root, and then the calendula. The carnation and the tumeric were my least favorites of the reserve flavors.
Bonus Round - Horseradish Liqueur
At some point during the tasting of the reserve liqueurs, either Svenja or Sage promised the table behind me that they could test the horseradish liqueur, which was on the research and development shelf. You can bet that I got in on that! I love the strong taste of horseradish in the cocktail sauce with steamed shrimp. The liqueur definitely smelled like horseradish and tasted like a strong horseradish. Sage said that this was actually their second batch of horseradish because the tasting panel who tested the first batch wanted a stronger horseradish flavor. Although it sounded really odd, if it were produced, I would most likely acquire a bottle of it because it would most definitely be very good in a Bloody Mary.
The Verdict
The tasting panel was such a unique and fun event that I put my name and email on the distillery's mailing list so that I could get notified of future tasting panels. I'll probably get a lot of stuff that I'm not interested in, but sifting through that will be worth it to find a tasting panel that the other lady and I can participate in together. And I'm also hoping that I'll be notified of which new flavors get launched, as I'm looking forward to more experiments!
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