Botanicals: A Tasting & Hands-On Cocktail Workshop

Botanicals: A Tasting & Hands-On Cocktail Workshop

with James Moreland, Jonathan Pogash

Location: The Study
Price: $75.00
Date: Mon, Apr 26th, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
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This class is part of the Intermediate Imbibing-package.

"Botanicals" is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the spirits world, but what does it actually mean? What do they bring to the flavor party? Why are "botanicals" so critical to balancing a good cocktail?

As it comes right out of the still, alcohol is pretty rough, and usually needs a little something done to it in order to taste nice. Sometimes things are taken out of the alcohol to make it taste more neutral - think about vodka, which is usually filtered multiple times to remove harsh tasting congeners - and sometimes things are added to the alcohol to alter its flavor - think about whisky, aged in a fine old sherry cask. Another way to add flavor (and fragrance!) is to add "botanicals", or put more simply, plants, herbs and spices in the forms of roots, leaves, seeds, barks and flowers.

There is a long history of using botanicals to elevate a good distillation (or mask a rough one), starting with Italian liqueur makers as early as the 1300s, marching through the Netherlands with the spice trade in the 1600s, and continuing to this day with a plethora of fragrant gins and vodkas, as well as bitters, amari, vermouths and more...sometimes these botanicals are are "infused" or added before distillation, and sometimes they are steeped right into the alcohol after distillation.

In this class we'll talk about the history and science of botanicals in booze while we taste a flight of botanically-rich spirits including gin, vodka, liqueurs, amari, vermouth and that cocktail mainstay, bitters. And for those of you who learn by doing, you'll get to taste and mix up some classic and custom cocktails that highlight botanical elements.
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Jonathan Pogash
Jonathan Pogash is currently a mixologist and consultant for bars, restaurants and spirit companies. Trained by such cocktail luminaries as Gary Regan and Albert Trummer,...read more
Other Classes & Events with Jonathan Pogash
The Cocktail Lab - A Hands-On Workshop
James Moreland
A premiere mixologist whose inspired cocktails have graced the front pages of the The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, James Moreland is one of this generation’s...read more
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