Posts from — July 2007

Organic liquors hold their own for cocktails

Written by: Chris O’Hara

Although I am generally willing to pay extra to purchase organically produced goods, there is a dividing line that begins with my evening cocktail. While there is an abundance of organically produced liquors and beers on the market and I’ll try anything once—I’ll be damned if I am going to sacrifice flavor to replace my Beefeater with organic gin, or my Johnnie Walker with organic scotch. But for the sake of the environment, I thought I would give it a shot.

I quickly found a variety of top-shelf organic liquors to try from the Organic Spirits Company, of Surrey, England, and imported via its US partner-company New Hampshire-based Maison Jomere. Certified organic by the USDA—and sporting a double certification from the CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and the U.K.’s Soil Association—this company was the real deal. Best-known for the award-winning Juniper Green London Dry Gin, the company also imports an organic scotch, vodka and several types of rum.

According to Maison Jomere president Paul Davis, the fact that its vodka and gin do not require filtering makes them “the smoothest distillate known to man.” In addition, Davis let me know that his organic scotch was “so smooth it could be considered dangerous.” Since I’m an Irishman with a penchant for both exaggeration and Scotch whiskey, no more needed to be said. I would start with the whiskey.

Some Notes on Taste:

Highland Harvest Organic Scotch Whiskey
Produced from “a blend of three organic malt whiskeys and organic grain whiskey,” Highland Harvest has a nose similar to some of the mass-market blended scotches out there like Dewar’s. It starts blandly on the palate and then simply explodes on the back of the tongue with pure malt flavor and a slight alcohol zing. The drink had a marvelously smooth aftertaste—in fact, “dangerously smooth” was not an exaggeration. I had to stop myself from having a second sample immediately. If this was an organic cocktail, then I was an organic cocktail drinker. Will it replace the Glenlivet 15? No. But it might just pinch-hit with the Johnnie Walker Black with increasing regularity.

Papagayo Spiced Rum
My next stop was the Papagayo spiced rum, made from white rum produced from Paraguayan organic sugarcane and flavored with organically grown ingredients, including mead, molasses, ginger, vanilla and (interestingly) chili. Upon pouring a healthy tumbler of the spiced rum and inhaling its vapors, I found that the usual alcoholic “tang” wasn’t there, just the smell of the spices and a very pleasant, light rum scent. The rum is quite smooth, produces a lovely burst of alcohol on the back of the palate and then leaves a lingering hint of ginger and molasses on the tongue. It is delicious neat; I also enjoyed a traditional Cuba libre (rum and Coke), and noted that the flavors did not get overwhelmed by the cola, but provided an excellent complement to the sweetness. The white rum was perfectly good as well, and as good any other quality white rums for mixing.

Vodkas
I was fortunate to have two excellent organic vodkas to sample: the elegantly packaged Rain vodka, a “super-premium” vodka made from American corn and Maison Jomere’s Utkins’s UK5 Organic Vodka, made from rye grown on a single organic farm in Germany. Certainly, organically produced vodkas made in extremely small batches would have the edge over commercially produced brands like Belvedere and Grey Goose. I would have to give the edge to Rain, but both vodkas certainly made the case for offering a rock-solid organic choice for the evening martini.

Juniper Green Organic London Dry Gin
I saved the gin for last, partly because I knew it would be strong enough to overcome a palate battered by tasting several types of liquor, and because I was most intrigued by an organic gin. With all the botanicals that go into the typical gin (coriander, juniper, angelica root and savory in the UK5 version—but sometimes dozens of botanicals in other brands), I was wondering how it would even be feasible to obtain the amount of organic ingredients necessary to produce a gin in commercial quantities. Well, the answer is that it is not. Juniper Green is actually produced in Europe’s smallest commercial stills, named Tom Thumb and Thumbelina for their diminutive sizes, making an extremely small-batch, craft-type gin. I found it to be well-balanced, somewhat light (coming in at 86 proof, compared to Bombay Sapphire, which packs 90 proof) and absolutely delicious. Adding a drop of dry vermouth (and lots of ice, stirring and pouring into an ice-cold martini glass) really brought the flavor out. My first organic gin martini was one of the best I have had recently.

In general, my impression of organic liquors was that as a rule, they are somewhat “milder” than commercially produced liquors. At first you may find the noticeable lack of an alcoholic “zip” odd, but what you will notice in its absence is genuine flavor—especially in the spiced rum and botanical gin, where the flavors really benefit from a smoother base liquor. The scotch, which I consider the true organic test, was also impressive. I would not hesitate to serve it to a guest either straight-up or on the rocks, which I consider a fairly demanding standard. Therefore, I can report that there is more than fad to organic liquor—there really is a compelling reason to enjoy it. Here are a few cocktails to try once you get your hands on some:

• Organic Mojito
• Classic Dry Organic Gin Martini

Interested in trying organic liquors?
Ask your neighborhood store to contact local distributor Omici in Plainview.

Christopher B. O’Hara is the award-winning author of The Bloody Mary, Hot Toddies and four other books. His most recent book, Great American Beer, won a Esquire “Man at His Best” award. He lives in Lloyd Harbor, New York.

Last week I attended the New York Fancy Food Show in hopes of ferreting out some great organic, natural, sustainable or local finds for canvas’ food pages. I eagerly hit the Organic Foods “pavilion” of the show, knowing I would see some great new items.

I did not.

Sadly, the area set aside for organic companies was sparse and has the usual run of the mill offerings at a food show: some chocolate, jams, crackers, a few cheeses. One of the items I was pleased to see was organic vanilla beans from Tahiti—something that any serious baker will surely want to procure.

Dejected, I headed to the main show floor and began to stroll through the glitzy, shiny, displays manned by professional marketers. As I stopped here and there, something began to be very obvious. Nearly every one of these food product companies had a natural, organic, sustainable, or local offering. It seems that, at long last, “green” foods are totally mainstream.

With my colleague, canvas production manager, Jen Malone in tow, I happily sampled, tasted, and queried the various proprietors. Some of the notables were offerings from Sustainable Sourcing LLC, a company dedicated to finding pure and ethically sourced products like HimalaSalt, a pink salt from the Himalayas. The company’s manufacturing process are energized by 100% wind power and 5% of profits go back to the environment.

Another find was an organic, naturally caffeinated and simply delicious energy drink called essn ENERGY and produced by SkylarHaley out of San Francisco, makers of antioxidant berry blends. The drink is delicately flavored with pure cane juice and is antioxidant rich. It will be in your local Whole Foods by the end of the year, company reps told us.

One very clever company was tsp spices, that made prepackaged organic spices measured out to equal a teaspoon. The packaging, like a narrow sugar package, is airtight so spices don’t lose their potency or aroma.

There was also a company selling a very good organic chai mix, and from Gluten Free Pantry we tasted chocolate chip cookies that were better than conventional counterparts we sampled on the show floor. These are but some of the many many products we saw there including a display by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce of locally made offerings from that borough at the other end of our island.

As we left we talked about how those items that once only occupied the specialty section in the grocery store are now par for every course—literally. We also talked about how we never thought we’d see this day. The credit goes to all the conscious eaters and consumers out there who are always seeking a better food and health experience—you.

And since you deserve to know what’s coming down the pike in the new arena of sustainable gourmet dining, we will be sharing our finds with you, the readers, both here on the site and in the print pages of canvas—so check back often.

[Read more →]

Yesterday, Newsday had a front-page article about how harmful the chemicals and pesticides used in conventional lawn maintenance are to the environment and to us as individuals. Organic lawn care was given as a good option for reducing the dangers associated with these products. As readers of canvas will know, this is a story that we already did in our May issue

You may think that this post is going to be about the ethics involved in one media outlet seemingly piggybacking onto another media outlet’s story. It’s not.

Unfortunately, big guys picking over the little guys for material they themselves are not nimble enough to procure is pretty standard operating procedure sometimes. Further, ideas can’t be copyrighted, only words can. So perhaps, Newsday got the idea from canvas. Perhaps they even used canvas‘ story for background. Other local media outlets have used our material as well. If that is what actually happened, then I guess I should say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

So then, Newsday did nothing ethically wrong in writing this story. Quite the contrary, in fact. As editor of canvas, I’m always pleased to see ideas being shared. To see the spread and promotion of information that is to our larger public benefit is always a coup–no matter who had the idea first.

No, this post is about something quite different. This post is about the disturbing number of comments the Newsday story received online. While there are comments from people who are both genuinely concerned and, at times, scared about the poisons we are pouring into the ground there were just as many nasty, snide, ignorant and belligerent posts as well.

It seems that some folks are very angry about being told their lush lawns are less of a priority than preventing diseases like cancer or assorted birth defects.

What a sad commentary on some of our fellow Long Islanders.

It makes me realize that canvas is lucky to have a loyal following of folks who are specifically looking for honest information whenever they can get it. Having worked for big newspapers like New York Times and, yes, Newsday too, I know that being the biggest guy in town means that you have to be all things to all people. As such, it’s sometimes harder to give space to patently unpopular issues.

This is one case, however, where I hope Goliath doesn’t back down. A large group of Newsday’s readers may not want to hear it, but the truth still has to be told.

To read the story, click here

In the fall of 2002, Glide Magazine found a home on the internet. A place where musicians and music lovers alike could stop in, read a bit, chat with others and update their iPods. Now almost five years later, Glide has grown to become a premier online entertainment resource, covering today’s most innovative, up-to-the-minute artists in every genre under the sun – with a staff of writers recruited from the music community, of which I am very proud to be a part of.

Glide was founded by Shane Handler (Senior Editor), Eric Ward (Director of Business Development) and Brian Piccolo (CTO). In 2003, they partnered with Pixel Bridge, a web development company in Boston, and together they created the fully integrated media company, Glide Publishing, LLC. It didn’t take long for the public to catch on and as the readership grew, so did Glide.

[Read more →]

This past weekend my husband, daughter and I drove “out East” to load up on fresh berries for the purpose of making ice cream. Driving out we hit all of our usual pit stops: Briermere Farms for an apple turnover snack, Garden of Eve farm to see what was in season, and took a little cruise down Love Lane in Mattituck to peek into the window of the new café that opened there in the place of the bakery.

While our trips are, for the most part, food-oriented, we also stopped here and there to admire the natural beauty of the Island which never fails to surprise or leave us breathless. Sadly, we also often stopped to lament the latest uber-development of giant houses on tiny lots or strip mall build out.

Another thing that we like to do on these drives is to explore the little byways and inlets around the North Fork. Every time we think we’ve seen all there is to see on Long Island, we are surprised to find yet another little enclave that, blissfully, seems untouched by the march of “progress.”

[Read more →]