Published by Matt November 5th, 2006
in liqueur and reviews.
One of the great things about our trip to the Greece mainland and islands was that the locals always seemed enthusiastic to expose us to their specialties. At one of our dinners on the island of Santorini we were introduced to the liqueur Mastika when our server brought it to us as an after dinner drink. It was served cold, and we were told it’s best cold. The drink was very similar to Ouzo, albeit with less alcohol (Mastika is 25% by volume while Ouzo is 40%). It is made from from the resin of the Mastic tree. The similarity to Ouzo is in the strong anise flavor. Mastika, however, definitely had a multidimensional flavor that Ouzo lacks. While the anise is a dominant flavor, it also has many herbal flavors that combine to make a very unique drink. If you can get your hands on it, I definitely recommend it. It’s a great alternative for those who do, and don’t, like Ouzo.
Published by Matt November 4th, 2006
in wine and reviews.
As we continued to explore Greece and its islands, we were looking forward to experiencing the wine made on the island of Santorini since we had read so much about it when researching our trip. Our hotel on the small island was in the tiny town of Imerovigli. The hotel was gorgeous; one of many built on the side of one of the islands’ mountainous peaks which jutted sharply out of the water. All of the hotels seemed to cascade down the side of the mountain and it felt like we were floating right above the Aegean Sea.
Right outside our hotel door was a small family run grocery store with a great selection of local goodies, many of them being wine. So we made the “tough” decision to support the small business and avoid paying the hotel restaurants’ markup, and purchased our wine at the store. We promptly made our way back to our room (only having to go down approximately 950 steps) to take in both the island’s wine and sunset. The wine, a dry white from the Boutari winery, 2004 vintage, wasn’t too bad - but there was nothing outstanding to say about it. It was actually probably the best we had from any Santorini winery, which, unfortunately, isn’t saying too much. I think that, when rating things, sometimes people tend to take into account factors outside the item being reviewed. Either we purchased the wrong bottles of wine (in both stores and restaurants) or the critics we read were taking into account the stunning scenery and beautiful atmosphere along with the wine. Most Santorini wines we had were sub par table wines with an overt sour taste. Anyway, the Boutari wine was 8 euros, so it proved to be a good value if nothing else. Unfortunately, we didn’t come across any other wines that were better (on Santorini, as least) but each night we were treated to a breathtaking sunset that actually did make the wine more palatable!
To catch up to speed on our trip to Greece, check out Part one and Part two.
Published by Matt November 2nd, 2006
in vodka and reviews.
Here’s another attempt to review vodka! This one, like Tito’s, I first saw in an ad in the Wall Street Journal. The company boasts that their vodka is made in small batches with pure spring water. This is pretty common stuff with premium vodkas. The beverage is manufactured in Poland using a five step distillation process. The 750ml bottle set me back $30 which puts it in the Grey Goose range. The liquor store was running a promotion on the brand the night I stopped in which is what induced me to review this vodka (as opposed to the many others still on my “to review” list).
I have to say that we’ve been very pleasantly surprised with this vodka. The Pravda site claims that using rye grain instead of corn gives their vodka a smoother, more elegant taste. I had not read that before I tasted the vodka so I know the power of suggestion was not at work. The vodka is definitely very smooth and mellow. It doesn’t seem to display any hints of impurities and certainly goes down with a silky finish that puts it at the head of its class. In a straight vodka martini, Pravda was just perfect, probably the best I’ve had to date (sorry Tito and Goose). One minor complaint is the unwieldy bottle. Although its richly adorned with faux glass etchings and is bejeweled, its wide bottom and extremely long neck makes it a pain to store in semi-full freezers. Small irritations aside, Pravda comes with an extremely strong recommendation, particularly to those who prefer their cocktails with more liquor and less mixer…
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