L.E.S.

April 11, 2011 (Day 15) — L.E.S.

This week our featured Best-Buy-Booze is none other than New Amsterdam Gin. With a standard bottle at $17 average cost, it falls well within our $25 a bottle price limit.

We originally discovered New Amsterdam on a whim while searching for an affordable gin to offset the cost of some of the more expensive boozes we prefer to stock our bar with. We chose New Amsterdam on a whim, and also on its bottle.

It’s got one sexy bottle. And as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for good packaging. I know, it’s embarrassing.

Some history of the Lower East Side from Wikipedia:

One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been a lower-class worker neighborhood and often a poor and ethnically diverse section of New York. As well as Irish, Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups, it once had a sizeable German population and known as Little Germany (Kleindeutschland). Today it is a predominantly Puerto Rican and Dominican community, and in the process of gentrification.

Obviously, most of New Amsterdam’s drinks have a New York-themed name. This one comes directly from their web site.

L.E.S.

• 2 1/2 oz New Amsterdam Gin

• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice

• 3/4 oz honey

• 1 lime wedge

Combine New Amsterdam Gin, fresh lime juice and honey in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for about six seconds. Strain contents into a classic martini glass or a highball. Garnish with a lime wedge.

The drink has a smooth, creamy taste. Almost like a lime sherbert. Very nice and summery. Surprisingly creamy for a drink with no cream ingredients.

Cheers!

— Mark