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ST
GERMAIN-FRENCH
ELDERFLOWER LIQUEUR
By Michael Hepworth
I came across this
extremely versatile liqueur by chance at
a French Film Festival, and it is now fast becoming a staple in my
martini
drinks, especially Gin. St.Germain is 100% made from fresh, wild and
hand
selected elderflower blossoms picked in late spring by local foragers
in the
glorious foothills of the Alps and has been on
the
market since late 2007. The window of
opportunity to pick the perfect elderflowers for the distilling process
is very
limited, but what comes out for the drinker is a strong citrus flavor.
It also
works well with champagne, dry white wine and sauvignon blanc, so the
idea is
have some fun playing around with this when hosting a cocktail party
for
friends at home.
The fact that these
flowers lose their flavor very quickly
after being packed puts extra pressure on all involved. They arrive at
the
distillery hours after being picked and are immediately macerated in an
eau-de-vie to capture the flavor. A top secret process to capture the
unique
essence of the flower is the St.Germain ace in the hole, and that is
where the
distillers experience comes into play. Finally the essence is then
blended with
citrus and cane sugar for the end result. Fortunately
I have lately become a
citrus junkie, so the light touch
this liqueur has is also helped by the Anjou
pear and passion fruit, and also throw in a touch of Muscat
and grapefruit zest. Leaving a nice aftertaste of honeysuckle, cherry
blossom
and red grapefruit, the taste lingers on, encouraging an immediate
desire to
continue sipping.
Creator Robert Cooper
spent six years developing the concept,
and launched St.Germain in 2007 to instant success. Awards that the
special and
relatively rare drink has won include Monde Selections Gold Medal in
2007, 2008
and 2009, and in 2009 St.Germain won the Bon Appetit “Hot 10” award. The bartenders who are familiar with it call
it their “bartender’s salt” for its cocktail enhancing attributes. Even
the
“belle époque” style bottle reeks of class, and every bottle is
in fact
individually numbered to reflect the year in which the flowers were
picked. I know for a fact that only
recently one of
the major liquor companies offered Cooper a large sum of cash to sell
out, but
he refused. The fact that his brother also has a rather unique ginger
liqueur
called Domaine d’ Canton
on the
market indicates that the family have their act together in a big way.
Signature
Cocktail:
2 parts Champagne
or Dry White Wine
1 ½ parts St.Germain
2 parts Club Soda
Stir
ingredients in
Collins glass and garnish with lemon twist squeezing essential oils
into the
glass.
Gin Cocktail:
1 shot St.Germain
1 ½ shots Plymouth
Gin
3 shots tonic water
Combine
ingredients in
tall ice filled Collins glass and stir well. Garnish w/lime.
Fact Sheet
Website: www.stgermain.fr
Maximum shelf life- 2 years
Retail list price
$37.99
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