A Jigger of Blog

I haven’t had a chance to post on it, but The Gibson recently overhauled their menu and have included a number of new cocktails, while removing some others.

Gone from the menu are the Matador and the Old Fashioned. The four new additions are below, with their ingredients as listed on the menu:

Malt & Hops: Bols Genever, Hops Syrup, Lemon Peel

Butter Nut: Butter-Infused Gold Rum, El Dorado Rum Cream, Creme de Cacao, Chestnut Puree

The Expat: Dolin Dry Vermouth, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, Plymouth Sloe Gin, Lemon, Peychaud Bitters

Imperial Arrack Punch: Batavia Arrack, Lemon, Cane Sugar

I’ve been to The Gibson twice since the menu change. My favorite of the new additions is easily the Malt & Hops. It’s fairly close to an old fashioned, and as Derek Brown described it, is a drinker’s cocktail. It’s marvelously complex despite simple ingredients, while remaining light and refreshing. Plus the clear cocktail served on the rocks with kold draft ice cubes is beautiful to look at.

I only had a sip of a friend’s Imperial Arrack Punch, but it tasted pretty great. I’ll probably try to have one on my next visit.

The Butter Nut is about as rich as a cocktail can be while still being palatable to me. It’s close to a milkshake and there’s no joking when you say the rum is butter-infused. I wonder if there was any butter that didn’t make into the infusion…

I wasn’t really sold on The Expat, in large part because I’m not a particularly big fan of sloe gin. The whole drink ended up being too tart and sweet for me; I would have liked to see the dry vermouth play a bigger role and give it more depth. But oh well.

I do like the menu changes. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Matador and there’s no reason someone coming to The Gibson would need to see an Old Fashioned on the menu. The new additions are diverse and creative, giving a lot more depth to a menu that already packs a wide range of cocktails in one page. I’m still waiting for the day when The Gibson is rocking a 5-10 page menu with deep sections for each type of spirit or drink. I’m not complaining, just looking forward to the continued evolution of a great bar.