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SIN of CINNAMON in GIN & BEYOND
WRITTEN BY GEORGE B. CATALLO
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fter nearly a decade of evaluating spirits professionally in a variety of capacities ranging from a spirits buyer to judging in competitions, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most overused botanical in spirits is cinnamon. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it should be done away with. I love cinnamon. It just needs to be very carefully added into a spirit, as it can quickly become too overpowering. In competition, I have been on panels that have docked significant points off of scores due to an unbalance of cinnamon. You can bet consumers have similar feelings about it, too.
A CLASH OF TREES
Remember, cinnamon is derived from a tree bark. If your spirit sees time in barrel, the cinnamon and the oak will often clash with one another. This is most prominently seen as an issue in barreled gin. Many distilleries take their regular gin and throw it in barrels, often used bourbon barrels. That may be simple, easy, and fun to see how the regular release evolves — but the results can prove to be disastrous. Oak on its own can impart spice notes that can border on being cinnamony, add in any baking spice notes from a rye component in a bourbon and you’re looking at three layers of spice flavors mashing together. It can come across as heavy-handed and brutish. If you’re going to barrel age a spirit, I would highly recommend reducing or removing the amount of cinnamon you use. The result will be much more balanced.
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BARK HAS LESS BITE
Cinnamon is a hallmark of American contemporary gin. So if you’re making such a style, you’re probably using it. A common cause of overly prominent cinnamon notes is using it in its ground form during infusion or maceration. The issue with using ground cinnamon is the surface area to spirit/vapor ratio. Way too much of the cinnamon is in contact with the fluid, thus imparting maximum flavor. Leaving cinnamon in chunks of the bark will allow for a more metered absorption of the flavor into the resulting spirit. Another thing to consider is your method of addition. Direct maceration and vapor infusion will yield wildly different results.
UNWANTED INTERACTION
Some other botanicals don’t get along with cinnamon too well either. The biggest offender I have experienced has been anise. Anise and cinnamon combine to make a very bitter and astringent flavor that can be very off-putting. This can present in gin but also especially absinthe. The stronger the anise is, the harder it is affected by the cinnamon. I would recommend reducing or removing cinnamon in your absinthe, if you even use cinnamon in the first place, if you feel like you need to adjust its flavor. That’s a very good place to start. WWW.ART ISANSPI RI TMAG.CO M