{"id":3974,"date":"2016-06-15T20:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T01:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3974"},"modified":"2016-06-15T20:54:30","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T01:54:30","slug":"vikre-distillery-boreal-spruce-gin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3974","title":{"rendered":"Vikre Distillery – Boreal Spruce Gin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boreal Spruce Gin is from Vikre Distillery in Duluth Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Boreal refers to the northern forest where they harvest some of the botanical for this gin. When I first saw this gin, I had to try it. It reminded me of my brother, Alex’s love of spruce tip beer. Just like Alex, Vikre harvests light green spruce tips and adds them to their gin.<\/p>\n

You can see more about Vikre at: \u00a0Vikre Distillery<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Gin<\/a>
Gin Bottle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gin is a clear, distilled spirit that is\u00a0be made with juniper berries and other botanicals. \u00a0Caitlin from Vikre told me that they taste the tips from each tree to ensure the tips are sweet. \u00a0They only use the best tasting tips in their boreal spruce gin.\u00a0\u00a0It must be worth the effort because this gin is very good.<\/p>\n

\"Gin<\/a>
Gin Bottle Close Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taste and Appearance<\/h3>\n

The gin is clear and devoid of any color with some body. \u00a0The smell of juniper is a sweet pine, like a freshly cut Christmas tree.<\/p>\n

There is no burn at the start or end of the first drink. That was not expected, because it is 90 proof or 45 ABV. \u00a0On the first drink, it coats the entire\u00a0mouth with a smooth, piney flavor that is\u00a0not overpowering. \u00a0This is not anything like drinking turpentine, even though I can’t says I know what that would be like. This is a very pleasant tasting gin.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0wonder if you could sip this gin over ice\u00a0and enjoy the flavor and body with its\u00a0smoothness. \u00a0This gin definitely would make a great gin martini. The\u00a0chill from the ice cube brought out even more of the spruce tip flavor. If you love spruce tip beer or gin, then you enjoy this gin and it should\u00a0be part of your basic bar stock.<\/p>\n

When I first tried this gin, the people at Vikre gave me lessons on how to pronounce the name, which wasn’t that hard. \u00a0They even wrote it out on their business card for me. \u00a0Here is your first lesson: \u00a0“veek-ruh”.<\/p>\n

\"Card<\/a>
Card with pronunciation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Drink of the week<\/h3>\n

If you enjoy gin, there is no\u00a0better drink than a Gin and Tonic. A couple of weeks ago, I read that even people who\u00a0do not like gin generally\u00a0enjoy\u00a0Gin and Tonic. The two flavors compliment each other at a molecular level. \u00a0On a hot day, this is definitely a nice drink.<\/p>\n

\"Gin<\/a>
Gin & Tonic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 2 oz Boreal Spruce Gin<\/li>\n
  • 4 oz chilled Tonic Water<\/li>\n
  • 2 Lime Wedges<\/li>\n
  • Splash of Orange Bitters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Fill an old fashioned glass with ice. \u00a0Add gin and tonic and mix well. Add orange bitters and squeeze limes over glass and drop in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Boreal Spruce Gin is from Vikre Distillery in Duluth Minnesota. Boreal refers to the northern forest where they harvest some of the botanical for this gin. When I first saw this gin, I had to try it. It reminded me of my brother, Alex’s love of spruce tip beer. Just like Alex, Vikre harvests light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[39,40,41],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3987,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions\/3987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}