Anklo blog

Note: this is a first draft and I may or may not take the time to clean it up later.

WTF is bruised gin? Exactly. What indeed. A twitter friend is training to be a bartender and mentioned that if you shake a martini, you will bruise the gin. That sent me on a quest for knowledge. What I found was a lot of anecdotes, myth, and misinformation.

Depending on who you ask, bruised gin has a different flavor, or texture, or appearance and is caused by shaking the martini mixture instead of stirring it. I had to wade through a lot of James Bond references and his preference for a shaken cocktail. Here’s a quick guide to what I found in about an hour’s worth of research.

The only scientific research I found on the subject is a paper in the 18 December 1999 issue of the British Medical Journal titled “Shaken, not stirred: bioanalytical study of the antioxidant activities of martinis” which found that shaken martinis had more antioxidants than those that were stirred. However the paper did not explore whether or not this had any effect on the taste, appearance, or texture of the drink.

All of the other readily Googled information was strictly an opinion of its author. As might be expected, they were prone to draw conclusions without controlling for all the relevant variables. I may make the same mistake, but I’m at least attempting to approach this from a technical standpoint. Keep in mind that’s it’s been 25+ years since I studied chemistry, physics, and thermodynamics. With that caveat, onward we go.

In mixing a martini, the general process is to add the gin, vermouth, and ice to a mixing vessel. Shake or stir to combine the ingredients, then strain the liquid into a chilled glass. So, how does the choice of shaking versus stirring affect the outcome?

Taste could be affected by the addition of water from the melted ice, temperature of the final product, and potentially the difference in antioxidants. Many commenters stressed that the shaken martini would be colder than the stirred version. That may be true, but it is dependent on the mixing time (assuming all other variables are constant). The temperature of the drink is determined by how much energy is transferred from the warmer gin and vermouth to the colder ice. Shaking the mixture will allow more of the liquid to come in direct contact with the surface of the ice than will storing. If the mixing time is held constant, then the shaken drink will be colder. The key point is the serving temperature of the drink, not how the temperature was achieved. Also, this colder drink will include more water. To make the liquid colder, more energy was transferred to the ice, which melts it to water. One poster insisted that a stainless steel (or even better, silver) shaker would make the drink colder that would a glass shaker. That’s just completely wrong.

Texture and appearance can differ due to small bits of ice and micro bubbles that could be present in the shaken drink. The action of shaking the mixture can break of bits of ice and aerate the liquid. No big mystery here. Just like a fresh soda will taste different than a flat soda, the martini with the micro bubbles will have a different texture and taste. The ice bits and micro bubbles can also give the drink a cloudy appearance.

I can’t address the question of whether or not the difference in antioxidants has a perceptible effect on the drink. I may do more research on that point.

In writing this my focus shifted a bit from just gin to the martini in general. The martini includes vermouth as a key ingredient and I didn’t do any research on “bruised” vermouth.

After the long day and late night yesterday, everyone was a little slow getting started. We made a return visit to Astronomical Pancake House followed by a pit stop at Kmart to get water shoes for Maria. Finally arrived at Water Country about 12:30. After a thorough sunscreen application, we entered the park, rented a locker and set off.

The maps here were even worse with regards to scale, but if we ever go back we’ll know our way around. There was more of a crowd here with longer waits. Got half dry between rides. The only ride that we all really liked was the Wild Thang. Two people per raft with lots of twists and turns.

We all agreed that the water park was number three on the list of attractions. If there were no waits, the experience would be much better.

Left about 6:30, went back to hotel, got cleaned up, then out to dinner at Oceans and Ale. Good food, good beer selection, and friendly service.

Time for the main event, Busch Gardens. As with most tourist towns in the South, Williamsburg is littered with pancake houses. I think the kids tallied 11 once they started paying attention. The Astronomical Pancake House had caught their eye and it’s Urbanspoon ratings didn’t suck, so we gave it a shot. Okay, but no big whoop.

Made our way to the park without incident and had my first wish granted, the Bounce Pass includes parking. Found a spot and set off on foot to the tram stop. Once inside the park, it took us a little while to get our bearings. The maps are accurate enough that you won’t get lost, but they aren’t really to scale. I’m glad Kinnamon had some experience to help guide us.

No going over all the details, but here are the highlights.

If I were to ever ride the Griffon or the Alpengeist, you can be assured that the ride will have been preceded by whiskey. I honestly think that I’d prefer sky diving to riding the Griffon. All but Maewyn did ride the Loch Ness Monster and the adults rode Apollo’s Chariot. Oddly, the ride that made me the most uncomfortable was (I forget the name) the big swinging boat thing. Sat at the end and did not like it at all. No entertainment value to me. The most entertaining ride was the DarKastle. Video is a little cheesy for 2011, but the 3D effects were good. It was just fun. Didn’t have to way more than 10 minutes for anything.

We saw a couple of animal acts and the Irish Dance show. All worth the time, particularly the Irish Dance. The food in the park was a pleasant surprise. It’s not inexpensive, but it was much better than expected. Would happily eat it by choice in a non-park restaurant. Also quite happy with the beer selection, but it was heavily dependent on location.

Fireworks (and a couple of repeat rides) ended the evening. We stayed until they shut down and made us leave. We spent about 11 hours at the park, didn’t ride everything, and only went in one or two of the shops. We could easily spend two days at Busch Gardens.

Word of the day… HOT. Heat index at mid day was 104 degrees. Just keep that in mind.

I had picked The Spoon Cafe for breakfast based on favorable Urbanspoon reviews and it’s proximity to the hotel. We left about 8:45 for the two block walk. When we got close enough to see the building, it was obvious we needed a plan B. There was a sign saying that they had moved and Maria remembered seeing on the way into town.

We walked back to the hotel and got in the car for the short drive down the street. Upon arrival in another empty parking lot we find an Opening Soon sign. Shit. We give up on local hot spots, drive back to the hotel and settle for the breakfast buffet.

We finally depart for Colonial Williamsburg shortly after 10:00. Had no trouble finding the Visitor Center nor getting our vouchers converted to actuals tickets. I had chosen the Bounce Pass which gets us into all three attractions whenever we want all week.

We board the shuttle and ride to the Governor’s Palace to start the sight seeing. Hot, just a reminder. Walked and looked and toured and walked. Hot. I’ll mention that the costumed tour guides and shop keepers are all in character. Kind of annoying to me, bit not a big deal.

That gets us to 3:30 and the need to eat. Went to Berret’s Seafood Restaurant in market square. Food was really good. Service was a little spotty, but in fairness, we arrived between lunch and dinner. Had to sit in the small bar area, which was fine, but I think that was partially responsible for the minor service issues.

Did some shopping afterwards. Still hot. Shuttle back to the car and back to hotel by 7:30. Since our lunch was so late, we knew more food would be required. We decided to do drinks, appetizers, and cake at the Chili’s. Went off without a hitch and then the kids insisted on a swim. Long day. Tomorrow, Busch Gardens.

For the past few trips we had managed to get out the door at pretty much the desired time. This lulled us into unwarranted confidence. Maria had been shooting for a 10:00 AM departure. I was going to be happy with noon. The reality had us leaving Cary at 2:00. On the plus side, I was quite calm through it all.

The drive was pleasantly uneventful. One rest area stop and a very nice last leg through the Virginia countryside. Most of this stretch was paralleled by a paved bike path. I’d love to ride the full length of that sometime.

Found the Hilton without incident and was happy to see that one of the restaurants I had highlighted was right across the street. We checked in and unpacked, then walked to dinner at Food for Thought. Food was good, but draft beer selection was smaller than I’d expected. Had a Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA and a Tangerine Wheat (which produced orange burps).

Walked back to the hotel and the girls hit the pool, such as it is. There was actually a sign limited the number of swimmers to 10. Not exactly Olympic sized.