Alright, the city’s mayor and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge, for starters, but that’s not what this is about. This is about booze; more specifically, booze that comes from Detroit. ......And still more specifically, Vodka and gin from Detroit.
Two superb spirits from Detroit's Valentine Distilling Co. www.valentinevodka.com have recently found their way to New York, and we've got them. The first is Valentine Vodka, an exceptionally smooth vodka that performs equally well as part of a cocktail's ensemble cast or sharing the stage with only a couple of cubes (I guess a glass would probably help, too, though this is a spirit that could, in an emergency, be drunk right out of the bottle. I'm not sure that's the visual image the distillery is going for, but it's their fault - their vodka is just too good). It is the first we've ever met that's been distilled from wheat, corn & barley.
Then there's Liberator Gin, a clean, light, delicately botanical gin that deserves a place among the best of the new generation of American gins. What sets gins like Liberator apart from the bigger, more well-known names (especially the more botanical expressions from those producers) is the subtle juxtaposition of the supporting botanicals in relation to the principal juniper component. The secondary botanicals (we wish we knew what they are in Liberator, but so far, it's a secret) never overpower the juniper, so you always know you're drinking gin - but it's gin with some other stuff going on under the surface. We give Liberator 97.461 points. We don't even know what that means, but it sounds pretty good, and tastes even better!