LCBO Food & Drink Early Summer 2017

GIFTS  WINNING SPIRITS

BEST WHITE SPIRITS

Like dreams or people, no two gins are the same. Compari- sons are difficult, therefore, but sometimes you taste one that is simply spectacular. The same, in a more ghostly way, is true of vodka and white rum. Judgment is personal but there is such a thing as objective quality.

STAR OF BOMBAY GIN LCBO 446526, $49.95

INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRITS COMPETITION

LONDON DRY GIN TROPHY

Much more exotic and spicy than its parent, Bombay Sapphire, this splen- did gin is full of the lingering aroma of bergamot orange, one of a dozen botanicals listed on the neck label. Taste it neat and only slightly chilled to experience maximum flavour. TITO’S HANDMADE VODKA LCBO 597559, $34.95 Tito Beveridge (his real name) creates this beauty in Austin, Texas. A pure corn spirit, distilled six times in a pot still and filtered through activated car- bon, it’s heavy, sleek and shows a trace of smoky vanilla against the grainy sweetness. Pour it from the freezer. BACARDÍ GRAN RESERVA MAESTRO DE RON LCBO 437483, $29.95 All sorts of illusions—pear, oaky vanilla, honey—swirl in this blend of oak- finished white rums. Though Bacardi created it to be a deluxe mixing rum for cocktails, it’s one of the few white rums I know that is great on its own, on the rocks.

2016

WINE ENTHUSIAST MAGAZINE 95 POINTS

SIP AWARDS INTERNATIONAL SPIRITS COMPETITION

PLATINUM

2016

110  FOOD & DRI NK EARLY SUMMER 2017