North Shore Distillery gin conundrum

I'm going through some withdrawal over the impending end to CSA season, so I've been indulging all things local while I can. It was in this spirit that I headed to West Lakeview Liquors last weekend and bought two large bottles of North Shore gin: one standard and one rhubarb. They're delicious, strong, and pure, which is part of the problem.

They're so delicious, strong, and pure that they tend to overwhelm the taste of our martinis. We've tried recombining ingredients, but it's never quite right. And now we've reverted back to the cheap, nonlocal stuff for our occasional martini indulgences.

We're really past gin & tonic season, and I'm not one for shots, so I guess I'm looking for fall/winter cocktail recipes that might work well with an especially potent gin -- maybe something with non-alcoholic mixers we could use to level the flavor?

Any ideas? It's such gorgeous stuff, and I guess an occasional North Shore rhubarb on the rocks is a fine solution. But options are nice as well, if you've got a favorite you wouldn't mind passing along . . .

Thanks.

Can you give a bit more info on what you mean when you say "delicious, strong, and pure"? Is it the strength of the flavor of the botanicals (and rhubarb, in the case of the rhubarb gin), a "strong" taste as in high alcohol/proof, or something else (or a combination)?

It's difficult to think of a way to get a stronger juniper blast than North Shore gin short of chewing juniper berries. I bought one bottle and couldn't drink it full strength. I cut it by about half with Stoli and managed to finish off the bottle while listening to Robert Johnson over and over. Had the revolution come, I'd have used it to burn a government ministry instead. I had a similar initial reaction to Junipero, but am slowly starting to tolerate it. Can't give it the thumbs up yet, though. I'd recommend Hendrick's or Coates Plymouth if you want a good gin with more moderate spiciness.

As choey said, it's definitely the taste of the gin -- not the rhubarb. It's wonderful straight, sipped very slowly from a glass, but in a cocktail it nearly knocked the wheels off of me.

Oops, just re-read the whole thread and realized I may have misinterpreted the question.

To out myself as a not especially fluent gin enthusiast, I'm not sure I can differentiate between the taste of the botanicals and the taste of the alcohol . . . but North Shore, to my palate, has a very strong alcohol taste. Just sort of screams 'gin.'

check out the drink i have up on www.acocktailaday.com

Through some trial and error, we ended up inventing a cocktail for our North Shore rhubarb gin that was excellent. I thought I'd pass it along. We served it in a rocks glass over ice:

1 part North Shore Distillery rhubarb gin
3-4 parts San Pellegrino Aranciata
Sprig of rosemary

Stir

Here are a couple of wintertime drinks that might work:

Hot gin toddy

Wedge of lemon
1 teaspoon sugar
Few drops Angostura bitters
2 ounces gin
Boiling water
Slice of lemon

Squeeze the lemon wedge into a large mug, drop in and muddle together with the sugar. Stir in the gin and fill with boiling water. Garnish with a lemon slice.

Hot gin milk punch

1 ounce gin
1/2 cup whole milk, heated to simmering
1 teaspoon orgeat (optional)
Few drops Angostura bitters
Sugar to taste
Dash ground nutmeg

Combine the gin, hot milk, orgeat and bitters in a mug. Add sugar if desired. Top with a dash of nutmeg.