It’s been well over a year since I had any alcohol, and strange or natural as it may be, I haven’t had a hankering for any in all that time. The other day, however, I did have a craving for olives, so I tried some Seedlip – marketed as an alcohol-free approximation of gin – and studded a toothpick with three queen olives. I swirled it on some ice, added a hefty dose of olive juice to make it a little dirty, and set it up in the traditional martini glass. It looked perfect, but looks are often deceiving when it comes to these sorts of things. Mocktail hour was on, and I took a sip and wondered if it would trick my tastebuds into believing it was anything like the juniper wonder. Verdict: not at all. It was actually rather disgusting, with tinges of pepper and cucumber that worked against the olive centerpiece. I’ll try it again come summer with something that utilizes cucumber.
For this one, I plucked the olives from their branch – they were all I was after anyway – and threw the rest down the sink. Next time I’ll forego the fancy glass and just set up a proper charcuterie board. My tastes are different these days.
