Seppila
Alpen High Blue Jean
- AlpenHigh®Seppila
- I-39035 Welsberg-Taisten Südtirol
AlpineClassic dryBitter / root
No botanical list to work from, so read it as the name does: Alpen points to a mountain gin, and it drinks that way — juniper first, dry and resinous, pine and cool green herbs behind it, a faint root bitterness on the finish. The Blue in the name reads as colour rather than flavour. Crisp, spare, not sweet.
Serve
1:3 — keep it plain so the pine and juniper stay in front
Garnish — a sprig of rosemary
Cocktails
Negroni
Bitter first, then sweet: Campari's rind-and-root edge held up by the vermouth's dark, herbal sugar. The gin has to push through both, so juniper and a firm backbone read clearly where softer florals get buried. Stirred over ice, it drinks cold and slow, the orange peel lifting the bitterness.
The dry, resinous alpine juniper the Alpen High name promises has the backbone to push through Campari's bitterness instead of vanishing under it.
Martini
Cold, dry and close to neat spirit — the vermouth adds weight and a faint bitterness rather than much flavour of its own. The gin has nowhere to hide: juniper needs backbone here, and any softness in the botanicals shows up whole. Lemon oil sharpens the first sip and keeps it from going flat.
A spare, unsweetened alpine gin with resinous juniper and pine up front has exactly the backbone a stirred Martini exposes, and its faint root bitterness stands in for the vermouth's own.
Gin Basil Smash
Bruised basil turns this green and gives it a peppery, herbal lift; underneath sits a lemon sour, tart with just enough sugar to round it off. The basil is loud, so the gin needs juniper and spine to be heard at all — softer floral styles tend to vanish into the leaf.
The cool green mountain herbs in this bottle run with bruised basil rather than fighting it, while the dry juniper keeps the leaf from taking the whole drink over.
