3 new products to sip and savor

If April showers bring May flowers, then what does an April torrential downpour bring? I guess we’ll soon see. Spring is always a time of new beginnings. Hope might spring eternal, but spring is eternal hope. And hope is best signified in the search for something new because without the hope of finding something better, why bother?

Luckily for us, some local companies have already done much of the springtime heavy lifting for us. The only work we’ll have to do is raise our glasses in appreciation. In this space we don’t critique products. We curate them. And to that end we have curated these three products for your springtime renaissance. All three of these companies have hyperlocal connections, are already known to us and have been quite successful with their other products. These are their interesting new offerings.

Environmentalist John Muir, the namesake of Marin’s Muir Woods National Monument, once wrote: “Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.” And this year I couldn’t agree with him more.

• Gray Whale Vodka, 86 proof, $34.99

This vodka is brought to you by Jan and Marsh Mokhtari. Marsh is the former host of Food Network’s “Extreme Chef” and a two-time guest on the “Barfly Podcast.” The couple’s gin in its spectacular blue bottle pioneered the California “coastal” style, imbued with local botanicals and using seaweed for a dash of umami. This new product is their vodka, and none of that’s allowed in vodka. So, the couple goes the other direction and doesn’t use any additives at all in this 90% grain/10% grape 86-proof vodka. Additives are allowed in vodka and frequently used, but not by the Mokhtaris. By upping the proof — most vodka is 80 proof — Gray Whale adds a bit more oomph that more than makes up for the lack of any additives. And technically at higher proof it’s also “purer” than most other vodkas. Distilled in Sebastopol by Golden State Distillery through Spirit Works, it’s a delightfully crisp, punchy addition to the world of vodka. And it too comes in a beautiful bottle, frosted white to distinguish it from the gin.

More information or purchase it at graywhalespirits.com.

• Hanson of Sonoma’s Coastal Blue Gin, 85 proof, $45

It’s blue! Butterfly pea flowers give it its wonderful color — reminiscent of Empress 1908 Gin — and all-organic botanicals give it a fabulously citrusy floral taste. Being “California coastal,” it has that wonderful je ne sais quoi that umami provides — from sea kelp — more sensation than taste. Even though it’s 85 proof, it drinks lighter and brighter than that, in keeping with the more modern styles of gin. Hanson of Sonoma’s Coastal Blue Gin does have juniper — it has to, to be gin — but as a more aromatic subtlety rather than a resiny pine cone punch in the face. Everything you want in a gin and none of what you don’t want, and organic to boot. Formerly only available at the distillery, it’s now in regular release. Note: Pea flowers change color when they come in contact with citric acids, and so does this gin. Ten percent off on first-time online orders too.

More information or purchase it at hansonofsonoma.com.

• The Republic of Tea’s White Jasmine Sparkling Tea, nonalcoholic, $19.99

This sparkling tea is a revelation. Instead of cloying sweetness, it abounds with bright acidity. Surprise! “Florality” might not be a word, but it should be, and it should be used to describe this beverage. Partly mineral, partly floral, this nonalcoholic sparkler certainly can hold its own against champagne or sparkling wine in terms of flavor. One of the problems with nonalcoholic drinks is that there’s often no “feeling” associated with them. Alcohol has both a taste and weight in beverages. It’s one of the reasons that higher alcohol concentrations have been used as a “cheat” by many to add flavor, weight and oomph to both wines and beer, especially in the United States. Ironically, chaptalization, the process of adding sugar to wine specifically to increase alcohol content, is banned in California but not in Europe. Go figure. But alcohol also has a “feeling,” and the Republic of Tea uses mildly caffeinated white tea to mitigate that loss of feeling. And we all know that caffeine has a feeling.

I tasted this product originally out of prurient interest and then literally couldn’t put it down. Refreshing, interesting and satisfying in both flavor and feeling, who knew a nonalcoholic sparkling tea could cover all those “ings”? The Republic of Tea also has a long Marin County connection. The clothing store Banana Republic was founded by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mel and Patricia Ziegler, opening the first store in Mill Valley. In 1983, they sold the company to Gap Inc., and, in 1992, they started the Republic of Tea, which was based for a time at Hamilton Field in Novato. The couple then sold that company in 1994, and the Republic of Tea is now headquartered in Larkspur. It really doesn’t get more Marin than that.

More information or purchase it at republicoftea.com.