Thread: Gin
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Bob Terwilliger[_1_] Bob Terwilliger[_1_] is offline
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Default Gin

notbob replied to sf about gin:

>> I'm not impressed with Plymouth though; it doesn't have any flavor.

>
> I call it the Greygoose Syndrome. Refine it to the point it has
> absolutely no flavor whatsoever, so then the X&Y gens will drink it
> and consider themselves cool.
>
>> I'll stick with Bombay Sapphire.

>
> Try Boodles. My fave martini gin.


I think it's interesting that notbob specified "martini" gin, since it seems
to me that gins vary so much that it might actually make sense to have
different gins for different drinks. For example, based on what I've read
recently I think the new Tanqueray Rangpur might be good for gin & tonic,
but not as good for Ramos gin fizzes.

In shopping for Delilah ingredients last week I found that there's a much
greater range of flavors in gins than I'd realized; manufacturers are
departing quite strongly from the traditional idea of what a gin is supposed
to be. (I ended up buying a bottle of Citadelle and a bottle of some
off-brand which I was hoping would taste of juniper and little else.)

Until last week, I thought that gin could be broken down into two main
types: English and Dutch. English gin is what most people think of as gin:
It's a white spirit mainly flavored with juniper, with side notes from other
flavoring agents. Dutch gin is markedly different from English gin. To start
with, it's often brown in color, and deeper in flavor. Traditionally, Dutch
gin is served neat in ceramic cups which are filled to the point where
surface tension causes the gin to bow out above the rim of the cup. But
today's gin producers are starting to emphasize the non-juniper flavors in
gin to the point where it's debatable whether it's still appropriate to call
the products "gin".

I don't know the difference between the top-selling gins, e.g., Beefeater,
Gilbey's, Gordon's, or Seagram's; maybe someone here can expound on the
qualities of those gins. I am familiar with Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire,
but neither of them strike me as something I need to seek out and consume on
a regular basis. I might just have to buy "airline" bottles of several
brands to take notes on how they differ. I'm particularly interested in the
Anchor gins (they make both a Dutch and English version), in the Rogue
Spirits' gins (both the spruce and the pink spruce), and in the Hendrick's
gins.

Bob