Category Archives: gin

Gin and Tonic

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juniper green gin and jack rudy tonic

“In addition to being a marvelous dancer, Jack Rudy loved to entertain and was known to overindulge in drink, smoke, and his wife’s gourmet cooking.”

My first cocktail order at a bar was a “vodka martini: shaken, not stirred,” which is pretty embarrassing in hindsight. I actually said “shaken not stirred.” Sigh. I can thank the Gin and Tonic for setting me on a course to enjoy more classically-styled cocktails, though, and I’ve found G&Ts to be a pretty accessible drink for most people.

As you may gather from my occasional ramblings here at Simple Cocktails, I like things a certain way: fresh, natural, and enjoyable. I think it adds to the pleasure of cocktails and make home parties better. I avoid high fructose corn syrup, which means that the grocery-store tonic water like Schweppes or Canada Dry never make an appearance in my home bar. Hansen’s Natural makes Tonic (Amazon link), which I’ve been stocking in my bar for several months, but it’s too sweet for my taste.

All of that considered, I recently made the best-tasting Gin and Tonic that I have tasted. Here’s the recipe:

 Gin and Tonic

  • in a 10 oz glass filled with ice, add:
  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • 1/2 oz tonic concentrate (see below for info)
  • top with club soda
  • lime wedge garnish
  • optional: add some mint leaves and a mint sprig

Now the individual components of this particular G&T include Juniper Green Organic Gin and Jack Rudy Tonic. Juniper Green has a touch of sweetness and a fresh, minty, herbal flavor ($33 a bottle). Jack Rudy is a traditional tonic that comes in a cool apothecary bottle ($32 for 2- 17 oz bottles). Jack Rudy has now spoiled me on tonics as it isn’t overly sweet and has more quinine/bitter flavor.

Infusions

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gin rosemary infusion
by guest writer David Coveney, The Spirit Cellar Online

I have been doing liquor infusions at home for quite some time now, and I love using gin.  One of my favourite infusions is rosemary gin:  leave 20 sprigs of rosemary in an entire bottle of gin for around 9 hours, depending on the gin. If you use a richer gin like Tanqueray or Beefeater then leave the rosemary too steep for a little longer. If you are using a light gin like Bombay Sapphire or Martin Millers, then 9 hours is enough. Once the rosemary has fully infused, the gin will be a red/brown colour.

Are you a fan of those after-work Cosmopolitans? Why not make your own lemon vodka, instead of buying Ketel One Citroen? Simply peel 10 lemons, making sure you remove all the pith, as this will add too much bitterness. Add the peels them to a bottle of vodka and leave to infuse for 24 hours. Once the 24 hours is up, peel a further 10 lemons in exactly the same way, remove old peel from the vodka and add the fresh lemon peel.  This double infusion will create a fresh, zesty vodka after another 24 hours of infusing.  Perfect with a dash of simple syrup and soda water and brilliant in your Cosmos:

Cosmopolitan

  • 50 ml (1 1/2 oz) lemon vodka
  • 20 ml (1/2 oz) Cointreau (or orange liqueur/triple sec)
  • 25 ml (3/4 oz) lime juice
  • 20 ml (1/2 oz) cranberry juice
  • garnish with a lime wheel

If you have a sweeter tooth, mix two thirds of your new lemon vodka to 200ml (about 7 oz) of simple syrup. Mix it well and you have a fantastic, punchy, homemade Limoncello.

Walk the Line: Tanqueray

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tanqueray flavors all bottles

This is Walk the Line: a series where I explore the entire product lines of the most popular liquor brands together with a panel of friends and tasters. Click here to view the entire Walk the Line series.

Tanqueray. The flagship Tanqueray in the green barrel-shaped bottle. Tanqeray is a classic, iconic London Dry gin with juniper as the primary flavor and traces of spice, coriander, and licorice. Tasters felt like the flavor was “classic gin” and those who prefer the stronger juniper really loved it. A bottle will run you $20.

Tanqueray No. 10. In 2000, Tanqueray 10 was created in the tenth still at the Tanqueray distillery. Meant as a premium and modern martini gin, 10 retails for $30. Tanqueray 10 is made in smaller batches than the flagship, and there is more citrus in the overall flavor. Tasters found Tanqueray 10 to be very balanced, with lots of flavors but none of them standing out as particularly  dominant. 10 finishes in your mouth very dry and martini fans thought this may just be the best martini gin they’d tried, saying it would taste great stirred on ice and served straight up.

Tanqueray Rangpur. Tanqueray Rangpur is named for the citrusy hybrid fruit that it’s made with. Lemon-lime-citrus is the substantially predominant flavor in Rangpur, with a hint of ginger and almost no trace of juniper. As a straight pour into tonic water, Rangpur wouldn’t require the typical lime wedge garnish for a gin and tonic. Tasters felt like Rangpur would be a great accompaniment to Indian or Asian food. Bottled at a lower proof than the two Tanquerays above (82 proof instead of 94), Rangpur will run you $22 a bottle.

Tanqueray Malacca. Originally hitting the market about 15 years ago, Malacca was discontinued a short time later and has subsequently become the unicorn of the spirits world, selling for hundreds of dollars a bottle. Re-introduced in February 2013 in limited quantity (100,000 numbered bottles), Malacca is based on an 1839 Charles Tanqueray recipe and some say it’s one of the truest gins you can find to the recipes from centuries ago.  Malacca is a very mild, soft gin that finishes with a hint of sweetness. It’s lower proof than those above (80) and is a friendly sip of gin with virtually none of the sharpness you find in London Drys like the flagship Tanqueray. Adorned in a unique gold-stamped and emerald/gold labeling, it comes in a crystal-clear bottle which signifies its uniqueness in the Tanqueray line. If you can find it before it’s gone again, Malacca run you about $30 a bottle.

Thank you for following the first several posts of the Walk the Line series these past 2 weeks. Expect to see other occasional explorations of large brands in the future as we walk their product lines here at Simple Cocktails!

Walk the Line: Bombay

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bombay gin product line

This is Walk the Line: a series where I explore the entire product lines of the most popular liquor brands together with a panel of friends and tasters. Click here to view the entire Walk the Line series.

Bombay distills premium, modern gins using “vapor infusing,” which leads to a softer tasting gin overall.

Bombay London Dry. Bombay Dry was first introduced in 1959 and it has 8 botanicals that lead to a classic London Dry flavor with a touch of spice in the finish. Tasters who prefer classic London Drys liked the flavor of Bombay Dry, saying that it’s a good gin overall. Though not as widespread as the iconic Bombay Sapphire, Bombay London Dry can be found for $21 a bottle.

Bombay Sapphire. Bombay Sapphire arrived in 1987 in a distinctive square blue bottle with the botanicals etched into the sides. Sapphire takes the recipe of 8 from the original Bombay Dry and adds cubeb berries and grains of paradise for a total of 10 botanicals. Tasters found Sapphire to be an extremely balanced gin, with flavors of lemon and berries, a touch of spice, and a long, lingering taste on the tongue. Sapphire is a bit sweeter than other London Drys and gin’s typical piney flavor is more subdued. At about $23 a bottle, Bombay Sapphire is extremely popular, and has a mild, fruity, soft profile overall.

Bombay Sapphire East. In 2012, Sapphire East was introduced with 12 botanicals, adding lemongrass and black peppercorns to the existing Sapphire infusion. At $30 a bottle, Sapphire East is mostly peppery, and the flavor is less balanced than Sapphire as the two new ingredients are the primary flavors. Initially tasting like Bombay Sapphire, followed by a peppery licorice bite, Bombay Sapphire East finishes fast and cool with a faint trace of sweetness.

Journeyman Whiskies and Gin

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journeyman whiskies and gin

Journeyman is an organic distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan, who opened their doors in 2011. I was initially attracted to them for several reasons, all of which centered around the care and beauty that they impart on their packaging. Their bottle design is uniquely stunning: they’re wax-sealed in various colors, and the labels are extremely well designed with a rough-printed tactile feel to them. Their distillery and tasting room are beautiful, too, with parts dating back to the 1800’s. Before I’d even tasted their booze, I was pretty damn enamored with the beautiful bottles I was holding in my hands.

Journeyman distills vodka, gin, and a range of whiskies, and I got to try a few of them.

Ravenswood Rye Whiskey. I am consistently running low on my rye supply because it is my favorite whiskey variety. Ravenswood is a quality and terribly smooth-drinking whiskey. As I drank, I tasted the familiar cinnamon-spice grains, but was immediately surprised by a cool, sweet finish. “Is that wheat?” I thought, and after looking it up on Journeyman’s site, I found it contains a “heavily wheated organic rye from Kansas.” The play between the wheat and rye base makes for a spicy-sweet rye that I didn’t dare mix with anything. This one’s going to be drunk neat until the bottom of the bottle. Ravenswood will run you $45.

Bilberry Black Hearts Gin contains bilberries, also called “black hearts” because of the richness of their color. This gin has an interesting flavor profile, beginning with juniper but finishing with a mild, earthy, fruity bite. Not a citrus flavor, like many gins have, but more like a London Dry-style with a faint, berry finish. It tasted very good in a Screwdriver. Bilberry Black Hearts is $35.

Buggy Whip Wheat Whiskey. Like I noticed in Ravenswood, wheat adds some natural, pleasant sweetness to a whiskey, and Buggy Whip very easy to drink. It may remind you of other high-wheat whiskeys like Maker’s Mark. Buggy Whip is a limited release from Journeyman, but when you find it, a bottle will run you about $40.

Death’s Door Gin

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death's door gin

Death’s Door distills gin, vodka, and white whiskey in Wisconsin – their gin winning a silver medal at the 2012 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. This is one of the “cool new American gins,” and I’ve heard great things about it lately.

In contrast to gins which tout their long list of botanicals, Death’s Door uses only three: juniper, coriander, and fennel, all distilled in a wheat base. The bottles are labeled with the particular juniper harvest that goes into the bottle – mine’s 2010. Death’s Door is a London Dry, so juniper is the king in this gin. It’s very straightforward, serious, and unapologetically tied to its short ingredient list, I’d call it the London Dry-est London Dry I’ve tried.

If you prefer softer, complex gins like Hendrick’s, Aviation, or Bluecoat, you may want to pass. This is not a citrusy gin or floral gin, though the straight-ahead juniper makes it a pretty great cocktail base. Try this drink with Death’s Door:

Gentleman’s Club (pictured above)

  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • 1 oz brandy
  • 1 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1 oz club soda
  • combine in an old fashioned glass, on the rocks

Crater Lake Gin

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crater lake gin
Crater Lake Gin is a straw-colored gin from Bendistillery in Bend, Oregon, who also makes several varieties of vodka. While its label calls it “Handcrafted American Gin,” one of those words can be misleading: American.

I’ve said before that my personal gin preferences lie with London Dry gins, though I love nearly all gins I encounter. American gin, or “western gin,” as it’s sometimes called, usually has another botanical flavor that’s supreme over the juniper that London Drys are known for.

Not so with Crater Lake. For my personal taste, this gin makes the best-tasting martini I’ve ever had. It’s a juniper-lovers gin, with a bit of spice in the finish. It’s silky and smooth, and I’ve nearly drunk half the bottle making strictly martinis. Tasted neat, the spice is more obvious, and the gin is a bit more potent when it’s not ice-cold.

Crater Lake, which was known previously as Cascade Mountain Gin, and can be found throughout the U.S. at retail, or online for about $30. Make it in a martini like this:

Martini

  • 2 1/2 oz gin
  • 1/2 oz dry vermouth
  • olive garnish
  • stir with lots of ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Big Gin

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Big Gin

Big Gin is the first product distilled by Captive Spirits in Seattle, Washington, with its first batch of gin distilled this year (2012). The only distillery in the Ballard neighborhood, Captive sells Big Gin at the distillery and throughout Washington at several retailers.

Gin always contains juniper, but it’s the combination of herbs, spices, and flavors that makes each brand unique. Big Gin is the spiciest gin I’ve ever tried: though it starts with juniper, it finishes with a big cinnamon/clove finish. Oh, now I get the name! Big Gin is bold and flavorful, certainly not as mild as Hendrick’s or Caorunn. Whiskey lovers may want to buy a bottle of Big if they haven’t yet found a gin they like.

My favorite way to drink Big Gin is on the rocks with an orange slice, and I imagine I may drink the whole bottle this way. Here’s a simple martini variation featuring Big Gin:

Big Martini (by Greg Mays)

  • 2 1/2 oz Big Gin
  • splash of dry vermouth
  • 2 dashes of orange bitters
  • stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with an orange peel twist

Ransom Old Tom Gin

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Ransom Old Tom Gin

Old Tom is a type of gin that dates back to the 1700s, and it ends up being the hybrid of London dry gin, genever, and whiskey (yes, whiskey). The legendary root of the “Old Tom” name is that in English alleyways during the gin craze, wooden cats would adorn the walls outside bars, and upon inserting your coin into the old tom cat, a proper dispense of gin would pour out, and you could be on your way after a slurp!

I started this review, then, by constructing a wooden cat dispenser in order to properly taste this gin.

I’m just kidding. It’s become a bit of a life’s goal for me, though, to try every gin that I can, and once I discovered that some new companies have begun distilling Old Tom, I had to get my hands on some. From what I can tell, only one brand of Old Tom gin is distilled and distributed in the United States: Ransom.

Old Tom is a sweeter gin than London dry, but more “gin-like” than genever. Ransom Old Tom’s base is malted barley (like scotch), and it’s aged for a short time in barrels, so I had no idea what to expect flavor-wise. I suppose I thought I would be drinking some sort of Southern Comfort-style sweet whiskey with some juniper flavor?

Now that I’ve cracked off it’s wax seal and had a taste, I can tell you that Ransom Old Tom is astounding gin, tasting completely gin-like and familiar, but with an added spice and a tiny sweetness that lingers long on the tongue. Ransom Old Tom is most definitely perfect in a Gin Old Fashioned:

Gin Old Fashioned

  • Add 1 sugar cube (or spoon of sugar) to an old fashioned glass
  • Douse with 3 dashes of Angostura bitters
  • Add a splash of club soda and stir well
  • Fill glass with ice, add 2 oz of old tom gin, stir until cold
  • Take a piece of orange peel, squeeze over the glass and rub it around the rim
  • Top with another splash of club soda
  • Garnish with the orange peel and a cherry (I wrap the cherry in the peel)

Ransom Old Tom Gin retails for $37.

Wheeler’s Western Dry Gin [+ Giveaway]

Wheeler's Western Dry Gin

Santa Fe Spirits has proudly introduced Wheeler’s Western Dry Gin to their spirits catalog this fall. As we learned with Aviation, Western Dry Gins are similar to London Drys, but usually have an additional stand-out flavor accompanying the juniper.

In Wheeler’s, the standout botanical is Osha Root, known for it’s “spicy celery” flavor and scent. Osha is indigenous to the southwest, and a good fit for this gin. Flavor-wise, Wheeler’s is like a London Dry style gin from serving through swallowing, but as you swallow it, the veggie/earthiness of the Osha sneaks in there. The finish is clearly spicy celery: Osha and Sage. Because Wheeler’s stand-out botanical has vegetation flavor, Fernet Branca is a good complement for Wheeler’s in a cocktail:

Wheeler’s Hanky Panky

  • 1 1/2 oz Wheeler’s Gin
  • 1 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1 dash Fernet Branca
  • Stir over ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a celery stick.

Wheeler’s is available at most local Albuquerque and Santa Fe retail liquor stores, and online from the distillery. Santa Fe Spirits has offered Simple Cocktails readers a chance to win a Wheeler’s prize pack, including:

  • Wheeler’s Gin shirt
  • Santa Fe Spirits rocks glasses
  • Santa Fe Spirits Glencairn tasting glass
  • Santa Fe Spirits mini flask

To win, just leave a comment below and tell me where would you love to be while you’re sipping this gin? Winner will be selected at random on or around December 10, 2012 and will be contacted by email. U.S. residents only.