What's your favourite gin?

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My favorite gin is vodka. ;) I really, really wanted to acquire a taste for gin because it's so adult. I just...can't. If I ever think of buying a bottle of gin, I'll just go chew on a few tips from the blue rug juniper in the front garden instead.
 
My favorite gin is vodka. ;) I really, really wanted to acquire a taste for gin because it's so adult. I just...can't. If I ever think of buying a bottle of gin, I'll just go chew on a few tips from the blue rug juniper in the front garden instead.
If you have the chance to taste some Bombay Sapphire, give it a try. I wasn't a fan of gin before trying it. I don't mean buy a whole bottle. Just stay alert to opportunities at parties to get a small amount for a taste test.
 
I never really got why a vodka and Clamato is called a Bloody Caesar. Did one of the Caesars like clam juice?

The story goes that a barman mixed vodka with clam and tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, and other spices, creating a drink similar to a Bloody Mary but with a uniquely spicy flavour. ... One regular customer, an Englishman, who often ordered the drink said one day "Walter, that's a damn good bloody Caesar".

Of course that could be apocryphal as many of these tales are.
 
My favorite gin is vodka. ;) I really, really wanted to acquire a taste for gin because it's so adult. I just...can't. If I ever think of buying a bottle of gin, I'll just go chew on a few tips from the blue rug juniper in the front garden instead.

I don't know about gin being more grown up than vodka, apart from vodka being the drink of choice of teenagers with false ID cards - one of my pupils, caught with a half bottle when I was House-Mistress in the school boarding department, said it didn't taste of anything so that was why he liked it. He'd bribed one of the sixth form boys, who was old enough and stupid enough, to buy the bottle in the local supermarket so they were both on *"jankers" for a fortnight and had to pour the remains of the bottle down the drain while the other boys & girls and the House-Master watched. The "audience" thought it was hugely funny.

James Bond was very partial to a vodka martini (mind you, the issue of whether James Bond was grown-up is open to discussion :)). In some cocktail places on this side of The Pond a martini made with vodka is called a "vodkatini"

(*Jankers - old British military slang for boring punishments - in the above brats' case it was cleaning everyone's shoes for two weeks!)
 
I don't think gin has really taken off in the US like it has here in the UK. Everywhere you look in London, there seems to be a new gin bar popping up. It's all about the tonic though. When 90% of your gin and tonic is made up of tonic, it makes sense to use good tonic!
 
I switched to gin many years ago as drink of choice...I liked rum too much. This change helped me drink in moderation. Tanqueray is the gin I don't like the least.
 
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I don't think gin has really taken off in the US like it has here in the UK. Everywhere you look in London, there seems to be a new gin bar popping up. It's all about the tonic though. When 90% of your gin and tonic is made up of tonic, it makes sense to use good tonic!
Unfortunately most tonic water widely available in GB has artificial sweetener in it. Since diabetics are unlikely to, and children aren't allowed to, drink gin and tonic I can't see the point unless it is Schweppes et al' trying to save money.

There are a couple of niche products which probably use only sugar but sadly not on my regular shopping round. I'll just have to stick to wine.

Incidentally, the story (or one of them) is that an English ship captured a Dutch ship during one of the wars of the 17th century. Among the plunder was some "jenever" and this began to be given to sailors and later soldiers to give them"Dutch courage" before battle (that's where the expression comes from).

Over the years the recipe altered until it became gin. It was always cheap so it became renowned as the drink of the poor who also fed it to their children to quiet them down - The women who looked after the children of working women in poor areas often dosed the babies and young children with so much gin that they were comatose all day (the "nanny" would be too in a lot of cases!)

Gin became the drink of the rich in GB in the 1920s with the arrival of "Flappers" and the cocktail party. Gin and tonic was also popular as a "cure" for and preventative against fever for Brits serving Queen Victoria in the tropics (any excuse...)! I expect that the "bathtub gin" sold during prohibition ruined gin's reputation in America for a long time after prohibition was abolished

(Sorry - You can take the woman out of teaching but you can't take teaching out of the woman!)
 
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In our bar hoping days, a Gin Mary was just a Bloody Mary with gin instead of vodka..
But then, we were never a part of the fancy mix/fancy name crowd.. ;)


Ross
 
I never really got why a vodka and Clamato is called a Bloody Caesar. Did one of the Caesars like clam juice?

Maybe it was invented for the Ides of March or the inventor/creator just decided to call it that.
 
Mmm. Tanqueray and tonic with a big wedge of lime, delish. Would get terrible headaches from gin, so it's no longer on the menu for me.
 
+1 on Cooking Goddess - got sick in college on gin and sprite. Just as soon suck on a pine tree than smell gin. Only drink I do that would use gin is a Martini and I prefer vodka.
 
I never really got why a vodka and Clamato is called a Bloody Caesar. Did one of the Caesars like clam juice?
"A Caesar (also known as a Bloody Caesar) is a cocktail created and primarily consumed in Canada. It typically contains vodka, a caesar mix (a blend of tomato juice and clam broth), hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, and is served with ice in a large, celery salt-rimmed glass, typically garnished with a stalk of celery and wedge of lime...

"The Caesar was invented in 1969 by restaurant manager Walter Chell of the Calgary Inn (today the*Westin Hotel) in*Calgary,*Alberta,*Canada. He devised the cocktail after being tasked to create a signature drink for the Calgary Inn's new Italian restaurant." Wikipedia

Just for the record, I don't drink gin.
 
My sister has never been much of a booze drinker. When she goes out to places that insist that one order an alcoholic drink, she orders gin and tonic. The reason: she dislikes it enough that she doesn't sip it too fast. She can nurse a G & T all evening.
 
If you have the chance to taste some Bombay Sapphire, give it a try. I wasn't a fan of gin before trying it. I don't mean buy a whole bottle. Just stay alert to opportunities at parties to get a small amount for a taste test.
We aren't exactly party folk anymore, taxy. :LOL: However, our go-to store for adult beverages has the 50ml bottles for cheap. I'll have to remember to get one when I need to go shopping that way. Thanks for the tip.
 
We aren't exactly party folk anymore, taxy. :LOL: However, our go-to store for adult beverages has the 50ml bottles for cheap. I'll have to remember to get one when I need to go shopping that way. Thanks for the tip.
:LOL:
Well, I didn't necessarily mean parties. It was just an easy way to get the idea across.
 
My sister has never been much of a booze drinker. When she goes out to places that insist that one order an alcoholic drink, she orders gin and tonic. The reason: she dislikes it enough that she doesn't sip it too fast. She can nurse a G & T all evening.


That's why I order G&T's, too. As I tried to say above.
 
I came in here very late, but two observations on gin.

1) I hate it.
2) My mother for some reason would not allow gin in the house. My dad was a big drinker (mainly beer) but liked good scotch and a few other whiskeys.
But never once did he ever bring gin or drink gin at home.

I have no idea where her thinking came from. She was old school Italian and only one generation away from Italy. I assumed it had something to do with folklore?
She always said it made people mean.
 
I don't think gin has really taken off in the US like it has here in the UK. Everywhere you look in London, there seems to be a new gin bar popping up. It's all about the tonic though. When 90% of your gin and tonic is made up of tonic, it makes sense to use good tonic!


Gin was the liquor of the moment in the US about 6 years ago … there are zillions of "craft" gin makers now.

Then we moved on to bourbon ….

Not sure whats the next thing ...
 
Gin was the liquor of the moment in the US about 6 years ago … there are zillions of "craft" gin makers now.

Then we moved on to bourbon ….

Not sure whats the next thing ...

When I was newly of drinking age ;) the cool liquor of the day was Southern Comfort.
 
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