Author Topic: Gin!  (Read 31179 times)

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #25 on: 08 August, 2016, 07:51:28 pm »
When I first started travelling with work and getting a regular supply of duty free gin consisted of Gordon's or Bombay Sapphire.
After I built up a small collection (ha!) we had a taste test of those 2 plus Tanqueray. I came to the conclusion that with tonic I couldn't tell the difference between them,  and neat they were all equally vile!

Nowadays being a bit more of a connoisseur I know that there are some craft gins which you can tell the difference between, and even some that aren't disgusting neat.

I don't like Fever Tree, I think it tastes more like lemonade than tonic. My thoughts are that it was invented to get people into gin who don't like tonic (which admittedly is an acquired taste).
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: Gin!
« Reply #26 on: 08 August, 2016, 08:19:02 pm »
Yes, I'm back (the bottle of Greenhook Ginsmith's Old Tom survived the trip in my hold luggage). I could have bought a lot more.

I strongly dislike Fevertree tonic. It's a bit insipid and underpowered with little quinine punch. Schweppes, ftw.

I think Bombay Sapphire is one of my least favourite gins, an entirely pointless concoction. If you want cheaper gin, go for Beefeater, which makes a perfectly reasonable G&T and is far better than Bombay.

It's worth tasting gin neat or as a martini, many don't benefit from tonic – and generally you'll get a feel for the differences in tastes. Hendricks works as a gateway gin, it lacks subtlety, but with cucumber is an introduction to the fact that all gins don't have to taste like what you think.

rr

Re: Gin!
« Reply #27 on: 09 August, 2016, 01:24:31 pm »
They make gin in Witham

Re: Gin!
« Reply #28 on: 09 August, 2016, 02:07:24 pm »
I've gone off tonic with gin, much prefer one of the belvoir cordials (currently rose & elderflower) with fizzy water in my gin.

That's drinking cheap gin, just tescos london or similar.

If I have decent gin, then I drink it neat.
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Re: Gin!
« Reply #29 on: 09 August, 2016, 03:55:30 pm »
They make gin in Witham

They do and their gin just tastes like gin as far as I'm concerned. Me and my rubbish palette.

Torslanda

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #30 on: 09 August, 2016, 06:58:13 pm »

When experimenting with cocktails, I found that gin and Absinthe go reasonably well together.  Still working on the rest of it.

Reminds me of Prof. Keith Simpson's biography. He mentions that the barman at his favourite watering hole came up with a cocktail for him and his associates. Being wartime London, stuff was in short supply, so the barman improvised and called the drink 'ARP', which he said was a combination of absinthe, rum and paregoric:o

There you go Basil, another use for it!
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Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

ian

Re: Gin!
« Reply #31 on: 09 August, 2016, 06:59:05 pm »
People over-tonic gin, it should – at most – be one part gin to two parts tonic (and don't go crazy with the ice, if you want to consume it slowly do like the Spanish do, and use big ice balls that will only melt slowly). For a good gin, a dash of tonic to taste. As for fruit and veg, lime is generic but doesn't suit all gins. You can throw in everything from slices of strawberry to cinnamon sticks. The trick is to complement and not overpower the gin. Taste a little neat beforehand and then experiment. There's no right or wrong.

Like most things, unless you've experimented with a few gins and gone a little off piste, you won't tell them apart, especially generic ones. I heartily recommend the Hendricks and cucumber G&T. Or try a Gin Mare either as a martini or G&T, but swap out the lime for olive and rosemary.

My favourite gin at the moment is Silent Pool – I'm not sure if it's just local sourcing for those of us in the jungles of Surrey but I noticed it's popped up on the shelves of our local Waitrose. Run now, it's on special offer at £33.

ElyDave

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #32 on: 09 August, 2016, 09:22:19 pm »
Enjoying a gimlet this evening, with Plymouth gin
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Mr Larrington

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #33 on: 10 August, 2016, 01:36:10 am »
The pubbe wot I sometimes go to when visiting Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.) has a separate Gin Menu; Silent Pool is top of the list probably because the bathtub ginnery is inly six miles away.  They also recommend Fever Tree tonic.  I cannot comment further as even before stopping drinking I didn't drink gin.
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Basil

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #34 on: 10 August, 2016, 01:27:02 pm »
Never had a dry martini  in my life.
O.k.   Recommend me a dry vermouth.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Gin!
« Reply #35 on: 10 August, 2016, 04:10:17 pm »
i survived the local gin festival last month (yes, it's a thing) with some mates who were much more into it than me, and after some intensive research agree that 50/50 gin/tonic is perfect, that some gins are revolting (especially coconut flavoured gin) but some are truely lovely. 

Since then I've been quite enjoying an occasional Pink Pepper gin with a slice of grapefruit and a dash of tonic.

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #36 on: 10 August, 2016, 07:27:57 pm »
I enjoyed the gin festival last year, allowed me to finesse my favourite gins list without having to buy a whole bottle. Bobby's was my faves discovery there, with Ampleforth's Sloe gin.

It's holiday time, and I have a nice Kirsty's Gin (Arbikie) which is made near Arbroath from potatoes.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: Gin!
« Reply #37 on: 11 August, 2016, 08:37:06 am »
I enjoyed the gin festival last year, allowed me to finesse my favourite gins list without having to buy a whole bottle. Bobby's was my faves discovery there, with Ampleforth's Sloe gin.

It's holiday time, and I have a nice Kirsty's Gin (Arbikie) which is made near Arbroath from potatoes.

I'm off to a gin festival thing in a couple of weeks (need to soften up my liver at some craft beer festival at the weekend).

Potato-based gins are quite nice, they tend to be a more oily (turn a bit murky in tonic). I don't have the one you mention, but we have a couple of Bavarian (might be Austrian) ones that potato-spirit based and they've very good.

i survived the local gin festival last month (yes, it's a thing) with some mates who were much more into it than me, and after some intensive research agree that 50/50 gin/tonic is perfect, that some gins are revolting (especially coconut flavoured gin) but some are truely lovely. 

Since then I've been quite enjoying an occasional Pink Pepper gin with a slice of grapefruit and a dash of tonic.

Yeah, after-flavoured gins are generally horrid and to be avoided. It's not vodka. That said, something like Warner Edward's Rhubarb and Elderflower gins are great as they're flavoured during distillation.

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #38 on: 11 August, 2016, 03:31:43 pm »
Eden Mill Hop Gin is teh aces though :P
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citoyen

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #39 on: 11 August, 2016, 03:55:49 pm »
I bought my dad a bottle of Maidstone Gin for his birthday. No idea if it's any good or not, but we lived in Maidstone until I was 14 and he's a gin drinker, so it seemed appropriate.

Haven't drunk any spirits for a while myself and I'm far from being an aficionado, but I do like a good Dry Martini or a G&T when the occasion suits. Have to agree with Ian that you need to keep the tonic down, though even 2:1 tonic to gin sounds fairly dilute to me. My dad has always liked a dash of Angostura bitters in his G&T, though I understand a true Pink Gin is made without the tonic and is more like a Dry Martini with Angostura instead of Vermouth.

I got the Maidstone Gin at the deli/cafe where my son works, but I noticed when I was in the local off licence the other day that they stock a fairly wide range of gins, including Maidstone. I shall have to try some of them some day.
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Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #40 on: 14 August, 2016, 05:24:50 pm »
Bought some of this on our way down to Hull on Thursday:
New gin by The Pingus, on Flickr

Poetic license [sic] which appears to be made in Sunderland. Will give it a bash after the hollybobs.
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Re: Gin!
« Reply #41 on: 28 August, 2016, 11:27:53 am »
Went for a meal in the pub in the next village and they were having a gin festival with 30 different gins to try.
I tried Spitfire and Silent Pool.
Didn't really care for Spitfire, too much juniper I think. Silent Pool on the other hand was glorious with tonic and orange rind as suggested by the bar staff.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

ian

Re: Gin!
« Reply #42 on: 31 August, 2016, 08:53:04 pm »
I did go a gin festival at the weekend. A nice selection of gins but it hadn't much changed since the last time I went. A bit disappointing. Not so much the selection, there were a couple of hundred to choose from, but the method of serving. Firstly, you can't do anything useful with 25 cl of gin. I don't know who thought that 25 cl was a measure of anything, because it certainly isn't. Secondly, the miniscule amount of gin is slopped over melting ice. And thirdly, horror of horrors, the worst, most insipidly untonic ever, Fever Tree, is provided. The result is a homeopathic gin and tonic.

I'd much rather taste the gin – it's a waste serving good gin like that. We went to a fab gin tasting in the Canary Islands where you got neat tasters and proper G&Ts done Spanish style. Much better.

I quite like Poetic Licence (I think they do a few different varieties). I'm still raving about Silent Pool, I should work on commission, but everyone I'd forced to drink it has agreed that it's rather lovely. I'd have one now, but it's a school night and I was out late carousing yesterday evening, and I've got dates with pubs tomorrow and Friday. I'm not doing my school nights very well.

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #43 on: 31 August, 2016, 09:08:50 pm »
If it's the same brand of gin festival we went to last year the one good thing was that you got to add your own tonic so at least it wasn't drowned,  but it was still crappy Fever Tree lemonade...
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Mr Larrington

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #44 on: 03 September, 2016, 01:41:57 am »
I passed through Landergin this afternoon but as I was doing 60 mph and it consists of a T-junction and two grain silos I didn't bother to take a picture.
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ElyDave

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #45 on: 03 September, 2016, 02:42:26 pm »
I almost bought a botttle of silent pool the other weekend, but opted for Martin Miller's instead which is very nice, subtle, rather than a slap in the chops with a bunch of juniper twigs.  Takes a bit of cucumber well as well.

Also picked up a litre of Caorun at Aberdeen airport, I like that one a bit too much.
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ian

Re: Gin!
« Reply #46 on: 15 September, 2016, 10:13:44 pm »
Graveney Gin from Tooting, rather nice actually. Plus you get the bonus of saying Tooting. Acquired the other day from the deli in Abbey Mills. I may have stopped off for a cheeky pint at the Merton Apprentice. Another reason to curse the close of summer and encroaching dark evenings. I also seem to have acquired a large bottle of Kernel Damson London Sour beer. There's probably a reason I keep breaking rear axles. I call this urban foraging.

Also Sibling Gin, acquired in Chipping Sodbury (I didn't cycle all the way there). Made by terribly posh (but nice, I met them) people. A bit too heavy on the vanilla for my preference. Her Ladyship of the Immaculate Taste is in Madrid this week so I'm expecting her to return with gifts of the juniper-flavoured variety.

Re: Gin!
« Reply #47 on: 15 September, 2016, 10:24:38 pm »
Graveney Gin from Tooting, rather nice actually. Plus you get the bonus of saying Tooting. Acquired the other day from the deli in Abbey Mills. I may have stopped off for a cheeky pint at the Merton Apprentice. Another reason to curse the close of summer and encroaching dark evenings. I also seem to have acquired a large bottle of Kernel Damson London Sour beer. There's probably a reason I keep breaking rear axles. I call this urban foraging.

Also Sibling Gin, acquired in Chipping Sodbury (I didn't cycle all the way there). Made by terribly posh (but nice, I met them) people. A bit too heavy on the vanilla for my preference. Her Ladyship of the Immaculate Taste is in Madrid this week so I'm expecting her to return with gifts of the juniper-flavoured variety.
Tooting does, after everything it has been through, deserve  has earned its own gin.
It couldn't have happened sooner.
I must sample some.

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #48 on: 16 September, 2016, 06:26:21 pm »
We have the hot off the press Esker gin, made outside Aberdeen on Deeside. And also Brecon botanical.  Both OK,  nothing to rave about.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Pingu

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Re: Gin!
« Reply #49 on: 29 September, 2016, 09:09:51 am »