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How to drink Gin!
The sun has begun to shine and my mind is turning to the great drink of the Summer, the Gin and Tonic or actually Gin in general.
As we are not a great wine producing nation we really can claim gin as our national spirit, although its origins are Dutch, it is the English that are responsible for the London Dry style that we enjoy today and the UK is currently at the forefront of the new golden age of gin.
My first taste of gin was at school, I had a friend who used to keep a bottle in her locker, we were in the 6th form! I thought she was terribly sophisticated drinking gin. I opened the bottle breathed in and was hit by a big whack of pine, I then took a slug and it tasted like drinking perfume, I did not instantly fall in love with gin but it was something I always wanted to drink. I would suspect my taste buds hadn’t quite matured. Fast forward ten years and I started drinking gin and tonic and my brand of choice then was Bombay Sapphire. I have a learnt a lot more about gin since then as it has been one of my passions for the last 7 years.
There is nothing like on a hot sunny day with the drone of bees in the garden than sipping on a large gin and tonic, filled with ice and garnished with a slice of lime but then there are also many other delicious easy-to-make cocktails that can be enjoyed at home.
A simple variation on the gin and tonic is to replace the tonic with a good quality ginger ale and again garnish with a slice of lime, my mixers of choice are the Fever Tree range which can be found at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Oddbins.
My favourite gin cocktail of all time is the Gimlet, this has a great history dating back to the days of the gin ration in the Royal Navy. To stop the officers getting scurvy Dr Rose invented Dr Rose’s lime cordial which was packed full of vitamin C, this was mixed with the gin. A more contemporary recipe is the one below, created by Alex Kammerling.
Gimlet
Glass: Martini
Method: shake hard and strain into cocktail glass
Garnish: lime twist
- 50 ml gin
- 2 spoons of lime marmalade
- 15ml lime juice
- 10ml simple syrup (sugar mixed with water)
Another gin classic is the martini, the original martini was made with gin and not vodka and any good bartender will tell you that a martini should be stirred not shaken.
Another great summery drink is the Southside, this is basically a mojito made with gin. Gin also works very well with pink grapefruit juice.
Southside
Glass: Hi ball
Method: Build and swizzle with crushed ice in a hi ball
Garnish: mint sprig
- 50ml gin
- 20ml lime juice
- 20ml simple syrup
- 8 mint leaves
- top up with soda
What Gin to buy?
In the last 10 years many new gin brands have launched and they have brought gin back in vogue again. A light style of gin that is a comfortable step up from Bombay Sapphire is Martin Miller’s Gin (available in all Oddbins and Majestic stores) for a quirkier palate then try Hendricks, flavoured with rose and cucumber (available at Oddbins, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s). For the more classic gin lover amongst you I would recommend Tanqueray 10 (available at most good retailers), Tanqueray 10 has fresh grapefruits added to the botanical mix. One of my favourites of the new gins is Haymans London Dry and Haymans 1820 Gin Liqueur both available from Harvey Nichols.
For further reading on gin, check outwww.gintime.com www.gintime.com.
Enjoy!
Emma x
Emma has spent the last 7 years as the Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Martin Miller’s Gin – she has her own blog at: www.yogagimlets.blogspot.com
About the author
Name: Emma Claire Davis
Website: http://www.yogagimlets.blogspot.com
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