When I was at university, the word “sloane” was a derogatory term for students from a privileged upbringing; where many of us were struggling to survive after drinking our student grants, a sloane would be driving around in their brand-new VW Polo and pondering which cocktail bar to paint red that night.

Anyway, irrelevant distractions about the prejudices of my student years aside, last week, I was contacted by people representing Sloane’s Gin. After a short and exciting conversation (well, exciting for me at least) a bottle of this curiously-named spirit was on its way in the post. As usual, the fact this is a gift will not influence my notes in any way.

Sloane's Gin

Sloane’s gin had popped-up on my radar fairly recently; in March, it won the Best in Show Unaged White Spirit and Best Gin awards at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It also recently appeared on the shelves on Sainsbury’s supermarkets across the UK – not bad for a new-to-market gin.

The gin is named after Sir Hans Sloane, a physician, scientist and avid collector who died in the 18th century; in his lifetime, he amassed a truly astounding collection, including plants, animals, antiquities and coins. Upon his death, he bequeathed this collection to the British nation and this formed the basis of the founding collection of the Bristish Museum. Large parts of the collection now reside at the Natural History Museum. Sloane is also credited with the invention of chocolate milk or drinking chocolate, adapting the Jamaican water-based recipe in order to make is less “nauseating”.

Anyway, enough of dead 18th Century scientists, back to the gin.

Sloane’s gin is produced by Dutch distillery Toorank, producer of a wealth of award-winning spirits and liqueurs. The individual botanicals are steeped in spirit for 24 hours before being distilled separately and then blended to make the finished product. This blend is the left to “rest” for at least a month to facilitate marrying of the flavours. Those botanicals are listed on the bottle in a little band around the bottom of the label; these are…

• Juniper
• Angelica
• Orris Root
• Coriander Seeds
• Vanilla Pod
• Cardamom Pods
• Liquorice Root
• Orange
• Lemon

The citrus used is fresh whole fruit rather than dried peel and seems to be a slowly increasing trend in the world of quality new gins. Sacred and Leopold’s both use fresh fruit and Oxley uses fresh peel rather than dried.

The bottle is a curious shape; from the top, the bottle shoulders are round, but the sides both narrow and flare in different axes to an oval base. The result is a good fit in the hand.

The bottle-cap is metal foil, which is a bit of a let-down for a premium gin if I am honest, but while presentation counts for something, what counts is in the bottle.

The scent from the bottle-top is unmistakably gin, with a soft, sweet creaminess to it. The alcohol harshness is kept to a minimum.

Tasted neat, Sloane’s Gin is faithful to the smell with a creamy sweetness backing a good solid London Dry taste, so much so, that there are slight hints of cream soda lurking. It’s juniper-load is fairly middle-weight, with less pine notes than something like Sipsmith or Brecon Gin. It is a very well-balanced gin with the citrus and spice being quite subtle and light; if anything, it is the sweet, earthy roots that dominate. Sloane’s is very smooth though and stands well alone; rounded and gentle.

In a G&T (with Fever-Tree tonic and a wedge of lime) it is very serviceable, but a lot of the delicate notes are lost to the tonic. Trying it at a higher ratio of gin to tonic than my usual 1:4 works very well, with the gin taking a more dominant position in the finished drink. Fever-Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water works quite well too, being less overpowering than its full-fat cousin.

I think on the balance of things, Sloane’s Gin will make a great starting point for people looking to move away from vodka-gins like Bombay Sapphire and experiment with premium gins. It is a far-cry from the monsters of juniper like No. 3, but is it still a very high-quality unintimidating gin.

Sipsmith is still the G&T king in my book, but with Sloane’s being available in Sainsbury’s and at £23 a bottle, it is a few quid cheaper and easier to get hold of. This is certainly not going to be the last bottle of Sloane’s Gin I will drink.

A few months ago, on a night out with friends in London, I came across Seagrams Extra Dry Gin. We found a bar with half a dozen gins and the Seagrams was one of them; after a couple of distinctly lack-lustre G&Ts we tried it and were blown away.

I try not to judge a gin after a night out on the town, so I had to get hold of a bottle to try in the comfort of my own home.

Seagrams Extra Dry Gin

Seagrams is the top selling gin in the USA and while this gives it some credence, Gordon’s is the top-seller in the UK and this left me a little underwhelmed.

Seagrams gin is distilled using a ‘unique’ low temperature vacuum distillation process; details of this are scant and the word ‘unique’ is likely a matter of perspective (Oxley and Sacred spring readily to mind). It is also aged, or rested, for three months in charred oak barrels, which gives it its faint straw-yellow colour and mellows the flavours somewhat.

The botanicals listed on the Seagrams site we are…

• Juniper
• Cardamom
• Cassia
• Orange
• Coriander
• Angelica Root

The bottle is rather unique in that it is covered in little lumps and bobbles and the sides are indented, giving it a good grip in the hand. The cap is a metal screw-cap, but for the price, you can’t have it all.

At around £15 per bottle, this is a reasonably-priced gin and I understand it is cheaper still in the US.

Opening the bottle and giving it a sniff reveals all the right smells, but it lacks character; there is juniper at the fore, but only just.

Sampled neat, and with a dash of water, Seagrams is fairly smooth but it lacks spice. There are plenty of sweet, earthy elements from the angelica root and a faint tingle of citrus to back the juniper, but to my mind, it needs more spice. There is a sweet-creaminess to this gin that almost borders on coconut. The juniper is to the fore, but not really dominant.

In a G&T, Seagrams is a little lost; it is pleasant enough, but considering that Brecon Gin is only £2 more and makes a much better G&T, I am not sure it is worth it. With a dash of orange and cardamom bitters, it livens the G&T up a lot, but I am looking for something to stand well on its own.

As far as fairly neutral, generic gins are concerned, it is pretty good and will make a good versatile addition to the drinks cupboard; you should be able to mix it with most things and it generate some safe but unexciting results.

This experience is a far cry from how I remember it that night out in London, and this is why I like to quaff and review in the comfort of home. It could be that Seagrams works very well with Schweppes tonic water, which the pub had and I didn’t, it could just be that we were approaching a level of inebriation that makes anything seem rather appealing.

As for why it is the best-selling gin in the US, it is cheap and isn’t bad. I would be happy to see this as a house gin in the UK rather than Gordon’s. Beefeater probably has the edge though.

I have had my eye on No.3 Gin for some time. It certainly talks the talk and has the price-tag of a top-tier premium gin, so it should be something special. The fact that it costs just north of thirty quid and that it’s hard for find outside London has relegated this to my “must try at some point” list rather than the “rush out and buy it next” list. Imagine my delight when I was asked if I would like a sample bottle.

No. 3 Gin

Now, as with my Sipsmith review, the fact the someone has sent me this free of charge, will only guarantee one this; that I drink it. My opinion will not be swayed by generosity; objectivity will still reign in my house.

No.3 is almost as defined by the number three as Caoruun is by the number five. Three is the number of the building on St James’s Street that Berry Bros. & Rudd occupy, the number three is emblazoned three times on the front of the bottle, three is the number of spice botanicals in the gin and three is the number of fruit botanicals. You get the gist.

Speaking of which, the botanicals are…

• Juniper berries
• Orange peel
• Grapefruit peel
• Angelica root
• Coriander seed
• Cardamom pods

Berry Bros. & Rudd asked one Dr David Clutton, as well as a panel of gin specialists and mixologists, to help in creating a gin that is that last word for a dry martini. Dr Clutton has over 40 years in the spirits trade and holds the world’s first PhD on Gin Flavour – this man is a doctor of gin!

Anyway, exciting fields of science aside, the result of a year’s labour was No.3 gin.

Now, I am a sucker for packaging. There is something of a ritual about opening a new gin and flimsy metal caps and boring labels just don’t cut it for me. The more attention to detail that goes into the bottle and its dressings, the more pleasure I derive from opening and pouring the contents. No.3 certainly didn’t disappoint on this front.

Firstly, it comes with a book. Not a little four-page postage-stamp-sized pamphlet affixed to the neck of the bottle with elastic, but an A6 book printed on thick, high-GSM paper. It runs to 26 pages and it provides information on the gin, Berry Bros. & Rudd, the symbology used on the label and a few cocktail recipes. This is a nice little keep-sake unto itself and I haven’t even got to the bottle yet.

The bottle is held in a very understated white card box that is green inside. There is a little keyhole cut into the front face, through which I can see white paper with green lettering on (a motif that is mirrored on the front of that little book). Opening the box reveals a bottle which has been hand-wrapped in a large leaf of white paper, on which is printed a replica of an old street map depicting the area around St James’s Street. Only once this is removed do I get to the bottle.

The bottle is more olive-green than bottle-green and is square, tapering from a broad shoulder to a narrow base. The front and back of the bottle are flat and the sides are slightly concave; easy to hold and pour as well as aesthetically pleasing. The cork stopper is sealed in place by a  perforated alloy foil which peels nicely. I was curious as to what this was, but a flame test didn’t show any significant lead content, but it melted very easily, smelling, when it did, a lot like solder.

Uncorking No.3 was a joy – the 22mm stopper came out with a delightful squeak and a high “plop” that I know will deepen as the liquid level goes down.

Smelling the bottle-top, and then some neat gin in a large wine glass, revealed an amazing clarity of juniper. It is fresh and crisp with little to complicate it, but there are subtitles there – it is far from a single-minded juniper approach.

Trying the neat gin was a joy. The clarity of the juniper absolutely follows through into the mouth and only deepens as the coriander develops, followed by the cardamom. The citrus is very well balanced and takes a bit of a back seat to the juniper and spice. There is a slight peppery note in the nose and early stages of the after-taste and the cardamom lingers long after swallowing. It is also incredibly smooth, especially for a gin weighing in at 46% ABV.

I can’t seem to put into words how bright and clear and fresh the juniper is. If you sidled up to an unsuspecting juniper tree and mashed a few needles between forefinger and thumb, the taste of this gin is the first fraction of a second of the smell generated by the damaged needles – that initial burst of scent that quickly diminishes into something a bit more familiar and long-lasting. It is astounding, and it only gets better with the addition of a little water. However, at no point does the juniper overly dominate; it is held high by the supporting botanicals – the phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” springs to mind.

I think No.3 is what Oliver Cromwell 1599 is trying to be but fails at dismally. They are both very juniper led, but where Oliver Cromwell is a raw and brutal log of juniper, fashioned, if at all, into a battering ram, No.3 is a similar log carved into a complex, yet pleasing, sculpture of exquisite workmanship. Drinking it neat is almost epiphanic.

No.3 in a G&T is quite spectacular, but not as good as I imagined. While this may be the best G&T I have had (I foresee another gin-off coming) it doesn’t stand head and shoulders above other G&Ts like it does neat; maybe standing a clear forehead above its peers. The tonic water almost muffled No.3′s clarity of flavour and while the juniper and cardamom still shine through beautifully, it is not as bright and blinding as the raw spirit is. I am left wishing that I had tried these in the opposite order so my amazement of the neat gin didn’t inflate my expectations of the G&T. After finishing it, I had another glass of No.3 on the rocks.

The stated aim of No.3 was to produce the last word in gin for a martini, so I absolutely need to do a martini tasting. I don’t have any vermouth in at the moment though, but by Friday night, I should have a bottle of Lillet Blanc in my grubby mitts; I really enjoyed this in the 24 Martini I had last week and it was a toss-up between this and Noilly Pratt (I won’t drink it fast enough to justify buying both). I can imagine No. 3 making a truly spectacular martini – watch this space.

At over £30 a bottle this isn’t cheap gin, but anyone who appreciates gin in its less diluted forms should absolutely love No.3. Splash out and try it; drink it slower if price is an issue, get it in for Christmas or other special occasion, drop hints in the run-up to your birthday, sell some junk on ebay to raise the cash, just get some. Is it worth that 30-odd quid? Absolutely.

Last week, someone gave me a bottle of Caoruun gin. I have heard some good things about Caoruun and the gift of gin is always a joyous occasion, so it really made my week to open up that box and pull out (in a shower of green polystyrene packing chips) a rather spiffing bottle sloshing with the good stuff.

Caorrun gin is made from pure grain spirit in the Balmenach Distillery at the heart of Speyside. The distillery is traditionally a malt whisky distillery and Caoruun was conceived when Simon Buley, one of the distillers, toyed with the idea of creating a Scottish gin using local water and botanicals.

The botanicals themselves are vapour-infused in the “Berry Chamber”, a horizontal copper cylinder holding four trays on which the botanicals are spread. Caoruun gin uses six traditional gin botanicals and five “Celtic” botanicals; these are…

• Juniper berries
• Corriander seed
• Lemon peel
• Orange peel
• Angelica root
• Cassia bark
• Rowan berries
• Coul Blush apple
• Heather
• Dandelion leaf
• Bog Myrtle

What quite makes these last five “Celtic” I don’t quite know; four are common across the UK and have been around long before, and in use long since, the Celts were around. The Coul Blush apple has its origins in 1827 and is about as far from the Celts and the steam locomotive. They might be trying to say that they are “Scottish”, but this ignores the fact that the Celts were everywhere in the UK, not just Scotland; the cynical part of me is screaming “marketing gimmick”.

Caoruun Gin

Irrespective of whether this is just a marketing gimmick, Caoruun is fabulously presented in a wide-necked, five-sided bottle (representing those five Celtic botanical). The label is clean and minimal, with mildly pleasing designs that seem to fuse Celtic knot-work with art nouveau vine-work. There is also a bright red asterisk on the bottle (another five botanicals reference) that gives it a slightly soviet look – at first glance, you might be forgiven for thinking that Caoruun was actually a vodka.

The bottom of the bottle has a stubby five-pointed star within a more pointy five-pointed star (yes, we know there are five celtic botanicals) and the (five-pointed) asterisk is repeated on the top, being carved into the wooden top of the oversized cork stopper.

I was building the impression that five is fairly important to these guys, but I was left a little jaded after regarding the bottle for more than a few seconds.

Uncorking the bottle of Caoruun was slightly dissapointing. While the cork rewarded me with a deep and resonant pop, there was no associated squeak that I usually expect from a cork. I doubt many would care, but it detracted from the experience in my book.

The smell of the gin was rather pleasing. It was light on the juniper but has a slightly fruity and sweet smoothness to it. There was an underlying alcohol smell that is hard to get rid of, but it wasn’t obtrusive like it would be in a cheap gin.

Sampling Caoruun neat didn’t disappoint either. The flavours are very well balanced and while there is an alcohol taste there, it is not harsh at all – just a gentle reminder that you are drinking something that is 41.8% by volume. The gin is fairly sweet and full of very subtle flavours; there is definitely a spicy warmth to it and there are fruity undertones. The citrus is understated and the juniper is quite shy, but definitely there.

I tried a little experiment at this point and instead of adding a dash of cold water, I added a dash of hot water (from the kettle). This not only mobilised more of the flavours but gave it quite a heady fruity nose. All-in-all, this is quite a good sipping gin.

In a classic gin & tonic (Fever-Tree and a wedge of lime), it was a pleasant, but not overly distinctive drink. The delicate flavours are overpowered, to an extent, by the aggressive lime, but it still had unique character.

This is where the experimentation began.

The Caorrun bottle suggests making a G&T with a 50/50 mix of gin and tonic, which I dully tried. Egads, that was one strong G&T! I can’t personally recommend this – I was thinking that this might deliver the best of both worlds; the character of the gin and the crisp refreshing bite of the G&T. However, to my mouth, if just washed out the subtly of the gin and made a harshly alcoholic G&T – not good.

It also suggests adding a thin wedge of red apple to the G&T instead of the traditional lime. I was asked via twitter (by @TheGinisIn) if apple was the new cucumber, so was keen to try this. I made up a normal strength G&T (well, normal for my house: 50ml gin, 200ml tonic) and added a wedge of apple. This didn’t really impart much in the way of apple flavour, so I whipped it out and added five (yes, I know, five!) very thin slices (1 mm) of apple and stirred it with the knife. This produced a rather top-class gin and tonic that preserved (or replicated, or complimented, or something) some of the character of the neat gin.

I am not normally a great fan of strange fruit substitutions (I don’t put cucumber in my Hendrick’s gin, for example), however, the apple really makes the Caoruun come alive in tonic.

As a USP, or flavoured gin (see my rather ham-fisted attempt at gin classifications) Caoruun is pretty damn good. The flavours of its USP botanicals don’t dominate the drink like the chamomile in Tanqueray No. 10; it is a very complex and subtle gin and quite spectacularly good when nipped neat. Adding too many other flavours would see a lot of this subtlety washed away – it you do mix into cocktails, I would caution restraint – keep it simple.

Edit (02/08/2011): I would like to point out that this was a gift from a friend, not a gift from someone trying to promot the gin – hence the lack of the standard disclaimer.

A little over a month ago, I reviewed Brecon Special Reserve gin and came to the conclusion that it was a fantastic gin. Thinking that it may even rival the tremendous Sipsmith, I thought I would try a side-by-side comparison; here it is.

However, before that, a little tangent.

Last Saturday (June 11th) was World Gin Day but I had a child’s birthday to prepare for and a parent visiting, so all-day rampant gin consumption were not exactly the order of the day. I did however, introduce my mother to Tanqueray 10 and had a few myself, so all was not a total loss.

World Gin Day was set up by YetAnotherGin as a celebration of the lovely world of gin and a great summary of this year’s activities can be found here. I would have loved to have done a lot more for the day, but my son would have never forgiven me.

Anyway, back to the gin comparison.

Sipsmith Gin

Brecon Gin

Brecon Special Reserve and Sipsmith both struck me as very similar, high-quality gins with a nice balance of traditional flavours; no strange botanicals and no real gimmicks.

Unlike the Sipsmith/Juniper Green face-off, this turned out to be a really close-run fight with each round seeing the contenders neck-and-neck throughout.

Both bottles have cork stoppers and I was struck by the differences in the pop noise when pulling them out. The Brecon bottle gave a much deeper sound than the Sipsmith. This isn’t of any real significance – the musical difference just pleased me.

Smell: Sipsmith had more depth of scent and a greater juniper aroma. The Brecon was good, but was back-footed in the first round. Sipsmith wins round one.

Neat: Both gins were very smooth but the Brecon held the edge in warmth and spiciness in the mouth. It seemed to have a more complexity and filled the nose with more aroma in the after-taste. Round two goes to Brecon.

G&T – no fruit: Although, after the application of Fever Tree tonic water, both are very good, Sipsmith is slightly flat by comparison and the Brecon carries a lighter, but slightly more intense flavour. Two-one to Brecon.

G&T – with lime: As noted previously in my first tasting, lime utterly completes Sipsmith; it needs it like Abbot needs Costello, or Batman needs Robin (put that smutty thought away) – they are made for each other, and they complete each other. The lime brought the Sipsmith alive and produced a sublime gin and tonic that Brecon couldn’t quite muster.

This was, at best, an inconclusive match-up. Sipsmith probably wins on points alone and this is only because it works best in my favoured drinking format, the G&T with lime. Saying that, Brecon is about £10 cheaper on the bottle, and with so little in the taste/quality, this makes it a great choice for everyday drinking.

Also, with Brecon and Sipsmith beating each other when drank in different ways, I can imagine the Brecon being the winner in all manner of gin-based drinks. Not being overly experienced in the ways of gin cocktails, this is a bit beyond my ability to comment at the moment though.

Conclusion: Brecon is awesome, but in the end, it couldn’t quite get the best of Sipsmith in a G&T. For the price though, it is a damn-fine gin and is certainly the champion of its price-bracket.

I bought a bottle of Brecon Special Reserve Gin at the same time I bought the Old Raj; I have taken a long time to write both of these up and the Bottle of Brecon is nearly empty.

I bought the Brecon gin because I tried their single malt whisky in a hotel a few years ago (intrigued as I was by the idea of a Welsh whisky) and was stunned by its smooth, sweet character. I was delighted to find out that Penderyn Distillery make gin as well and was hoping for something rather special.

Brecon Special Reserve Gin

Presented in a tall, elegant, heavy-bottomed bottle (like all Brecon spirits) the monochrome labelling and cork stopper really make for a delightful package. Brecon kindly lists all of the botanicals in a neat column down the front of the bottle; they are…

• Juniper berries (from Macedonia)
• Orange peel (from Spain)
• Cassia bark (from China)
• Liquorice root (from Sri Lanka)
• Cinnamon bark (from Madagascar)
• Angelica root (from France)
• Ground nutmeg (from India)
• Coriander seed (from Russia)
• Lemon peel (from Spain)
• Orris root (from Italy)

By the botanicals, this is a very classic gin with little in the way of USP ingredients. The recipe is, apparently, 100 years old and the water used is drawn from under the distillery. A small-batch gin, Brecon lays no claim to the type of gin it is; the website declares that no flavourings are added, but the lack of the London Dry labelling leads me to thinking it falls into the Distilled Gin category – possibly due to its sweetness, but this is mere conjecture on my part.

Uncorking, sniffing, pouring and sniffing some more, reveals a very sweet, smooth juniper-laced aroma. I wondered if it held and edge over Sipsmith Gin and a quick sniff test certainly saw the Brecon coming top in a cursory test; certainly worth exploring further.

A nip of the neat gin rewarded me with a very smooth experience. There was a medium-to-heavy juniper loading and so little harshness, I went back for more.

The addition of tonic water (Fever-Tree premium) drove off a very clean, crisp scent of juniper and a hint of spice and something not too far from coconut (odd but not unpleasant).

Adding the lime and tasting the finished G&T was a tremendously rewarding experience. Brecon gin and tonic is a remarkable G&T, on a par with Sipsmith; in fact so good was it, that I might have to hold a gin-off between the two. It is fresh, clean, slightly sweet and a little warming – cracking good stuff and firmly putting Wales on the map of the gin-producing world.

Brecon gin’s price-point is a fair bit lower than that of Sipsmith gin and, for the money, is well worth investing in; I will certainly be buying more of it.

Why are you still reading this? Go buy some.

Cadenhead’s Old Raj gin is next on my list of gins to review and drink. This is long over-due but before I crack on with the review, I feel I need to explain where I have been for the last three months.

Well, the day-job is hectic and I am on a diet, so drinking less alcoholic drinks. Anyway, enough of that, you are only really here for the gin-talk. Needless to say, I apologise for the lapse in updates.

Old Raj Gin

Old Raj gin had been on my target list for some time. I had never heard a bad thing said about it and I had been wanting to try a saffron-infused gin for some time. Old Raj comes in two strengths, 46% and 55% (red and blue-labelled respectively). after some reading around, the stronger gin seemed to come the most recommended and so I picked and purchased.

The Old Raj came in a nice little box (pictured alongside the bottle to the right) and the overall package was one of imperial elegance. The only thing that ruined it for me was the cheap metal screw cap; if this gin had a cork stopper (I am a sucker for the pop) it would have been a near-perfect presentation.

The gin, is of course, straw yellow, and apart from it looking a little like a bottle of wee, it seemed to not be at-odds with its label design.

With a botanical list that is hard to come by, we can assume juniper and saffron, but the rest is a bit of a mystery. Made in a copper-pot still, the saffron is apparently added by Cadenhead’s chairman.

A sniff of the bottle, and subsequently the neat gin in the glass, reveals a respectable payload of juniper and alcohol; no surprises really, given that it is 55%, but there was little else to it.

A sip of neat Old Raj reveals a slightly harsh, very alcoholly (yes, I know it isn’t a real word) experience. There were strong undertones of a harsh vegetative taste and a hint of spiciness.

With a little nip of water, a certain level of sweet spiciness came to the fore, but the vegetative harshness was still there.

Mixing with tonic water (Fever-Tree tonic, as usual) drove off little aroma, although the were hints of spice and greenery.

As a drink, the Old Raj made a slightly disappointing gin and tonic. While the initial attack developed into a somewhat sweet and spicy warmth followed by hints of fragrant angelica, it quickly evolves into lingering bitter vegetative after-taste, which ruins the whole experience.

Maybe I am used to saffron in sweet form (cakes and the like), but this really didn’t do it for me. Maybe there is an element of Phantom Menace syndrome; I have heard nothing but rave reviews and glowing commendation about Old Raj gin and I was expecting something truly spectacular. Maybe my expectations were just too high.

All-in-all, the Old Raj experience was a bit of a let-down.

Update

During a weekend martini marathon I discovered that Old Raj makes an excellent martini. It is a very warm, spicy, almost comforting drink – which is not what one normally expects from a martini.

Someone going by the moniker Gin-Lover posted a comment on my about page back in September, telling me about an offer that Sainsbury’s was running on their Taste the Difference range of gin, Blackfriars. I never managed to get there in time as I was awash with other gins at the time, but I have some now. So this one is for you Gin-Lover; sorry it took so long.

Blackfriars Gin

The Blackfriars bottle looks suspiciously like the Greenall’s bottle with a different label. It comes as no surprise that Blackfriars is distilled by G & J Greenall (as is most supermarket gin). The label claims ten botanicals but lists only the following five…

• Juniper berries
• Coriander seeds
• Angelica root
• Orange peel
• Lemon peel

The full botanical list is hard to come by, but I would love to know the full list, as it is a surprisingly complex gin. Blackfriars is not only a quadruple-distilled London Dry, but also weighs in at a hefty 43% export strength. It also picked up a silver award from the IWSC in 2010 (the same year as Oliver Cromwell gin from Aldi).

Removing the metal screw-cap and sticking my nose in the top of the bottle revealed a decent juniper aroma. It was less alcoholly (if that is a real word) than many, in spite of export strength. There were also tiny hints of citrus about it (note: my nose is just recovering from a cold and isn’t at its most receptive right now).

Sampled neat Blackfriars gin is fairly smooth; it has a good, solid junipery taste and carries a sweetness that surprised me. It is a warm and spicy gin with earthy undertones and a certain oily character. The addition of water added to this with the spiciness really coming through.

Mixing the Blackfriars with Fever-Tree tonic water produced a very rewarding G&T. Its spiciness is maintained and I thought I could taste angelica peeking through. The slice of lime complimented the earthy-spicy notes and the tonic and juniper made for a crisp, refreshing drink.

I also tried it with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic water. The added floral notes of the tonic made for a tremendously complex drink with all you expect from a G&T, just amplified.

It has been a while since I have tried such a spicy gin, and by Jove, I love it.

This is a great gin for its price and stands up very well against the other quality gins in its price-bracket (Juniper Green, Greenall’s). I would not be disappointed to be served this at a party.

This review of Beefeater gin has been a long time coming. I bought a bottle from Sainsbury’s toward the end of last year. However, disaster struck on the way home when the bottom of the cheapo carrier bag fell out and the bottle smashed upon the ground. I was availed with tremendous waft of gin as the rain began to wash away the spilled three-quarters of a litre of my favoured tipple toward the gutters. I even cut myself recovering the smashed remnants of the bottle from the pavement.

Beefeater Gin

Anyway, after a constructive, but unimpressed, email to Sainsbury’s, I became the proud owner of a gift-card with just enough credit to buy another bottle of Beefeater. I used a stronger carrier-bag the second time around and managed to get it home in one piece.

This was all before Christmas and I have been imbibing Sipsmith and Whitley Neill ever since. Now the Neill is gone and the Sipsmith is near to running dry, I thought I would open the bottle of Beefeater that had been gathering dust over the last month.

What is more iconic in the gin world than Beefeater? A favourite of generations, Beefeater was the only gin available on the maiden voyage of the QE2 in 1969 and is the top-selling gin in the US, as well as many other countries around the globe.

Beefeater is a London Dry Gin and claims nine botanicals; these are…

These ingredients are steeped for 24 hours in pure grain alcohol before being distilled into the (almost) final product. A week’s output is blended together to create the Beefeater we find on the shelves – this is done because the steeping that is started on Friday is not distilled until the following Monday; this results in Monday’s batch being very flavour-heavy compared with the rest of the week’s production. The blending process ensures a uniform product that is bottled and sold. All of this is conducted under the watchful eye of Desmond Payne, Beefeater’s Master Distiller.

Anyway, enough of the detail, on with the tasting…

Sniffing the bottle-opening rewarded my nose with juniper and faint hints of citrus and spice. Nothing too striking but reassuringly gin.

Sampled neat, this is definitely gin, but I found it rather harsh with little character to speak of. Adding water to the mix did little to mitigate the harshness of this gin and bought-out little extra in the way of flavour or scent.

The addition of tonic water (and lime) brought this gin alive though. It is definitely a gin with Juniper being fairly heavily present and it carried a clear citrus element. There was a faint, lingering spiciness in the after-taste, but it had to be looked for.

In many ways Beefeater was a surprise to me; I was expecting something more akin to Gordon’s, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it is a distinct cut above its cousin. Its botanicals dictate that it is a very traditional gin, and it does deliver this – there are few frills or unique selling points, but it fulfils the role of a stock-gin very well. Nothing to write home about but certainly nothing to complain about either.

One last point of interest. Beefeater gin depicts, what one might reasonably assume, a Beefeater on the bottle. However, the predominately red uniform would mark this figure out as a Yeoman of the Guard rather than a Yeoman Warder (which are popularly known as Beefeaters). Saying that, I doubt many would care for the difference and this is a mistake that Gilbert and Sullivan made in their opera, The Yeomen of the Guard.

Another gin, another day. This time it is Tanqueray No. Ten.

I am going to do this post in reverse order, with tasting notes first and the detail later. The reason for this being that I tasted this gin before reading anything about it, so came at it without any preconception.

Tanqueray No. Ten

I was quite excited when bringing this bottle home. Tanqueray No Ten comes in a tall, slim, green, octagonal bottle with the label taking the appearance of a wax seal and ribbon. The bottle shape reminds me of a slightly less baroque version of the St Germain bottle, just with less pronounced scoops beneath the shoulder. The whole package exudes elegance and quality. The only thing that would top it off nicely would be to replace the slightly naff metallic plastic lid with something made of actual metal.

The smell was nothing special; not overloaded with juniper or any surprising subtlety. It was gin in that there bottle.

Sampling Tanqueray Ten neat was a little bit of a let-down. It is fairly smooth and is certainly a gin, but there was little to stand it above many others I have tried. Not a big hitter in the juniper department, it definitely has subtlties, but they are, by definition, very subtle; there is little that stands out or makes it unique.

The addition of water didn’t liberate much extra in the flavour department either.

However, for all its lack-lustre qualities when flying solo, the Tanqueray No Ten absolutely came alive with tonic water.

As is becoming standard, I used Fever-Tree premium tonic water; the aroma driven off by the effervescence was distinctly gin but with fresh, bright undertones and some unidentified complexity. This was only magnified in the tasting which presents a perfectly balanced, yet not over-riding, mixture of juniper and citrus freshness with an underlying sweetness. The bright, crisp, initial taste was then followed up with a tail of tantalising familiarity; it was slightly pungent, floral and resinous – it reminded me of my essential oils box, but I couldn’t place it. I pondered for some time over three glasses of G&T but still couldn’t place that taste. In my ponderings, I kept coming back to frankincense but it was only ever a vague feeling rather than a confident identification.

There was only one way to solve the mystery (well, actually two, I could look up its botanicals, but where was the fun in that?) and that was to break out the essential oils. After a little while of removing those little caps and sniffing, I had came across the source of the unidentified taste – chamomile.

This exercise also highlighted that I could probably make my own gin from infusing various oils in a good vodka, but that is an experiment for another day.

Probing into the details of Tanqueray No Ten on the internet, the Chamomile was confirmed as the stray taste. I wouldn’t have thought chamomile would have been at all pleasant in gin, but Tanqueray No Ten makes it work extremely well. I have come across cocktail recipes that call for an infusion of chamomile tea or chamomile syrup, but I have always dismissed them as being a little too strange; but who knows now? All bets are off. In a G&T, the Tanqueray Ten makes an intriguing and delightful drink.

Anyway, on to the detail…

Tanqueray No Ten is a quadruple distilled gin (note “distilled gin” not “London gin”) that uses hand-picked, whole-fruit, fresh botanicals from all over the globe. these include…

• Juniper
• Coriander
• Grapefruit
• Orange
• Lime
• Chamomile

Tanqueray is, as usual, very cagey with its botanical list and detail is in short supply.

No Ten is created in a small pot-still, called “tiny ten” and is overseen by Tanqueray’s Master Distiller, Tom Nicol. The bottle claims that No Ten makes a fine martini; while no expert on martinis, mixing one up made a very pleasing drink and while it was head and shoulders above my previous attempts at a martini, this could be down to me getting the gin/vermouth ratio right for once.

In conclusion, Tanqueray No Ten makes a beautiful G&T and ranks up there with my all time greats. It stands tall and proud next to Whitley Neill and will likely be a common sight in my drinks cabinet; one to reach for when I am looking for a USP gin.

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