How to taste Gin and build up a strong flavour memory

You have just purchased a new bottle of Gin and you are excited to get stuck in and have a few G&Ts, and rightly so. However before you dive on in I would suggest that you get to understand this Gin and where it fits compared with other Gins. This knowledge base will make the whole Gin drinking experience so much more enjoyable. First of in order to get a clear picture of the Gins taste you need to have a frame of reference I suggest picking 3-4 other Gins and trying your new Gin back to back with these other gins.

Trust me this is half the fun of Craft Gin and what better way to spend an evening/afternoon.

One of the best things about Gin is that once its opened you can simply put it back into the cupboard ready for next time. This makes it ideal for regular taste and compare sessions allowing you to build up a strong flavour memory/patchwork to reference and allowing you to better understand the gin category as a whole

Gin can be a great Winter Warmer

When you think of Gin you most probably think summer and tonic. The humble G&T first created to keep British soldiers Malaria free is a fantastic drink and one that almost all Gin drinkers consume on a regular basis but in its traditional format ie plenty of ice and tonic tends to be a bit cold for those chilly winter evenings.

One of the best things about Gin for me is its versatility as a drink. If you’re anything like me there is a different drink and a different way of drinking it that covers just about every mood/situation/weather scenario. Now these differing scenarios could be filled with a different spirit/beer/wine/cider or whatever you normally drink. On the other hand this post will hopefully give you some ideas on how to make simple changes to adapt your Gin collection to suit just about any scenario. Yes that’s right I drink a lot of Gin in Winter!

Winter is stereotypically the season for strong dark spirits heavy dark ales or deep mahogany coloured red wines. There are plenty of great winter Gin drinks that I enjoy that don’t require a lengthy internet search for obscure boutique ingredients. Here are some of my favourites.

A Botanical Adventure

There is an amazing diversity of flavours in Gin these days, the booming craft market has seen that anything from earth worms to rare forest fungi are being used to flavour Gin. This leads to a sometimes confusingly wide variety of flavours available to the modern distiller and Gin drinkers. The trend currently gaining popularity is attempting to categorise these Gins into a limited number of niches that more accurately align with your taste buds than the terms London dry or contemporary. 

Buddha's Hand Fruit

These categories are often characterised by certain botanicals so lets give you a bit of a rundown on these categories and some of the Gins that fit into them. You will have to note that the categories are in no way definitive as different taste buds experience different flavours more strongly and some Gins will balance on a knife edge between 2 categories. However hopefully my experiences will be useful to help you figure out where your taste preferences lie and help select your next bottle of Gin.

A Journey through Gins lesser known relatives (Part 5: Navy Strength)

Navy Strength Gin is produced just like regular Gin except for its powerful 57-58% alcohol content, that’s enough to knock you on your ass quick smart if your not watching your drinks.

History

Navy Strength Gin as suggested by its name was consumed by the British Royal Navy as they cruised around the globe colonising and generally creating trouble. The British government actually regulated in the 18^th century that there Royal Navy ships should have a quantity of Gin aboard at all times.

This Gin was often stored in the same area as the Gun powder and certain savvy officers quickly realised (no doubt after particularly energetic drinking sessions) that if the Gin spilt onto the gunpowder and the gunpowder fizzled or failed when lit that there Gin was low in alcohol content.

So they discovered that Gin needed to be a minimum of 57% or in those days british 100 proof to ignite. A simple test of soaking the gunpowder in Gin and lighting it was devised as a means to ensure that there Gin was not being diluted by dodgy distillers and merchants.   

The Juniper Dilemma

Should Juniper be the dominant flavour or one of many flavour components.

Juniper a coniferous plant in the genus Juniperus has a fleshy fruit like female seed cone which when distilled gives Gin its distinct Pine flavours, or so Wiki tells me.

Current Market

When one thinks of the flavour of Gin, Juniper is what most people believe they are tasting.

That is ofcourse not necessarily the case, what im saying is that people don’t necessarily know what the flavour of Juniper is and many popular Gins arguably don’t taste like the pine needles from your Christmas tree. People have come to associate Gin as a spirit that is generally refreshing and can be spicey, fruity, floral, earthy or Piney or in the case of a good one all of the above. So basically when you consider the current market offerings there are many often big name products that I would not consider as having juniper as the predominant flavour.

The Dilemma

So the Dilemma that is creating a bit of a stir at the moment is ofcourse how to define Gin should Juniper be the predominant flavour or just a flavour component. Should the Juniper content be legislated or is a wif of a single juniper berry in the general direction of the distillery enough.

A Journey through Gins lesser known relatives (Part 4 Barrel Aged Gin)

Aged Gin is not something entirely new if you refer back to Part 1 of this series on Genever the Dutch have been barrel aging for many centuries. However it has had new life breathed into it in recent years with an explosion of new brands from around the globe.

So why would you age a Gin? Seems a little counter intuitive to the bright fresh flavours that Gin makers are normally trying to achieve? You may be right in that this style of Gin is not necessarily going to be consumed in a traditional G&T or Tom Collins and so it may not appeal to some Gin drinkers.

However aged Gin is a very exciting new development for Gin that will help consumers to realise that Gin has more to offer than simply being something you smother with tonic water, Gin should be seen as a spirit that is worth sipping on its own. Craft gins are often extremely unique and flavoursome with incredible diversity available but often limited to cocktails and the G&T through tradition and stigma.

A Journey through Gins lesser known relatives (Part 3: Old Tom)

Often talked about as the missing link between Dutch Genever and modern London Dry Gin, Old Tom is a sweetened style of Gin that was popular in the 19^th century, it is also a style that almost disappeared entirely until its recent comeback.

History

I thought I would start with the history first because this time because as you will see the modern day versions are likely somewhat different from their predecessors.

Old Tom Gin became popular in the early 19^th century there is evidence that in its early days it was around 20% and more of a liquer. By the end of the 19^th century it was closer to the 40% strength we know today.

There are a few different possible stories as to where the name Old Tom came from and no real evidence linking any of them to the name. The most common and interesting is that of Captain Dudley Bradstreet in the 1730s. So this is before the name Old Tom was popularised. The legend goes that to get around the clampdown on Gin sales at the time the enterprising captain nailed a black cat sign to the side of its house with a led pipe concealed in one of its paws. Customers would simply push a coin in the cats mouth and the captain would pour Gin down the pipe into the customers cup/mouth.