The gin lovers thread...

Smurfin

What's a food and drink forum without a thread dedicated to gin?  I've amassed a bit of a collection (oops), so what's your favourite gins, recommended garnishes, tonics etc?

Barbs77

Ice and slice in the sun....

Smurfin

The thing I've found is that most pubs do not know how to serve a proper gin and tonic.  Alot of people who say "I don't like gin" haven't had a good one.  For me, there are a few important things:

1.  Use a measuring jig.  50ml to a 150ml can of tonic makes a perfect G&T.  Free-pour and you'll never get the balance right (and probably pour much more than a double measure).

2.  Ice.  Use ice.  Lots of it.  Preferably buy some big 2" ice cube moulds, and then just use one monster cube.  If using normal ice, you need to pack the glass: this is for 2 reasons.  One, it keeps the drink ice cold.  This is important.  Secondly, it stops the ice from melting too quickly and diluting the drink.  Diluting the G&T makes the tonic go flat quicker and waters down the taste.

3.  Use good tonic, and keep it in the fridge.  Tonic needs to be cold, and preferably something good like Fever Tree.  Above all, keep away from ALL light/diet tonics.  They are horrid.

4.  Use the right garnishes.  These make a huge difference...just google for the perfect serve for your gin of choice.

5.  Use a ballon glass and you'll get hit with the nose of the G&T much more, which has a psychological effect on the taste.

TheBlueBrazil

I like a G&T my wife likes it with lemonade.

Elephant Gin is one of our favourites but we are enjoying a bottle of Tanquery 10 at the moment.

raduv1

Not had Gin for over thirty plus years as a teen getting drunk on Gordans . Seen a big resurgence with many smaller specialist distillers but I've not yet felt the urge to revisit the taste from those days. I'll watch this thread as I did the same with Vodka for many many years but revisited it last year in Crystal Skull and was plesently suprised.

Lancia34

I've been getting into Gin and trying a few. Not much of a collection as it's gets drunk quite quickly

I've tried the more expensive tonics but not a fan of the taste so am actually sticking to Sainsburys own tonic water which is a simple non-intrusive taste.

As mentioned, a good amount of ice (6 large cubes), 50ml, maybe a splash more of Gin and then half a can of the tonic water which I do measure by hand but am pretty adept to it now. I like to get a good strong gin flavour through.

Big fan of Blackwoods at the moment and Whitley Neill but also don;t mind the nice and cheap Blackfriars as a cheap, nice drinking alternative. Recommend Silent Pool as well which is made not fan from me, very nice.

Anyone tried Boodles? I tend to get different makes to try at Sainsburys when on offer and tried Boodles once, found it a pretty horrible tasting gin.

Smurfin

Silent Pool is a great gin, but needs careful pairing with tonic - something like Schweppes would just overpower it.

Ben Dakin is a cracking gin - £29 (or £24 when on offer) - and it's got hints of horseradish (!) and orange in it.  I do like trying different gins

prezzy

Tried loads - Keep coming back to Monkey47 as my favorite.

Smurfin

Funnily enough that's one that I don't keep coming back to.  I've still got half a bottle left; it's expensive stuff, but I find it overpoweringly complex.  There's so much going on, and it's not "ginny" enough for me.  

Maybe I should revisit it again

prezzy

I know what you mean about it's ginny ness, it is quite unusual but I like that.