Gin

Also, Hendricks & Ginger Ale: Full of win.

Mrs Landslide is currently enjoying Heston's Earl Grey Gin (flavoured with bergamot). Thankfully it doesn't taste like the tea variety of the same name.

Also, Hendricks & Ginger Ale: Full of win.
ORLY? May have to try that...

+1
Gordons & Old Jamaica ginger beer = top notch.

^ Will have to try THAT

Also, have just discovered this Fever Tree tonic.

Will have to give it a go. I've only ever used Schweppes until now.

I had the wonderful (and not so at times) pleasure of working in 4-5 cocktail bars and 5* restaurants in Leeds and the area.

When it comes to spirits, it really depends on what your after. I mean dont start putting tonic water in tanq 10...its just stupid. Tanq 10 is a lovely balanced gin and by adding a shit load of tonic, you get one main flavour...tonic.

If I am drinking, id use maybe Beefeater 24 for a traditional martini (I like them slightly dirty,dry and stirred), plymouth (maybe the navy strength) for a vesper as the vodka is just very plain on its own; plymouth can always do with a lemon kick up the arse.

Gordons is great for partys and splashing in tonic...cos its cheap and tonic+lime kills any flavour what so ever.

Hendricks makes a nice cocktail called "English Garden" or "Garden Martini". Its a nice drink for summer cocktail menus. Except for that...the flavours are too tepid for splashing in tonic water.

Bombay is vodka. If you look it all up, they use what we called the "tea-bagging" method to infuse the botanicals...leading to an essentially flavourless gin (i.e. vodka). I wouldnt want to use it for anything else than making people who drink it feel slightly more superior than Gordons just so I could laugh at their stupidity.

For my G+Ts, I like Beefeater or plymouth. They have plenty of flavour than just kicks through the tonic to actually give you a real G+T (ie. a good 50% mix over lots of ice). The plymouth is a little more expensive, but I liked it on house pour and has a good clovey/cinnamon/earthy type edge to it.

My 2 cents :P.

My housemate works in a cocktail bar and makes a Hendricks Mojito, it's fantastic.

Bombay is vodka.

Could it be that you've mistaken it for a fragrance?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/style/i-dreamed-i-wore-my-martini.html

^ Bloody hell, as if life wasn't confusing enough already!

At the cheaper end of the scale Beefeater gets my vote. Underrated IMHO (the naff label probably doesn't help).

Bought a bottle of Whitley Neill recently. Very tasty. (Cost me about £12 from Waitrose, I reckon they might have got the price wrong though...)

Hendricks makes a nice cocktail called "English Garden"

Definitely the best way to drink Hendricks, it's a bit wishy-washy in a G&T

Islay Botanicals - best gin ever. Fact

Hendricks neat with big sticks of cucumber. That's how I like it.

^^ Recipie?

Do you put the cucumber in the Hendricks of pour the Hendricks over the cucumber?

I wouldn't want to fuck it up.

Haha, ok its a bit of an industry joke.

Usually, the botanicals are stooped in the neutral grain spirit, giving much more flavour in the gin.
Bombay pass the steam through a copper type container with holes in in order for the neutral grain spirit to pick up a faint hint of the botanicals.

The actual juniper/citrus/spice notes in bombay sapphire are so weak its so much closer to being a vodka than a gin. It is probably as effective as throwing the botanicals at the product once it had been bottled.

It is probably a money saving technique, so they can re-use the botanicals to produce much more slightly flavoured "gin".

Don't Hendricks do this also though? with their Carter-Head...

I guess so, but I dont think Hendricks was ever sold as the G+T type drink. The USP was meant to be the cucumber infusion (they actually cheat and its added at the end chemically I believe - although I could be wrong and mixing my rep talks up).
So it has a taste to it but still quite delicate but nowhere near as close to vodka as bombay is.

But again like bombay, I find it to be a bit gimmicky.

Good for cocktails though, and a hendricks mojitio is very nice yes. Last place I worked we had a group of guys who came in and bought the mojito version and english gardens all night. I like the mojitos.

I'll just leave this here:

http://www.wsetglobal.com/documents/gin3.pdf

Paxaran was mentioned up thread. Great stuff

For anyone not familiar it's essentially anis infused with Juniper berries.
I always get someone to bring me some from 'back home' (I'm from Spain originally). A bottle lasts me ages though since its only really supped after a meal as a digestif.

these are my fav's



For a nice martini, try the bar in the Dukes Hotel just off St James St

Bought some Jensen for Christmas - was bitterly disappointed - you have to do better than that if you intend to represent Bermondsey.

Also had some Martin Millers, which was a revelation.

All you need is here:

http://www.theginblog.co.uk/home/