It has been a little while since I last wrote a blog post. Life has taken over a bit, trying to get things finished - which gives me a great sense of achievement. I thought this blog may be more about crafty stuff, but tonight I feel like writing about gin.
Gin - the staple of many drinks cabinets. I remember mum's drinks cupboard having a bottle of Gilbey's in it, and I had a cheeky sneak of it around the age of .... - well, I remember trying it, and thinking it was disgusting. Later, I tried it with some Coke - and that was not too bad! However - gin and tonic is very much a grown-up drink - in my mind anyway.
When I started as a barmaid, I was rather surprised to discover 'blue gin' - a few weeks later I realised that it was the bottle that was blue, rather than the gin itself. That gin was Bombay Sapphire. I remember it well as I was working in the yacht club bar, and we had people in promoting it, so we had Bombay Sapphire polo shirts, caps, and a leaflet about the botanicals in it (which can be seen on the side of the bottle). The following year, Plymouth Gin was in favour. However - I ended up with more polo shirts (3 Bombay Sapphire, 1 Plymouth).
Gin has really made a comeback recently, and Bombay Sapphire or Plymouth has been the favourite in our household. When you go to the supermarket now, there are numerous bottles of gin to choose from; how do you choose a gin? Do they really taste very different - or even any different? I keep seeing the rhubarb and ginger gin liqueur - and I want to try that one. Since my husband retired in September, he has made a decision to try a different gin each month. We've had Bombay Sapphire, Plymouth, Tanqueray - and today we tried Ophir.
This really was quite a revelation today. We have 3 different tonic waters to choose from . We have the traditional Schweppes, and also Fevertree Elderflower, and Fevertree Mediterranean. This time I decided to choose Schweppes Original - to get the original authentic taste. I opted to smell the G&T first - and this was the revelation. I could smell the spice in it - I couldn't quite place it, but I thought it was cardamon. It was very obvious in both the smell and the taste. My husband agreed that it was an Indian spice, and on tasting it, he declared it to be quite refreshing. Looking at the botonicals, he saw that it contains black pepper and coriander. It was definitely different - you can taste the difference!
A week or two ago, DH (Darling Husband) was thinking about tonic water, and whether it is worth buying the Fevertree (in little cans - the tonic water lasts longer). He tested me by saying that he'd carry on buying Fevertree if I could tell him which flavour tonic was in my G&T. I checked on which gin I was drinking, and then gave my verdict. I was right in which tonic I had - and so we get to continue buying Fevertree!
In conclusion - yes, different gins do taste different; this is obviously an area where we need more testing. Should there be any distilleries out there who would like some of their products testing, we would be more than willing!
Gin - the staple of many drinks cabinets. I remember mum's drinks cupboard having a bottle of Gilbey's in it, and I had a cheeky sneak of it around the age of .... - well, I remember trying it, and thinking it was disgusting. Later, I tried it with some Coke - and that was not too bad! However - gin and tonic is very much a grown-up drink - in my mind anyway.
When I started as a barmaid, I was rather surprised to discover 'blue gin' - a few weeks later I realised that it was the bottle that was blue, rather than the gin itself. That gin was Bombay Sapphire. I remember it well as I was working in the yacht club bar, and we had people in promoting it, so we had Bombay Sapphire polo shirts, caps, and a leaflet about the botanicals in it (which can be seen on the side of the bottle). The following year, Plymouth Gin was in favour. However - I ended up with more polo shirts (3 Bombay Sapphire, 1 Plymouth).
Gin has really made a comeback recently, and Bombay Sapphire or Plymouth has been the favourite in our household. When you go to the supermarket now, there are numerous bottles of gin to choose from; how do you choose a gin? Do they really taste very different - or even any different? I keep seeing the rhubarb and ginger gin liqueur - and I want to try that one. Since my husband retired in September, he has made a decision to try a different gin each month. We've had Bombay Sapphire, Plymouth, Tanqueray - and today we tried Ophir.
This really was quite a revelation today. We have 3 different tonic waters to choose from . We have the traditional Schweppes, and also Fevertree Elderflower, and Fevertree Mediterranean. This time I decided to choose Schweppes Original - to get the original authentic taste. I opted to smell the G&T first - and this was the revelation. I could smell the spice in it - I couldn't quite place it, but I thought it was cardamon. It was very obvious in both the smell and the taste. My husband agreed that it was an Indian spice, and on tasting it, he declared it to be quite refreshing. Looking at the botonicals, he saw that it contains black pepper and coriander. It was definitely different - you can taste the difference!
A week or two ago, DH (Darling Husband) was thinking about tonic water, and whether it is worth buying the Fevertree (in little cans - the tonic water lasts longer). He tested me by saying that he'd carry on buying Fevertree if I could tell him which flavour tonic was in my G&T. I checked on which gin I was drinking, and then gave my verdict. I was right in which tonic I had - and so we get to continue buying Fevertree!
In conclusion - yes, different gins do taste different; this is obviously an area where we need more testing. Should there be any distilleries out there who would like some of their products testing, we would be more than willing!
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