GIN POLL: Poll of Gin

I just treated myself to a bottle of Hendrick's, my first purchase as a college graduate. I'm really into just sipping it on the rocks right now.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/45271635_0fa07b004a.jpg

In Praise of the Juniper Berry & Precious Botanicals: A GIN POLL

Fail.

NtrVP otm

Plymouth/Cork/Hendricks three-way tie.

Please can somebody do a gin poll that includes Blackwoods so I can vote? Thx.

voted jimmy mod

jesus that tesco gin looks like the worst shit ever

No New Amsterdam, poll -> fail

New Amsterdam is definitely my favourite right now, closely followed by Hendricks but they are very different drinks.

xp they do a value vodka and a value brandy as well.

Bombay Sapphire for me followed by Plymouth, regular Bombay and Boodles. Tanqueray's OK w/tonic.

thought I liked Hendricks but the last H-martini I had was too cukey and kinda bland. maybe the bartender used too much vermouth/overwhelmed the subtlty

haven't had a lot of these but this is missing old raj which is pretty incredible stuff

bluecoat is really nice too imo

Please can somebody do a gin poll that includes Blackwoods so I can vote? Thx.

I was going to say this, then noticed I said it in the last poll. (I have had two other different years since btw, and the taste really changes year on year.)

what's the story on genever - dutch gin. Never tried it, only read about it in the "amsterdam cops" novels where genever is treated with the hushed reverence afforded something that gets you really fucked up.

imagine a middle ground between gin and whiskey. it's fantastic stuff (the bols brand at least, that's the only one i've had)

gin: the sad juice.

Some of it is aged which is lovely, some of the harder core dutch I know like it as a chaser for lager but It actually mixes nicely with strong fruit juices such as grapefruit. Hasseltjes Oude Jenever and grapefruit juice is lovely.

One of the reasons I like New amsterdam so much is it is a pleasantly milder take on this flavour.

hendricks when i have the cash

bombay sapphire when i dont

^^^^^^

Anyone having trouble with the stuff? Once I passed thirty the days of guzzling gin like water ended :/

actually i am having a bit of a renaissance these days. a ginaissance if u will

xp have never been able to stomach gin in large quantities, despite doing fine with just about every other kind of alcohol!

I wish I liked Hendricks, but I do not.

Still never tried that Distillery 209 or whatever it was, from San Francisco, that I heard good things about.

Pink gins get you a-holed. Plymouth ftw. Tho Gordon's is fine for g&ts imo.

Hot gin and chicken stock for the working man.

Really want to try the Potrero Gin that Anchor Steam make but not seen in pennsylvania.

http://www.metalkingdom.net/album/img/d22/22671.jpg

my heart belongs to plymouth, though sometimes the girly flowerishness of tanqueray is necessary.

summer = so many gimlets.

I miss Tanqueray Malacca.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I want to try Hendrick's so bad. It is the best-looking bottle in the liquor store.

Hendrick's for gin and tonics, some descending order of pref for

Beefeater
Bombay Sapphire
Boodles British Gin
Burnett's Gin
Gilbey's Gin[16]
Plymouth Gin
Tanqueray #10

from there

Hendrick's makes the best G+T's humanly possible, but I'm not crazy about it in martinis. Prev. winner for G+T was the aforementioned extinct Malacca ;_; but not in a better way, just different

Beefeater and Sapphire martinis are both mmmmmmmmm

I put this stuff up with Hendrick's, for real - it is great

this video of it being bottled is cool if you loved the sesame street/mr rogers segments where you get to see how stuff is goin down at the factory

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/about_us/juniperogin_video.htm

it never in a million years would have occurred to me to wonder if Anchor made a gin, let alone that gin being any good

I didn't know it was them until after I'd had it! bought it cause the bottle & the copy on it was really cool & talked a good game - I LOVE Hendrick's, it is so delicious, but Junipero is worth a few g+t's worth of research imo - really crisp & good

hmmmmmmm must investigate Junipero then

Ditto!

they make whiskey too--apparently it's gritty and authentic in a gold rush sort of way. but at 70 bucks a bottle it hasn't made it in the budget yet.

John, I know what we'll be drinking when the scotch runs out! (should I reserve a bed in the hospital for the day after your wedding now, or just do a walk-in?)

most of that retro-whiskey is rye, right? I can't drink straight rye, there's some decent cocktails you can make with it but I can't see rye subbing for bourbon in my cabinet more than once or twice over the life of the drinker who stocks the cabinet i.e. me

i should probably try to get a package rate at the hospital.

absolute poison for me. can't seem to keep a bottle at home for more than a few days, especially now that g&t season is upon us. haven't tried many of these though. boodles usually serves well at my price point. hendricks is a divine treat. tanqueray is maybe overrated, but still good. i drink tanqueray and tonics with my mom on sundays, while my dad guzzles his preferred plastic bottle brand mixed with frozen canned orange juice.

yeah it's rye whiskey. bourbon is the better sipping beverage for sure but rye is better in like 95% of whiskey cocktails, and that's what i tend to make.

Hendricks is great. I really love Gordons Sloe Gin too.

is rye better in an old fashioned? that's pretty much the only mixed whiskey drink I fuck with except for the occasional julep

I miss Tanqueray Malacca.

― clay/tone nut/mother (doo dah), Wednesday, May 26, 2010 10:42 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

― Marni and Louboutin: coming to Tuesdays this fall on FOX (HI DERE), Wednesday, May 26, 2010 11:08 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

― kkvgz, Wednesday, February 2, 2011 8:22 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When I turned 21, gin became the first hard liquor I fell in love with. I went for it for the following reasons:

http://www.youtube.com/v/TFUFh-RybEE&fs=1&hl=en

http://www.youtube.com/v/QSih4o2YfmA&fs=1&hl=en

― kkvgz, Wednesday, February 2, 2011 8:32 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have never seen that malacca - was it only in the states?

― just sayin, Wednesday, February 2, 2011 8:47 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

According to wikipedia, it was introduced in 2000 and discontinued in 2004. These were my peak years of hard drinking, and I only found Malacca twice in stores, both in the year 2000. So maybe it was American-only or maybe it was just plain under-distributed.

― kkvgz, Wednesday, February 2, 2011 8:55 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

***paging doo dah*** ***paging HI DERE***

http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/a-bottle-in-front-of-me/article/tanqueray-malacca-gin-reviewed-by-the-bon-appetit-foodist

This is from last year so hopefully it's still around. They certainly haven't been stocking it in my local liquor store, but I'm definitely going to ask about it.

i'm still seeing it around

I discovered Aviation gin last month.

xxp

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/03/gin-revival-tanqueray-malacca-reissued-gin-review-how-does-it-compare-to-tanqueray-london-dry.html?ref=excerpt_readmore

― just sayin, Sunday, 3 March 2013 20:19 (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh man. Whoops.

Only seriously began drinking gin as my default liquor last summer. On 1 January I rang in the new year with a Bombay Sapphire & grapefruit juice, cooled off with with genuine ice from the Toronto ice storm. (I'd saved a twig encased in ice to show my Frozen-obsessed niece on the webcam, y'see.)

still no way to get Junipero near here :/

You should fix that.

St. George Terroir is a ridiculously good gin as well. Picked up a full bottle for my birthday, but you can get smaller samplers too.

http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/spirit/terroir-gin/

http://www.barnonedrinks.com/tips/dictionary/images/6052.jpg

This is my go to gin, absolutely love it.

Wow one that REALLY is blue!

got a bottle of some boutique gin called "The Botanist" -- really liking it.

Big fans of Greenhook in the Mod household

Botanist a favourite here as well. Really mild & rich and reasonably easy to acquire.

yeah Botanist is my go-to when I'm out (and the bar has it), should probably get a bottle for home too

Holy shit no Miller's in this list? My fave by a long shot.

Botanist is good.

Monkey 47 is outrageously priced but excellent.

I'm making sloe gin for the first time. Although most recipes don't mention it I sterilised the mason jar I'm keeping it in. This morning my wife, bless her heart, opened the jar and stuck her hand it because she thought it was full of raisins. Will it be OK?

Where had she been sticking her grubby mitts beforehand?

I mean, alcohol sterilises things, doesn’t it?

Well that was my thinking.

Alcohol needs to be above 60 or 70% for sterilization I think - but I wouldn't worry about it.

good morning!

This poll was before I'd devoted serious time to gin. I don't even actually know what I'd say is my "favorite" gin these days because I think you have to differentiate between, say, martini gins — which really showcase the gin itself — and a gin you use for other mixing, in Tom Collinses or Southsides or what have you. Our default home gin these days is original Bombay dry — not Sapphire, which is nice for martinis but its botanicals get in the way of other ingredients imo. Monkey Shoulder is very good, and I've had some delicious gins from Edinburgh, as well as some delicious Navy-strength gins (which make good if powerful gimlets). Of the "New Western" gins, Tanqueray 10 very good, and of course so is Hendrick's, which we often have around. In the last few years we've gravitated away from the New Westerns back to basic London Dry styles — I like their simplicity. But it's also nice to live in an era when we have access to so many options.

My go-to is Broker's, because it comes with a little bowler cap. But I am a gin philistine and don't really differentiate between them all, at least within each particular style.

Weirdly, Mississippi is producing good gins even though most Mississippi bar patrons won't touch the stuff. Bristow (from Cathead Distillery) is my favorite. Wonderbird is highly regarded though I thought it was oddly lemony when I tried it.

I hated Hendricks the first time I tried it but I've done a lot of tasting since then, so I got a 50ml bottle (5 bucks!) recently to give it another chance.

Hendrick's is my go-to at bars: a solid G&T gin and an excellent martini gin. For a dozen years I insisted on a twist with the faintest of bitters rinse; now I'm going with cocktail onions (i.e. a Gibson) and no rinse.

I've become fond of Empress 1908 (it looks like purple Robitussin) and Esme.

Empress is good yeah (and love that butterfly pea color). And we are also Gibson fans, although I might toss an olive in there too.

I was fond of Tanqueray Rangpur but haven't seen on shelves for a year

couple years ago i had a bottle each of Italicus and Empress and mixed them. those were killer martinis

Beefeater getting no votes is lame

Beefeater's my favorite of the cheaper gins, equally solid with martinis and G&Ts.

couple years ago i had a bottle each of Italicus and Empress and mixed them. those were killer martinis

― Half Japanese Breakfast (outdoor_miner)

my man

if you can find it, this is distilled in Oregon and is the best gin I have ever had

https://swallowtailspirits.com/our-spirits

(the yellow-label "small batch" stuff)

glad I thread-searched because I was about to make the same comment I made twelve years ago

any tonic water recommendations? I feel like the landscape for those has expanded as much as gins in the last decade

Fever Tree and Q are both good, of the widely available boutique brands. I also like the Jack Rudy tonic syrup that you mix with soda.

For tonic water, it's Fever-Tree all the way: usually the Premium Indian, but their Mediterranean also has its uses.

Maria & Craig's CBD Botanical Spirit makes for a very nice way of adding flavours to a straight-up Tanqueray/tonic.

Best recent gin discovery is Hotham's Cardamom, which also works stunningly well instead of vodka in an espresso martini.

A shout-out also for Slingsby Marmalade, which is local to us and totally beautiful.

Victory Gin

My wife had a martini with Empress last month and liked it.

Standards are Hendrick's for martinis and Plymouth for everything else.

I’m sure no one cares about my opinion, but since I’ve been drinking gin enthusiastically for 20 years I’ll give it to you anyway. Plymouth is the best gin, it tastes smooth and round (thus sometimes mistaken for bland). Bombay Sapphire is great… slightly more botanical, but really not that much different from other premium gins; do a taste test and you will see what I mean. Broker’s is also an excellent gin, idc about the stupid bowler hat that actually gets in the way. Personally I don’t care for Hendricks because of its cukey flavor. Maybe it’s good in a g&t, no way do I want it in a martini. Then we go down to the next level, where there’s Beefeater, Tanqueray, and Gordon’s. They’re all acceptable but I would try my very best not to settle for a martini made with any of them. I had a Beefeater martini last week as bad luck would have it and found it rather peppery. But I would happily have any of those brands in a g&t, I am not a snob. Then there are the American gins… frankly I don’t trust them. Aviation? No. Dorothy Parker? Hell no. Those are the ones I’ve tried. I think there’s something called Brooklyn Gin - I don’t want it. Gin was perfected in England 150 years ago, let’s be real.

I will have some proper gin thoughts tomorrow. But not when I’m about to sleep. Not due to gin, I’m just tired.

I’m sure no one cares about my opinion, but

This is the internet. We all want to hear your opinion.

Josefa otm about Hendricks -- in the wrong mood I just go, ugh.

I have extreme taste in gin I think? meaning I only like the aggressively botanical gins (of which there are dozens of local/regional options), which I drink straight o_O, though they're all good in G&Ts too. I have never made myself a martini

Come over after 5. I'll mix ya a Negroni.

Aw thanks, Alfred

That reminds me that I did make a few hyper-local Negronis a few summers back with one of those gins, this amazingly delicious-but-odd honey vermouth, and a local version of Campari called Amermalade. It was pretty great!

lol

Fabulous name.

Anyone else enjoy gin bloody marys? I think a former chef/coworker turned me onto these and have been having a couple on weekends lately. Tanqueray is good but beefeater has also worked fine

I'm suspicious of mimosas and Bloody Marys, so it's never occurred to me to switch with gin. I may try one on Saturday if a friend hosts a World Cup watch party at 9 a.m.