# Gin - The beverage, not the card game **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200 "2004-07-21T16:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/21 "2004-07-23T04:19:23Z")
I prefer Hendricks to Bombay Sapphire for martinis. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/22 "2004-07-23T05:22:17Z")
> [@rjk](#): > > juice. > > I forget the name of the last on the list, but the ingredients included vanilla-flavoured vodka, something called Sour Apple (another liqueur?), and “a swirl of caramel”. I think it might be ‘Apple Sourz’ that was in it, it’s a really sour apple flavoured shooter that doesn’t taste of alcohol and, due to this, is highly lethal to drink when already drunk - I speak from experience! ---
**Author:** ![MusicJunkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MusicJunkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MusicJunkie)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/23 "2004-07-23T05:55:15Z")
I like Beefeater for martinis or Gordon’s if that’s not possible. For G&Ts I prefer Tanqueray. ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/24 "2004-07-23T16:34:17Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Sapphire only. I love the way it gets all syrupy after it’s been in the freezer for a while. This works fine for G&T. In my experience, not so well for martinis. When making a martini, you need some of the ice to melt into the gin during shaking. It smoothes the gin a little and I think allows you to perceive the vermouth a little better. Are their any martini drinkers out there that have tried King Eider vermouth? I was turned on to it by a very nice bartender a few years back. I asked for a Citadelle martini and he asked me if I had ever tried King Eider. He told me that the Citadelle drinkers he knows love it. They make the martini with 2 parts gin and 1 part vermouth. That’s waaaayy more vermouth than is trendy these days, but it made a fabulous drink. King Eider is a spendy vermouth, but I occasionally splurge on a bottle for home. It’s golden in color, so making a martini with the 2-1 ratio I mentioned definitely gives it a little color. I really makes a great martini though. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/25 "2004-07-23T18:05:02Z")
I’m a Bombay Sapphire man, too. I usually take my gin in a Singapore Sling… if you’ve never had one, you’ve never enjoyed gin. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/26 "2004-07-23T18:11:20Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > I’m a Bombay Sapphire man, too. I usually take my gin in a Singapore Sling… if you’ve never had one, you’ve never enjoyed gin. Or a diabetic coma. A Singapore Sling is the sweetest think i’ve ever had the mispleasure to drink, and I once drank an entire pint glass of sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/27 "2004-07-23T18:15:01Z")
> [@Ass For A Hat](#): > > This works fine for G&T. In my experience, not so well for martinis. When making a martini, you need some of the ice to melt into the gin during shaking. It smoothes the gin a little and I think allows you to perceive the vermouth a little better. Ack! No shaking! Only stirring! No matter what James Bond tells you. Now that I think of it, Bond may drink vodka “martinis” anyway, so you can’t pay any attention to the man. There’s an old joke I heard. Maybe I heard it on here, I don’t remember. Anyway, it goes like this… Two WWII RAF pilots are getting ready for a mission over hostile territory. As one is packing the bag he carries with him, in case he gets shot down, with necessities like a radio and flare gun. He sees the other pilot packing only a bottle of gin, a bottle of vermouth, and some olives. Confused, he tells the other pilot, “I’ve brought several signaling devices, so if I get shot down, I can tell people where to find me, and I’ll be rescued. But you’re not packing anything like that.” “Au contraire,” says the other RAF pilot, “I’m packing all I need. See, if I get shot down, and need to be found, all I have to do is pull this bottle of gin from my pack, add a little vermouth from this other bottle, add a few olives, and I know within five minutes, someone will find me, leap from the underbrush and yell: That’s not how you make a martini!” ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/28 "2004-07-23T21:02:15Z")
I haven’t really had much gin, but Bombay Sapphire was the last I drank. I thought it was very good, but alas, Killer has banished gin from my drink menu. It doesn’t look like I’ll have much opportunity to try the other recommendations. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/29 "2004-07-23T21:34:11Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > Ack! No shaking! Only stirring! I do tend to be a traditionalist when it comes to martinis. I stand with all of you who decry “vodka martinis” and all of the other fake cocktails that suburbanites like to convince themselves are actually martinis. I find this trendy aversion to vermouth most unpleasant. Real martinis have vermouth in them! Vermouth isn’t applied with an atomizer, it isn’t swished around and then dumped out, and it isn’t “waved around the glass”. Having said that, I’m not sure that I’m convinced of the stirred, not shaken argument. I read Cecil’s dissertation on the matter. The part about shaking resulting in a colder drink makes sense. The rest of the business about “bruising” the gin and “disolving the vermouth” seems dubious to me though. I am nothing if not open minded however. I will commit to a side-by-side comparison this weekend…even if the results may send my in-laws fleeing the house is revulsion. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/30 "2004-07-23T22:20:21Z")
I wasn’t convinced, either, until I also did a side-by-side comparison. I found the shaken martini to have a slightly sharper “edge” to it, and wasn’t as rounded a taste as the stirred martini if that makes sense; describing tastes is more of an art and a science, I think). I liked the rounded taste better. These test were both performed with Bombay Sapphire, so perhaps other gins react to shaking differently. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/31 "2004-07-23T22:24:02Z")
Another Plymouth drinker here. It was apparently the gin of choice for Roosevelt and Churchill. I find it to be much more rounded in its flavor than the overwhelming juniperiness of Bombay. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/32 "2004-07-25T19:31:18Z")
> [@Ass For A Hat](#): > > I am nothing if not open minded however. I will commit to a side-by-side comparison this weekend…even if the results may send my in-laws fleeing the house is revulsion. I fail to see a down side to this. ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/33 "2004-07-25T22:03:59Z")
I usually go for Tanqueray 10 when I’m in the States, but bars over here don’t tend to stock it, so I’m partial to Plymouth or Bombay Sapphire too. On the other hand if all they’ve got is Gordons, Beefeater or some extra dry shite, then I’m having beer. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/34 "2004-08-23T16:46:52Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > \*\*Mathochist \*\* and **Ass for a Hat** , I took your [suggestion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=259408), and tried Citadelle. I like the fact it’s $4 less for a bottle, but as to whether it’s better than Bombay Saphire… The jury’s still out. > > Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good gin. Definitely a top shelf. Not a gin for diluting with tonic water, but it doesn’t have the same subtleties of Saphire. Okay. I’ve done a side-by-side, and -dammit- I like Citadelle better. Oh the shame. I like a French gin. What’s next, Italian beer? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/35 "2004-08-23T17:14:48Z")
The dedication to the scientific method on this board (sniff) is truly moving. Bravo, all! ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/36 "2004-08-23T18:19:07Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Oh the shame. I like a French gin. What’s next, Italian beer? Additional wierdness…France also makes Grey Goose…IMHO the best vodka around. So France makes the best wine, brandy (cognac), gin and vodka. Some may argue the gin and vodka choices, but it’s still a pretty good track record. They can’t make a decent beer though. Neither can the Italians. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/37 "2004-08-23T18:31:23Z")
Word, **Ass for a Hat** and **Necros**. The gin/vermouth martini is the only true martini. My only unorthodoxy is preferring the pearl onion (making it a Gibson), rather than olives, which I never really got a taste for. I have Bombay and Portsmouth in my freezer; I like the Portsmouth, but most of my friends prefer the Bombay. Stirred, most certainly. You don’t get that frothy, milky result, and I find much less ice chips to dilute the experience. Has anyone tried the Scottish gins: Cadenhead’s Old Raj Dry Gin (which has saffron as one of the botanicals!), or Hendrick’s? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/38 "2004-08-23T19:02:39Z")
> [@Ass For A Hat](#): > > [The French] can’t make a decent beer though. Neither can the Italians. I can attest. I’ve had the misfortune to drink both French and Italian “beers” for one of those beer around the world things. I caused me to formulate a theory about beers. If a county does not have a germanic or slavic language, it cannot make beer worth crap. Evidence: French beer = Bad Italian beer = Very bad Dutch Beer = good German beer = good Belgian beer = very good (Flemish is a germanic language) Mexican beer = bad (unless you either beleve marketers or like formaldehyde) ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/39 "2004-08-23T21:41:51Z")
> [@Rodd Hill](#): > > My only unorthodoxy is preferring the pearl onion (making it a Gibson), rather than olives, which I never really got a taste for. Word back at you. When I first started drinking martinis, I didn’t care for olives either. I’ve since been righted. I now love olives in the drink. Though I don’t care for all of the fancy-dancy stuff that gets stuffed inside martini olives nowadays (garlic, jalapenos, etc). The only unusual olive stuffing I really enjoy is gorgonzola. On the subject of the Gibson… and since we’re all endorsing our favorite brands…If you haven’t tried [McSweets](http://www.mcsweet.com), you truly have not lived. The instant I tried these, I swore off all other pickled onions forever. Order a jar, I promise you won’t be sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/40 "2004-08-23T21:47:44Z")
> [@Rodd Hill](#): > > I have Bombay and Portsmouth in my freezer; You’re not using this freezer gin to make martinis, are you? If so…HERETIC!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200.md?page=3)