# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/41 "2004-08-23T22:17:22Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > 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. Aegypt’s corollary to the Maus Magill rule: If a country does have a germanic or slavic language, it cannot make wine worth crap. ---
**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, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/42 "2004-08-23T22:37:40Z")
“If only you knew the power of the dark side,” **Ass for a Hat** … When you see the frost forming on the outside of the metal container while stirring…and surely you chill your glasses, anyway? Thanks for the recommendation on the onions (although you probably regret making it now!) ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/43 "2004-08-24T04:11:24Z")
Mmmm Bombay Saphire. I too am a gin lover. My advice is simple. When you go to the store, and see a brand of Gin that matches your last name, DON’T BUY IT. I never realized what a difference there is in Gin until the day I bought McCormick brand Gin because I thought it was cool because that’s my last name. :eek: Where’s the vomiting smiley? E3 (McCormick) ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/44 "2004-08-24T12:56:27Z")
Bombay Sapphire. Tanq is good too, but a little lacking in personality for a martini. Which, if you want to make it correctly, should be damp, dirty and bruised (eleven shakes, no more, no less) and strained over a pile of olives, big, fat, juicy olives… It is five to eight in the morning, I may have a problem… I have to wait twelve hours before I can make myself a glass of Ambrosia. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/45 "2004-08-24T13:26:12Z")
Bombay is fine for martinis for me. I highly recommend to anyone who primarily uses gin for G&Ts to use something like Seagrams. A good gin might make the drink slightly better, but tonic is so sweet and overpowering that you’re really wasting your money on good gin. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/46 "2004-08-24T13:48:09Z")
You can always [make your own](http://www.plymouthgin.com/template/gingame/makeyourowngin.html)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/47 "2004-08-24T14:05:31Z")
> [@aegypt](#): > > If a country does have a germanic or slavic language, it cannot make wine worth crap. Hey, Germany makes some damn good wines. As do South Africa, Australia, and the U.S. I guess your corollary isn’t quite as good as **Maus Magill’s** original rule. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/48 "2004-08-24T20:01:04Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > 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 > Belgian beer = very good (Flemish is a germanic language) Flemish is indeed Germanic, but [Walloon](http://www.wallonie.com/wallang/) is weirdy French. Just for the record, I’ve had really good beer in Syria - not very Slavic 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/49 "2004-08-24T21:14:42Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Is Vodkatini the accepted term? That’s what it’s called in my _Ultimate Book of Cocktails_, but it’s a British book. I was always under the impression that a “Vodka martini” is technically a Kangaroo, which [this site](http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Martini_cocktail) seems to agree with. However, I can’t imagine Bond ordering a Kangaroo - shaken, not stirred. As far as gin goes, I’m a Sapphire man myself. ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/50 "2004-08-26T02:45:20Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Sapphire only. I love the way it gets all syrupy after it’s been in the freezer for a while. I usually have it with tonic, but when I feel a bit of a heathen, I use Grapefruit juice. > MMMMmmmmm, Gin. Back around 1979, when I ws first old enough to go to bars, I got on the grapefruit and gin kick as my favorite mixed drink. It was called a “Salty Dog” in these parts back then and came with salt around the glass rim, like a Margarita, but in a highball glass. In the last decade or so, when I order a Salty Dog, I usually get a puzzled look, then end up with vodka and grapefruit juice instead of gin. Now it’s a moot point as due to medications I’m taking, I’m suppose to stay away from grapefruit. ☹ Bombay Saphire is my favorite for Martinis right now. I especially like the designer glass they sell with a bottle during Christmas season. Missed out on last year’s model. Haven’t tried Tanqueray but I’ve seen it mentioned in a couple of places lately so I think I will buy a bottle soon. > [@Necros](#): > > 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!” Too true! I know how to make the “Perfect Martini” now. 🆒 I took a Learning Annex class in San Diego, “How to Make a Perfect Martini,” held at the Martini Ranch. It was such a fun class, I took it twice, and I live in Arizona. I recommend it to any San Diego Dopers who like Martinis and to anyone who happens to be in the area when the class is offered. Make arrangements for transportation though, wou will be smashed afterwards. Luckily, the trolly stops near my motel. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200/51 "2004-08-26T11:47:54Z")
Tanqueray _Malaka_ is the best gin I’ve had. Sapphire comes in second with Beefeater third. Now, some Jinro (Korean gin) is pretty tasty, too, but it’s a different game, so stick with the above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gin-the-beverage-not-the-card-game/256200.md?page=2)