8th and ninth recommendation for Plymouth and Hendricks (my sister was just visiting, cought a big bottle of hendricks, decided she wasn’t in the mood for gin,and left it in my freezer. Yay!)
Tanqueray, including that crap called “10”, is highly overrated. Gordon’s is gasoline in a bottle. Bombay is good for a beginner, but way over-hyped. My preference is Beefeater, and most blind tastings agree.
Skip the gin and go straight to the original:Jenever, very cold and with nothing in it.
Pookah the Dutch Doper
P.s. Irish Girl I can see it if you’re sister’s a bar person but otherwise any gin mix drink in Ireland costs about three weeks’ rent.
Pookak the Dutch Doper who lives in Ireland
(G&T is my usual non-beer drink on the rare occasions that I go out. No ice.)
Gin bruising occurs when you aerate the gin by shaking it in a shaker. I don’t know if it causes a chemical reaction (e.g., oxygen or other gasses going into solution) or a physical change (lots of tiny air bubbles in the gin) or both, but it definitely alters the flavor. To me, it seems to be less flavorful thereafter, and the flavor profile of the spirit gets out of whack.
Here’s the best advice on martini mixing you’ll ever get: Get an empty glass bottle that doesn’t have old flavors in it (a Pelagrino bottle is good), and premix the martini in it; you don’t even have to stir, just stick it in the freezer. This also works for Manhattans, Rob Roys, etc.
If you have extra freezer space, you can store small bottles of your spirits (gin, vodka, bourbon, scotch) and mix with those in a snap. Just stir lightly.
Shakers are just an all-round pain. They’re sloppy, a pain to clean, freeze your hands when you’re shaking, water down the drinks because you use ice, and generally just don’t do a job of mixing (note: there may be certain drinks where aerating the drink gives it froth or some other desired effect). If I ran a bar, I’d have everything in the freezer and mix cold by stirring.
So are so right here.
Tanq 10 is just awful! It tastes liked they poured oil of juniper into grain alcohol. The flavors are totally unintegrated.
Bombay Sapphire and regular Bombay (which is distilled private-label-style by Glenhall’s, btw) are neither bad nor great. Their marketing campaigns have certainly succeeded though, to the point where some misinformed persons are ready to proclaim everything else to be crap. That’s a joke. I think their flavor profile, especially Sapphire’s, is a little light on the juniper. A much better “light on juniper but with loads of botanicals” gin is Citadelle (though this won’t please everyone).
Beefeater is the bomb. Again, misinformed people seem to assume that it’s a lesser brand. No way, it’s the original unchanged old school real deal premium gin. It has the perfect balance of juniper, angelica, and bitter orange flavors. It has fewer botanicals than most, but less is definitely more in this case, because its flavor is marvelously complex and beguiling. It is the ultimate martini gin yet is also great in tonic. It’s juniper flavor is just simply perfect, with a noticeable but not overpowering camphor edge.
I think plain old Seagram’s is underrated at this point. It’s aged in wood for a time, hence the yellow tint (to those who think it is rotgut, I ask you why the company would take this extra step). It has a lot of citrus flavor to it. I like it for a change. I wish they’d make a higher-proof version. In any case, it’s exceptionally smooth with a light but interesting/satisfying flavor profile.
Gordon’s has a lot of juniper but not a lot of subtlety. It’s an OK tonic gin, but you can get cheaper gins for that.
I wasn’t impressed with Hendrick’s. I’ve tried Glenhall’s Quintessential: OK. I’ve never liked Tanqueray.
I forgot: Plymouth’s is also great. My gins in order
- Beefeater. Best all-round.
- Citadelle. Not for everyone, but I like its subtle flavor profile.
- Plymouth. More angelica, just pretty great flavor.
- Seagram’s. Light and citrusy.
I think that it may be no more than getting too much water in your martini. Someone should do a double-blind study for empirical evidence. But the fact remains that making a martini is a ritual and the right and wrong ways for each person can be defended with a zealous fervor.
Personally, I don’t think you can really bruise the gin in a permanent way. However, I do use that term for my Homeless Drunk martini (dirty, damp and bruised)
Too bad it is only 11:48 in the morning… I am getting thirsty! Don’t worry, I am on holidays currently enjoying my coffee and Bailey’s. 
Another vote to stay away from the Tanquerey… it’s like chewing on a christmas tree. The gins I’ve liked are Beefeater and Bombay Sapphire… though I’ll have to check out some of the other’s mentioned here like Plymouth. (Unfortunateley I live in Washington with crappy state-run liquer stores so I have only like 4 options of gin and have to drive to Oregon or BC to get a full selection. Stupid holdover from temperance movement… grumble, grumble…)
Some good Gin drinks:
Dirty Martini - gin, a spash of vermouth, and a drop or two of olive juice
Gin Gimlet - an easy version is gin with Rose’s Lime juice
Gin and Soda with a lime wedge
Gin Rickey - Gin, Soda, and lime juice
Drinks link: http://www.mixed-drink.com/gin.html
I’m glad you said that. Beefeater has always been my favorite, but people always look at me funny, like I’m not classy enough to like Saphire, or at least Tanqueray. Hey, I know what I like, what can I say.
On a warm day, a Tanq and tonic with a dash of salt (no more than a dash) and a squeeze of lime is hard to beat.
On Mr. Moto’s suggestion, I tried Citadelle in my Martini. That’s good stuff.
Good advice there.
My martini recipe: (you may change proportions according to taste.)
In a 1 liter bottle:
700 ml gin
150 ml dry vermouth
150 ml sweet vermouth
50 ml water (to simulate ice melting during mixing)
Do not shake, and keep in the freezer.
I also avoid martini glasses. I drink mine out of a 2oz cordial glass.
Right, martini glasses are teh suxxor!
I use tall, thin conical martini-ish glasses that I chill in the freezer two at a time (one in use, one chilling). If you chill one of those big-ass martini glasses in the freezer, you are quite likely to break one.
My preferred glasses have all the style and function of martini glasses but are easy to use. I wonder why taller, thinner glasses haven’t caught on.
A champagne flute is also decent martini-ware in a pinch.
My friend Mary tells this story, about her elderly aunt. Said aunt had outlived three very conservative husbands, and when the third one died, she decided she was going to go see Europe. She was in her mid-80s at the time.
When she got back, she declared, “Mary, I’ve discovered the most wonderful drink! It’s called gin!”
See? It’s never too late to learn.
I believe that is officially known as a “perfect martini”, though of course they get the water from the ice not directly.
A double blind study, performed by SDMB’s own Manhattan. (The SDSAB/Mod, not the drink, you lush.)
I’ve never heard anyone order a “perfect Martini”, but an even quantity of sweet and dry vermouth in Scotch is a “perfect Rob Roy”.
What are people’s preferences with respect to vermouths? I don’t care for Martini & Rossi, preferring Noilly Prat or Cinzano, but there have to be better, drinkable vermouths out there.
On the subject of gin, it seems everybody has a preference. I’d like to think that they’re like Scotches–just because one is preferred doesn’t make others bad–but apparently this isn’t the case among gin drinkers. Not being an aficionado of gin myself, I generally either have Tanquerey or Bombay Sapphire, but I’m open to recommendations. I’ll have to try Plymouth some time when I’m in the mood. Gordons, though? Ugh.
Stranger
I’ve heard it called a Classic Martini. For my Bachelor Party, my best man first took me to a dive (so we could play pool), then a classy bar (so he could pick up women) - the dive could mix a better martini then the classy bar. (Hint: If I wanted vodka in my martini, I would asked for a Vodka Martini)
I have not been able to distinguish one unmixed vermouth from another. They all taste horrible.
Plymouth is not bad. I’d heard that it was all that and more, but in a martini, it lacked… something. It was pretty good in a G&T, though.
Is it that much more expensive where you are then? Around here, Bombay Sapphire and Plymouth are typically within a pound or two of each other. One supermarket even has Plymouth slightly cheaper. Needless to say, that’s where I shop.
Slight hijack
My husband and I were at a restaurant where his band was performing. He was drinking Dewar’s on the rocks, I was drinking Tanqueray and Tonic. The bartender went to top off his Dewar’s and put that last drop of scotch on top of my G and T. Being slightly inebriated and adventerous we decided to try it and to our surprise we liked it!
We’ve since named it “The Village Idiot” (the restaurant where the mistake was made was called Village Bistro it has since closed) and mixed them at home a time or two.
Drinking can be fun but I have to agree that there’s almost nothing worse than bad gin.
Wow, thanks for the recs, everyone. I got enough info now to keep my liver busy for the next few months
There definitely are good vermouths out there if you want to spend the money. King Eider goes great in martinis. Scroll about 2/3 of the way down this page to the heading The Perfect Martini. There you will find the most beautiful martini you will ever have occasion to imbibe.