An always thoughtful friend pointed me to the New York Times two page article discussing a martini tasting. My love for the topic (gin!) prompts me to post about it here, but do be warned that they only review ten gins and I’d lodge a few disagreements. I keep saying I need to do this more in depth at some point, but now is certainly not the time. Some commentary on their gin reviews:
- Plymouth – They’re right to love it. It’s a great gin.
- Junipero – What they call assertive I maintain is downright undignified. I have a bottle, and have tried it a few times, and it’s just too aggressive for my tastes.
- Old Raj – Huzzah! Someone else in the world has tried this stuff! It’s a strange gin, and you should totally try it out in a bar. But it’s also the most expensive gin I’ve ever seen, and having bought a bottle back in the days of full employment, it’s tough to recommend someone else doing so unless you’re also a collector of such things.
- Hendricks – It’s a fun gin and it comes in a delightful bottle. I’m a sucker for packaging. Not my favorite but close to it and there are lots of my lovely friends who adore the stuff. It is a little different, but in this case different is good.
- Bombay Sapphire – I like their review on this. Sapphire tends to be a little harsh for my tastes these days, but it’s ubiquitous and not bad.
- Quintessential – Ugh. Enjoy it in a gin and Fresca but it’s really a terrible base for a martini.
- Martin Millers – I always think of this gin as a little bubbly, but I recall enjoying it. It was the favorite of one of my friends, and I think he was on to something. It’s one I’m looking forward to returning to at some point, and if you’re touring gins I’d say it’s worth a stop.
Keep in mind that my “go to” gins are Magellan and Van Gogh, both of which are somewhat soft and floral. As such, my tastes are a bit different than the NYT folks and probably my dear readers. Hrm, perhaps I need to host another Tour of Gin soon!
I think it is the name that has mostly put me off Van Gogh. Perhaps I ought to give it another whirl.
Your description of Junipero is very entertaining; I love the image of the bottle snarling and looming aggressively over your glass. Down, boy!
My mental image of Old Raj is always that of an alarming-looking yellowish bottle in your cabinet of liquid curiosities.
I wanted the NYT to say more about bitters and other garnishes; I know they were trying to focus on the gin, but which ones are good with which items? I have really taken a fancy to Plymouth with bitters. And I still want to learn to love olives; is there a good gin for that?
As for Hendricks and its slightly cucumber taste, I am growing borage in my garden this year… as soon as it flowers, I am putting those flowers in all my Hendricks martinis. Hooray for summer!
Who wants to e-mail “The Gin-Shop, or, A Peep Into Prison” to the New York Times?
I can only imagine the staff at the NYT would think that’s the best thing ever. Because it is.
Every couple of years I go searching for the text of that online (isn’t it from “Cheap Repository Tracts vol.3” published in like 1725 or something?) and still haven’t found it. I have to imagine it’s out of copyright at this point, but Project Gutenberg hasn’t added it, yet. They have Cheap Repository Tracts vol 6, but it’s woefully short of gin references.
Didn’t you have some of the Van Gogh gin last fall when Robin was here? I have vague memories that we killed the rest of a bottle of it that evening.
Oh, I probably had the Van Gogh then, but was too busy being seduced by Robin to notice the subtleties of the gin. Damn hussy!
Very good on the Cheap Repository Tracts. It was published in 1795.