Now, just to prove there’s no such thing as a new idea I can’t claim to have coined this… but it’s still win, win on Ginoisseur Day.
I came to gin late in life, piqued by the mid-2020s craze for the juniper.
And the row of gins and their fancy tonics laid out in front of me at Teach Aindi in Monaghan in the Irish Midlands.
They have 101 although time constraints limited us to six.
Not the Grapey One’s drink of choice you understand, though for research purposes, she mineswept the bar.
Unbeknownst to me, but logical as we invented everything else, it was a Scot behind the G&T.
Gee, G&T
Gin & Tonic: Doctor George Cleghorn explored in the 19th century if quinine could cure malaria.
The quinine was drunk in tonic water but proved too bitter and so army officers added water, sugar, lime and gin.
Now as my own paper the Daily Record is my go-to for reference I checked out what they recommended.
Although they could have asked me to roadtest them!
But the top three are Arbikie Nadar Gin in Arbroath, Tayside, the Isle of Harris and Kintyre Gin.
Dry and high
Dry Martini: And James Bond’s classic drink of choice before Daniel Craig rebranded him.
We first meet Bond at Casino Royale, or more accurately at the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czechia.
Of course the Dry Martini is gin, vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist… and shaken not stirred.
The Tom Tom Club
Tom Collins: And an example of transatlantic co-operation between the UK and USA.
With Jerry Thomas, ‘the father of American mixology’, chronicled the gin, lime juice, sugar and carbonated water drink.
Of course with every British convention that crosses the Atlantic it has lost something in location and John became Jim became Tom.
The Italian Twist
Negroni: And few things disappoint when given the Italian twist.
And grazie to our amici for their one part gin, one part vermouth rosso and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel.
Now it’s been a year and a half since I was last in il bel paese and every drink tastes of a memory.
And mine is Bergamo Citta Alta, the high town in the Lombard city.
Taking the Rickey
Gin Rickey: And being Washington DC this is obviously a capitol drink.
But did you know that it originated in Shoomaker’s Bar in the 1880s by bartender George A. Williamson?
Purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey.
The bartender is said to have added a lime to the Civil War veteran’s ‘mornin’s morning.’
It is a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water.
The gin twist? Well, that came from the popularity of the Chicago Exposition of 1893.
And in particular the Japanese rickshaw… and then the gin rickey with gin growing in popularity.
And that means it’s a win win on Ginoisseur Day.
