Gin and Tonic Taste-off
May. 13th, 2023 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerEarlier this week I mused, "It's Monday night. What better time to get soused on gin?!" when I taste-tested 3 brands of gin. Well, if there's a better time to get soused than Monday night, it's got to be Tuesday night. 😂 So that's what I did Tuesday. Except since I'd already tried the 3 gins straight on Tuesday I tried them mixed as Gin and Tonic.
Much as I expected, trying the gins as part of Gin and Tonic cocktails mixed things up a bit. Recall that I found Bombay Sapphire tough to enjoy neat, with Hendrick's seeming a little too "cool as a cucumber", and Drumshanbo tasting stiff and spicy but interesting neat. Served as Gin and Tonic cocktails the three became interestingly close competitors.
One thing that tonic water changes about a drink is that its sugar balances out spicy characteristics of an alcohol. Bombay Sapphire has an oddly spicy character from some of the botanicals it uses. I think it's the orris root or grains of paradise. (Yes, those are real things.) The lightly sweet tonic water I used, plus a bit of citrus from a freshly squeezed lime, smoothed out the spicy character. It changed from jarringly spicy, like "WTF is happening in my mouth?", to refreshing.
Another thing that tonic water changes is that it adds effervescence. Hendrick's was almost boringly smooth neat. Mixed as Gin and Tonic it gains pizzazz that makes it interesting again. And the spicy, piney characters of gin are already well under control from the cucumber essence that's already part of Hendrick's distillation. As I note, I dislike the taste of cucumber as a food. But it's subtle enough in Hendrick's, and works in harmony with the otherwise harsh flavors, that I enjoy it as part of this drink.
Finally, Drumshanbo Gunpowder, the winner of the neat gin round. It remained a strong contender here in the Gin and Tonic round. The herbal nature of its gunpowder tea shined though the fizz of the tonic. Bombay Sapphire caught up a lot on this competitor that dusted it in the neat round. The two are almost neck-and-neck as Gins and Tonic. But here that herbal tea flavor component carries it to victory by a nose.
Much as I expected, trying the gins as part of Gin and Tonic cocktails mixed things up a bit. Recall that I found Bombay Sapphire tough to enjoy neat, with Hendrick's seeming a little too "cool as a cucumber", and Drumshanbo tasting stiff and spicy but interesting neat. Served as Gin and Tonic cocktails the three became interestingly close competitors.
One thing that tonic water changes about a drink is that its sugar balances out spicy characteristics of an alcohol. Bombay Sapphire has an oddly spicy character from some of the botanicals it uses. I think it's the orris root or grains of paradise. (Yes, those are real things.) The lightly sweet tonic water I used, plus a bit of citrus from a freshly squeezed lime, smoothed out the spicy character. It changed from jarringly spicy, like "WTF is happening in my mouth?", to refreshing.
Another thing that tonic water changes is that it adds effervescence. Hendrick's was almost boringly smooth neat. Mixed as Gin and Tonic it gains pizzazz that makes it interesting again. And the spicy, piney characters of gin are already well under control from the cucumber essence that's already part of Hendrick's distillation. As I note, I dislike the taste of cucumber as a food. But it's subtle enough in Hendrick's, and works in harmony with the otherwise harsh flavors, that I enjoy it as part of this drink.
Finally, Drumshanbo Gunpowder, the winner of the neat gin round. It remained a strong contender here in the Gin and Tonic round. The herbal nature of its gunpowder tea shined though the fizz of the tonic. Bombay Sapphire caught up a lot on this competitor that dusted it in the neat round. The two are almost neck-and-neck as Gins and Tonic. But here that herbal tea flavor component carries it to victory by a nose.
Drumshanbo Gunpowder
Date: 2023-06-07 03:39 pm (UTC)