Important Gin Question

xsofacouchx

I recently won a 70cl of Cork Dry Gin...
Im not the biggest Gin fan... but hey Im poor and it's free booze

My issue is that Gin is extremely dry... that even a drop of it mixed with 75 litres of water will still be drier than the Sahara Desert...

So my question is... is there anything out there that Cork Dry Gin can be mixed with that tasted nice and wont dehydrate me to death?

Help is much appreciated!

the beer revolu

Stating the obvious, but tonic.
Tonic water is very sweet.

the beer revolu

Elderflower cordial (any health food shop or good deli), gin and sparkling water is lovely.

howdoyouknow

Club lemon

Ravelleman

Sweet vermouth.

Dryness in taste term doesn't lead to dehydration. Drinking any alcoholic beverage in all but the smallest amounts, by its very nature, will contribute to dehydration to some degree.

rubadub

20 years ago we used to frequently swop bottles in the local independent offie, either for other spirits or usually beer. Used to win bottles in pub raffles or christmas fairs. We used to get a little less in value than what they sold it for.

Dunno if this happens much, I would not expect it in O'Briens or anything, and we were regulars so they were not worried about tampering.

Mesrine65

A Singapore Sling is what you need :cool:

My (budget) recipe

30ml Gin, 15ml Cherry Schnapps/Brandy, 10ml Triple Sec, 10ml pineapple juice, 10ml lime juice & a dash of Angostura bitters.

Shake the shít out of it, pour into a hi-ball with ice, garnish with pineapple & cocktail cherry (optional)

Enjoy the wonders of Gin

taper jean girl

Lime Cordial and Tonic Water

L1011

Mesrine65 wrote: »

A Singapore Sling is what you need :cool:

My (budget) recipe

30ml Gin, 15ml Cherry Schnapps/Brandy, 10ml Triple Sec, 10ml pineapple juice, 10ml lime juice & a dash of Angostura bitters.

Shake the shít out of it, pour into a hi-ball with ice, garnish with pineapple & cocktail cherry (optional)

Enjoy the wonders of Gin

They said that they're poor. You've 70+ quid of ingredients they clearly won't have there!

Mesrine65

L1011 wrote: »

They said that they're poor. You've 70+ quid of ingredients they clearly won't have there!

Meh, peasants :P

L1011

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Meh, peasants :P

I'd also suggest that someone with triple sec, kirschwasser or whatever other cherry you get, angoustora etc might not need to ask what to do with gin :pac:

Dial Hard

xsofacouchx wrote:

My issue is that Gin is extremely dry... that even a drop of it mixed with 75 litres of water will still be drier than the Sahara Desert...

Tonic water, cucumber and mint.

And as has already been pointed out, dry in taste isn't any more dehydrating than sweeter tasting drinks.

poitinstill

i was going to mention the cucumber thing its all the rage apparently..was in arthur maynes in dublin / donnybrook and they had all the facny gins and cucumbers on the go...i had beer.

the beer revolu

Cucumber was all the rage about 5 years ago.

The Hill Billy

As someone who loves cucumber it still works for me 5 years on too.

janmaree

Speaking of gin.......... I had a G&T the other night with a strip of fresh lemon zest and a sprig of fresh rosemary, slightly bruised and had an absolutely wonderful time! That was with CDC gin but I also had one prepared the same way with a scented gin from the southern hemisphere (a gift) and that one was something else altogether. The gin had a scent of roses to it which reminded me of turkish delight and it was the most delicious cocktail I've had in many years. Just wish I could replace the bottle easily!!!

Dial Hard

janmaree wrote: »

I also had one prepared the same way with a scented gin from the southern hemisphere (a gift) and that one was something else altogether. The gin had a scent of roses to it which reminded me of turkish delight and it was the most delicious cocktail I've had in many years. Just wish I could replace the bottle easily!!!

Try Hendricks, they use a lot of aromatics, including rose.

janmaree

Dial Hard wrote: »

Try Hendricks, they use a lot of aromatics, including rose.

Thanks for the heads up, I've never heard of Hendricks though, where would I find it?

rubadub

janmaree wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up, I've never heard of Hendricks though, where would I find it?

It is in O Briens, be warned it has cucumber which some find repulsive. I hate it but love gherkins which are meant to be closely related, so I wondered if cucumber haters would also hate this gin. i.e. the compound we find incredibly offensive might be neutralised.

the beer revolu

rubadub wrote: »

It is in O Briens, be warned it has cucumber which some find repulsive. I hate it but love gherkins which are meant to be closely related, so I wondered if cucumber haters would also hate this gin. i.e. the compound we find incredibly offensive might be neutralised.

The cucumber element in Hendrick's is added after distillation, along with the rose as an infusion so maybe not neutralised.

Hendrick's is a very cleverly marketed, pretty expensive gin.
There are better,cheaper gins out there.
Aldi, Tesco, Co Op, Spar and Waitrose all recently beat Hendrick's in a blind tasted competition, for example.
http://www.iwsc.net/search2015/results?page=3

Two Irish gins also beat Hendrick's : Shortcross, and Blackwater No. 5
(for clarity, I am involved in Blackwater)

rubadub

the beer revolu wrote: »

Aldi, Tesco, Co Op, Spar and Waitrose all recently beat Hendrick's in a blind tasted competition, for example.

I love those blind tastes! I posted this vodka one before.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/5770943/10-vodkas-put-to-the-test.html

Ian Wisniewski, one of Britain's leading spirits experts, and Tom Innes, the former editor of bar and lifestyle magazine, Theme....


Finally, we finish our marathon and tot up the marks. The scores are close, but we are unanimous in our top three. We open a large brown envelope which reveals the names behind the bottles. Third is Absolut, second is Russian Standard and first is, wait for it, Glen's. Glen's? A supermarket cheapy, distilled in Scotland from sugar beet.
"I don't believe it!" exclaims Wisniewski.
"Nor me," says Innes. "I've always struggled to see value at the top end of the vodka range, which this result vindicates. But I'm astonished."
We retaste it neat and agree that it's still our favourite, with nice spicy notes and a faint hint of citrus and ginger.
But I'm still not won over by vodka. If anything, I'm even more confused. Why spend £30 on Grey Goose or Belvedere, when I can spend a lot less than a tenner on Glen's? After all, I'm only going to slosh it in my Bloody Mary.

1st: Glen's (£8.69)
2nd: Russian Standard (£13.29)
3rd: Absolut (£14.99)
4th: Wyborowa (£15.99)
5th: Finlandia (£14.19)
Joint 6th: Smirnoff Red (£12.19);
Stolichnaya (£14.99);
Belvedere (£30)
9th: Grey Goose (£30.79)
10th: Smirnoff Black (£15.99)

janmaree

I looked at O'Brien's website and Hendricks is there alright, quite pricey though, for my pocket anyway. Decided to look for bitters, remembering that Amazon UK have quite a selection and lo and behold........Rose Water Bitters. For less than the price of the gin, I ordered a bottle/delivered so if it's anything like as good as Angostura Bitters, I can have my turkish delight G&T with any gin I choose! Yippee! I don't know about the cucumber element but I will let you know how it all tastes, as soon as it arrives. Thanks for all the info, it's good to learn new things!

Dial Hard

the beer revolu wrote:

The cucumber element in Hendrick's is added after distillation, along with the rose as an infusion so maybe not neutralised.

Hendrick's is a very cleverly marketed, pretty expensive gin. There are better,cheaper gins out there. Aldi, Tesco, Co Op, Spar and Waitrose all recently beat Hendrick's in a blind tasted competition, for example.

The poster in question was looking for a gin with a rosewater undertone and Hendrick's is the only gin I know of that uses rose as an aromatic, which is why I mentioned it.

Tbh, I'm not at all surprised that it didn't necessarily score well in a blind test, I'd tend to agree with Victoria Moore that it's nearly its own beast rather than a gin, as the juniper is so backgrounded.