Gin Gin Gin

Hendricks and Fever Tree tonic are so hip these days that they're almost a cliché - but they make a damn fine G&T, especially if you slip a slice of cucumber into it!

A whole world apart from the auld Gordons/London Dry and Schweppes.

Glendalough gin is very nice, there's a fantastic aroma from it

Monkey 47 - really nice and smooth, but very pricey for such a small bottle.

My newest and now favouite is Brockmans. I have it with a wedge of grapefruit.


Tanqueray is nice too.

i'm a fan of Dingle Gin.

Would love to hear what the gunpowder gin is like.

Staplor wrote: »

Aldi gin is awesome value for money, that and Hendricks are in my house

Been meaning to try the aldi one, I'd read some review that it came out on top in a blind taste. Must pick up a bottle next time I'm in - great value.

BeerNut wrote: »

I like Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater would be my budget choice, and Aldi's London Dry Gin is very passable for less than €15 a bottle if all you want is gin that tastes of gin.

I'd agree with this, however I wouldn't waste Bombay on a G&T. Use the Aldi stuff for that and save the Bombay for a dirty martini! I can attest to all 3 mentioned are "clean" gins and won't give you more of a hangover than you deserve (which isn't the case for all gins).

Patww79 wrote: »

No, Hendricks is regarded as the best because it is the best. There's no need to go looking for a lesser known one just because it's a known brand.

That is a ridiculous statement to make about any product when taste is subjective.

I'll give my opinion on Hendricks :
It's a well made gin, pretty inoffensive but rather ordinary. It's rather expensive for what it is but it is extremely well branded and marketed, so much so that lots of people insist that it's the best gin out there!

In last year's IWSC (a blind tasted international competition) both Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire got bronze medals, Blackwater No.5 got Silver Outstanding - 2 grades above!
So, obviously, Blackwater is the best gin out there 😉 (I make Blackwater btw).

But seriously, I would strongly urge anyone to try some of the new Irish gins: (in no particular order, apart from the first 3! )

Blackwater No.5
Blackwater Wexford Strawberry Gin
Blackwater JuniperJuniper Cask
Gunpowder Gin
Dublin City Gin
St Patrick's Gin
Dingle Gin
Glendalough
Black's of Kinsale
Bertha's Revenge
Shortcross
Highbank Orchard

Some very good gins in there.

I don't drink much tonic these days but I do like Fevertree light with our No. 5.
Schweppes goes well with our strawberry gin, as does Fevertree elderflower.

I find Hendricks not very flavoured and not particularly expensive - compared to the likes of Gordon's or CDG it might be but not for its premium positioning. For example, Monkey 47 is close to twice the price of Hendricks - delicious, though.

Regarding the Wexford strawberry, where abouts are you?

L1011 wrote: »

I think you'll find that the idea that people are drinking beers because they're not macro brewed they don't like is pretty much constrained to you and you alone on here.

I don't know any people who intentionally drink beers they don't like. I know quite a lot of people who drink beers they don't like because they've never tried the beer and are adventerous in their tastes.I know a lot of people who choose to drink other stuff over macros because they simply prefer other stuff, for both beer and gin. And I know a lot of people who have a lot of reasons to not drink macros, and it's nothing to do with being trendy.

A friend of mine runs a pub that's been around for decades. It's not a trendy pub, they have a lot of regulars that like the place because of the pub, and the know the people there. They also get a huge amount of write ups in things aimed at foreign tourists, some big things like Lonely Planet and the Condee Nest(sp) publications, but also smaller publications, and in personal recommendations, so they get a lot of foreign tourists coming in. The foreign tourists often want Guinness, because it's Irish. They also want other "Irish" things, food, beer and spirits. So the pub stocks a lot of small Irish gins, because it's possible to get 100% Irish owned gin, it's also possible to get 100% Irish owned beer, it'll happen with whiskey too but we'll have to wait for the casks to sit. If a tourist asks for Guinness, they'll get a great pint of Guinness. If they ask for something Irish, they'll be pointed towards and given samples of fully Irish beers and spirits. Irish heritage and ownership is huge for tourism. This is in no way a craft bar, or anti-macro bar, they stock mostly macro stuff. But they also stock a good portion of Irish craft stuff because they want their customers to have real Irish products.

The locals in there mostly like the "macro taste." There are plenty of craft lagers that would be similar enough to macro lagers. The craft fan might have them, but would usually have a more adventurous taste. The locals in this bar want an average lager. But the bar stocks a craft lager, two actually. And a lot of the locals have decided to buy the craft product, because it's equivalent to their taste in macros, but they actively want to support Irish business. Taste is important, vital for most, but I fully understand why a lot of people want to fully Irish businesses, employing people in Ireland, and keeping 100% of their money in the Irish economy. And especially when they don't have to sacrifice on taste.

I drink a fair bit of Blackwater No. 5. It's always stocked in my local, it's reasonable priced, I like the taste, and I want to support The Beer Revolu. I also quite like the Blacks gin. Both Blackwater and Blacks are local to me and I have talked to the people involved with both.

I haven't had Hendricks in a while. It was my first "better" gin. Someone made me one with the cucumber slice. I really liked it.

I haven't tried Dingle Gin, but I've heard great things about it.

I actually quite like Cork Gin. I know there's nothing great quality about it, but it's too my tastes, in much the same way a Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburger is.

Edit: I've tried the Blackwater Strawberry Gin. I had it straight. I wouldn't drink it straight, or in a simple gin and tonic. I think it's much more suited to being part of a cocktail. Gin, tonic, mint, strawberry, and black pepper is enough ingredients for me to consider a cocktail.

Bogsnorkler wrote: »

The Bertha's Revenge Milk gin blew my socks off. It was amazing, albeit tasting so different as to almost not really taste like gin. Had it with tonic and it was like a creamy korma or something.

Yup. Bertha's is what I would call a spiced gin (although all gins are spiced to one extent or another).

I quite like the following:

1. Martin Millers gin from Iceland
2. Copperhead gin from Belgium - nice citrus, great with orange
3. Gin Mare - great with rosemary and olives. Very Mediterranean
4. Monkey Shoulder - great with strawberry

I haven't tried many of the Irish gins at the moment, but Dingle Gin is quite OK, good with orange & grapefruit.

I just finished off a bottle of Ungava, a yellow gin from Canada. Nothing amazing though, just decent. Nothing wrong with Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray etc. They're all very decent gins. Hendricks is also quite nice and cooling, particularly with the much-mentioned slice of cucumber.

dudara wrote: »

I quite like the following:

1. Martin Millers gin from Iceland
2. Copperhead gin from Belgium - nice citrus, great with orange
3. Gin Mare - great with rosemary and olives. Very Mediterranean
4. Monkey Shoulder - great with strawberry

I haven't tried many of the Irish gins at the moment, but Dingle Gin is quite OK, good with orange & grapefruit.

I just finished off a bottle of Ungava, a yellow gin from Canada. Nothing amazing though, just decent. Nothing wrong with Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray etc. They're all very decent gins. Hendricks is also quite nice and cooling, particularly with the much-mentioned slice of cucumber.

Martin Millers is an English gin - with Icelandic water. A bit gimmicky but very nice gin.

I like Gunpowder gin. It's a savoury sort of gin.

Slattsy, just how many gins have you tried?
You do know that there are over 200 British gins alone?
I've tasted a lot of gins and I've hardly scratched the surface.

I tried Bertha's Revenge at Taste of Dublin. Very impressed by it