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Your favorite Gin


aquavite

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Having acquired some of my Go-To Bourbons, recently,  and already having a good Vodka bottle (and Rum), I'm now looking to complete the selection by acquiring a decent Gin.  It's the first spirit I ever tasted (as a kid), even before Bourbon. 

At the time, it was "Gilbey's" Gin.  

 

 

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Pretty much on the cheap end but not bad tasting. That said, I'd be interested in what is everyone's Gin choice, these days.  I'm thinking of trying Bombay Sapphire as well.

 

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But, anyway, what's your favorite Gin?

 

 

 

Edited by aquavite
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I don't really drink gin straight - I use it for cocktails but always have some on its own to taste the differences. I like Hendricks and Tanqueray quite a bit.

If you get into drinking it straight, Hendrick's has a lot of seasonal and specialty gins that are quite interesting.

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Booker’s is a great “regular” gin, and the price is reasonable.

Tanqueray Sevilla Orange has a very interesting taste.

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The Bombay Sapphire you show is my house gin.  It is very good.  Not overly juniper-y to my tastes, which is something I don’t like too much in my gins. And, always appreciated by guests.  I do like the Citadelle gin, as well.  Botonist is nice.  My next buy will be Hendricks.  I’ve heard good things about it, and would like to try it.  

Beefeaters is a gin stalwart that could be considered as an option.  My pop drank Beefeaters, so I pick it up occasionally when I’m feeling sentimental.  It’s solid, regardless of my pulled heartstrings!  😀

Edited by smokinjoe
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1 hour ago, smokinjoe said:

The Bombay Sapphire you show is my house gin.  It is very good.  Not overly juniper-y to my tastes, which is something I don’t like too much in my gins. And, always appreciated by guests.  I do like the Citadelle gin, as well.  Botonist is nice.  My next buy will be Hendricks.  I’ve heard good things about it, and would like to try it.  

Beefeaters is a gin stalwart that could be considered as an option.  My pop drank Beefeaters, so I pick it up occasionally when I’m feeling sentimental.  It’s solid, regardless of my pulled heartstrings!  😀

 

I actually have had some experience with Beefeaters.    I put them on the same level as Gilbey's.    I might also look into Tanqueray.   But I'm still interested in the Bombay Sapphire. 

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Just purchased a Ford's gin today for a particular cocktail recipe. Will taste it alongside the others. We also have Beefeaters in the house as it's a standard for a lot of cocktail recipes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another suggestion would be Nolet's Dry Gin Silver, which I recently acquired. I don't give gin much attention (after an unfortunate incident 53 years ago as a college freshman), but on occasion I have an itch to try gin again and prepare a perfect martini. 

 

This particular gin is not as juniper-forward as classic dry gin, which I actually was searching for when I ended up with this one instead. I sampled it neat, as if a bourbon or rye, and it is actually quite good. 

 

Pat

 

image.thumb.jpeg.92955a2b70ed9a1fba74f5c766c54ba8.jpeg

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Citadelle Reserve is my favorite gin and the only one I've ever really enjoyed straight.  I attended a Citadelle tasting years ago and I've been a fan ever since.  The Reserve is barrel aged and quite tasty neat or with just a bit of ice.

 

The regular Citadelle is a fine mixer, as is Hendricks.  I'm no gin expert or anything but those are my top three.

 

I have a bottle somewhere in the back of my cabinets but too lazy to dig it out for a pic so here is a stock photo

 

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  • 3 months later...

As an update, here, I recently purchased both my original Gilbey's Gin and a Bombay Sapphire.   With Bombay at 90proof (10 proof greater than Gilbey's), it is a tad stronger.  I'd prefer my Gilbey's for Martinis, etc.

 

Now, I have to find a good Vermouth and some good Martini glasses.   What's your recommendation for a good dry Vermouth?  And I do "lemon twists" not "olives."  

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20 hours ago, aquavite said:

As an update, here, I recently purchased both my original Gilbey's Gin and a Bombay Sapphire.   With Bombay at 90proof (10 proof greater than Gilbey's), it is a tad stronger.  I'd prefer my Gilbey's for Martinis, etc.

 

Now, I have to find a good Vermouth and some good Martini glasses.   What's your recommendation for a good dry Vermouth?  And I do "lemon twists" not "olives."  

For Martinis, I suggest Noilly Pratt in the 375ml bottle.  The 750ml can take a long time to go through making Martinis.  And whatever kind of vermouth you use - refrigerate after opening.

Martini & Rossi, and Cinzano are both decent dry vermouths.

Above all, you don't want to use stale vermouth.  Handle it like another open bottle of wine.

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Yeah, but watch that Team Cinzano, Cutter.  Cheatin’ rat bastards.  🤣

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12 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

Yeah, but watch that Team Cinzano, Cutter.  Cheatin’ rat bastards.  🤣

 

Gee, is that like "Team Jordans" vs. "Jordan Retros?"   🤣

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On 2/10/2025 at 7:47 PM, smokinjoe said:

Yeah, but watch that Team Cinzano, Cutter.  Cheatin’ rat bastards.  🤣

I wonder how many others get the reference.

The quarry where they swam was filled in a couple years ago.  It was determined to be too dangerous, with a lot of people sneaking back there to party and so on.

The bowling alley at the I.U. Memorial Union is still open.  It looks more or less unchanged.

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11 hours ago, PaulO said:

I wonder how many others get the reference.

The quarry where they swam was filled in a couple years ago.  It was determined to be too dangerous, with a lot of people sneaking back there to party and so on.

The bowling alley at the I.U. Memorial Union is still open.  It looks more or less unchanged.

I got the reference but still had to look up the name of the movie as I had forgotten.

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Sorry for the thread drift. The references to Breaking Away brought back some fond memories.
I spent a lot of time in the Bloomington area growing up. My sister and two nephews went to IU. I spent time down there with a friend whose grandparents had a mom and pop gas station/country store/bait shop near Brown County State Park. With other friends it was camping and fishing at Lake Monroe. With a couple other friends it was checking out the quarries and spelunking in the Bloomington-Bedford area. There’s one quarry in Oolitic that supplied  the limestone for the Empire State Building.

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Checking out the quarries nowadays = 👮‍♂️

Bloomington was a wide open town when I was growing up, ha-ha.

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When I was in college I lived in Indianapolis for 9 months on an internship. Went down to Bloomington a couple of times. Thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Hoosier State. 

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Talk about timing and coincidences. Just spotted this on FB.

 

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Oolitic is Greek, and means egg like.  It is the term used to describe high grade limestone.  When finished, the surface resembles egg shell.  

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