Help me pick a new gin

Found a bottle of Blue Coat. Really enjoyed it in a martini.

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One of my two favorite gins right now is Anchor Junipero; the other, not mentioned here yet, is St. George Botanivore (another very juniper-forward gin). St. George also makes two other gins, Dry Rye (donā€™t love it in Martinis, but itā€™s probably a very good Negroni gin) and Terroir (which uses native Bay Area plants for the botanicalsā€“thereā€™s a strong Douglas Fir flavorā€“makes a very nice, if somewhat startling, Martini).

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So many gins, so lil time. Bumping this thread.

Other favorites of mine are, in no particular order:

Roku (Japanese, very smooth)
Opihr
Hendricks Summer Solstice (Iā€™ve found the other special editions underwhelming so far)
Gunpowder (Irish)
Wilds (another gin local to PA, very piny)
The Botanist
Noletā€™s
St. Georgeā€™s
Skin Gin

If Iā€™m drinking gin straight/neat I prefer either Monkey 47 or Plymouth Navy Strength. Both are wonderful gins.

In gin & tonic I can drink anything from the cheap Finsbury, Beefeater to Hendricks or Plymouth as long as Iā€™m using a good quality tonic.

If I have to be honest, whether I use a REALLY great expensive gin in a G&T or a good budget gin, the difference in taste to my taste pallet is very little almost minute.

Thatā€™s why I find using really great gin like the highly botanically flavoured Monkey 47 gin in G&T to be somewhat of a waste. I drink Monkey 47 neat.

Tanqueray 10 used to be a favourite of mine, but last year I began to taste an artificial lime in it and since then it tastes like cheap low quality gin to me.
To my taste pallet Finsbury is a step above Tanqueray 10 in quality, thatā€™s how lousy I find Tanqueray 10 to be these days. And I have tried 3 different Tanqueray 10ā€™s from 3 different stores.

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AS making gin. Interesting.

I much prefer to taste my favorite gins in the form of a dry AF martini, and love trying new gins that way. My favorite local bar will let me try any new gin before I decide whether I want it in a martini, martinez, or not at all. The only gin I would consider sipping neat is genever.

If Iā€™m in the mood for a G&T, I donā€™t care very much about the gin as long as itā€™s not swill. And since I find most tonic waters too sweet, I tend to dilute them 1:1 with selzer.

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Norseman is a Minneapolis gin but I donā€™t know how readily available it is around the country. Thereā€™s a high octane batch too but apparently I am out. Gasp!!!

My old standbys have always been Bombay (regular and Sapphire, though I prefer the regular one), Beefeater, and Tanqueray. Gordonā€™s is not bad to for the price.

The problem with a lot of the ā€œnewerā€ and ā€œcraftā€ gins is that they try too hard and make a gin that is way too noxious or robust. Iā€™ve shared this story before, that my mom went on vacation in Vermont years ago and brought me back a gin. I took one whiff and didnā€™t know whether to make a drink with it or clean the floor. Awful. I ended up looking up the price. $65. I almost died. There was also a brand Opihr that I was excited to try years ago. Couldnā€™t get through it-- way too peppery.

A bad vodka or whiskey you can hide with a mixer, but a bad gin puts you in No Manā€™s Land.

Anyway, Bluecoat is definitely a must-try. However, it does not pair well with dry vermouth and olives. They recommend using an orange slice in a G & T instead of a lime. For martinis, I will use Lillet as a vermouth substitute. That and an orange peel makes an excellent summer cocktail.

I had St. George Gin at a party which was very nice. Gin Lane 1751 also makes a lovely Old Tom Gin which is on the sweeter side. Its vastly different than London Dry and not for everyone, but it is steeped in history.

Currently on my bar I have a bottle of Boodles. Pretty standard London Dry, bit better than Gordonā€™s.

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We had a nodding acquaintance with Lance and Ellie; so, though not gin imbibers, we eventually found our way to the St. George tasting bar. Neither was in the house that day, but no matter, as we discovered we liked the dry rye and botanivore versions.

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I was gifted a bottle of Aria gin years ago and Iā€™ve never bought another brand since. It is flavorful and well balanced.

I use it in martinis, Negronis, rhubarb shrubs, gin and tonics, etc.

On the subject of tonic, Fever Tree makes several. I love the light Indian tonic but not the regular.

For classic martinis, I find it hard to beat Tanq and Dolin, 3:1. Every time I try one of these softer modern gins like Botanist or Caorunn or even Bluecoat, I find myself reaching for a stronger flavored vermouth like Vya. Some of these new gins have so many botanicals and they are both blurred and faint. No, I cannot detect the gorse, the nettle, or the sedge, especially in a Negroni! Why O why did I drop $45 on a fifth of it?

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Iā€™ve mostly given up trying new or different gins. I always go back to Beefeater, thereā€™s a big sigh of relief when I take that first sip. I prefer the London dry style and Beefeaterā€™s botanicals suit my taste preferences best.

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What, please, is an AF martini? I find mentions of AF martinis and AF meals in the internet, but nol explanation of what it is.

Iā€™m guessing dry As F***? :slight_smile:

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Bingo :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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So just how dry is dry AF? Is it a very cold glass of straight gin, a very cold glass of gin with a minimal acknowledgement of the vermouth note, or a martini with a very high ratio like 6:1 or 7:1? I like a vermouth note (3:1), but using anything other than Dolin my ratio gets dialed to something near 4:1 or more. That is why for me Dolin dry is the definitive dry martini vermouth. A 3:1 with Noilly or M & R is a wet martini.

Iā€™m one of the heretics who keeps gin (vodka and tequila) in the freezer.

When making a martini I just pass the closed bottle of vermouth over the top of my glass of gin and sit it back down on the other side. If that turns out to be too much, then the next one I will just glance at the bottle of vermouth out of the corner of my eye. Thatā€™s perfect AF.

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Depends on the vermouth, but usually 4:1 with Noilly is dry enough for me. Sometimes a drop of orange bitters.

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Not a fan of craft gin either. For me Tanqueray hits the spot, especially their Rangpur. I can even drink it straight up as is - itā€™s then almost a light sweet grappa.

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For G&T, we got turned on to Nolets and Fever Tree Mediterranean, with a slice of blood orange. Subtle fruitiness, not heavy juniper.

Straight, I love St. Geogeā€™s Terroir, just because it smells and tastes like a redwood forest. pretty unique

For the Last Word, i havenā€™t decided what works best with the Chartreuse. something herbal for sure.

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