I have spoken before of my irritation with unnecessary tinkering, specifically with gin. Now I read that gin sales have gone through the roof:
Gin has moved from suburban cocktail parties to the height of fashion with a 276 per cent increase in sales in less than ten years, according to official figures. A report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows the value leapt from £130million to £461million since 2009, and Britain produces some three-quarters of all the gin made in Europe.
And why this growth?
On its own, gin is an unremarkable, albeit powerful, spirit, distilled from barley, maize or wheat. However, the secret of its success and new found popularity comes from the many exotic flavourings that are added.
Chocolate gin? Great Caesar’s aching liver. And just to put the icing on my cake:
Today, gin has been reinvented for young adults with more than half of gin drinkers under 35.
[groan]
That’s just what I needed: one of my all-time favorite drinks has become popular with snowflake millennials and hipsters, albeit after having had its taste changed into kiddie-type flavors.
Is it too early to have a Tanqueray? If so, I think I’ll go out and kick a random hipster in the ass. God, I hate “progress”.
Flavored vodka doesn’t bother me too much (although I don’t drink it myself), because the primary use of vodka is to add alcohol to an otherwise non-alcoholic drink. Still, I think I’d prefer to add my own flavorings to the vodka were I so inclined.
Honey and/or cinnamon favored whiskey I can live just fine without. If you don’t like the taste of whiskey, don’t drink it (see vodka above). Likewise gin, which I also don’t drink, but if you don’t like the taste of gin don’t drink it.
Don’t get me started on what the trendy folks have done to the price of MacCallan after James Bond drank it in one of the movies. I just hope Hollywood never discovers Glenmorangie.
When I was tending bar, some years past, my shift drink when I closed up was a G&T when it wasn’t a Canadian whisky. Tanqueray, maybe Bombay Sapphire. Gin isn’t supposed to taste “good”. It’s suppposed to taste like gin. Squeeze a little lime in there if you like, but that’s it. I’ve managed to miss flavored gin.
Agreed.
I was a Tanqueray and tonic guy until I tried Bombay Sapphire. That truly is the best.
I feel your pain. At a get-together a few years ago, my daughter’s (now ex, thank god) boyfriend poured himself half a glass of my Tanqueray and mixed it with fruit punch.
I told him that if he was going to do that, there was a plastic bottle of cheap gin right there.
No, he said, he liked Tanqueray.
With fruit punch.
I’m just glad he didn’t get to the single malt, because, well, he’d be dead and I’d be in jail, and daughter would probably still be claiming it was my fault.
Gin and fruit punch? Blech!
Sounds like the time I ordered a gin & tonic, and got a gin & gingerale instead.
I share your pain, Kim.
One of my favorites, Hendricks, was consistently $20 a bottle.
Then the Hipsters discovered it…
Now you can’t touch it for less than $40-$50.
…may their man-buns fall out and their skinny-jeans bind in all the wrong places!
Stealing this
may their man-buns fall out and their skinny-jeans bind in all the wrong places!
JQ
December 5th, will mark 85 years since the end of prohibition, which caused the production of “bathtub gin”. Poorly produced gin needed flavors added to make it drinkable and dramatically increased mixed drinks. We’ve had 85 years to improve distilling and aging practices to produce quality gin. Now a bunch of hipster doofuses want to set us back 85 years.
Dadgummit we gave you idiots wine coolers. What more do you want?
I like coffee flavored coffee, beer flavored beer, and gin flavored gin.
If you haven’t tried it yet, get a bottle of Botanist. It’s top notch. I do my pink gin with Botanist and Peychaud’s rather than Angostura, and it also makes it actually pink instead of orange. They are both genetian bitters, so I think it is a proper variant.
A good Martini would go down well about now. I know, “they are like tits, one’s not enough and three are too many”
It’s amazing that people put some much effort and money into putting stuff into their drinks to hide all the real flavor of that drink.
The thing I adore the most about gin & tonic is the way that the flavors perfectly complement each other- especially if one squeezes in a bit of fresh lime.
The original reason for gin and tonic was the gin hid the taste of the quinine in the tonic. Quinine being important because it prevents malaria.
Gin & tonic allowed Great Britain to become an Empire.
The Hipsters also ruined IPA beer. As my brother in law stated, “If I want to chew on pine needles then I’ll go find a grove of pine trees.”
I’m with Phelps, I like coffee flavored coffee etc etc. Normally I go with beer that follows Germany’s Beer purity law standards and the few exceptions I make are for Belgian farmhouse styles and perhaps a few sours.
These sizes for coffee are absurd too. None of this Grande Venti, etc etc Small Medium Large and “I want it in a cup the size of a jacuzzi that seats six”
Jim
What do you expect from people that think Pabst is good beer?
It was good forty-some years ago. But then they were ALL pretty good when you’re barely legal.
Is this progress or just living long enough to see things that were once popular become popular again?
I’m siding with the damned millennials this time, for one reason:
http://the-bitter-truth.com/liqueurs/pink-gin/
Spiced Gin. Sort of like spiced rum. and it’s pink.
It’s so fucking odd, it’s good. Splash of tonic water and a twist of lime and you’re in. Do give it a try, I’m a Hendricks/Beefeater man and I thought this was quite good.
Bombay Sapphire for mixed drinks is good. However, the Mrs. and I have found a new gin: Sipsmith. It’s a London Dry gin. Other than the botanicals that every gin uses for it’s mix, they don’t add any flavors. But this gin is so good that I drink it neat.
Yes. Let me repeat that. Sipsmith Gin is so good that I drink it neat. It makes one hell of a Negroni. But it’s not a flavored gin, and it doesn’t have anything added to it. It’s just that damn good.
This might be some hipster kind of distillery in Britain, but if so, they finally got something right.
I rarely drink hard liquor any more but when I have a before dinner drink it is Beefeaters on the rocks – an acquired taste I acquired many years ago from my first wife’s Father who always had Beefeaters on hand.
I like a dry martini. Gin (Tanqueray 10 or Bombay Blue Sapphire) and ice into the shaker. Just before you pop on the lid, whisper “Vermouth” into the shaker. Shake minimum 32 times. Serve into a frozen glass.