As the summer season enters blast furnace mode, folks tend to go light:  lighter clothes, both in color and in weight; lighter dining, with more emphasis on refreshing summer salads or lighter fish or fowl preparations; and lighter beers, as in a move to wheat-based brews or lightly hopped lagers over darker and heavier porters or stouts.  The same transition can be seen in the spirits world, with renewed interest in the light spirits and their drinks based upon rum, tequila, vodka and gin.  Expect to see the reemergence of frozen or fruity delights such as daiquiris and margaritas, Cuba Librés, Mojitos, or Caipirinhas.  Even a Tom Collins or a Pimms and soda offer a bit of respite from the searing heat.

 

Although way past its start now, summer officially begins in our family with the first Gin and Tonic of the season.  No one drink epitomizes the needs of the summer in our minds as a cool, refreshing G & T.  As summer really gets roaring and the temperature starts soaring, a tall Gin and Tonic evokes images of life out on the Raj, with British officers sipping the spirit of the Empire on a shady verandah. The relationship between gin and the English is hundreds of years old, harkening back to William, Stadtholder of United Netherlands, and his English wife and first cousin Mary, ascending to the English throne to protect Protestantism and the realm from her Catholic father, King James II.

Factoid One:  The Dutch invented gin around 1650, calling it “Jenever/Genever” from their word for juniper.  It was sold as a remedy for all manner of digestive ailments.  All gins must have juniper as part of the botanical selection used to flavor the initial spirit.

William and Mary purportedly brought “Dutch Courage” to England along with their armies, and it became fashionable to do as the royals and drink gin.  Later, as the aloof William began to fall out of favor among those resentful of a “foreign King”, the rivalry of evil foreign gin and honest English Ale intensified amongst the working and lower classes, leading to the folk wisdom “evil women drink gin” and epitomized by the Hogarth engravings “Gin Lane” and “Beer Street.”

Factoid Two:  The production of the skull-poppingly strong ales for which Belgium is famous supposedly goes back to a ban of gin being served in public houses, and the enterprising brewers upping the ABV to make up for the lack of strong tipple.

Gin is easy to manufacture.  Grain such as barley, wheat, rye or corn is fermented, then distilled. There are two basic types of gin:  Dutch and London Dry.  Dutch Jenever and German Steinhager are made with pot stills, like Scotch, and impart more flavor than spirits produced in modern continuous column stills.  At this point, you simply have vodka, a neutral grain spirit.  What makes vodka gin is the addition of juniper, plus an often vast range of other botanicals.  Bombay Sapphire boasts ten different berries, roots, seeds and barks, gathered from around the world.  All the major gin distillers scour the planet for the best ingredients:  cassia from Vietnam, lemon peel from Spain, German angelica, Italian orris root, Moroccan coriander, etc. Cheap gin adds extracts and essential oils to the vodka.  Mass market gins steep the botanicals in the base spirit, which is then redistilled.  The best gins use an uncommon apparatus called a gin head, in which the botanicals are placed in a basket that allows the rising alcohol vapors to pass through it.  Most repeat the process at least once.  Gin requires no extended aging in barrels, but can be sold immediately after distillation and bottling. 

Factoid Three:  English gins traditionally came packaged in square or rectangular bottles to save space for transport in the holds of the sailing vessels to India.

Like vodka, gin’s light body is conducive to all manner of cocktails.  Pimms No. 1 Cup is a gin-based drink, and makes a nice change-up when the heat is on.  Much like Mint Juleps and the Kentucky Derby, Pimms and soda is the drink of Wimbeldon.  Fizzes and Gimlets, Gibsons and Collinses may wax and wane on the public’s palate, but the Martini still reigns supreme.

Martinis in Bond-age—James Bond drinks two types of Martinis:  a medium Vodka Martini, consisting of four parts vodka to one part vermouth; shaken, garnished with lemon peel.  In Casino Royale, and later in Quantum of Solace, Agent 007 orders a variant known as a Vesper.  It is three measures Gordons gin, one measure vodka, and a half measure Kina Lillet (now called Lillet Blanc.  It is a white, dry, vermouth.)  Again, shaken, not stirred, with a lemon peel garnish.  Vodka benefits from, even needs, the extra chill shaking adds to a drink.  Some gin purists claim the shaking “bruises” the gin in addition to removing some of the vermouth’s oiliness that lingers in the finished cocktail when stirred in the more traditional manner.

So, your basic gins starts with vodka, then adds juniper.  It is the additional botanicals that make gin one of the most individualistic spirits out there on the market.  Gin distillers are as tight-lipped as liqueur makers about their recipes.  While they may freely discuss the botanicals used, it is the quantities and ratios that are highly guarded, and it is herein where lies the art.  Thus begins your journey as a gin connoisseur, dear Reader.  Ask your friends about their favorite gin.  Most gin drinkers are very vocal (obstinate?) about their preferences.  You may like the cucumber notes found in Hendricks gin, or the 90°+ proof of Beefeaters, Bombay or Tanqueray.  Some offer premium versions or variants, such as Tanqueray’s 10 and Rangpur, changing the recipe just a tad to highlight a particular ingredient.  Some subtle gins will shine more in a Martini, others fare better as a Gin and Tonic.  Here, as with Scotches, sampling and experimentation will help determine your eventual favorite.

Factoid Four:  The “tonic” part of a Gin and Tonic was a mixture of Peruvian cinchona (“Fever Tree”) bark, sugar and water.  The active ingredient, quinine, was used to ward off malaria, but modern tonic water has only a minute amount of quinine. 

The final variant in the search for the perfect Gin and Tonic is the tonic water.  Here, I beseech you to absolutely avoid the liter or larger bottle of generic tonic.  (If having a large party, well, ok, but only one liter bottles of Schweppes.)  For rewarding oneself at home after a long day at work, stick with the 10 oz. bottles, generally good for two drinks.  Better yet, go for some of the boutique, natural tonics you can find around town.  Stirrings from Nantucket and the UK’s Fever Tree earned top ratings from Imbibe magazine. No high fructose corn syrup in these boys, just good old sugar and real quinine, like it is supposed to be. Q Tonic from NYC is another top contender, but uses agave nectar instead of sucrose. They’re worth the extra investment for your ultimate G&T.

Factoid Five:  Tonic water with real quinine fluoresces under ultraviolet light.

If you are going to compare gins scientifically, here is the Method:  pull out two Old Fashioned, or rocks glasses.  Count out the same amount of ice cubes for each glass.  Measure out the gins into the glasses, either 1½ or 2 oz.  (a whole 50 ml mini = 1.69 oz.) Quarter a lime.  Squeeze a quarter lime into each glass.  Pick one brand of tonic water.  Measure it, too.  How much? Personal taste plays in here.  Stir gently, sip, savor, and enjoy!  (The obsessive will then do the same with one gin and two tonic brands.)

--Tom Clark

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