Following on from my thoughts on The West Winds Sabre gin that was posted a few days ago, we had quite a few people writing in and asking almost the same question:
“I never seem to enjoy a G&T at home as much as I do in the bar,
why is this?”
Well, putting aside the feeling of relaxing in your favourite bar with those nearest and dearest to you, I thought I would put together a list of things I’ve learnt in my years of enjoying G&T’s.
1. Choose Decent Tonic
This is the first and most important lesson I learnt. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS LIQUID, DO NOT SKIMP OUT ON A CHEAP TONIC. Now that I’ve got that out of my system. I’ve seen it and experienced it at friends places all too often. The thought process normally goes like “I’ve just dropped a bit of coin on this nice bottle of gin, I can maybe get some back by buying the no frills tonic,” With all due respect my good man, that is like saying “I just spent a lot of money on this ’67 Shelby GT500, so I’m going to get some back by using E10,” If you use bad tonic with your nice gin, it won’t sing like it should. I recommend Fever Tree Tonic, it has been my favourite thus far. The new tonic coming from Cascade is quite nice too.
I would also recommend buying smaller bottles of tonic, unless every night is a wild party and you will go through 1.25L of tonic.
PUT DOWN THAT FLAT TONIC THAT’S BEEN OPEN FOR 3 WEEKS. Sorry, won’t happen again, promise.
2. Don’t drink tonic
By this I mean don’t mix a G&T in a ratio of 1:100 gin:tonic, or you will think ‘gee, this nice gin tastes just like every other G&T I’ve ever made’. I would recommend no more dilute than 1:3. And use a measure too, there is an exact science to drinking.
3. To be or not to be…health conscious
You can buy sugar free diet tonic these days, along side the full fat stuff. Now apparent health benefits aside, will it make a difference to your drink? I worked with a bar tender last year who would always recommend sugar-free tonic, as he said the sugars interfered with the ‘real’ flavours of the gin. I disagree, and always go for regular tonic, for the simple reason that gin was invented in a world where sugar-free fads were yet to exist and I believe is meant to be drunk with regular tonic. Can you imagine the Dutch in the 11th century worrying if they should have sugar free tonic as they were starting to bulge out of their clogs? No, they drank that baby straight and built big arse windmills.
4. Choose your fruit
I personally always have a slice of lime with my G&T, and always rim the glass first. To do this, simply push the wedge down onto the glass rim, juicy side down, slide around the top, then squeeze over the drink and drop in. Equally as nice and rewarding is a lemon slice. But gin, being the quintessential cocktail spirit it is (meaning it is the most versatile), you can pretty much mix anything you want in. Just the other week my wife and I were looking for something different to drink, so instead of a lime wedge, I added some fresh basil and lemon grass. Sen-friggin-sational. What’s your favourite herb? Coriander? Mint? Basil? Dill? Add it to your G&T. Experiment. Find the best match with a fresh herb from your garden, then drop me an email, alex@gentlemanscabinet.com.au.
5. Remember Walter White
I think a G&T should be served in a nice tall glass that is brimming with ice. Especially here in Australia, you want to make sure your gin is nice and chilled the whole time you are drinking.
6. The Golden Rule
Those that haven’t read my writings before may not have heard the rule I live by when it comes to enjoying a cigar. ‘Smoke what you like, like what you smoke’. Meaning if everyone is dissing the cigar you are smoking but you love it, puff away my good man. Similarly, this applies to premium spirits, ‘drink what you like, like what you drink’. If you love your gin with 3 blueberries, a raspberry and a twist of the pepper grinder, then sit back and sip away, and enjoying the world going by as it lives to someone else’s rule.
I would love to hear what you do at home to serve the perfect G&T!
Post it on The Gentleman’s Cabinet Facebook or drop me an email; alex@gentlemanscabinet.com.au.
Written by Lex Getley
Leave a Reply