Gin has always been a mystery to me. It’s not an alcohol I would choose – too stuffy! Too odd! Too 1950s Britian!
Yet we like martinis and, after a dinner out, we discovered we liked gin martinis.
We just didn’t know why. And with the massive selection of gins at the shops, we had no idea what we should buy or why.
The best cure for any mystery is a simple experiment. Since gin varies widely in taste from brand to brand, we bought samples of the more commonly-available brands and invited friends to join us in a taste test. We made gin martinis with each sample, following the same recipe and tasted to see what we liked.
Some were obvious no’s: “Tastes like medicine.” Honestly, most of our samples were no’s.
Two came away as winners: Beefeaters and Seagram’s.
Beefeaters tasted old-fashioned and proper. (You might say that’s not an official “taste” but it’s the only way I can describe it.) Seagram’s was pleasantly floral and fruity, without being overpowering. Beefeaters makes a delightful gin martini while Seagram’s would be perfect in a gin and tonic.
Not that we’re going to buy a ton of gin in the future, but at least we finally know what we do (and more importantly, what we don’t) like.
