Genevere & Old Tom Gins

[BigMacFU]

So, how many of you have tried these? I've already talked about Hendrick's before and other gin types like Plymouth and Bulldog, etc... but these are all "modern" gins. I've recently gotten this gin Old Tom and so far I really like it. I know Genevere is more like a whiskey than a gin and shouldn't be mixed in traditional gin-mixed drinks. But the old tom style is apparently what "modern" gin was before prohibition and was the type of gin in the original G&T and martini recipes, along with many other classic gin drinks.

So, what have you tried of the genevere and old tom types and which are your favorite, do you go to these over "modern" gins?

 

[jharbridge]

So, how many of you have tried these? I've already talked about Hendrick's before and other gin types like Plymouth and Bulldog, etc... but these are all "modern" gins. I've recently gotten this gin Old Tom and so far I really like it. I know Genevere is more like a whiskey than a gin and shouldn't be mixed in traditional gin-mixed drinks. But the old tom style is apparently what "modern" gin was before prohibition and was the type of gin in the original G&T and martini recipes, along with many other classic gin drinks.

So, what have you tried of the genevere and old tom types and which are your favorite, do you go to these over "modern" gins?

I consider myself a gin man, but have not tried either of these. I will have to see if I can find them and expand my horizons.

 

[BigMacFU]

A year later I still recommend the old tom, but my everyday gin is still hendricks (soooo smooth).

 

[AVB]

History lesson, everybody take your seats. In the beginning there was Dutch gin (Jenever also known as junever, genievre, genever, jeniever) which was a sweet drink. This was pretty nasty stuff so herbs and sweetemers were added to make it a palatable drink. After the 30 years war (circa 1650) the English brought back gallons of "Dutch Courage" which became very popular with the lower classes since it was cheaper then beer or other spirits. They started to ramp up production so much that Gin was by far the most popular and widely sold drink in England. This lasted until 1742 when the King and producers reached an agreement about raising the prices to control the huge numbers of drunks who were getting toasted on gin all the time to the tune of 14 gallons for every man woman and child in Britain. As distilling techniques improved there wasn't the need to add as much sweetener to gin and what is now called "Old Tom" became popular in the 18th century. Once the Coffey still came into play then gin lost almost all of its sweeteners and what is now known as English Dry Gin became the popular drink.

If you still want to drink Jenever you should know that there are two styles "Oude" (Old) and "Jonge" (Young).with the old style having more sugar then the young style. Almost no modern (post 1900) gin mixed drink is based on Jenever or Dutch Sweet gin so you'll have to look into older recopies to find ones that use Old Tom correctly.