Usually I stick to writing about wine but this past weekend a rep from Martin Miller's Gin was in the shop giving out samples. Now, I'm not a big fan of gin and tonic so I was a bit dubious of trying his gin but I screwed up my face and gave it go.
In my mind, G&T's conjure up the taste memory of a bitter, artificial tasting cocktail that smells like cheap, citrusy perfume. I'll gulp down a G&T if that's all that's available but generally steer clear of them.
That is until this last Saturday. Martin Miller's gin is an English gin that was created by 3 guys in Notting Hill, west London. After some trial and error, they came up with a citrusy, crisp, smooth, clean gin, that just smells cool.
They use only quality botanicals and it's distilled in the Black Country before being shipped to Iceland (!) to be mixed with lava-filtered spring water. The bottle is all sleek lines flaring out at the bottom. It kind of reminds me of a cricket bat. I think that game has affected me somewhat.
The mixer was another quality product, Fever Tree tonic water. If you check out the ingredients on most commercially sold tonic water, the main ingredient used to add sweetness is either artificial sweetener or high fructose syrup which either leaves that horrible aftertaste or a sugary gloopiness. No wonder I don't like tonic. Fever Tree only uses all natural ingredients, cane sugar and spring water. That's it. No artificial sweetners, flavourings or preservatives.
Put the two together and this gin and tonic was like no other I had ever tasted. Cool, refreshing, tasty, no cloying, bitter, artificial sweetner aftertaste, just a long, tall, icy libation rejuvenating me for the afternoon ahead. Everything a G&T should be but so often is disappointingly not...fabulous!
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