British Sailor Night

I was almost out of my bottle of Tanqueray Rangpur gin, so I picked up a bottle of Tanqueray 10 at my neighborhood Sam's Club. To taste the difference between them and my bottle of Plymouth, I decided to do a taste test. So I pulled 3 shot glasses out of the cupboard and filled each about half full.

The Tanqueray was definitely limey. It reportedly also has bay leaf (I have a little laurel tree that's my favorite plant) and ginger in it. I couldn't taste those, but definitely a citrusy taste. It'd be great just by itself or in any drink with a citrus tang.

Next was the Plymouth. It's definitely sweeter than the other 2, but compared to them, it tasted a bit like drinking rubbing alcohol. This would be a good gin as a generic mixer but not to drink by itself. I wish I still had a bottle of Burnett's to add to the taste test. Sometimes the cheapest is the best.

Then the Tanqueray 10, which is the most expensive of the 3. It reportedly goes through a quadruple distillation; the manufacturer has it aimed right at the martini market. I like the bottle. It looks like a 10 size. And the gin is much stronger than the other two. The back of the bottle says it has citrus "and other botanicals" in it, but I didn't taste the citrus.

What I did taste was akin to olives. This would make a phenomenal gin martini with an olive or a dirty marini. If I had some olives, I'd experiment and see. But I'm feeling pretty happy after those 3 shots right now.

Earlier I made a drink from a couple weeks ago in my calendar: equal parts OJ and gin (I used the 10, but the Rangpur would be better), Cointreau (a good chance to finish my bottle), and a dash or two of orange flower water (a good chance to find my bottle, hidden at the back of the spice and herb drawer). Another version of this is the Adironack, which uses sweet vermouth (that doesn't even sound good right now).

I liked this drink better than I thought I would. It would make a good brunch drink, better than a mimosa for me. I just wish I had a bottle of Bombay so I could try one more shot and be even happier. Am I sure I don't have any olives?