This sounds like an excellent plan.

I have to give a shout out to this place:

https://www.alley6.com/

Discovered it a few months ago - about a mile north of the square in Healdsburg (CA). Both the regular and aged gins are delicious. The flav(o)ur profile of the regular gin is that if you want to drink it in a martini glass, just shake it with ice, and perhaps add a twist. Do not add vermouth. I'd likely not even want to add tonic (or perhaps just a much better tonic) - but more likely, just add a bit of fizzy water to maintain the flavo(u)r without changing it for a "lower alcohol" (HA) drink.

Since I missed this first time around I’ll go now. My favorites are probably Plymouth, Hendricks and Boodles. I like Sapphire and Tanquery as well. I have changed my preference over the years. Interestingly, Plymouth isn’t a London Dry Gin as are most of the others from what I’ve been told.

The recent explosion in craft gins is getting a bit silly in my opinion. Many (but not all) are now far too aromatic to enjoy properly, and for a regular G&T they tend to be well-suited. You can't go wrong with a Tanqueray or Plymouth.

I recently bought a bottle of Four Pillars' Olive Branch gin, lured in by its marketing as savory. So far I've only had one drink from it but I quite enjoyed it as a G&T with Fevertree light cucumber tonic (it's the only gin I've had where the cucumber in the tonic comes through as a taste, rather than just an aroma).

Some of the "craft" gins taste like ground up pine needles that a bird turded on before they fell to the ground and the bear peed on them. But some are delicious and taste like a cocktail all alone - just add a few rocks. I really despise Tanqueray. For tonic or something unfussy, I'll take the Hendricks, or Bombay (not Sapphire).

I remember really liking Monkey 47 - has anyone else tried it? It's basically double the price of usual premium gins - 375 ml for $45 or so.

I usually use Plymouth for everything. Maybe I'll try Boodles next.

Agree that in a g&t most new gins can be a bit wasted. Better to invest in proper tonic water.

Favourite gins: Inverroche (South African cape botanicals); made right excellent in a martini. Fauna: Norwegian gin, my now go to - works equally well in martini and gt/gin fizz and Monkey 47. Latter is still my favourite and sits in Norway at the price point between the two aforementioned. It did appear to have quite steep price increases but that appear to have subsided. Best use is for a martini and creates a relatively complex tasting one.

Wow, getting that combination done would take some effort and coordination!

I used to like Monkey 47 until they sold out to a conglomerate. You can buy the 500 ml bottle for that $45 now. The 1L. bottle is priced in the $60s.

Does it taste differently now, like they went cheaper ingredients to boost profits? Any replacement options with similar flavor profile? As far as my Gin of choice. I was never a Gin drinker until I fell upon Cotswolds Gin. We were in Bath and taking a flight out and the distillery was handing out samples in the duty free shop near the club lounge. I loved the taste. I brought a couple of bottles back with me to the states. When that ran out, I tried Sipsmiths, Plymouth, etc. but they just don't taste the same, and I wouldn't have become a Gin drinker had those been my options. Perhaps a more knowledgeable person than myself can tell me why I love their Gin. Their Whiskey was why I stopped at the sampling, but it didn't grab me like the Gin did.

Monkey 47 is hands down my favorite. Love it, and have got most of my family onto it now as well.

Have seen it as high as $90, as recently as this past weekend in SC. Can usually find it around $55

What is a good gin at a reasonable price?
Is Hendrick's considered middle of the road at an ok price?

No, it doesn’t taste any different, but it lost some of it’s “mystique” for me when it sold out to the conglomerate. I travel to Germany frequently and was buying it in Konstanz for €35 for the 375L bottle in 2014. I still drink it, but not as frequently. In the last year or so, I’ve had some people gift me some lesser known gins and I haven’t been impressed by any of them.

What size bottle of Monkey 47 are you buying for $55?

Ummm... if you enjoy the taste, why do you require "mystique?" :confused:

Regards

Ummm... I missed out where I said that I “require” it. Any way, it’s irrelevant. Each to his own.

Regards.

Hendricks has some fans. I actually prefer Beefeater for a more moderately priced, good overall gin.

The 1 Liter bottle. Found it at a NJ liquor store last night, though didn't buy any as transport home would be challenging.
(Not sure why it is erroneously marked on price tag as 750ml).
Snapped the picture to tweak some family members in SC who find it at $90. :D

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a27ed035d7.jpg

Ok, if one (not necessarily you) likes the taste of a spirit and the price on offer is one they are willing to pay, why does mystique enter into the equation? If you had said, "I got tired of it" or "It's become too expensive" I can relate to that. But I can't personally fathom how mystique enters the equation for enjoying wine/spirits/beer. But perhaps I'm an outlier and perhaps that why I'm not in marketing.

And sure, to each his own. I'm not tryingng to be jerk. It's a public discussion forum, so I operate under the assumption that people are open to actually discussing the assertions they make.

Regards

I have been enjoying the Roku with tonic and lime.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c44195e76.jpeg
I paid around $30 for it. Quire floral. The Brockmans will probably get opened next week. I think it was between $30 and $35.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e8c3eadf2.jpeg

That is a great price. I would have bought a couple of bottles at that price.

Hendricks is an odd duck. It's a cucumber flavored gin, and typically cucumber isn't a flavor associated with gin. Usually when people talk about gin they are referring to a London Dry gin, by far the most common type, whose main flavor component comes from juniper berries. So, if I'm looking for gin I generally ignore Hendricks. But, people who don't like juniper like Hendricks because it doesn't taste like juniper. If you like Hendricks, by all means buy it. But it's kind of in a class by itself (and positioned as a premium product).

The 1 liter bottles of Monkey 47 are on sale for $47.99 throughout Maine now, if you find yourself here. Regular price is $51.99.

Sometimes, having the state have a monopoly on liquor distribution works out in the consumer's favor... :)

I was tempted, but I am flying home tomorrow and not checking any baggage.

Crazy how much of a price difference is seen in liquor pricing.

Ok. I always had this unsubstantiated believe that Beefeater was considered "lower quality" and "lower priced" (not that the two are necessarily related), but I guess I'm wrong!
Perhaps I will give Beefeater a try.

Beefeater has consistently been rated a very good gin if you simply want a generic gin & tonic (with a twist of lime). It's actually priced very close to more "popular" choices like Bombay Sapphire and Tanqueray. A 750ml bottle of any of those three typically range from $22-26, and you really can't go wrong with those three. It's really up to personal preference. Hendrick's, while positioned as a premium gin, is a normally between $30-36, so not that much more expensive. I actually make a cucumber mojito with Hendrick's instead of rum. It's yummy.

That is amazing!

When I read your first post, the way you phrased it came off as a bit snide to my thinking. Glad to read in your follow up post that that was not your intention.

As much as possible, I like to “shop small”. Conglomerates don’t need my money as much as small business owners. Monkey 47 has become ubiquitous now, but that’s fine. It’s a quality gin and I still purchase it, just not as frequently. If Monkey 47 were still the small producer, you probably wouldn’t be seeing the prices that just been posted above. As of now, I buy large production gin. I wish I could find a small producer that I really like. Unfortunately, haven’t found one yet.

Going off topic: When we went to the Champagne region, I only wanted to visit with the Récoltant Manipulant producers, not the Negociant Manipulant producers of champagne. In 2019, we went to the Barossa Valley to visit wineries. My favorite one was a winemaker who only produces 600 cases a year, which for most wine producers is minuscule. I like to discover the little known, the small, because you never know what surprises await you. As I said, I prefer, as much as possible, to support small business owners.

I hope this helps explain my earlier “mystique” comment.That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. :):)

Hmm, the cucumber thing never even clued in with me despite having tried Hendrick's several times. Will now pay attention the next time!
I'm aware of London Dry gin but didn't realize that it's the "standard" of what people refer to, so to speak.

Yeah, London Dry is just the name for the style of gin. The only other style I'm aware of (I'm sure there are more) is Plymouth. Now, there is only one distiller of Plymouth gin. Plymouth is usually my go to. It's less juniper-centric but there is still juniper in it. Fun fact: London Dry can be made anywhere but Plymouth has to be made in Plymouth, England.

I mean, technically I think gin is just a neutral spirit (i.e., vodka) with botanicals. There's no reason you can't have a cucumber-flavored gin. It's just not what people think of when they think gin, usually.

I’m with you on a preference for Plymouth. Interesting insight on the cucumber aspect of Hendricks. I hadn’t noticed it before, but will try to pay attention if I have the occasion to try it again.

I’m still in amazement of your post about the price of Monkey 47 at $47.99. How appropriate! ;)

Funny, every time I've had Hendricks I mostly taste cucumber...but I haven't had it in a long time so maybe I'm misremembering.

https://www.mainespirits.com/product...rzwald-dry-gin

Must say that when bottles start getting sold in duty free size (ie 1L) you know you’re no longer aiming at premium. At least here in Europe (Norway/UK) it still just comes as a 0.5L.

It’s economizing! :)

The standard bottle size in the US is 750ml, which many people still call “a fifth” because it’s close to the 1/5 gallon size (757 ml) that liquor used to come in before the early/mid 20th century.

edit: of course there’s a Wikipedia article. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_(unit)

Plymouth gin... never heard of that... I guess I'll give that a go!

I had a Plymouth G&T with dinner tonight at a restaurant.

Probably better in a martini but I’d lean towards agree8ng with them and garnishing with a cocktail onion (ie, a Gibson) rather than an olive as the olive on olive can be a bit much unless you’re making in dirty

I miss my inverroche. I got a taste for it in 2019 when I was there and had a team of people going back and forth regularly keeping me supplied but then covid hit and destroyed my supply line.

We usually have about 10 gins on rotation at home with the following being our ‘greatest hits’ so we’d have 5 or so other bottles rotating through.

G&T - Nikka Coffey
Negroni - Four pillars negroni gin
Martini (dry with twist) - Martin Miller westbourne strength
Martini (dry, savoury) - Four pillars olive leaf
Sipping - SAS distillery Angelicus (can only get this in Belgium and covid causing supplies to be dangerously low as well)
Stock/versatile/value - Tanqueray

The official gin of the Royal Navy.

Additional interesting Plymouth info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Gin

I was in a restaurant last week and went to the bar to view the gins that they carried. Started a conversation with the bartender who lined up all of the gins they had, of which Roku was one. I said that I only became aware of it recently, so he offered me a sample. I was impressed and I’ll consider getting a g&t with it next I’m in a restaurant that has it.

This restaurant has a small bar and only had about 6 gins. When I mentioned Plymouth, the bartender said that he wished they had it, but they have a limited amount for shelf space.

Bombay Sapphire now makes a "Bramble" version infused with blackberries and raspberries. It's delicious with just tonic. It'll be even better once we get some mint growing in the garden along with a slice of lime.