"plymouth gin" news and stories

Besides being a great addition to your beef marinades, juniper berries have long been used for medicinal purposes: fighting off infections, stimulating the kidneys, and even serving as an early Viagra. References to juniper use in health tonics have been found as far back as the 1200's. Franciscus Sylvius de la Boe, a professor at a Dutch university in the 1600's, often gets credited for mixing juniper with alcohol, creating the world's first gin -- however, juniper and alcohol had already made friends at least a hundred years earlier according to old Dutch distilling records.

Genever is one of the earliest styles of gin. Since 2008, the EU has granted genever a protected status, regulating where and how it can be made. Most genever comes from Holland; however Belgium and Department 59 (Nord) Department 62 (Pas-de-Calais) of France as well as the Nordrhein-Westfalen (bordering Belgium and Holland) and Niedersachsen (north of Nordrhein) areas of Germany are also allowed production rights. Genever styles range from a light almost vodka-like flavor to sweetened, fruity, almost liqueur-like bottlings. I spent a month in Holland last year "studying" genever, so let me just say there's not space here to outline in detail all the wonderful variations of this spirit. The brands you might find in the US include Zuidam, Boomsma, Schlichte Steinhäger, and the big daddy Bols.

More after the jump...

Pilgrims weren't the only thing to leave the shores of England, headed toward the New World. Coates and Co., located in the center of Plymouth, is the only distiller allowed to make the geographically designated style of Plymouth gin. By the early 1900's, 1000 cases of this gin went to New York every week. Alcohol was banned from US Navy ships; the lucky British Royal Navy, however, were rationed numerous barrels of Plymouth gin -- perhaps the sailors' gin love helped spread the popularity of this spirit as their ships traveled.

The Plymouth navy bottling is the traditional navy strength of 57% alcohol by volume (100° English proof). It's said the military demanded this particular proof because it wouldn't ruin gunpowder if spilled. These tough military men weren't afraid to drink pink, either: They mixed up Angostura bitters with their gin ration, making a pink gin to help fight off tropical disease. British sailors may not have a daily ration of pink gin today, but every new ship still receives a commissioning kit that includes a green and white flag known as the gin pennant, a ceramic jug in the shape of a fish, and Plymouth navy strength gin.

It's Monday, you're back at work, and you need a drink at the end of a long day. How about an Atomic Cocktail?

It's a rather easy recipe: fill a high ball glass with 2/3 with ice and then throw in 2 oz. each of grapefruit juice and pineapple juice, 1 oz. of Plymouth Gin, and 1/2 of Galliano.

I even like the name. Atomic Cocktail. I don't know how retro it is, but it certainly sounds it.

We continue our week of spotlighting bartenders from The Improper Bostonian's "Beloved Bartender" issue.

It isn't every day that you get a cocktail with the word "sock" in it, so this drink caught my eye. It's the signature drink of Ari Barbanell. She's a bartender at Chez Henri in Boston. Well, Cambridge, to be precise.

Plymouth Gin made in Plymouth, England is bottled at 82 proof/41.2% abv and is distilled in the Black Friars Distillery, the oldest working distillery in England. The name and style are protected and Plymouth is the only brand that can call itself a Plymouth style gin. I think that Plymouth is one of the best gins out there. I am usually into aromatic gins full of big botanicals and juniper, Plymouth doesn't have that great, big slam of some other gins but is light, exceptionally smooth, creamy, and subtle with little bite. Probably in part due to the extremely soft Dartmouth water used in the distillation process. It has a hint of sweetness and the seven botanicals give it a fruity note with a big aroma, but it's also crisp and dry. It's hard to describe, but very nice. It's what I consider to have the classic gin taste. Interestingly enough Plymouth is the gin specified in the original dry martini. Plymouth also makes a higher strength version at 114 proof/57% abv called "Navy Strength" as well as some other products but I haven't tried them yet.

As a side note: I originally heard about this gin in John H. McDonald's mystery books on Travis McGee where Travis the hero is known to have ice cold mugs of Plymouth on the rocks as the way to end a perfect day. After the fabulous description I had to search Plymouth out to try it and I recommend McDonald's excellent books as much as I do Plymouth gin.