I am delighted and honoured to introduce Angus Winchester, one of the most respected figures in the drinks industry and Global Brand Ambassador for Tanqueray no TEN.

He speaks about something that he is truelly passionate about gin and its revival in the 21st century.

Gin

So I have been many things to many spirits in my time. I have been a Vodka Professor teaching the Vodka University to both bartenders and consumers alike (basic message – vodka is a great spirit but as we have moved away from its suggested serve (neat) we have become overwhelmed by fashion and glitz and tits).

I have become (through diligent study, written exams, exhaustive tasting and a visit to Mexico) a Tequila Demi God. I have started a rum sampling society that now has been running for over 4 years and has members and chapters in 5 cities in two continents (basic message there is far more to rum than just Bacardi and navy rums).

I have been decreed a Malt Advocate after 5 of the heaviest days of education I have ever endured ( you try tasting whisky straight from the barrel in 12 distilleries and over 95 high end malts in a week).

But it is with Gin that I have always felt more comfortable and thus when I was asked to represent ‘Tanqueray No. TEN as its Global Ambassador. I leapt at the chance (as both T10 and I have both been described similarly as tall, cool and filled with great gin). And as has been my great fortune as I got into something so it has become cool again – gin is unarguably in! This is of course nothing to do with my role but rather for a series of reasons that have created a perfect storm for Juniper to work its magic.

Firstly bartenders have moved from the Eras of Ingredients and Technique into one of Research and as they have pored through old bartending books they have sent the words Dry Gin, Plymouth Gin, Old Tom and Hollands Gin time and time again as it battled with Whiskies as the spirit of the Golden Age of bartenders – if it was good enough for Thomas, Schmidt, Coleman, Craddock et al then it is surely good enough for us. And the fact that all styles of juniper spirit are available again has made this so much easier.

Secondly drinkers are searching for more authenticity in the things the consume and have become increasingly disillusioned with increasingly spurious claims by marketing flacks (this vodka is made from spring wheat blessed by the pope, cut down by left handed playboy models only on sunny Wednesdays before being distilled 18 times in a Swarovski crystal still before being filtered through virgin mummy linen and diluted with unicorn tears)… plus they are looking for more flavour in their foods… Gin fits these two mega trends admirably.

Thirdly there are so many new gins coming on to the market that consumers can now choose a gin that their mother didn’t drink (a key fact in the gin revival and for many years there were only the large ( seemingly rather staid) brands like Booths, Gordons, Gilbey’s, Beefeater and others.

This explosion of marques can be seen as down to several facts – gin is cool again so people are jumping on the bandwagon, its ‘easy’ to make as you don’t have to make quality neutral spirit but can buy it in and finally you can get noticed more easily by throwing in lots of buzzy flavours/botanicals (green tea, kaffir lime, elderflower etc etc) and take advantage of slightly lax regulation about the overt presence of juniper that for some people is apparently a barrier to them enjoying gin.

So we now have a bunch of new gins that don’t taste like traditional gin to allow people who don’t like (traditional gin) to drink gin and thus jump on gin’s train… and I have to say I have several issues with this.

Firstly if you don’t like the taste of juniper (which is the legal and sensorial defining characteristic of gin after all) then don’t drink gin. There are so many great spirits out there that not everyone has to drink gin.

Secondly it misses out on the fact that one of the reasons for gin’s popularity in cocktails historically was the fact that juniper provides such a strong ‘spine’ to work with other flavours – mint, basil, lemon, lime, berries, juices, carbonates, cream… all are present in classic as well as new gin cocktails.

I say in my training that anything vodka, white rum or blanco tequila can do Gin has done or can do just as well if not better and that’s down to the small pungent juniper berry. To make and sell a gin that doesn’t taste predominantly of Juniper means you are not making/selling gin at all and thus are selling a pig in a poke and selling out your principles and your guests…. Never a good thing! Unlike a good G&T or Dry martini which in my humble opinion is… cheers!

Angus