Best gin for tiki drinks?

Now that there is a growing array of gins with wide availability, what are the best gins for use in tiki drinks? I tend to find that some of the trendier choices like Hendricks and Aviation can be almost too aromatic and that they overpower more subtle ingredients. Is it best to stick with old standards like Tanqueray or Bombay, or are there some other gins I should be trying?

That's an interesting query. Some "New American" or "New Western" gins are barely gins in the traditional sense. Stuff like New Amsterdam is more like a citrus vodka than a gin IMO. In the case of old school tiki drinks, I tend to stick with proper London dry gins (LDG), as these were the dominant gins available for most of the 20th century. Beefeater is my go-to for LDG. If I want a little smoother gin, I'll use Plymouth. If it's to be lost in a sea of fruit juice, then I'll use Seagram's dry gin (a pretty damn good barrel-aged gin for an extremely low price). That said, there are some great New American gins like Bluecoat that would be a fine addition to any gin-based cocktail. Aloha

I agree, a traditional London dry gin is probably what was used when the classic tiki drinks were formulated.

the only ones i can think of that i regularly make with gin are the scorpion, and the fogcutter. hard to detect the gin in either one of those, what with all the juices, rum, brandy, orgeat...

I agree with tofukulele on sticking with Beefeater but I think New Amsterdam is fine for tiki drinks if you aren't a fan of juniper. I love gin and there is a great recipe in one of Beachbum Berry's books called a Rain Killer or a Rain Maker that is awesome with Gin. In fact, I will sub gin in any tiki drink that calls for white rum alone as the booze.

gabbahey

Plymouth, easy. (It's my "well" gin.)

Tanqueray works for me.

The Suffering Bastard is another good gin drink.

Like a good many of the "what's the best ___" queries, the answer is situational. If gin is one of many elements in a drink (scorpion, fog cutter) something like Tanqueray or Bombay will play nicely. In fact, the Tanqueray Rangpur is a nice choice for the Fogg Cutter variant from Remixed since that version of the cocktail uses lime juice. If your recipe is featuring gin as the primary ingredient (perhaps a Royal Hawaiian from the Grog Log/Tiki+ app), I'd certainly recommend Aviation gin.

kevin

I tend to go with Tanqueray for lime based cocktails, Bombay for the lemony ones.

If you're looking for a "one size fits all" gin for Tiki drinks, Plymouth works very well. I find that Tanqueray, Beefeater and the like are a little too juniper-forward in flavor for a lot of cocktails. The softer flavor profile of Plymouth mixes nicely.

However, if you're trying to replicate a classic Tiki drink, Vic or Donn probably used a typical London Dry.

If you want the piney notes I like tanq - Junipero makes a good martini if you want that Juniper fire, I believe it would make a good classic drink - however I have not tested it myself

Floral notes Citadel and Hendricks - and Nolet's is expensive but very interesting I like it with a splash of St Germain's 4:1 ratio on rocks, if i dont feel like making anything fancy

I have not liked the beefeater 24 as it is not floral enough nor juniper enough but somewhere in-between and regular beefeater is not as good as tanq to me

try them in a Saturn p 156 remixed book or rangoon gimlet

when I'm out of gin and i want a scorpion or fogcutter, i substitute with soju...

On 2012-04-06 08:12, thePorpoise wrote:
when I'm out of gin and i want a scorpion or fogcutter, i substitute with soju...

Wow, what a great idea! I bet that makes for a very interesting Scorpion variant Porpoise.

with all that juice and booze it doesnt make much difference really. soju to me tastes like blend of gin and sake anyhow...

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Try it an tell me I am wrong :wink:

Keiran Wyatt-Nicolle

http://www.olivertwistgin.com

Proud brand owner of Oliver Twist London Distilled Dry Gin™. Oliver Twist London Distilled Dry Gin is a quintessentially English Gin that is Distilled and Bottled in the very heart of London Town.

[ Edited by: Oliver Twist Gin 2013-02-24 08:09 ]

Hey Keiran,

I just sent you a PM and an email.