Glass of 2017: give your gin a new twist
As the nation falls back in love with spirits, Talib Choudhry raises a toast to the new generation of cocktail hour barware for your home
Whatever your political leanings, chances are you will feel like a drink to celebrate/ forget the election result. And as it is World Gin Day tomorrow, there’s never been a better excuse for a spot of the strong stuff.
You won’t be alone: in the week following Brexit, sales of Sipsmith gin rose by 103 per cent at John Lewis, and premium gins have been flying off the shelves ever since. Brits bought 43 million bottles of gin last year – enough to make a billion G&TS – and the boom means that, for the first time, spirits are earning more money for the Treasury than beer.
Designers are capitalising on the ginaissance, too, offering glasses, barware and drinks accessories to sate the thirst of the cocktail-loving public.
“The perception of gin has changed dramatically in recent years – it’s perceived as a much younger, cooler drink thanks to the rise in popularity of independent gin producers,” says Mark Jonas, brand director at LSA International, which launched a “Gin” collection of glassware and cocktail accessories this year. “The new gin stills are very much part of the craft movement and the appreciation of handmade products, and we have created beautiful mouth-blown glassware for these artisan gins.”
Developing the products took a year and the LSA team worked closely with a mixologist (or “bartender”, in common parlance) to ensure that design details such as tapered tumblers and flared stems on coupes enhance the enjoyment of gin-based drinks.
“We work with a lot of top-end bars, and it helps us to spot trends that filter through to home entertaining,” says Jonas. “Gin used to be associated with a really strong taste of juniper, but singlebatch production can reflect more local ingredients and the huge diversity now allows bartenders to create fantastic cocktails. Our different glass shapes reflect that.”
The balloon glass (£26 for two) is particularly suitable for light, summery gins with citrus flavours, served over lots of ice; for classic G&T fans, there’s a highball (£22 for two). There’s also a foldable wood-and-leather table that comes with two removable trays, acting as a portable minibar (£295).
“People are entertaining at home a lot more, and want to do it properly,” says Lee Broom, another designer savouring the ginaissance. “They’re becoming very sophisticated about cocktail culture, taking inspiration from the atmosphere of bars and restaurants and recreating it at home.”
Broom has just unveiled a limitededition cocktail glass for Tanqueray 10 gin. To reflect his tipple of choice
(“a dry martini with an olive”), he has designed a martini glass with an intricately faceted stem. It is based on a design from his aptly named Half Cut range of crystal glassware (from £60), which came about through a serendipitous flash of inspiration.
“I’d collected about 3,000 stoppers from vintage decanters, which I used to make into pendant lights, and they were just gathering dust in my studio,” says Broom. “I was having a drink at my desk one day and playing with one of the stoppers and realised they would make beautiful stems. So we shaved off the bottoms and fused them to glasses.”
The resulting 1,500 unique glasses were sold at Liberty and proved so popular that Broom decided to take moulds from his four favourite stoppers and the Half Cut glasses became part of his permanent collection. Like all of his crystal designs, they are hand-cut in the Czech Republic, long a centre of excellence in glassmaking.
Richard Brendon is another young British designer whose elegant crystal barware is manufactured in Bohemia. He has significantly expanded the number of products he offers in the
‘I want people to have an experience in my home – to create a bit of theatre’
past year, introducing the Fluted range (from £65) specifically with gin cocktails in mind.
“It was designed for the American Bar at Gleneagles, and I drew inspiration from the decadent cocktail culture of the Art Deco era,” says Brendon. “It’s mouth-blown by master craftsmen and looks delicate but feels reassuringly weighty.”
Broom is inspired by the glamour of an old-fashioned cocktail hour, too. “I want people who come to my home to have an experience, I like to create a bit of theatre,” he explains. “It’s not just about the drink – the choice of glass and the way in which a drink is served are equally important. The small details are everything – that last 10 per cent of detail makes 50 per cent of difference.”
Elsewhere, the hipster fondness for serving gin in china teacups (mimicking the speakeasies of yore) shows no sign of abating, and has been taken one step further at the Soho Hotel. Tomorrow sees the launch of its summer G & Tea, an afternoon tea inspired by Isle of Harris gin. The sweet and savoury foods are based on the botanicals used to make the gin (ruby grapefruit drizzle cake, or seaweed and cheddar scones) and there are plenty of cocktails to wash it down with. A quintessential summer experience – although Jonas would beg to differ.
“There’s a gin to suit every taste now, and it’s not just a summer drink – it’s an all-year-round drink,” he says.
We’ll raise a glass to that. Gin Gin!