Q&A

David answers your burning gin related questions

Our gin expert, David T. Smith, is on hand to answer all your juniper related questions. Tweet us @ginmagazineuk or email editor@paragraph.co.uk for a chance to feature

I’m a big gin fan. I’m a big cheese fan. Can you recommend any good combinations?

ANNIE, LEADBURN

Pairing gin and food can be tricky and I must admit to still being a little skeptical about the benefits, but this was a good excuse to both try a few things out and make the most of the leftover Christmas cheese board!

Although neat gin is generally not anyone’s first drink of choice, it can make for a good alternative when others are sipping on a post-dinner whisky or brandy. The right gin served on the rocks can be quite delicious and pairs very nicely with a vintage cheddar. Love it or hate it, Stilton is a classic that no cheese course would really be complete without. It’s perhaps suitable that it works well with a cocktail that also splits opinion: the Negroni. The combination is rather wonderful; the tangy, slightly acidic character of the cheese complements the cocktail’s bittersweet intensity.

For soft cheeses such as camembert and brie, there are a couple of options. Firstly, the gin and tonic: the crisp, refreshing drink is a good counterbalance to the rich creaminess of these cheeses. An alternative would be to pair it with sloe gin, which has a great combination of fruit and sweetness. Other fruity gins would also work well, such as Four Pillars’ Bloody Shiraz or Brookie’s Byron Slow Gin (a staple accompaniment to our cheese platter at New Year’s).

Why isn’t gin really drunk neat? Have you got any suggestions on how to enjoy gin this way?

HANN, FALMOUTH

This is a funny one, but you’re absolutely right: anyone that has visited a distillery will know the amount of care the best distillers put into the flavour and balance of their gin, so it seems a shame to not at least try it in its unadulterated form. Some of the easiest to enjoy neat are fruit or sloe gins. Being a tad sweeter, they are easier to sip, especially with a cube of ice. Warner’s Rhubarb Gin or Hayman’s Spiced Sloe Gin might be a good starting point – both combine a bright fruit flavour with a strong gin backbone.

Moving on to the London dry gins, I think an accessible gin – and possibly the first that I enjoyed neat – is Plymouth. It has a little sweetness and it’s relatively easy to pick out the botanicals: there’s citrus and the sweet spice of cardamom, as well as zesty coriander and piney juniper. It also has a particularly smooth texture.

If you choose to serve your gin over ice, you can add a little dilution by simply swirling the ice cubes around a bit to encourage them to melt. This results in a drink reminiscent of the once-popular “gin and water” – a serve that was, in some discerning circles more than a century ago, seen as the only way to drink gin by those “in the know”.

What is the oldest gin brand still available to buy?

LIZZY, ROYSTON

I had to dust off my history books for this! While I had an idea, I suspected the answer might be more complicated than it initially appeared. Booth’s is certainly a contender. First produced in 1740 by Felix Booth in Clerkenwell, London, this gin was available in the UK until the 1980s and is still available in the USA. It is a poorer reflection of what it once was – being sold in plastic, half-gallon bottles for less than $20 – but the gin, especially considering the price, is pretty good.

Another contender is Greenall’s: it has its origins with Thomas Dakin in Warrington in 1761, where the distillery is still based. The gin was originally sold as Dakin’s Warrington Gin, but the name changed to Greenall’s following Edward Greenall’s purchase of the distillery in 1870.

The oldest gin brand sold worldwide that is still being sold using its original name and recipe is Gordon’s, which was founded by Alexander Gordon in 1769. An honourable mention should also be given to Nicholson’s, whose family trace their history in spirits back to 1736. Although their gin has not been made consistently since then, it is now, happily, available once again.