My new favourite drink

aod113

Was never a gin and tonic fan until I was introduced to Hendricks gin. The secret is to serve it with cucumber instead of lemon. Pricey but delicious!

irish_goat

Try a twist of cracked black pepper with the Hendricks, tonic and cucumber. That's the standard way I serve it at work, it's delicious.

Jev/N

aod113 wrote: »

Was never a gin and tonic fan until I was introduced to Hendricks gin. The secret is to serve it with cucumber instead of lemon. Pricey but delicious!

I despise when bar staff put lemon in gin and tonic. I always thought the traditional (and tastier!) way was with a lime - just seems way to acidic along with the taste of the gin and tonic

BeerNut

I'm a big gin fan, though not especially fussy about it, and have just never got Hendricks or the attraction of it. I'd be interested in seeing some blind taste evidence to justify the price.

aod113 wrote: »

The secret is to serve it with cucumber

That's one heavily advertised secret they have there Have you tried sticking some cucumber in a different gin to see if that works for you? Could save you a few bob.

rubadub

Jev/N wrote: »

I despise when bar staff put lemon in gin and tonic.

I hate them putting any fruit or ice in drinks without asking first. I bet feck all of these barmen put lemon in coke when they drink it at home. Its like they want to put something extra in to justify the ridiculous price.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

I hate them putting any fruit or ice in drinks without asking first.

I'd have thought automatic ice was fair game for soft drinks and spirits except whiskey and brandy. Sure you'd spend half your time behind the bar asking people if they wanted ice in their gins and tonics and vodkas and cokes, and then being looked at like you're a little slow.

irish_goat

rubadub wrote: »

I hate them putting any fruit or ice in drinks without asking first. I bet feck all of these barmen put lemon in coke when they drink it at home. Its like they want to put something extra in to justify the ridiculous price.

The norm is to get ice and fruit though. If you wanted it served any other way you have to say that when you're ordering or else you've really no right to get annoyed over it.

Big Nasty

When I worked in the trade I always put ice in vodka, gin, bacardi, etc. but never in whiskey / brandy unless asked. I always put lemon in vodka, lime in gin and orange in rum. No ice with any bottled beer unless asked as it bugs the hell out of me but sometimes you would get looked at like you had two heads for not serving a bottle of bud / heineken without ice, especially to a girl.

Srictly speaking I suppose you shouldn't put ice / fruit in anything unless asked but as BN says you would just end up doubling your workload doing it that way.

Blackjack

BeerNut wrote: »

I'd have thought automatic ice was fair game for soft drinks and spirits except whiskey and brandy. Sure you'd spend half your time behind the bar asking people if they wanted ice in their gins and tonics and vodkas and cokes, and then being looked at like you're a little slow.

Rule I used to work off was similar.

Regardless of how busy:
always ask about Ice and/or water in Whiskey (water if the Whiskey was ordered without a Mixer).
Never ask about Ice in Brandy, and I would only ever put Ice in brandy if requested.

If busy, just plough ahead with Ice and slice in pretty much all clear drinks, no slice if Coke is the mixer. Exception to the Lemon/Coke rule would be if it was a big enough round and you needed to differentiate the Vodka/Gin/Bacardi somehow, and usually you'd offer that rather than force it on someone.

If you weren't run off your feet, you could always offer the full options, and once someone told you what they wanted I could nearly always remember it for their next round.

Worked pretty much all of the time.
Only rarely would anyone ask for Lemon in coke and also most drinkers would know to ask for the lemon to be left out of their G+T or Vodka's if they didnt want it.

irish_goat

Oh and some of the larger companies specify how their drinks should be served and reward pubs for doing so.

i.e. When I was working in Cardiff we had to serve coke with ice and lime and diet coke with ice and lemon. The pub got a bonus from Coca Cola if it was served this way when they sent in their mystery shoppers.

On top of that the head office also included it in their training program so we were always expected to serve with 2/3 a glass of ice and some fruit.

obried26

BeerNut wrote: »

I'm a big gin fan, though not especially fussy about it, and have just never got Hendricks or the attraction of it. I'd be interested in seeing some blind taste evidence to justify the price.

Have a look at this review http://goo.gl/vbrbq. Interesting results and mildly amusing too.

BeerNut

Nice one! Haven't had Tanqueray in ages. Must get some.

BaZmO*

obried26 wrote: »

Have a look at this review http://goo.gl/vbrbq. Interesting results and mildly amusing too.

Are the bubbles supposed to look like teeth in an open mouth?

mloc

I've a fair few gins at the moment; Hendrick's, Bombay Saphire, Plymouth, Larios, Gordon's.

Like any other spirit there are variations in taste. Hendrick's is probably my favourite but Plymouth is also very nice. Plymouth is a very different kind of gin; it seems a little more oily and not as sharp and citrus heavy as the London Dry style. It's nice if you are having a few G+Ts and not just one as a refresher.

CWF

Jameson neat.

BeerNut

mloc wrote: »

Hendrick's is probably my favourite

Why not do a blind tasting and find out for sure

BeerNut

Did the blind taste of Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire this evening. Tanqueray is certainly more strongly flavoured and tasted "hot" with alcohol (both were airport strength: 47% ABV for Bombay, 47.5% for Tanqueray), Bombay is just more enjoyable. You need lots of tonic for Tanqueray; Bombay nearly works neat.