Gin Diaries no. 1
This newsletter is going to become rather less beery/cidery for the foreseeable. Instead I’m going to lean into the spirits world, specifically gin.
I've mentioned this on socials already but for those who don’t already know, I’ve signed a book deal with DK to write GIN: A TASTING COURSE, which will be published in September of 2023. It’s billed as “a flavour led approach to the world of gin” and will feature detailed tasting notes for roughly 100 gins from around the world.
I thought it might be fun to share what it’s like to research and write a project like this. That might be the odd thoughts that occur to me, news of particularly tasty samples, or other behind the scenes stuff.
There are bound to be interesting bits and pieces that don’t end up making it into the finished book, so you can expect to see some of those shared here too once I’m further down the line.
The deadline is... tight. I work best when I can settle into a rhythm of writing in the mornings, with the afternoons left for editing, admin, emails, distillery visits etc. I've blocked out every morning I can from now until the manuscript delivery date in January. If I can get 1,000 words written on every single one of those mornings I will be OK. 🤔
The bottle pictured above is for Santa Ana gin, it was the first sample I received and the first one I tasted. Obviously I’m keeping the details of what I thought about it for the book, but I will say this: it’s going to divide opinion.
If tasting through these samples has taught me anything already, it’s that there’s a gin out there for everyone but not every gin will be for you.
One other thing is that hardly anyone likes drinking from the classic triangular martini glass. I thought it was just me! Click through to the tweet below though and check out the replies.
More soon, and if you see one of these emails land in your inbox before midday that means one of two things: either I scheduled delivery or I need to get back to my proper work!
One last thing before I leave you. I want to know which is your favourite of these classic gins, I’ll run more polls with fancier gins in future emails but I wanted to kick off with a battle of the ones almost everyone is guaranteed to know.
Imagine you’re in the supermarket and want a G&T when you get home. Which do you pick?
I probably wouldn’t pick any of these, but in a pub with little choice Beefeater is the way forward me. A London Dry made in London and stands up to even a poor tonic. A tonic with added sweeteners will kill off a delicate Bombay.