Sales of gin are on the rise and it’s now the TIPPLE OF CHOICE for the stylish set. SARAH BREEN examines its revival …
Close your eyes and listen. Do you hear it? Clink, clink, slosh, fizz. It’s the sound of a thousand gin and tonics being poured. Because gin, you see, is in. What started out as a medicinal potion, before becoming the cheap and accessible “opium of the people” (consequently known as Mother’s Ruin), having barely survived the 1990s, is suddenly stylish again.
Lisa Devlin is a professional development specialist at a San Francisco law firm and a gin enthusiast in her spare time. She’s seen a dramatic change in our attitude to gin since she first came to Ireland. “When I lived in Dublin on a student visa – my reverse J1 experience – I asked for a gin and tonic at a pub and the barman said something to the effect of
‘a young girl like yourself shouldn’t be drinking such a drink,’” she says. “Now when I’m back in town and I order one I’ll be asked what type of gin and what type of tonic I want.”
So why the turnaround? “Gin is exploding,” says Peter O’Connor, senior Reserve Brand ambassador for Ireland at Diageo, who credits it to a change in bartending trends. “Vodka cocktails were the in thing until recently. But bartenders have gone down the same route as chefs and become much more creative. Vodka just doesn’t tick that flavour box anymore. Now we’re seeing a lot of old school gin cocktails making a comeback. The Aviation, which was created in 1916, is back, as is the Negroni. The best bartenders are even ageing their gin cocktails to add different flavours – they’re doing things that were popular when gin was huge in the 1930s. Gin has that Gatsby-esque sense of glamour about it. Sales of our premium gin, Tanqueray No TEN, the only gin in the Spirits Hall of Fame, are through the roof.”
“The perception of gin has definitely changed,” says Eibhlin Hewitt of Lillie’s Bordello, the Dublin nightclub which now has it’s own micro-distillery where patrons can create their own flavoured gins while they party in Lillie’s Lab. “We stock 16 gins, varying from the top shelf to new craft gins like Daffy’s,” says Anne Gilhooley, a mixologist at Peruke and Periwig, the cocktail bar on Dublin’s Dawson Street. “I’ve noticed a massive increase in general customer knowledge about their spirit of choice. If you put the wrong garnish in a gin and tonic, or have it in the wrong glass, trust me, the customer will know!”
Seáneen Sullivan is one of four co-owners of the cool Stoneybatter gastropub L Mulligan Grocer. They run incredibly popular gin evenings – Gincidents – where eager customers get to taste a variety of craft gins paired with various garnishes. “The one that stole the show recently was from a really small distiller in London called Dodge,” she says. “The main botanical is honey and the postcode where the hives live is printed on the bottle. We paired it with a home-made honey and grapefruit lollipop.”
At The Bath Pub in Sandymount, Hendrick’s gin and tonic is served in delicate teacups from a china teapot, appealing to a predominantly female customer. “It’s a twist on a traditional tea time experience,” says Jane Palmer. “With its distinctive bottle, a throwback to the Victorian era, Hendrick’s is definitely at the forefront of the new gin wave for us.”
As well as the larger, premium brands gaining momentum, Irish craft distillers are benefiting too as customers become more adventurous. Blackwater No 5 Gin, produced in Waterford, is the new kid on the block having only been on sale six months. It’s won silver at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (Hendrick’s took bronze) and is stocked at Corrigan’s of Mayfair. “We can’t produce gin cheaper than the multinational brands, so we have to do it better,” says director Peter Mulryan. “Pre-recession we were very much in love with conformity and blandness – vodka was very popular. Now we’re searching for added value. With an Irish craft gin you get a story, an experience.”
The Dingle Distillery, producing gin, vodka and whiskey in Kerry, has eleven full-time staff and fans including casting agents Ros and John Hubbard, who regularly send bottles of Dingle Original Gin, infused with local heather and bog myrtle, as gifts to their friends and business associates in Hollywood. “We’re launching a seasonal winter gin for Christmas so we’re foraging for berries and botanicals at the moment,” says general manager Mary Ferriter. “In the past, I would not have associated gin with young, discerning drinkers, but it is.”
In Co Down, at the Rademon Estate, Fiona Boyd and her husband David founded the ShortCross Gin distillery after they married in 2011. “Thanks to craft distillers creating new gins which showcase different flavours and aromas, people have really tuned in to gin in a big way,” she says. At Ballyvolane House in Co Cork, Justin Green is distilling Bertha’s Revenge, a small batch milk gin, named after the world’s oldest cow, who died aged 48 in Kerry. “We went to London last October to research the resurgence in gin and quite frankly, we were blown away,” says Green. “The level of revival was beyond our expectations.”
Want to impress guests with a killer G&T? “It’s all about the serve,” says Diageo’s Peter O’Connor. “Choose a premium gin such as Tanqueray No TEN and use a round copa glass for a full aromatic experience. Pack the glass full of ice and, to one measure of gin, squeeze in the juice of a wedge of grapefruit, drop in the wedge, topping it up with chilled tonic water. Add some zest for a little extra oil and a kick. Stir and serve.”
Sarah Breen
This article appeared in a previous issue, for more features like this, don’t miss our January issue, out Thursday January 7.
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