Old Tom Gin
Encyclopedia
Old Tom Gin is a lightly sweetened Gin
popular in 18th-century England that now is rarely available. It is slightly sweeter than London Dry, but slightly drier than Dutch/Holland Gin/Jenever
, and is thus sometimes called The Missing Link.
The name Old Tom Gin purportedly came from wooden plaques shaped like a black cat (an "Old Tom") mounted on the outside wall of some pubs above a public walkway in the 18th century England. Owing to a scandalous news report of a tragedy involving a murdered family, gin was outlawed and went underground, changing from a cloudy liquid to its modern clear form so as to appear like water. After a pedestrian deposited a penny in the cat's mouth, they would place their lips around a small tube between the cat's paws. From the tube would come a shot of Gin, poured by the bartender inside the pub.
Old Tom Gin was formerly made under license by a variety of distillers around the world; however one was recently relaunched by Hayman's distillery based on an original recipe. Since then a number of other companies have followed suit such as, Both's, Secret Treasures, Jensens, Ransom and even The Dorchester Hotel. The first written record of Old Tom Gin being used in the Tom Collins
cocktail
was the 1891 book, The Flowing Bowl: When and What to Drink.
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
popular in 18th-century England that now is rarely available. It is slightly sweeter than London Dry, but slightly drier than Dutch/Holland Gin/Jenever
Jenever
Jenever , is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands and Belgium, from which gin evolved...
, and is thus sometimes called The Missing Link.
The name Old Tom Gin purportedly came from wooden plaques shaped like a black cat (an "Old Tom") mounted on the outside wall of some pubs above a public walkway in the 18th century England. Owing to a scandalous news report of a tragedy involving a murdered family, gin was outlawed and went underground, changing from a cloudy liquid to its modern clear form so as to appear like water. After a pedestrian deposited a penny in the cat's mouth, they would place their lips around a small tube between the cat's paws. From the tube would come a shot of Gin, poured by the bartender inside the pub.
Old Tom Gin was formerly made under license by a variety of distillers around the world; however one was recently relaunched by Hayman's distillery based on an original recipe. Since then a number of other companies have followed suit such as, Both's, Secret Treasures, Jensens, Ransom and even The Dorchester Hotel. The first written record of Old Tom Gin being used in the Tom Collins
Tom Collins
The Tom Collins is a type of Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by "the father of American mixology" Jerry Thomas, this "Gin and Sparkling Lemonade" drink typically is served in a Collins glass over ice.-History:In 1874,...
cocktail
Cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
was the 1891 book, The Flowing Bowl: When and What to Drink.
External links
- A thorough article about the history and types of gin
- Gin news page - Alcohol and Drugs History SocietyAlcohol and Drugs History SocietyThe Alcohol and Drugs History Society is a scholarly organization whose members study the history of a variety of illegal, regulated, and unregulated drugs such as opium, alcohol, and coffee. Organized in 2004, the ADHS is the successor to a society with a more limited scope, the Alcohol and...
- Gin in Victorian London
- Hayman's Old Tom Official site