Old Git Gin
As someone who is in their seventieth year and growing more cantankerous and curmudgeonly by the day, I was drawn to Old Git Gin when I was surfing the pages of Drinkfinder UK’s website on the look out for new gins for my cabinet. A striking name for a spirit is one way to grab attention in the crowded marketplace spawned by the ginaissance, but it is a ploy that can be double-edged. Go too far and it runs the risk of consigning the spirit into the category of gimmicky and just playing for the laughs rather than being a serious player in the gin scene.
Perhaps that is why the distillers through their marketeers go to great lengths in their blurb to give some context to their choice of name, presenting a gin that will convince even the staunchest curmudgeon who thinks that the nation’s favourite spirit “isn’t made like it used to be” that they are wrong. So Old Git is used in the sense that the drink is one which is made as it should be, a welcome return to the gins of our forefathers.
It is a rather deep and somewhat unconvincing line of argument, the immediate impact of the name being one of amusement leading to a wry smile rather than a reflection on the way things are. I am sure that the marketeers see it as an impulse buy to give to the old man in your life as a novelty present. That might also be the reason behind its competitive price, albeit for a 50cl bottle.
There is also an air of mystery as to the brains behind the gin. The bottle says that it is “distilled by one of the UK’s Master Distillers” without disclosing their identity, the only clue being at the bottom of the rear label which says it “is distilled and bottled by In Vino Ltd”, who seem to be based in Cheadle Point in Cheshire. That said, on some sites on the internet there is a reference to East Sussex.
At least there is clarity as to what goes into the spirit and how it is made. The label on the rear of the bottle informs us that the botanicals are juniper, citrus peel, cardamom, and summer berries, double distilled “with passion” in 200 litre copper alembic stills to produce “a generous gin…packed with exotic botanicals for a gloriously full flavour”. The base spirit is made from English sugar-beet.
My concerns that this might just be a novelty gin were immediately dispelled when I removed the cork and was greeted by a heady aroma of juniper and citrus. Clear in the glass this is a spirit that is not ashamed to give juniper its head, combining well with the citric elements and summer berries to produce a refreshingly smooth, dry drink with a notably cardamom-full finish. With an ABV of 41% it packs a punch without being overly powerful and is tasty enough to make a second glass difficult to resist.
The bottle itself is made of clear glass, circular, tall (for a 50cl bottle) and slim, rounded shoulders leading to a longish neck topped off with a black cap and an artificial stopper. Think of a slimmed down version of Portobello Road No 171. The main feature on the front label of the bottle is a cartoon of the eponymous old git, with a walrus moustache and a drinker’s nose, a man undoubtedly of fixed views and has nosed his way around a myriad gins and other spirits in his long and colourful lifetime.
For aficionados of London Dry Gin pared down to its essential traditional components, this is “made just as it should be”.
Until the next time, cheers!
