Martin Duffy of the Scottish Bartenders Network discusses the evolving and highly lucrative gin sector – and offers expert insight into how to grow the category in your premises
You’ll be hard pushed to deny the rising popularity of gin. We’ve seen trends in various drinks categories over the last decades but what is going on in the juniper spirits world is something else all together.
Until the likes of Hendrick’s starting appearing on gantries across the country in the late 1990s, it would have been easy to assume that there were only a handful of gins available. Whether you stocked Gordon’s, Beefeater or one of the other mainstay brands you most likely would only offer a couple of choices with no derivations from the standard “ice and slice” serve.
Times have most certainly changed and whether you are in a country restaurant, city pub, or a five-star city hotel you are just as likely to stock a dozen-plus products with much more choice in accompanying mixers and garnish. Consumer interest is reaching fever pitch so how do you put your best foot forward and create an offering which works for you and your business?
How many gins are there? Where should you get them from? How do you even begin to choose when there are such huge lists and a new expression being marketed through trade magazines and your social media feeds what seems like every day?
The Menu: If you are starting to build a list from scratch then speak to your current spirits supplier and see what they stock – any good wholesaler these days will be wise to carry gins across a range of price points, allowing you to choose those which fall into the right bandwidth that in turn bring you the desired margin.
Gins on Offer: What style of products do you want to sell to your guests and what could be popular in your local area? There are so many established international gins but also new gin companies are popping up all over Scotland. The likelihood is you’ll find one based within an hour’s drive – even in remote parts of the country. So get chatting to them and find out what they do, where they do it and learn about their processes and interpretation of gin to see if it matches with your business. A couple of good relationships with brands you like can help in many more ways than you think.
Styles & Flavours
London Dry
So we all know London Dry, or do we? London Dry Gins are a recognised style of flavour profile and there are some rules governing production – none of those rules state where it has to be made and if you’ve ever been on a drive through Leven in Fife then you’ll understand. Diageo employs thousands of people from the area in the production and distribution of many of its key brands, including Tanqueray.
Navy
Usually around the 57% mark and the most recognised would, of course, be Plymouth Gin’s edition. You can easily spend an evening reading the history of Navy spirits and their consumption that covers much more than just gin.
Liqueurs
Usually berry-infused with sugars and made with a gin base spirit. Sloe and Mulberry gins have been the biggest over the years but now you’ll find a whole range of flavours. These are likely to be around the 20-25% mark although some may be bottles closer to spirit strength.
Pretty Much Everything Else
This is where it all gets very interesting. There are thousands of types of gin in the world and unless some incredible amount of coincidence occurred then no two will ever be exactly the same! The best analogy I can offer is to imagine you had challenged 1000 people to a curry cook-off, with the brief that they all had one core rule which was to use one common item which in this case is, of course, juniper. After that they could employ a multitude of techniques, include ingredients from anywhere in the world that would add a natural flavour, and present it however they please.
The G&T
Hopefully you agree that the classic Queen Vic serve of room-temperature gin from an optic, bottle of tonic from the shelf and a dried-out lemon slice, all served in a short or stemmed glass with a couple of cubes of ice (if you were lucky) is past. Science tells us that humans enjoy chilled and warm drinks more and the chilled side is certainly the preference for gin but hot gin punches are gaining huge interest in the winter months. Whether you go for an on-trend balloon glass, a classic highball or an elegant wine glass, pay attention to the whole serve beyond just picking a mixer and going with a brand’s recommended garnish.
- Glass
Make sure it’s always clean and cool and something that will hold at least 300ml.
- Ice
The proven strategy for keeping a drink chilled while also adding the least amount of dilution or “ice melt” will play with the rules of thermal dynamics.
- Ratio
How much gin to mixer? Very much a guest preference so best practise often to serve the mixer on the side as some may like as little as a one-to-three mix of 25ml gin to 75ml tonic while others will go at twice that amount of mixer.
- Mixers
Tonic, of course, is what the mind will always spring to when gin is mentioned and there are now vast choices there, too. Size of bottle will be important to you as much as brand choice and if you are serving it on the side then think about the price you’ll have to charge for that bottle and how far that will go in the guests eyes – will they be looking to share that bottle over more than one serve of gin or will it not stretch to more than just one? Other interesting mixers for gin are in abundance – whether something classic like the ginger ale you have been serving with whisky and rum for years or something new such as Bon Accord, for example, which makes a sparkling rhubarb that is delicious mixed with juniper-based spirits.
- Garnish
A key consideration when picking gins for the menu. A quick check of the website of a brand you are interested in stocking will tell you its recommended garnish. Some may be items you wouldn’t stock on the bar usually so would you sell enough to warrant being at risk of waste? Is there something you can use that your chef may stock or do you want to go ahead and stock the gin anyway and offer a different serve? Try using your own palate to see if a gin has floral, spicy, herbal or citrus notes and make your own decision on what you think would be best. Be confident and choose to offer something that will complement the taste of the gin mixed with tonic – it could be a freshly-cut slice of lemon or a spring of rosemary, a blueberry or a crack of black pepper.
- Straw
Drop plastic and either suggest that no straw is best or offer a biodegradable substitute. Many serves, with fresh garnish and a nice aroma, are better drunk from the glass whereas if you’ve got a big bunch of rosemary it may poke your guest in the eye!
Cocktails
Depending on the level of experience you and the team have you may be capable of running a list of 30-plus options or only desire to have a set five. There are then a million-and-one combinations of ingredients, ratios, serves, garnishes and names. The classics which are understood right across the bar world internationally are so because of their simple execution with a fairly accessible make-up. This, of course, leads to invention and many of the styles of drinks you will see served will be a nod to one of these adaptable cocktails.
Here are a few of them:
White Lady: The simplest way to remember what goes into it is to think of it as a cousin of the Margarita – spirit, citrus, orange liqueur, sweetness added as necessary. Gin, fresh lemon, Triple Sec, sugar syrup will be the core but in each element you can direct profile of gin, choice of citrus and amount used, liqueur can be changed to a totally different flavour, sweetness levels controlled and the flavour of syrup vast.
Martini: Stirred down and served up. The Gin Martini in question here is usually around one part Vermouth to five parts gin but that ratio and the choice of fortified wine used will also impact. Simplest way to understand what you are aiming for is a full-flavoured drink with all elements in balance that is served at a crisp temperature and, if garnished, make sure it’s done suitably.
Negroni: Bitter, sweet, gin. Equal parts of a bitter liqueur, gin and sweet fortified wine. Campari has the right to claim the throne for the choice of bitter and rightfully so – in huge part made the drink so popular and have been tied with it since its inception but there are others. Gin of choice and flavour profile will impact the drink and then a sweet Vermouth as the last part.
Gin Fizz: Like the White Lady but instead of being served short you would pour long over ice with a sparkling mixer. The same number of variations as the White Lady apply as well as the mixer itself, sparkling water will soften and lengthen as will something like ginger ale albeit with its added flavour.