The Sweet Side of Dry - Sloane’s Dry Gin

By Martin Pilkington

Though Hayman’s not so long back went against the trend – and good on them for having the courage - and launched an Old Tom variety, most bottles of mother’s ruin sold today have the word dry on the label. Even those like Sloane’s Dry Gin from the innovative Toorank Company. Dry it isn’t. Excellent it is.
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Sloane’s is creamy, definitely to the sweet side of dry, and full of flavour, obviously juniper to the fore, with enough vanilla to make you think of American Cream Soda of youthful days, but only briefly as the citrus fruits in there – lemon and orange – stand up for themselves and for adulthood. It has a nice weight in the mouth too.

Intriguingly each botanical (coriander, cardamom, and angelica some of the others included) is said to be steeped and distilled individually, then the flavours ‘married’ by a blender after they have rested for a month or so (the flavours not the blender), a touch of the whisky mystique here.

For a multitude of reasons dry gins conquered the world’s bars and shops generations ago, only a few pockets of resistance remaining in the Low Countries. And you need a dry gin for a good gin and tonic, which should be sharp. Sloane’s would be better served ice-cold straight from the fridge neat, or in a Tom Collins where the sweetness balances the lemon. Likewise a Gimlet to stand up to the Rose’s.

Why should all gins be of the same style? I am happy to have a bottle of Sloane’s in the cupboard to make certain cocktails when fancied, especially long summery concoctions, but won’t use it for G&T again. And I hope mixologists (not my favourite word) will be glad to keep a bottle handy for the sweetness it brings to the party – its rather quirky shape won’t harm those sales either.