Gin sense

[Go2]

What is the strongest gin available in the market? I picked up a litre of Gordon's at Bejing airport and I was quite surprised when the label said it was 47% proof. The ones I buy in the local market are 37%. How come the difference?

Is this due to asians preferring the liquor to be really strong? (I've heard such rumors, especially about koreans...)

What is your gin experience?

[defanjos]

In the US you can buy Beefeater and Bombay Sapphire - they are both 47% alchool. They make a nice, stiff, gin tonic - one of my favorite summer drinks.

[Go2]

They make a nice, stiff, gin tonic - one of my favorite summer drinks.

You've got that right! Thanks a bunch Defanjos.

[Go2]

Hey, I forgot to ask, what is your favorite gin spice:
a) lemon, or
b) lime

[Macguru]

>>I was quite surprised when the label said it was 47% proof.

<nitpicking>
I would be quite surprised too, because there is no such thing as 47 % proof liquors on earth. The alcoholic content in a beverage is determined relative to its proof, which is twice the alcohol content. For example, a glass of 80 proof gin would be 40 percent alcohol. A drink that is 40 percent alcohol would be 80 proof.
</nitpicking>

So I guess the guy who wrote that label enjoyed too much gin before he wrote it.

[Woz]

>Is this due to asians preferring the liquor to be really strong?

Some of the Chinese spirits are quite strong, MauTai in particular is 52% alchohol, hence the nickname "Rocket Fuel" or "Fire Water". Quite an aquired taste and takes more than a few sips to get used to.

Onya
Woz

[martinibuster]

I used to date a young lady whose drink of choice was Wild Turkey 101 (101 proof). 5 foot one, and around 100 pounds. She put those back the way most men put back beers. A lovely woman.

I'm not a gin man, but I'll drink Bombay Sapphire any time. In a martini, in a gin & tonic, and in a Gimlet.

(I prefer Vodka in my martini, though).

[Essex_boy]

G & T! Takes me back some years... While a student in Cambridge it was considered the in thing to drink G& T while punting on the backs, or playing croquet in the gardens of Newnham.

I cant stand the stuff, and would routinely refuse to get in to a punt with any drinking that or Pims. Marked me out a bit of a freak really but hey!

Truly foul.

[mivox]

Quite an aquired taste and takes more than a few sips to get used to.

Seems like if you took more than a few sips, you'd be getting used to the floor... hehe

Wild Turkey 101

I've got a friend who drinks that as well. But if she puts them back like I do beers, you can definitely tell the difference at the end of the night. ;-)

[vkaryl]

Wild Turkey liqueur is even heavier duty.... and yes, I put them back that way too.... along with tequila shooters.

I think I've heard that WT 101 is the highest-proof legit alcohol you can get open-market in the states. Everclear is actually still available (off-market!), and is about 140 I think. I've never been into that though. Flavor/after-taste IS important, more so than kick.

(I'm positive that flavor wasn't as important to me 40 years ago....)

[martinibuster]

I think I've heard that WT 101 is the highest-proof legit alcohol you can get open-market in the states.

I think that dubious honor may belong to Bacardi 151 (151 proof, 75% alcohol).

In terms of alcohol content, it's the GG Allin of over the counter booze.

[lawman]

Way back when I was even dumber than now, we used to make hunch punch - kool aid and 180 proof Golden Grain. Don't know if it's still available or not. Even if it is, my brain couldn't take it.

<added> Found Everclear [beerliquors.com] at 190 proof. </added>

[Lilliabeth]

When I was much younger we thought it was cool to have Purple Passion Parties. Everybody brought something non-alcoholic to drink and we mixed in Everclear. It always came out purple. Yuck!

[trillianjedi]

G & T! Takes me back some years... While a student in Cambridge it was considered the in thing to drink G& T while punting on the backs, or playing croquet in the gardens of Newnham.

You really don't sound much like an Essex_Boy!

TJ

[mivox]

Everclear is actually still available (off-market!), and is about 140 I think.

They have everclear on the shelves here... it may be a state-by-state regulation.

And, as someone else mentioned, there is Bacardi 151. It has a fire-supressor on the bottle, and a bunch of warnings on the label about pouring it near sources of spark and open flame. Yee gods. That's just not meant for human consumption, no matter what the manufacturer thinks.

[lorax]

>> favorite gin spice:

A single green olive without pimento. Other than that - don't pollute my gin.

[vkaryl]

Hey mivox....

Not sure where "here" is for you, but I can guarantee you that it's not on the shelves in Utah. Now Nevada still has it available.

Not in Arkansas's dry counties though.

[Quasi-apocryphal tale: my mother's cousins supposedly "invented" what is now known as EverClear in the prohib days when the only fun in Little Rock was found at the dog track - and the "underground" where there was gambling, drinking, broads, drinking, etc etc. I wouldn't want to make book on it - but then again....]

[lawman]

Mivox is an Alaska gal.

[mivox]

Yep, good ol' Alaska -- The Last Frontier.... and the "Last Frontier" wouldn't be much of a frontier without industrial chemicals on the liquor store shelves!

invented EverClear

From what little I know about distilling, almost anyone could have invented that stuff. Just keep distilling whatever you started with until all the flavor has been replaced by alcohol. ;)