The Straight Up Features :
Bombay's Sapphire London Dry Gin

I'm hoping, eventually, to use the straight up as a method of introducing relatively obscure alcohols to the general public, and the time may come when I actively pass over reviewing some of the alcohols which everyone already knows about in order to further this. With that in mind, I originally planned to forego writing a review on Bombay Sapphire. But then I started running into dozens of people who'd never heard of it, so I figured, what the hell. It's an easy review to write, anyway. Won't take but a second.

Most people I know like gin. Sure, there are a few hold outs, people who think it tastes like watered down Pine Sol and the like, but in general the drinking population enjoys the flavor and smoothness of the drink. The rugged individualists will happily toy about with any of the ten million versions of the martini floating around and everyone else will have the local expert whip up a batch of nice gin and tonics and everyone's happy. Gin's flavor, however, is often so distinct and potent that I don't believe many people bother shopping too hard for a really good one. It's kind of like buying sugar at the store. You look at the different brands and think to yourself 'it's all the same damned sugar'. Once you've given one of these lazy drinkers a few sips of Bombay Sapphire, however, you stand the risk of causing that person to suffer a life long addiction in which they lug a .750 of the stuff about with them wherever they travel. I know several people, I swear to god, who are like this now. If they go to a party, you can be certain that at least a .350 of Bombay comes with them. Over a hundred dollars a month goes to the habit, which surely rivals many mild nicotine addictions.

Credit for the invention of gin generally goes Franciscus de la Boe, a Dutch professor of medicine in the 16th century, who originally used it for medicinal purposes, and created the flavor to make it more palatable (big surprise there to everyone who thinks gin tastes like cough syrup). The English quickly picked up on the trend, and hauled it back to the British Isles where it quickly jumped industries from medical to entertainment.

Gin is essentially vodka that has then been flavoured with a variety of powerful ingredients, the most obvious and traditional being the juniper berry. Sapphire is a dry london gin. The dry basically means that its pure grain alcohol, not using sugars or molasses (as opposed to sweet gin). I'm still trying to determine what distinguishes a london gin. Information on the web about gin was scattered, sparse and often conflicting (big surprise to everyone who things that information on the web tastes like cough syrup)

Bombay Sapphire has an interesting process of instilling the flavor of its 'botanicals' (why the fuck can't they just call them plants?) into the gin. Apparently they evaporate the alcohol and then infuse the aroma while it is in a vapor state. They then re-condense the alcohol and bottle it, flavor and all. They also boast an ingredient list of ten different 'botanicals' which you can see in all their glory here.

This process creates, in my opinion, a quite distinguishable flavor. Bombay Sapphire is like really well done classical music. Each flavor lends to the overall performance, but they have been blended together so smoothly that it becomes difficult to distinguish one from another. The gin is almost absurdly palatable, and presents no threat to the over-sensitive. Like I said, just about everyone is going to like it unless they just loathe all things piney. Many will probably make it part of the grocery staples, a must have for the household to operate smoothly.

Key facts about Bombay Sapphire :

Alcohol Content : 47%. Isn't that nice? Pleasant yet potent.

Price (.750) : $20-28. You know, it doesn't seem that expensive when I look at it objectively, but you'll go through it pretty quickly. Expect Bombay Sapphire to become a pretty big hole in your pocket if you're serious about imbibing at all.

Notes : Bombay is just the best on ice. Add a little lime if you must, although with ten 'botanicals' you hardly need to be adding much more flavor to it.

Final Standing : Completely Pissed.