It may be Monday morning and the thought of cracking a bottle of Tanqueray is quite possibly the furthest thing from your mind.
However, here at 5pm Dining Blog Towers (Queen Street’s answer to the gin palaces of the Victorian era), we reckon that you can never have enough gin news.
Gin queen
And for that reason, we will tell you about Gin, a new book from the Edinburgh-based gin queen Geraldine Coates.
The woman behind the Gintime website, Geraldine is an authority on all things juniper. Should you ever get the chance to attend one of her gin tastings then we advise you to seize it with both hands.
Geraldine has forgotten more about gin than most people will ever know but she wears her knowledge lightly and her book is an entertaining read rather than a dry dissection of this popular drink.
Gin history
Gin – a toast to the most aromatic of spirits is published by Carlton Books. The book celebrates every aspect of the spirit from its history to classic gin-based cocktails via tasting notes and even cooking recipes.
Few drinks can trace its history back more than half a millennium, but the Dutch genever (or jenever) is a clear predecessor of the modern gin distilled today and its history makes for fascinating reading.
The book show how gin’s popularity waxed and waned through the ages and looks at the type of people who drank gin along the way. It also reveals how the method of distillation has changed across the centuries.
Perfect G ‘n’ T
Naturally, it also has clear instructions on how to make the perfect G ‘n’ T – invaluable for anyone who wishes to make friends and influence people all over the world.
The book costs £10.99 and is available here.
It would make a wonderful Christmas present for the gin-lover in your life and, of course, it means you can tell your bar tender exactly where he went wrong when he presents you with a substandard G ‘n’ T.
Obviously, choose your bar tender carefully. We accept no responsibility for any damages which may arise should you choose to dole out some friendly advice.
(And if you missed it, take a look at our Scottish Ginfographic.)