Oh, it’s gin, gin, gin, that makes you want to sin

I am not a whiskey man.

I know, a lot of people are shocked over that.  “But … but … a fine Scotch?  A lovely single-barrel Bourbon?  Some lovely Irish?  A bit of Canadian?

Nope. Just don’t enjoy it.  I’ll tolerate Irish or Canadian, or a very, very pale Scotch. But just tolerate it.  And in the case of Scotch, it can actually disagree with me. Badly.

Now I enjoy tropical drinks, so with mixers I enjoy rum (or cachaça) or even tequila drinks.

But when it comes to ordering a cocktail at a bar, I tend to go with gin. Some folks can’t stand the taste, but I actually kind of like it.

My standard “order a drink at the bar” is a gin martini, very dry, with a twist.  (Not a big fan of olives, either.)  When mixing, I go for what I call a “Tom Lehrer martini” — “six parts gin to one part vermouth” — though in reality I tend to go even further (maybe more of a small splash, but more than an atomizer’s worth, because drinking gin alone is vulgar).  If asked, I’ll go for Bombay Sapphire, but I’m not overly picky on that part.

Sometimes, if a martini seems a bit much, or I’m concerned over being over-vermouthed, or I don’t want a martini glass (one of the goofier inventions of all time), I’ll order a G&T.  It’s an idiosyncratic drink — the odd flavors of gin and of tonic water together.  But refreshing. But still a little odd.

(A lot of gin drinks are refreshing. The Brits invented a lot of them, because they were in very non-British places and seriously needed something to counteract the climate.  The Brits love their gin, but it was invented by the Dutch as a more transportable alcoholic good than wine or beer.)

So why bring this up now?

In reading a book from the 40s or so, I ran across mentions of two drinks that intrigued me for future trying out.  (Interestingly, not invented by the Brits.)  And here they are, through the Wonders of the Internet.

Gin Rickey

• juice of ½ lime (½ ounce, 1 tbsp)
• 2 ounces gin
• club soda

Pour juice and gin over ice in a Collins glass, fill with club soda, toss in the lime rind. (Wikipedia on Rickey drinks in general)

Gin Buck

• juice of ½ lemon (¾ ounce, 1½ tbsp)
• 1½ ounce gin
• ginger ale

Same plan as the Rickey, only with lemon and ginger ale. (A true aficionado might consider this method of crafting their Gin Buck, but I’m too lazy. Some recipes out there, e.g., call for ginger beer instead of ginger ale, or 2 oz. of gin, or even using a lime in this one, too.)

(Note that, depending on the site you ask the question, a lime supposedly creates 2 tbsp or 1 oz.; a lemon creates 3 tbsp or 1½ oz.)

So I’m making a note of these so that I can try them out next time I’m at a bar and the subject of cocktails comes up. Though, to be fair, I could actually try them out at home.

Hmmmm ..