Interesting. I'm not a huge Gin drinker, but the two that I like the most is Bombay Sapphire as you noted, and my favorite is Tanqueray #10 and I love Martinis with #10.
A lot of people drink Martini's with Vodka, but for me that's a no-no. (I don't even consider a Martini a Martini if you put Vodka in it) You've got to have Gin and it cannot be crappy Gin. It has to be a good Gin. (Sapphire or #10)
I also like Bombay, Sprite, and oddly enough. The non-fresh bottled Lime Juice.
Not this exact brand, but they come in the non-see through little green bottles. Most other drinks I prefer fresh lime, but in this concoction, I like this reconstituted lime juice. The flavor just seems to blend better for for this purpose. No idea, but that is the way I prefer it.
Gin is the most polarizing of all the spirits but it really has the properties of balancing a cocktail when used properly. I make a Rickey but the secret is balancing the gin, lime juice and Topo Chico just right to achieve balance and the same goes for a Tom Collins, the gin becomes the balance of the flavor and neither rum nor vodka can really achieve that. However, gin can ruin a cocktail for some people. I also like rum quite a bit.
The cardinal rule I have with cocktails is measure, measure, measure and I never free pour, even on an on the rocks cocktail, I always measure. Allows me to monitor my cocktail intake as well as duplicate the flavor profile I am seeking in my cocktail.
I am not a flavor drinker only, I do seek the feeling the right level of alcohol can achieve but I am very fussy about managing that and being in control of it. I also realize alcohol does not make me prettier, richer or smarter but it does make me happier.
My doc asked me "do you need alcohol"? I thought about that for a minute and replied "to live? No. To be happy? Yes". I told him all of the crap you people prescribe to help with clinical depression and the losses in life are a hell of a lot worse than my own control of my mood leveler. He's a doc, can't agree with me but as a man, I have no doubt he gets it.
I do not know how many years I have left but I'd prefer not to spend them denying myself those that things that bring me joy in order to buy more time in a joy challenged life. When I tell my doc CC's Code of Living, he has a really hard time arguing it. Ang his young PA loves it. He knows that part of the discussion in coming every 6 months, mainly because that is required for Medicare patients because Older Adult Onset Alcohol Abuse is a real thing. I made that up and told him he should try using that acronym after a couple of tinis and he got a kick out of that but he said that is real and especially real in an area filled with retirees.
It is so simple to me Sam, and people need to realize it when dealing with people that have crossed that 70 barrier. First off, I never thought I'd be here at 70. The idea of denying myself anything that brings pleasure be that food, drink or Old Widder Wimmen Asian Porn, OWWAP, to extend my existence any longer without that which does bring me pleasure doesn't compute. Deny yourself to extend yourself at this age? Why? If I am a young man with a family to take care of that is entirely different but I have become one of the expendables.
Hey daschoo, you come in here disrespecting our Beer Thread devotees, this is what happens. Your thread gets jacked and they might be a gangly lot with a few marbles rolling about in their noggins, but they're our gangly lot. And when they come to and sober up, they'll be a comin' fer ye.
