Bombay Sapphire Gin

When I consider how much gin we get through in our house, Bombay Sapphire in particular, I always have to look back and smile as for years and years I never actually liked gin. I do remember my mum drinking gin and tonic occasionally when I was younger, and I always remember thinking that gin smelt like paint stripper, and that there was no way I was ever going to drink gin myself! Oh how wrong was I!

As I got older and started drinking alcohol myself I had a friend that always drank gin and tonic and she was forever trying to convert me into a gin drinker. We regularly used to go for one or two drinks after work, she always had gin and tonics, and I always had tia maria and diet cokes! One evening after a huge row with my boyfriend (now my husband, so the row can't have been all that bad!) we ended up going back to her apartment after the pub for a few more drinks to drown my sorrows. She didn't tell me til we got back there that the only thing she had in was gin! The gin was Bombay Sapphire though. She convinced me to try it, she mixed it with cranberry juice and lemonade and she said that I would like it. She was wrong, I absolutely loved it! I've been hooked on gin, and especially Bombay Sapphire ever since.

Bombay Sapphire is definately a premium gin, you can absolutely tell the difference between this and other gins, there's no comparison really. I do like other gins and will certainly drink them and not turn my nose up, but my preference would always be for Bombay Sapphire.
My absolutely favourite way to serve it is over lots of ice, with slimline tonic, and a chunky wedge of lime (never lemon). I'll take it with regular tonic and a slice of lemon if that's all there is, but slimline and lime is my favourite way to go. My second favourite way to go is a variation on that first gin that I had back in my friends apartment all those years ago; mixed with cranberry juice and slimline tonic, I do still like it mixed with cranberry and lemonade, but my preference is for cranberry and tonic.

So why is Bombay Sapphire so delicious - the flavour of the gin comes from '10 exotic botanicals'; almonds, grains of paradise, lemon peel, licquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia bark and cubeb berries. I can't say that you can taste any of these in particular (well I guess that I wouldn't know what they taste like anyway!), but I can say that for me Bombay Sapphire has a lighter, more citrussy taste than other gins, it is certainly a lot less bitter than a lot of other brands. It has a sweet yet spicy taste, and a very distinctive yet delicious flavour. It also has a very distinctive aroma, more citrussy and floral than other gins, not at all like the paint stripper gin that I remember my mum drinking!

Bombay Sapphire is more expensive than other brands of gin, but I feel that it is worth it, having said that though we do always wait til it's on offer before we buy it, or we buy it duty free.