4bartenders.com (for bartenders, those who want to be and other scoundrels)
If you're ever sitting at the bar and you happen to look up and explore the arsenal of spirits just a few feet from you, a neon blue-like bottle might just catch your eye. That bottle is probably Bombay Sapphire gin and is a brand of gin distributed by Bacardi, launched in 1987. Now, who would have imagined that a top shelf gin like Bombay Sapphire is directly related to Bacardi, a world known distiller of rum?.
Bombay Sapphire was named via a competitive process whereby a number of leading Madison Avenue agencies were played off against each other. The name hints at the origins of the gin's popularity in the India of the days of the British Raj and the sapphire in question is the Star of Bombay on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Bombay Sapphire is marketed in a flat-sided, sapphire-coloured bottle that bears a likeness of Queen Victoria on the label.
The flavouring of the drink comes from a recipe of ten ingredients: almond, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb, and grains of paradise. The spirit is triple distilled using a carterhead still, and the alcohol vapours are passed through a mesh/basket containing the ten botanicals, in order to gain flavour and aroma. This gives a lighter, more floral gin rather than the more-common 'punchy' gins that are distilled using a copper pot still. Water from Lake Vyrnwy is added to bring the strength of Bombay Sapphire down to 40.0% (UK).
Tasting Notes:
Bombay Sapphire opens with a touch of juniper, a ripe citrus and hints of spice in the fragrance. The palate is exceptionally smooth and allows the botanicals to open up one by one and mix in the most lovely way with juniper slightly at the forefront. The finish is bolder but retains the spirit's brightness.
...if you're ever tired of your ol' gin & tonics, give Bombay Sapphire a try to spice things up a notch!
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