Bombay Sapphire
London Dry
- Bombay Sapphire Distillery
- Laverstoke Mill in Hampshire England
- 47% ABV
- London Dry
- 1000 ml
- Moroccan cubeb berries, West African Grains of Paradise
Classic dryBitter / root
A London Dry at 47%, so juniper leads: piny, resinous, clean. Dry citrus peel and a peppery coriander-seed lift follow, with the warmth you'd expect from the extra strength. The finish is crisp and bitter-edged rather than sweet. Bombay Sapphire drinks bolder neat than the standard bottling.
Serve
1:2 — the 47% carries the longer pour
Garnish — Lemon peel twist
Cocktails
Martini
Cold, dry and close to neat spirit — the vermouth adds weight and a faint bitterness rather than much flavour of its own. The gin has nowhere to hide: juniper needs backbone here, and any softness in the botanicals shows up whole. Lemon oil sharpens the first sip and keeps it from going flat.
Bombay Sapphire's London Dry juniper backbone and 47% strength hold their shape against vermouth and dilution.
Negroni
Bitter first, then sweet: Campari's rind-and-root edge held up by the vermouth's dark, herbal sugar. The gin has to push through both, so juniper and a firm backbone read clearly where softer florals get buried. Stirred over ice, it drinks cold and slow, the orange peel lifting the bitterness.
Grains of Paradise and cubeb pepper meet Campari's rind-and-root bitterness on its own terms, and the 47% keeps the juniper legible through the vermouth's sugar.
Gin & Tonic
Long, dry and bitter-edged, the tonic's quinine pulling against the gin's botanicals while the lime wedge sharpens both. Refreshing rather than contemplative. The gin has to hold its shape against all that dilution: juniper and citrus carry through, where delicate florals tend to vanish.
The extra strength survives a long pour of quinine, and this bottling's dry citrus peel and bitter-edged finish push the tonic drier still rather than sweetening it.
