Hayman's Old Tom Gin

Hayman's Old Tom is the reason the Martinez exists again. Old Tom was the dominant London gin of the 1800s — lightly sweetened, botanically rich, the bridge between malty Dutch genever and the London Dry that eventually replaced it — and the gin every pre-Prohibition cocktail book meant when it said "gin." By the 20th century it had all but vanished. In 2007, at the urging of bartenders reviving those old recipes, the Hayman family — England's longest-serving gin distillers, descended from Beefeater founder James Burrough — dug an 1860s recipe out of the family archive and relaunched it, effectively resurrecting the category. The recipe uses the same ten botanicals as every Hayman's gin, steeped a full 24 hours and distilled in copper pot stills at the family distillery in Balham, but with greater botanical intensity and a touch of sugar added after distillation, bottled at 41.4% ABV. Difford's found clean, piney juniper and orange zest with licorice, black tea, and herbal spice, then a juniper-led, very slightly sweet palate — brilliantly balanced, with just enough sugar to be soft and silky rather than obviously sweet. The Gin Is In: creamy and unctuous, citrus oils and mild sweetness giving way to juniper custard, baking spice, and chewy licorice root — custom-designed for the bar. Spirits Review: a must-have, and necessary for a lot of classic drinks. The Martinez, the Tom Collins with less sugar, the Ramos Gin Fizz, the French 75. The gin history forgot, brought back.

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