Back in September I wrote about Brockmans Gin, the newest spirit about to be loosed upon the bar and club scene in the UK.
I have yet to try it, since it's generally available only in the UK, but I found that a commentary from the editors of CLASS magazine, dedicated to bar culture, caught my attention more than any bottle would.
They wrote:
“In the last issue of CLASS magazine we made a decision based entirely on good will -- someone obviously caught Simon [editor Simon Difford] soon after his 4 p.m. refreshing beer. As a favour to a then-unheard-of gin company we ran a page of advertising for free as they had already paid the previous publisher. We had just got our baby back and we were feeling charitable.
"Since running the advertisement, we have had the misfortune to taste their ‘gin’ and our notes are as follows:
"The producers of Brockmans take a traditional distillate made by distilling neutral spirits with fairly classic botanicals and then (in our opinion) ruin it by cold compounding a berry essence. The result is a spirit that smells more reminiscent of boiled sweets than gin. As for the palate, if you were tasting Brockmans we very much doubt you would mistake it for a gin. Why did they add that fruit essence but not a simple apostrophe? We consider it shameful to the wider gin category to label this a gin, let alone a 'premium gin.'
"We won’t be accepting this brand’s advertisements at any price. Brockmans is barred from CLASS.”
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4 comments:
I've tried it David and I have to agree with CLASS. This drink is quite ridiculous - for a start it is not a gin. It is a flavoured alcohol and one that my friend commented "Tastes like a packet of All Sorts that has gone off". As a big fan of gin I'd bet that anyone out there like me would also have this appalling creation removed from the gin category.
On the contrary, I completely disagree David. As a gin drinker I really like brockmans- yes, it's different, but definitely still gin and the negative things I have read come down to snobbery if you ask me.
The article looks like smoke and mirrors to me, if you read between the lines, just looks like somebody p***ed this guy off. Is it not slander?
I am with the negatives on this. It is NOT gin, it is a flavoured essence added to alcohol. The flavour is pointless and overbearing and the smell is just disgusting. Whatever nitwit came up with this must have half a tastebud. Well done CLASS for not pandering to marketing bullshit.
I think the comment of 6th October must be from a Brockmans employee. "Slander" - oh, for goodness sakes.
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