Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    edited January 2022
    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    ballysmate said:

    Why does alcohol free Gordon's gin cost 14 notes and the proper 37% stuff cost 13 notes? After all, the biggest chunk of the price ticket is duty.

    If there is a point to alcohol free gin, please let me know.
    A non sweet 'soft drink' for drivers / pregnant / teetotals. When I am driving I get bloody sick of lemonade. Usually a tonic and bitters.

    The problem with alcohol free, is they don't have that 'aaaaaah' factor (think like the strongbow adverts). Can't put my finger on why not, they just dont!
    So no point then?
    Booze free gin is an outstanding present for someone who is pregnant, especially if they like their G&Ts etc.
    _
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    rick_chasey said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    ballysmate said:

    Why does alcohol free Gordon's gin cost 14 notes and the proper 37% stuff cost 13 notes? After all, the biggest chunk of the price ticket is duty.

    If there is a point to alcohol free gin, please let me know.
    A non sweet 'soft drink' for drivers / pregnant / teetotals. When I am driving I get bloody sick of lemonade. Usually a tonic and bitters.

    The problem with alcohol free, is they don't have that 'aaaaaah' factor (think like the strongbow adverts). Can't put my finger on why not, they just dont!
    So no point then?
    Booze free gin is an outstanding present for someone who is pregnant, especially if they like their G&Ts etc.
    Seems akin to vegetarian steak to me.

    In answer to the original question, it is because they put the alcohol in the normal way, then take it out again, so there's an extra process (reverse osmosis) involved.

    Totally agree is lacks the intangible ahh. Probably its just tangible. Ahhhlcohol.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 16,017
    The duty on a bottle of 37%gin is £7.54.
    Alcohol free attracts no duty.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
    Sorry I meant more like your herbs and flavourings. Like a bouquet garni...
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    edited January 2022
    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
    Sorry I meant more like your herbs and flavourings. Like a bouquet garni...
    Sure, but you need to get the flavours into solution.

    You could boil them in water, but that'd be cold tea. And different flavours.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    ballysmate said:

    The duty on a bottle of 37%gin is £7.54.
    Alcohol free attracts no duty.

    Not sure on the reverse osmosis production costs. But there is less of an economy of scale to consider. As well as some profiteering.
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 16,017
    Non alcohol wine and beer is cheaper than the proper stuff
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
    Sorry I meant more like your herbs and flavourings. Like a bouquet garni...
    Sure, but you need to get the flavours into solution.

    You could boil them in water, but that'd be cold tea. And different flavours.
    Gotcha. Either way, making normal gin is pretty straightforward so I've heard, and the price is astronomical for what it is. Craft gin is a great swindle
  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 8,193
    Nobody should be drinking Gin in the morning!
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,628
    focuszing723 said:

    Nobody should be drinking Gin in the morning!

    Quite right!
    It should be Bloody Marys.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Tashman
    Tashman Posts: 3,499
    I recently found a nice alcohol free beer in a Brighton restaurant as I was driving but really fancied a beer. It was from Brutal brewing - A ship full of IPA. Swedish apparently and still delivered the full flavour of a "proper" beer
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
    Sorry I meant more like your herbs and flavourings. Like a bouquet garni...
    Sure, but you need to get the flavours into solution.

    You could boil them in water, but that'd be cold tea. And different flavours.
    Gotcha. Either way, making normal gin is pretty straightforward so I've heard, and the price is astronomical for what it is. Craft gin is a great swindle
    Totally. Went through a spell of getting whatever local gin was being sold in places we visited. Arisaig gin, Dartmoor gin, Jura gin. Then realised that mostly they were dreadful. When you start reading the label you realise why. Just because it is a weed that grows locally, it doesn't automatically mean you should soak it in alcohol and then drink it.

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    edited January 2022
    So I'm a bit of a cocktail nerd and do have a penchant for a decent Martini (now I am well aware it is as much about the vermouth but that aside), and as per there are gins and gins. I've gone through a lot of weird gins bought by various people for me as presents etc.

    It's worthwhile not going too bespoke as the classics are those for a reason.

    Tanqueray no 10 is really unrivalled.

    Hendricks is great if you like it more refreshing and summery > though it's a particular taste.

    And if you want a clean classic gin either beefeater (yes, really), Martin Miller or my personal favourite City of London no.5
    _
  • hamish_mctavish
    hamish_mctavish Posts: 142
    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Except making gin is a very straightforward process of distilling your alcohol then adding your aromatics.

    When its alcohol free, it's just aromatics, isn't it?

    How do you get the aromatics? Answer, use a solvent. Such as alcohol.
    Sorry I meant more like your herbs and flavourings. Like a bouquet garni...
    Sure, but you need to get the flavours into solution.

    You could boil them in water, but that'd be cold tea. And different flavours.
    Gotcha. Either way, making normal gin is pretty straightforward so I've heard, and the price is astronomical for what it is. Craft gin is a great swindle
    As with many things, it's a bit more complicated than that. if you go down the cheap route and buy your base spirit from a commercial distiller, get a concentrate made to your specification which is mixed with the base to turn it into gin then it can be very cheap - the packaging is often more expensive than the liquid.

    If you go down the "true" craft route where you are sourcing your own botanicals and distilling using your own equipment in small batches, then it can get much more expensive (but not necessarily tastier). However, there is no legal definition of "craft" so you have no way of knowing whether you are getting an off-the-peg gin or a bespoke version.

    Having said that, he only reason that Gordon's are charging so much for their non-alcoholic gin is because they can. The cost of production should not be much more than the cost of their alcoholic gin. As previously mentioned, the cost of duty for a 37.5% gin is £7.54. Add in the VAT on the duty and you are up to £9.05 so the ex-duty shelf price of a bottle of alcoholic Gordons is less than £4.00.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    rick_chasey said:

    So I'm a bit of a cocktail nerd and do have a penchant for a decent Martini (now I am well aware it is as much about the vermouth but that aside), and as per there are gins and gins. I've gone through a lot of weird gins bought by various people for me as presents etc.

    It's worthwhile not going too bespoke as the classics are those for a reason.

    Tanqueray no 10 is really unrivalled.

    Hendricks is great if you like it more refreshing and summery > though it's a particular taste.

    And if you want a clean classic gin either beefeater (yes, really), Martin Miller or my personal favourite City of London no.5

    Tanqueray. Meh.

    Monkey 47. Cabraboc. Now those are gins.
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,845
    Had a couple of bottles of Adnam's Ghost Ship last night. 0.5% so not totally alcohol free. Definitely one of the better no/low alcohol beers I've tried.
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 20,971
    mrb123 said:

    Had a couple of bottles of Adnam's Ghost Ship last night. 0.5% so not totally alcohol free. Definitely one of the better no/low alcohol beers I've tried.

    Low Tide isn't terrible, ditto Erdinger, and Leffe 0%, if chilled, is very passable. I'd rather drink proper beers, but seems they don't agree with a post-concussion-syndrome brain :(
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    I like Tanqueray 10, Hendricks doesn't do it for me.
    A friend owns Elephant Gin which is very good.
    A neighbour of my in-laws set up AFG (Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin, or Another F*****g Gin) which is really, really good.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    shirley_basso said:

    I like Tanqueray 10, Hendricks doesn't do it for me.
    A friend owns Elephant Gin which is very good.
    A neighbour of my in-laws set up AFG (Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin, or Another F*****g Gin) which is really, really good.

    It isn't that really stripped down gin that tastes of lab alcohol is it?

    I know aberdonians are hard and all that, but surely some have tastebuds?
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,190
    Can anyone tell the difference once you’ve stuck the tonic and crap in it?
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,190
    ^i quite like them neat
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    First.Aspect said:

    shirley_basso said:

    I like Tanqueray 10, Hendricks doesn't do it for me.
    A friend owns Elephant Gin which is very good.
    A neighbour of my in-laws set up AFG (Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin, or Another F*****g Gin) which is really, really good.

    It isn't that really stripped down gin that tastes of lab alcohol is it?

    I know aberdonians are hard and all that, but surely some have tastebuds?
    no its v good
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,845
    briantrumpet said:

    mrb123 said:

    Had a couple of bottles of Adnam's Ghost Ship last night. 0.5% so not totally alcohol free. Definitely one of the better no/low alcohol beers I've tried.

    Low Tide isn't terrible, ditto Erdinger, and Leffe 0%, if chilled, is very passable. I'd rather drink proper beers, but seems they don't agree with a post-concussion-syndrome brain :(
    I find the Erdinger a bit sweet. The alcohol free Guinness is supposed to be decent but haven't got round to trying it yet.

  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,845
    Mad_Malx said:

    Can anyone tell the difference once you’ve stuck the tonic and censored in it?

    Mrs B likes that Mediterranean tonic which is quite strongly flavoured in itself. I always get her to guess which gin I've used and her success level is more or less what one would expect from random guesses.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    Mad_Malx said:

    Can anyone tell the difference once you’ve stuck the tonic and censored in it?

    You are clearly drinking the wrong Gin.

    Or you've had too much of the fruit punch at the lab Xmas parties over the years and killed your tongue.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Aside from tonic, out of curiousity, what do you put in your G&Ts?

    Hendricks was meant to be a cucumber
    Elephant the maker says apple
    AFG above I put a sprig of rosemary
    Hendrics - lemon
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,845
    shirley_basso said:

    Aside from tonic, out of curiousity, what do you put in your G&Ts?

    Gin

  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,499
    shirley_basso said:

    Aside from tonic, out of curiousity, what do you put in your G&Ts?

    Hendricks was meant to be a cucumber
    Elephant the maker says apple
    AFG above I put a sprig of rosemary
    Hendrics - lemon

    Lime. Mainly because gin shouldn't taste of flowers or vegetables, shouldn't be complimented by vegetables and so I don't drink any that does.

    Occasionally, apple or berries are acceptable. But if you do this too often you are a pervert.

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