Gin Tankage?

[Sailor647]

Sailors are a self-sufficient bunch.

Medical kit - check.
Fishing capabilities - check.
Water maker - check.

Spirit making - check.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-S_2YvCoeg

Eliminates most, if not all, of the hassles mentioned previously.

Cheers.

[captain58sailin]

Yes Sir, I was aware of that, was making a light joke. Gin and Tonic with limes, you can fight malaria, scurvy and sobriety all with one kind of drink. I like lime with rum & coke too.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Well we have a thread for good scotch, rum, beer. Why not go in search of the holy grail for gin? Since I am a hedonistic pagan, I probably don't know any better, but in my mind a good lime can make a G&T. As far as the whole lemon thing goes, how do you think the English got referred to as limeys in the first place? I like lemon on some seafood, but please save the limes for toddies.

Where did G& T originate?
Which is the commonly available citrus in India and SE Asia, lemon or lime?

[downunder]

Originally Posted by StuM

Where did G& T originate?
Which is the commonly available citrus in India and SE Asia, lemon or lime?

from a quick google.

The History of Tonic Water.
The history of tonic water begins in 17th, century Peru when Spanish colonists discovered a treatment for malaria in the bark of the quinaquina tree. One account insists that the Countess of Chinchon, the Peruvian viceroy's wife, took the bark to Spain around 1640 after it saved her from malaria. Another proposes that a Jesuit missionary named Barnabe de Cobo made the first trans-Atlantic delivery in 1632. Whichever the case may be, the ground bark became known as both "Countess's powder" and "Jesuit's powder" throughout Europe. In the 18th century Carolus Linnaeus chose to classify the quinaquina tree as genus "cinchona (sĭngkō`nə) or chinchona (chĭngkō`nə), name for species of the genus Cinchona, " in honor of the legendary lady.

In 1817 French scientists Pelletier and Caventou found a method for extracting the bark's most medically powerful compound, quinine before the development of more effective synthetic drugs. They quickly established a factory to produce it, and sold the drug as a means of preventing malaria. As early as 1825 British officers in India devised a way to make their bitter, daily dose more pleasurable. They combined it with sold water, sugar, lime and gin, inventing a potent precursor to the classic gin-and-tonic. Bottles of sweetened quinine water soon appeared, to be drunk with or without the alcohol. Carbonated tonic water was introduced towards the end of the 19th century.

With many colonies in malaria-prone areas, the British and the Dutch needed large quantities of quinine. Over-harvesting brought cinchona trees to the brink of extinction, and quinine became as valuable as gold. Eager to find a way to supply their own demand, both the British and the Dutch smuggled cinchona seeds out of South America, in the mid-19th century. The Dutch, however, proved more adept at cultivating the trees. By World War l, the Dutch nearly monopolized the quinine trade from their plantations in Java.

During World War II, the Japanese occupied Java, creating a need among Allied nations for a new source of quinine. Cinchona trees were planted in Africa while scientists tried to create a synthetic variety. Both initiatives were successful: today most natural quinine comes from Africa, while some prescription quinine is synthetic.

Tonic water has become much less therapeutic over the years. When it was first produced for medicinal use, it contained a prescription dose of quinine too large for casual drinking. Today, by law, tonic water must contain less than one-tenth of a gram of quinine per liter. However, even in small amounts, quinine is thought to be beneficial in stimulating digestion and easing muscle cramps. On the other hand, excessive quinine intake can cause Side effects

By the 1980s, soft drink companies began sweetening soda and tonic water with High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In recent years, HFCS has been causing various degrees of concern among health-conscious consumers.

For cocktail aficionados it is taboo, a substance believed to overpower the subtleties of top-shelf liquors. That's just one of the reasons many mixologists insist on making their own tonic water, "High fructose corn syrup is not only detrimental to your health, it also gives you a hell of a hangover. Gin, is often unfairly blamed for the headache. It's not the gin. It's that 99% of people drink gin with HFCS-sweetened tonic, which has three times as much sugar as any fruit juice."

Homemade tonic is still pleasantly bitter, but much less sweet, and lower in calories. As cocktail mixers, they allow the flavor profile of the gin to come through. Any of the aromatic gins really show their stuff with home-made tonic. You can really sense a lot more of the floral characteristics of the gin, and the different herbs, roots and spices, rather than just that juniper taste.

Homemade tonic has been so well received that tonic-based cocktails are enjoying a revival.

[Roy M]

Another reason to consider the SodaStream tonic syrup! No fructose used, only sugar. Best part is it needs no refrigeration, although I still store the opened bottle in the fridge to make sure. All for medicinal uses, of course!

[sailorboy1]

Well I didn't realize talking about gin negative was like calling some people's Mom a name ☺️

But far a scurvy that line could be better used with tequila


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Well I didn't realize talking about gin negative was like calling some people's Mom a name ☺️

But far a scurvy that line could be better used with tequila


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

We like tequila too!

And I, personally, really love the margarita cocktails made according to the recipe in a Mexican cookbook I bought decades ago -- tequila, triple sec (or Cointreau), fresh squeezed lime juice -- nothing else.

Used to make those by the bucket for parties at my house, before I left the U.S. Yumm! People could never figure out why they got hammered so fast.

And while we're at it, what about a real mint julep?

Few people really know this drink, because it really can't be made in a bar.

The recipe comes down through the generations in my family:

Take a large handful of mint leaves from your garden. DON'T wash them. They must be dry. A little dirt never hurt anyone.

Take a bowl, with some cane sugar in it. Knead and mash up ("muddle") the dry mint leaves with the sugar. The sap is released and turns the mixture into a thick, aromatic paste of sugar and mint, with particles of the leaves in it.

Take some ice, put it in a kitchen towel, and smash it up with a hammer or wooden mallet. This is really important -- crushed ice from a machine won't do, because the ice must be cracked -- it should have particles of all different sizes, not uniform.

Fill a large tumbler with the cracked ice. Take a heaping tablespoon of the muddled mint mixture, and glob it onto the cracked ice. There will be stems and bits of leaves in it and attached to it -- great.

Then pour in bourbon slowly, as the heap of cracked ice collapses -- stop pouring before the bourbon gets above the fallen level of the ice.

Stick in a sprig of un-mashed up mint, for decoration.

Serve!

That is one cup of pure deliciousness -- and packs a punch. Our ancestors knew how to drink!

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I was joking with a shipmate about how we'll need gin tankage for next year's Baltic odyssey, and afterwards started to think that maybe it's not such a stupid idea. With up to five or six thirsty sailors on board, the bottles stack up, hard to store when full, hard to dispose of, and expensive to buy. Astronomically expensive in Scandinavia.

You can buy gin in bulk in the UK, from here for example: http://www.alcohols.co.uk/distillery products.php

I wouldn't buy a lot of it before trying it, but I bet it's not bad.

A five liter jug of the concentrate would make 10 liters of gin.

I wonder if anyone has tried storing bulk spirits under a cabinet somewhere, with some kind of dispensing pump at the counter? Any tips? It would save a lot of space, a lot of hassle, and a lot of money.

: thumb:

1. They spent a lot of time & energy getting the water out. Why would you want to put it back?
2. 5 liters? What are you drinking next week?
3. Good general idea. Research suggests booze is less costly in the Bahamas.
4. Do you thing the bulk guys can arrange for a rail spur & tank car?
5. Do they do scotch? Can't wait for the malts tour.
6. I have 5 80-gallon diesel tanks. Perhaps we should convert a couple to booze.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by downunder

. . .

By the 1980s, soft drink companies began sweetening soda and tonic water with High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In recent years, HFCS has been causing various degrees of concern among health-conscious consumers.

For cocktail aficionados it is taboo, a substance believed to overpower the subtleties of top-shelf liquors. That's just one of the reasons many mixologists insist on making their own tonic water, "High fructose corn syrup is not only detrimental to your health, it also gives you a hell of a hangover. Gin, is often unfairly blamed for the headache. It's not the gin. It's that 99% of people drink gin with HFCS-sweetened tonic, which has three times as much sugar as any fruit juice."

Homemade tonic is still pleasantly bitter, but much less sweet, and lower in calories. As cocktail mixers, they allow the flavor profile of the gin to come through. Any of the aromatic gins really show their stuff with home-made tonic. You can really sense a lot more of the floral characteristics of the gin, and the different herbs, roots and spices, rather than just that juniper taste.

Homemade tonic has been so well received that tonic-based cocktails are enjoying a revival.

That is very interesting, and sounds right to me. Even much more reason to make it yourself.

It occurs to me that even without a Sodastream machine, you can do this, just by adding the home-made syrup to carbonated mineral water.

This really sounds right -- look forward to experimenting.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

...And while we're at it, what about a real mint julep?...

This really does sound good.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Sailor647

Sailors are a self-sufficient bunch.

Medical kit - check.
Fishing capabilities - check.
Water maker - check.

Spirit making - check.

Eliminates most, if not all, of the hassles mentioned previously.

Cheers.

These guys certainly went to a lot of effort & expense to make clothing remover. My guess is that it was not needed.

[Therapy]

What a wonderful bunch of information.

Thank you all and good luck Dockhead.

[crazyoldboatguy]

Check out the Sodastream thread. There's talk about the horrors of CO2 poisoning and the likelihood of sudden death if the canisters leak.

Frankly, I never got the whole tonic thing. Hearing some descriptions here, I may not have been drinking the real thing. I stick with Gin and Seltzer - with a twist of lime. Nothing to mask the flavor of the Gin. A decent Gin (Bombay Sapphire) should be used only for martinis.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Warm Gin, warm beer and tea with powdered milk, tis a right hard life sailing on a small yacht

Well as a friend of mine said when he returned from his first visit in the UK (this was in the late 60's, returning to america) "Horrible place, the beer is warm, the girls are cold and the water taps are on the wrong side!"

warm beer? why - we have refrigeration
same for the milk (no powder)
Gin must be cold to be appreciated.

[Irish rambler]

Off thread apologies.
Does any of you guys have any contact with a forum member annTcate ? could you put me in touch please ?
Send a private message so I can make contact.
Thank you.