I often see Bombay sapphire for sale at supermarkets. I once saw an unopened bottle someone had in their house but I’ve never in my life seen anyone drink it.
Has anyone else?
I knew a lot of people that liked it when I was in my 20s as it was a readily available step above your standard dry gins and wasn’t really that much more expensive.
Gin is one of those spirits you generally taste pretty forward in a lot of drinks it goes in, so getting a slightly nicer one can make a load of difference.
As for why you don’t see it as much these days, about a decade ago we had this kind of gin renaissance and loads of new really tasty and interesting, smaller batch gins started showing up. I’d bet a lot of the demographic that made up Bombay’s market shifted into buying the craft gins instead
Ahhhh that makes sense thanks! Any ideas what caused the gin renaissance?
I reckon it’s a combo of a few things. Mostly for this one, it had both the business and consumer sides of the equation kind of line up at the same time.
On the business side, one of the biggest factors was we’d just come out the other side of a recession. This meant interest rates were low and there were a load of people looking for new jobs/businesses and there were a lot of cheap places to set up that business. This naturally meant there were all sorts of new businesses being created around that time.
One such boom was small batch alcohol, because ultimately if you’re good at it, you stand to turn relatively cheap ingredients into quite a bit of money. You’ll probably notice modern craft beer really kicked up a gear around the same time.
Interestingly for this one, a lot of the early craft gin places didn’t really set out to be gin-makers, they want(ed) to make whisky. The problem with whisky is you can’t even call it whisky unless it’s at least 3(?) years old, and it’s not really going to be any good unless it’s at least 2-3x that. So what do these distilleries do whilst they’re waiting for their whisky to age and hoping they don’t go bust? They make quicker to produce spirits such as gin!
Now, small batch is more expensive to make than the industrialised big brands, but gin has the benefit that there’s a lot more freedom for the maker to mess around with the flavour. This allowed gin-makers to make their gins stand out against the competition and the sector was born.
There were also a few law changes around the world in a few places that made this kind of business a bit easier to set up.
Now on the consumer side there was this big resurgence in cocktail culture going on. So you’ve got all these interesting new flavours coming out of these small batch distilleries, what are bartenders who want to twist an old recipe into something new going to go for? It’s going to be these cool new gins. Less cutting edge bars want to seem like the cutting edge ones so they start stocking the same spirits. As you’d imagine this creates a feedback loop that means the gins become successful and you see them behind more bars and on more shelves. After a while it’s just kinda everywhere
All that, plus gin drinks just make some tasty cocktails and easy mixed drinks
(Sorry that was longer than I expected when I started)
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I live fairly close to the distillery - it’s a fun trip, even if you don’t drink. Like most gins they just use grain alcohol so all the flavour comes from the choice of botanicals and they seemed to care about the quality.
I prefer Hendricks myself but Bombay do a lot of very good special editions.
I quite like it.
It’s my go-to gin for a lot of mixed cocktails, like negronis or Long Island iced teas, as I don’t want to waste a good gin whose flavor will be offset by the other alcohols. I prefer it to the other big commercial brands (Beefeater, Tanqueray, Gordon’s). But it’s nice to have a variety of better quality brand,s with different profiles, for gin tonics or dry martinis.
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I’ve had it, but I don’t seek it out. If I want cheap there’s cheaper, and if I want good gin, so much out there is better.
Weird headcanon: I have a definite association in my mind with gin and wickedness, and I don’t know why. If I’m drinking it, I feel slightly amoral and I tend to assume the same of anyone else drinking gin. Was there a movie with wicked aunts drinking gin somewhere deep in my forgotten youth, or is it something about juniper?
It’s what Ms. Hannigan drinks when she’s singing “little girls” in Annie. At the end of the song she literally pours a bunch of it in the bathtub and is swimming around in it.
They also drink it (or something similar) in 1984 as a standard ration
Maybe you’ve seen the drawing Gin Alley by Hogarth?
I worked for a catering company (in the US) for about 10 years and Bombay was the gin in our mid-tier bar package. Beefeater was on the lower tier bar and our highest tier had Hendricks and Tanqueray in addition to Bombay. Even when given options, Bombay was fairly popular, probably more so than the Tanqueray at least
Pro tip, it’s not just the blue bottle one they produce.
The white bottled one is amazing 🤩.
I see it quite often, and order it myself as I quitr like it and the distillery is only 30 minutes from where I live.
I know you didn’t ask but my favorite gin is Xorigeur Menorcan gin but that may be as a result of where I drink it most!! :)
(AI warning note) I see while their sales have dropped about 25% in the UK since peak GIN-mania, it’s actually picking up more of the overall market share. So 12% market share in 2020, 17% in 2024
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I’m drinking it right now. I’m a scotch/bourbon guy but I drink it neat, so if I just want a light cocktail it’s usually gin and club soda. It’s hard to beat ~$25 for 1.75 liters for a pretty good but nothing special cocktail liquor.
Straight? I bought a bottle of Tanqueray figuring “I’ll find some use for it.”
Still haven’t. But that’s mostly because Kraken Rum is my preferred alcohol for cooking.
Please tell me more about cooking with Rum… Dark spiced rums are my favourite, & I’ve never really considered cooking with it!
Basically any recipe with brown sugar gets elevated by adding rum. I sent these to Kraken and they replied by sending me a set of plates and a Kraken snuggie. LOL.
Kraken Spiked Banana Bread
3 ripe bananas
60g melted butter (1/4 cup or 1/2 a stick)
150g sugar (2/3 cup)
200g unbleached flour (1 1/4 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup Kraken Black Rum
150g of fresh or frozen blackcurrants (without defreezing before use) (1 1/2 cups)Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)
Mash the bananas in a bowl
Add the egg, butter, and Kraken Rum
Put all the dry ingredients together into a fine mesh sieve or sifter and sift into the bowl
Mix well with a wooden spoonBake in a buttered loaf pan until a toothpick stuck into the bread comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.
Slice and serve.
Kraken Sweet Potatoes
For a more intense molasses flavor, use dark brown sugar in place of light brown sugar.
Serves 10 to 12
Sweet Potatoes
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 5 pounds sweet potatoes (about 8 medium), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup water- Jordan’s note - 2 tablespoons vanilla paste.
- Jordan’s note - 1/4 cup Kraken Black Rum
Pecan Topping
• 2 cups pecan halves
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Pinch ground cumin- Jordan’s note - 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla.
Directions
-
FOR THE SWEET POTATOES: Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sweet potatoes, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and water; bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, storing often, until the sweet potatoes are tender (a paring knife can be slipped into and out of the center of the potatoes with very little resistance), 45 to 60 minutes.
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When the sweet potatoes are tender, remove the lid and bring the sauce to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat. Continue to simmer until the sauce has reduced to a glaze, 7 to 10 minutes.
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FOR THE TOPPING: Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the topping together in a medium bowl; set aside.
Jordan’s note: For whipped rum vanilla sweet potatoes:
Take a stick blender and blend the potatoes in the cookpot until they reach the desired texture. Mix in two tablespoons of vanilla bean paste and 1/4 cup Kraken Black Rum.
Also add 1/2 teaspoon of ground vanilla to the pecan topping.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Pour the potato mixture into a 13 by 9-inch baking dish (or a shallow casserole dish of similar size). Spread the topping over the potatoes. Bake until the pecans are toasted and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Variation
CANDIED SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE WITH TOASTED MARSHMALLOW TOPPING
Follow the recipe for Candied Sweet Potato Casserole, substituting 4 cups mini marshmallows for the pecan topping. Bake until the marshmallows are crisp and golden, about 5 minutes.
Kraken Cowboy Cookies
1.25 cups (6.25 ounces) all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table saltWhisk all that together in a bowl.
In a SECOND bowl:
1.5 cups (10.5 ounces) packed light brown sugar
12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) melted and cooled unsalted butter
1 large egg + 1 large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Kraken Black RumWhisk all that together until evenly combined, then stir in the flour mixture and whisk until all the dry flour streaks are gone.
1.25 cups (3.75 ounces) old fashioned rolled oats
Stir to combine
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
Stir to combine
1 cup (3 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut
Stir to combine
2/3 cup (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Stir to combine
Spray a 1/4 cup measure with cooking spray and use that to scoop up the dough.
Place 8 cookies 2 inches apart on an unrimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I used a Good Cook AirPerfect sheet which doesn’t require parchment or Silpat or anything!)
Bake at 350° for 8 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
Place cookies on a wire rack to finish cooling and bake the other 1/2 of the cookies, makes 15 to 16 cookies total.
Great stuff here. Another excellent use of Kraken is to marinate pineapple slices in rum and cinnamon, and then throw them on the grill. Totally unbeatable summer dessert.
This sounds right up my street, maybe with a scoop of ice cream…
Ideal.
Candied… sweet potatoes? With marshmallows? What
The marshmallow variant is tradition for American Thanksgiving dinners. Too sweet for me, but the pecans are amazing!
TIL. It sounds like a pretty good dessert, though. I do love a good baked sweet potato.
Amazing! Thanks so much for the full recipes!! The banana bread & cookies are certainly worth a try. The sweet potato one might be a step too far for a non American, although I could see elements working in other desert style dishes. Saved for future inspiration, off to check if I have some overly ripe bananas to try that recipe this week…
A while ago I developed a taste for gin. I looked it, but got recommended an equivalent priced bottle that became my absolute favorite. I don’t drink allot of gin any more, but bombay spent a metric fuck ton of money on marketing in the 2010ish era and it paid off, because I too will see dusty unopened bottles occasionally out and about.
I like gin based cocktails. I’m no connoisseur.
Bombay is definitely gin, but it almost tries too hard to amp up the gin flavor of juniper to a degree that kind of ruins it.
Ironically, I prefer Beefeater.
Weird, its juniper flavor always seemed mild and subdued to me compared to Gordon’s or Tanqueray (the two other big brands here).
It was my go-to drink in my early/mid 20’s.
I quite like it
