The Tippling Point | Charles Tanqueray and the story of London Dry Gin

Representational image of a bartender pouring gin. (Image: Jack Oughton via Wikimedia Commons 3.0)

What could a family of clergymen in England do in the world of gin!

For Charles Tanqueray and his brother Edvard, whose great-great-grandfather hailed from France, a call to serve the almighty stood in the way of materializing their dreams. The lads realized their hearts pounded for a more exciting field. Their father and their uncle were ministers in the Church of England.

Always a bit too scientific to follow the path of religion, young Charles along with his brother went to the Curries distillery to learn the craft of distilling. It was the first half of the 19th century when gin hadn't yet garnered the notoriety it later got during the period of the London Gin Craze. The brothers tried to learn everything related to the respected art of distilling gin, sometimes tinkering with the proportion of juniper berries, sometimes changing the very place from where the berries were sourced to see what would click. They were hell-bent on making the perfect gin.

Charles was one of the first to create what would soon be known as 'London dry gin.'

Until then there was only the Old Tom-style gin, which was heavily sugared to mask the imperfectness and poor taste of the spirit. In the London dry-style gin, alcohol is infused with botanicals through redistillation for flavour. Adding flavours or colours after distillation became haraam in the new style. Even though an assortment of botanicals is infused in the liquid, the flavour of juniper should speak through the bunch of greens.

In 1830, the brothers set up the Bloomsbury distillery in the heart of London. Their new gin was so simple and straight that it had only four botanicals - juniper, liquorice, angelica root, and coriander seeds. But what magic it made!

After the untimely death of his brother Edvard, Charles Tanqueray took up the business, creating a classic out of the new drink. When he finally retired, the company went into the hands of his son Charles Waugh who understood that any expansion was possible only if he could merge his company with Alexander Gordon & Co, another famous gin producer of the time.

It was an intelligent move as more and more gin producers were mushrooming all over the country. While Gordon's became the favourite drink of Britain, Tanqueray was deployed to conquer the United States.

During the Prohibition, the company spent US$1,000 to aid the anti-dry movement but soon it realized that if used wisely, the situation would come as a shot in the arm for their gin. People were still crazy about good-quality drinks which they stealthily procured, and Tanqueray was their prime choice. It is claimed the White House celebrated the repeal of the Prohibition after 13 years with a Tanqueray and tonic.

But the company ran into rough patches pretty soon when during the Second World War, Goswell Road was repeatedly bombed by the German Luftwaffe, razing almost all its buildings save the Old Tom still. Though they rebuilt everything from the ground up and opened once again in 1957, Tanqueray shifted its business to Essex soon.

Another boom came when Frank Sinatra, the legendary singer and the Rat Pack were caught drinking Tanqueray Martinis in a social club in San Fransisco. Who could say no to such free advertising and Tanqueray benefited from the celebrity endorsement, it didn't spend a single penny on.

When it came to the last part of the 20th century, the company found its popularity falling. They needed to come up with some brilliant ideas to refresh the concept created 180 years ago. They launched Tanqueray 10, a supreme premium gin. Instead of four, there were now eight different botanicals in the new spirit. A lot to count inside your mouth while savouring the liquid. It was also the first gin to use fresh citrus.

If you have seen a bottle of Tanqueray, the first thing that might have caught your eye is the colour and shape of its bottle. The iconic green coloured bottle was inspired by the shape of a cocktail shaker, a clever move to attract American customers. The icon of pineapple fruit on the bottle was the symbol of hospitality back in the 1830s.

So how should you drink Tanqueray?

The gin is aromatic and flowery. It is best enjoyed with tonic water and plenty of ice. A squeeze of lemon would take it to the legion of the famous cocktail known as Tanqueray gin and tonic.