Hayman's Old Tom Gin

I'm a gin fan and a cocktail lover. I purchased a bottle of Hayman's to explore the Old Tom style. I've enjoyed the Barr Hill products and even barrel aged my own gins, but the true Old Tom has been absent from my experiences. Time to change that. Tasted neat from a NEAT glass. Also sampled in a number of cocktails including a traditional Martinez. On the nose this is sweet, medicinal and ethanol forward. There's really nothing about the aromas in the glass that hint at any complexity or special flavoring. On the palate the taste is nothing more than nondescript "gin" botanicals with a sweetener. This isn't something I want to drink neat, but on ice it might be acceptable straight. In a Martinez I found this too sweet and simultaneously too thin. This surprised me as this is the traditional recipe for the Martini predecessor. I tried it with Dolin, Cocchi di Torino and Martini & Rossi. Honestly, the premium M&R Reserva Especial Rubino vermouth was the most balanced and pleasant in this cocktail - likely because its less sweet than most contemporary Italian vermouths aimed at a whisky market. I much prefer a genever or something like a Barr Hill Tomcat aged gin in this type of simple cocktail. The same can be said of the Negroni. HOT is often just too sweet for my tastes. In a gin and tonic I found the sweetness diluted, but then there wasn't any real structure for the rest of the gin and the drink was unbalanced. This gin found its best use in gin-and-juice drinks. It was excellent in a White Lady and in a Gin Sour. Superb in a traditional Tom Collins. Absolutely fine with fresh squeezed ruby grapefruit. None of these are amplified enough by this gin to merit another bottle purchase for me. This is good, but I find there are other options that can do what this gin does in ways more interesting to my palate. I rate on a bell curve scale where most competently made mass-market products will likely score between 2 and 3. Above 3 are excellent liquors and above 4 are the very best. This is one that scores in the average.

The sweetness balances the juniper botannicals. Pleasant.

Gave this a try for my Martinez and Tom Collins recipes and very glad I did. As an Old Tom style gin, it’s definitely sweeter/less dry than most without being overly sweet. Not something I might drink in every gin cocktail, but I really appreciate why it’s used for, and very much improves, certain classic drinks.