Diageo launches special edition Tanqueray Old Tom gin

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 23 June, 2014

Diageo has launched limited edition Tanqueray Old Tom gin, drawing on an original recipe from its founder and bridging the gap between malty Dutch genevers and London Dry gins.

The new gin, of which only 100,000 individually numbered bottles have been made, will be available in selected on-trade venues, and was developed with "bartenders and cocktail connoisseurs" in mind, the brand says.

Tom Nichol Tom NicholTom Nichol, Tanqueray's master distiller, told Harpers.co.uk about making Old Tom: 'My remit was quite clear, but it's taken me a year to get to this stage. I think it's fantastic - and it has to be right before I would say that.'

It follows the revival of Tanqueray Malacca in 2013 - a sweeter gin with less juniper and more citrus emphasis than the classic style.

In 1835 founder Charles Tanqueray made his first exploration into the Old Tom style of gin, master distiller Tom Nichol has taken cues for this gin from Tanqueray's closely-guarded recipe almost 180 years later.

Diageo has launched a special edition gin, based on an historic recipe, for its Tanqueray Old Tom.

The Old Tom gins are lighter than a genever but more full bodied that London Dry gins. The pack design is based on an original Old Tom label from Diageo's archive and dates back to 1921.

Master distiller Tom Nichol said: "It's an honour to be privy to Charles Tanqueray's recipe book and to bring back a great gin, which reflects the classic Old Tom style but is elevated further by new distilling techniques."

Tanqueray global brand ambassador Barrie Wilson said the new gin would allow bartenders to "recreate authentic Old Tom cocktails with a true sense of how they would have tasted historically".

Speaking to Harpers.co.uk in April, Nichol said it's "very, very difficult" to make a new gin. He added that there are three new launches coming from the brand, of which Old Tom is the first. At the time he said he would try to do make a new gin, or revive an old recipe once a year. Limited production capacity at the distillery curtails too much experimentation, he said.

"My remit was quite clear, but it's taken me a year to get to this stage. I think it's fantastic - and it has to be right before I would say that," Nichol said.