Royal Navy, mid-1800s.
| 2½ oz · 75 ml | PLYMOUTH GIN | 41 % |
| 4 dashes | ANGOSTURA BITTERS | 44 % |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 2.62 oz mixed with ice, 1.08 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.39 oz of water |
| Served | 2.62 + 0.39 = 3.01 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 1.08 ÷ 3.01 = 35.8 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 1.08 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 25 g · about 176 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM PLYMOUTH GIN
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
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FROM ANGOSTURA
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
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Plymouth gin with an Angostura rinse. It was the Royal Navy's canteen pour: Angostura was issued against seasickness, gin against everything else. The faint pink tint is the entire chemistry. A few dashes of bitters coat the glass, then cold gin goes in.
Widely credited to the Royal Navy, which took up Angostura bitters, created in 1824 by Dr. Johann Siegert, a surgeon general in Bolívar's army in Venezuela, against tropical fevers and seasickness. Sailors mixed the medicinal bitters with their gin ration, eventually settling on the modern proportions (a swirled rinse, not a measured pour). The drink remained closely associated with British naval culture through the 20th century. Plymouth gin specifically because it was the historical Navy supplier.
