Guest Post: Gin Tasting at Mr Cooper’s

December proved busy, very busy. And while I was off discovering Normandy and catching a cold, a rare gin tasting at Mr Cooper’s arose. 

When I asked for a volunteer, the quickest response came from Samantha Bell.

I wonder why….

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There are some (admittedly rare) occasions when I’m glad that I don’t work in Manchester City centre.

And there are other times, when I’m sitting in the mother of all tailbacks on the M61 and debating whether it might be quicker to park my car on the hard shoulder and walk the final 11 miles that I really, really wish I did. So to start my gin-tasting post with a confession, I was late. Like…really late.

Worry not, as although I had missed a sizeable chunk of the introduction, I arrived just in time for the….tonic water tasting. Oh. Thankfully Nate, Mr Cooper’s bar manager and our tutor for the evening, clearly spotted the panic in my eyes and I was quickly assured that there was still plenty of gin on the way. Nate did not lie, ladies and gentlemen.

To begin, Nate ran through three Fever Tree tonic waters that Mr Cooper’s serve (they also offer a slimline version but I laugh in the face of low calorie. Ha!). We kicked off with their original tonic, topped up with an impressive glug of gin. Crisp, citrus and not too sweet, this offered an excellent base which allowed the gin to shine through. It also had really nice bubbles.

We then sampled the elderflower tonic, unsurprisingly sweeter and more perfumed. Whilst I don’t have a naturally sweet tooth, I have the serious hots for all things elderflower and was quite happy to knock this back on its own, although Nate recommended that the floral edge would sit well with the sarsaparilla and lavender notes found in USA export, Aviation.

Finally on to Fever Tree’s Mediterranean tonic. With herbal hints of rosemary and thyme, I found this tasted softer and the least *technical term klaxon* ‘tonicy’ of the three. I believe my notes say this is because it contains slightly less quinine than the other two, but I’ll be honest, at this point I saw a tray of tiny cocktail glasses heading towards me so my concentration levels slipped a little…

First up; the Martini. I understand that there is a time and place for a drink with foam, smoke, bells and whistles, but man alive I love a Martini. I’m a simple girl at heart and you can give me a single olive over a cocktail umbrella any day of the week (actually, I just said that to sound chic. I bloody love cocktail umbrellas.) This was a very good martini. Made with Tanqueray and Dolin it was strong, clean and…delicious!

For such a seemingly simple drink, it seems there are more nuances to a Martini than you can shake a stick at. Nate talked us through the spectrum, from a very (very!) dry Martini at 15 parts gin to 1 part vermouth down to a wet Martini at 3/1. Not to mention the array of subtle variations; straight from the pages of Casino Royal, there’s the Vesper (gin, vodka and Kina Lillet) a Gibson, garnished with a cocktail onion and my personal favourite, made ‘dirty’ with the addition of olive brine. Talking of which, any drink that includes a snack is a winner in my eyes, and the queen olive gracing this Martini was something else. I surreptitiously looked around to see if there were any going spare, but my drinking companions had scoffed the lot. Swines. Naturally, talk moved to 007 and the difference between the alcohol shaking or stirring its way into your glass. Shaking, it seems, provides aeration – producing a drink with an entirely different character to a stirred Martini. Words like froth, structure and mouth-feel were bounced around. I also had a taste of the Dolin vermouth. Dry and elegant, this was a world away from the Martini Extra Dry that I used to drink in my teens. *interesting fact klaxon* Did you know that once opened, vermouth only has a shelf life of around six week?! Try breaking that news to Aunty Mavis, who’s been having a tipple from the same bottle since Christmas ‘82.

Next up, we had a Negroni. Heathen that I am, this isn’t a drink that I’ve ever been fully on board with. Not for lack of trying, I assure you but there’s something in the bitterness of the Campari that reminds me of Stop & Grow (life lesson for you kids, don’t bite your nails as a child and you’ll find popular cocktails more palatable in later life…). Having said that, if I did like a Negroni, I’m pretty sure I’d love this one. Made with Campari, sweet vermouth and – naturally – gin, we learnt that the forefather of the Negroni was the Americano (equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth, topped up with soda), popular in the early 1900’s until one Count Negroni asked a barman to supercharge his drink and replace the soda with gin. My kinda guy. Thus, the Negroni was born and has been a firm favourite of bartenders ever since. Whilst there have been a number of twists on the classic, I was particularly taken with the sound of the Negroni Sbagliato (‘wrong Negroni’) which is made in the same way, but replacing the gin with sparkling white wine, or Prosecco.

Finally, we had a gin-based Cosmopolitan. Fresh and fruity but with a decent kick, this was a little sweet for my palate, although the addition of gin definitely made for a more complex, grown-up Cosmo than the ones I’ve had in the past.

At this point, conversation was flowing amongst my fellow drinkers and Nate kindly took the opportunity to backtrack for me. I was given samples of the three gins that had formed part of the tasting introduction – Jenever, Hayman’s Old Tom and Portobello Road. Drinking the three spirits neat, it was remarkable to see the total contrast in character. Jenever, or Holland Gin is the ancestor of our modern gin – a juniper flavoured spirit produced by distilling malt wine (CHARLIE – I WAS A BIT PISSED BY THE POINT AND HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT IT TASTED LIKE! DO YOU KNOW?! Editor’s note: Yes, it tastes very much like a sweet, light sweet malt whisky, with definite pine notes from the juniper). The Old Tom seemed surprisingly sweet when compared to the Portobello Road, which was far more robust. The latter had the slightly abrasive aroma of a strong spirit, but held its own much better when mixed with tonic than the Hayman’s, which I found more enjoyable when sipped neat.

This was my first visit to Mr Cooper’s, and it won’t be my last. Nate’s knowledge was fascinating and if you ever get the chance to attend one of his tastings, I would encourage you to do so. Their collection of gins is something else, and I’m fairly sure they stock a gin to match every palate. Their menu is helpfully broken down into three key areas (floral, citrus and savoury), with simple tasting notes for each gin – whilst I already know that I’m a big fan of the olive and rosemary notes of Spanish Gin Mare, I’m keen to head back and try a G’vine Nouaison or a Monkey 47 – not least because the latter has a really, really nice label. Book? Cover? Moi….?

Now someone mix me a martini with an olive AND a cocktail umbrella, damn it…