Tanqueray Gin (750 ml)

Charles Tanqueray founded his Bloomsbury distillery in 1830, deliberately limiting his botanical recipe to four ingredients — juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, and liquorice root — at a time when rivals were loading stills with a dozen or more. That restraint was a commercial and philosophical bet on juniper supremacy. Quadruple distillation in a single copper pot still (the surviving "Old Tom" still, relocated to Cameronbridge, Scotland after WWII bombing) strips congeners aggressively, producing a spirit of unusual clarity and structural dryness. The resulting distillate is bottled at 43.1% ABV — a deliberate half-degree above the London Dry minimum — which preserves aromatic lift without diluting the botanical frame. What sets this expression apart within the London Dry category is the near-total dominance of juniper over the supporting cast: coriander provides citrus-spice, angelica binds and dries, liquorice extends the finish, but none competes with the lead botanical. The formula has remained unchanged since the 19th century, making it one of the longest-unaltered gin recipes in commercial production.