Recently had the pleasure of trying Plymouth. Received a bottle as a gift. I liked it quite a bit.

Always been a huge fan of g&t's, well, except when I was a little kid cuz that would be wrong. Tanqueray and Sapphire, I find, are good solid bases to start with. Tanqueray is a little more bold, but I find I prefer the Sapphire a little better. Brings an extra edge of depth and refinement.

I do agree with you, BlueJays, that Tanqueray 10 is on another level. Really bumps up the smoothness.

We had a blind gin tasting at my 40th birthday last year. We sampled 8 different "top shelf" gins. Who came out on top?

This guy...

http://aviationgin.com/

Craig, I had some of that at the Washington Distillers' Festival last weekend. Unfortunately, by then, my tastebuds were pretty much shot, so I'll have to find their tasting room next time I am in PDX.

One interesting, thing, though: Crater Lake Gin is "wet" (juniper added after distillation) and has only that one botanical. I thought I'd hate it, but it was really quite a revelation. I'm not really a gin guy, but it's really fun to learn.

My sense is that PNW water (which does not contain a lot of suspended minerals) seems to make quite a positive difference in my preferences. I'm really bullish on craft distilling at the moment.

Tanqueray does make an excellent, traditional gin & tonic. 10 is indeed a top notch gin. I'm glad you enjoyed your bottle of Plymouth. I have always been interested in their Navy strength but can never find it.