A TRUE ENGLISH TRADITION
Langley’s Old Tom is a reminder that traditional
English gin comes with a reputation
Langley Distillery
SPIRIT
OF
Langley’s Old Tom Gin
2016
www.langleysgin.com
EXCELLENCE
L
angley’s Gin established its reputation with the refined,
aspirational Langley’s No. 8, a London Dry sipping
gin that won Gold at both the San Francisco World Spirit
Competition and the Gin Masters. With the launch of Old
Tom, a sweeter gin, they hark back to the mid-18th century,
when illicit distilleries surreptitiously advertised their
moonshine with a plaque depicting a black tom cat. We
spoke to co-founder Mark Dawkins…
What’s your story?
28
After 20 years in the premium spirits industry, we [cofounders Mark Dawkins and Mark Crump] decided three or
four years ago to do our own brand. I wanted a really classy,
timeless, contemporary, very English style London Dry. It
took a year to 18 months of development and Langley No. 8
was born. To date, it’s been really successful in the top UK
hotels and restaurants, and a really strong heartland on the
South Coast, where our company is based. But I’ve always
wanted to have broad reach. After three and a half years of
just the Langley No. 8, we launched Langley’s Old Tom.
What local ingredients do you use?
We don’t divulge what botanicals we use in our gin, but it’s
got the oranges and lemons from Seville that give us that
better balance of citrus and sweetness. It’s very useful in the
Old Tom, where you want a good citrus nose.
T h e s w e e t n e s s o f O l d To m g i v e s
classic g in drinks a new twist
What makes you better than the
established brands?
All gins are different. There are some really cheap
mainstream ones but the aspirational brands are a
statement of people’s lifestyle. We wanted to launch an
Old Tom, but I wanted it to taste good. When production
was unregulated, people used to use all sorts of stuff –
turpentine, meths, poison – to make their gin with and it
didn’t taste very good, so they added sugar. We went back
through the archives from the late 19th century and used an
old recipe from the end of the 19th century.
What’s the best way to enjoy it?
Old Tom is the style used to make probably the most classic
cocktail after the G&T, the Tom Collins. Because of the
ingredients, it’s quite sharp and zingy, a sweeter style of gin
lends itself because it’s more balanced.
Tom Collins
Ingredients
50ml Langley's Old Tom
20ml fresh lemon juice
10ml sugar (or you can use Monin sugar syrup, also known as gomme, available
from most supermarkets)
Soda water
Orange and lemon to garnish
Method
Simply take a highball glass and mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar in the bottom of
the glass. Then top up the glass with cubed ice. Pour over soda water to the top, stir
well, garnish with a slice of orange and a slice of lemon. Serve.
www.menu-dorset.co.uk