Tanqueray's Bloomsbury Gin with Charles Dickens

I don't think I discovered Tanqueray gin until I found myself working for Oddbins (17 years ago today, it was a blessed escape from working with a crazy woman in a bookshop, she tried - honest to god - to curse me, it seemed to be a constant disappointment to her that I never got hit by a bus or similar. It was not a happy working environment) but it's the gin that made me passionate about gin.

Straight Tanqueray remains a favourite, and should probably be the one I wrote about tonight, but I've chosen their limited edition 'Bloomsbury' because I had such a good time buying it.

The Tanqueray available almost everywhere is now bottled at 43.7% abv, it used to be a generous 47.3% and if you ever see a bottle of that, get it, and if what I read is true they're still using the same basic recipe they came up with in around 1830. It's a very juniper forward, dry, gin and I love it.

'Bloomsbury' is a recreation of a recipe from the 1880's, so technically it's a bit late for Dickens, but the original distillery was in Bloomsbury (it got bombed out in the Second World War) and it seems likely that Dickens could have bought the local product. His characters are certainly no stranger to gin, or its evils.

It's perfectly easy to find 'Bloomsbury' online, but I got my bottles first from the famous Gerry's on Old Compton Street in Soho, and secondly from Beervana in Lerwick (Shetland, where I was surprised and delighted to find it). Spending quite a lot of money (around £50 for a litre bottle) for something to turn up in the post lacks a certain romance compared to the thrill of a hunt around Soho, or the serendipitous find in a tiny Scottish town. The day I bought that first bottle in London I also managed to bump into the distiller (Tom Nichol, now sort of retired, responsible for some great gins) in a bar/shop. It was a memorable day out, armchair click to collecting is dull by comparison.

It's a traditional juniper led gin, very smooth - so perfect for a martini, and it would also be a great background for a hot gin punch - something like These  (I see no reason to use Hendrick's). It also makes a brilliant G&T.

I admit a hot punch isn't the most summery of drinks, but then depending on where you are in the UK August isn't always as summery as one might hope for, and it's always something to look forward to for winter. Meanwhile Dickens is the sort of author who seems ideally suited to being accompanied by some sort of beverage. Something to drown the sorrows of the sad bits, to raise appreciatively when he's more convivial, and truly - the whiff of gin does pervade his books.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

After years of indifference towards Mr Dickens I've had my epiphany with 'Great Expectations' - unfortunately I'm given to understand that he wrote nothing else like it but I'm prepared to try my luck with 'Barnaby Rudge' and 'The Pickwick Papers'. With 'Barnaby Rudge' it's because the background of the anti catholic Gordon riots sounds interesting, 'The Pickwick Papers' just sounded like it might be a fun read from the back cover - although heaven knows when I'll get round to either of them. 

'Great Expectations' took me a while to get through, despite coming in at a little under 500 pages there's a lot of reading in this book - it's definitely not one to rush not least because most the pleasure is in the detail. The Dickens I've read recently (Christmas short stories) has veered towards the sentimental, 'Great Expectations' has a streak of humour as well as Gothic horror that more than saves it from any tendency in that direction. It's also the humour that slowed me down, there's no point in rushing a good joke and there are so many of them to enjoy. Part of me would have like not to have enjoyed this book so much - to be able to say hand on heart that Trollope, or Collins, or Oliphant or Braddon, have done better or are as good but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is just possibly the best Victorian novel out there (though 'Lady Audley's Secret' is a strong contender).

I don't think there's anything very much I can say about plot - I imagine most people are familiar with it, though again I have to say if you only know 'Great Expectations' through filmed versions please read it - I doubt very much that any adaptation could really do it proper justice. (I'm also just a bit worried that it wasn't the best place to give Dickens a second chance, it seems likely that anything else will be something of an anti climax.) It is undoubtedly a brilliantly well balanced book - Pip's development from boy to man with all the obnoxious fazes in-between is well executed, Miss Havisham stays just this side of possible as does Magwitch. Jaggers the lawyer and his clerk Wemmick are probably my favourite characters partly because they feel nicely observed, partly  because they are among the details that make the novel so rich. 

If there was a downside it would be on the sheer amount of coincidence used to drive the plot along - but that's not the sort of thing that worries me too much and especially not here when there are so many other things to enjoy that I'm quite willing to suspend my disbelief for a while. All in all expectations of this reading experience were exceeded, this is a book I feel much the richer for being better acquainted with and that I think is destined for many re reads.

In which I have Great Expectations

Despite being the lucky recipient of a small library of books about Dickens from Oxford University Press it still came as a bit of a surprise to me that this week would have seen his 200th birthday. I knew that there was a 200th anniversary of some sort I just hadn't been paying that much attention because generally I'm not that much of a fan. When I realised that Tuesday was the big day it struck me as an amazing coincidence that I'd just started reading 'Great Expectations' (though in truth it's more likely that I'd finally picked it up because of all the background Dickens activity, I certainly bought it just before Christmas as an alternative to watching the mini series)

'Great Expectations' has turned out to be a bit of a revelation (as well as having possibly the best ever title for a 'classic') - it's funny, properly and deliberately funny, which I never saw coming. My low expectations were based on a humourless television series from some time in the late 70's which I saw when I was far to young, but also when there were only 3 channels available so you had to take your chances and make the best of them. I'm pleased that I missed this years (no doubt lavish and excellent) take on it because at least I'm coming to the book fresh and also because I have nagging feeling that no adaptation would do it proper justice.

All of which has made me wonder - have I actually read 'A Christmas Carol'? I thought I had but now it occurs to me that I might not of, I've seen several versions - the same goes for Oliver Twist, but have I read  either of them? And if I haven't how will the books compare to what I think I know of them? When I was a child and television consisted almost entirely of Delia Smith and snooker (or so it seemed) I was far more likely to discover a classic in book form and then see a film version (Jane Austen) but at some point that changed (Elizabeth Gaskell). Being by nature a reader I'm back to discovering things through the printed word and after years of thinking I didn't care at all for Dickens am being forced to consider that perhaps I just don't care for other peoples versions of him. 

Perhaps because it's late I find that a worrying thought - on reflection most of the Jane Austen adaptations I've seen have been pretty naff compared to the originals, fun to watch, but really my life would be poorer if I thought that was all there was to her writing. What else have I been missing out on? And if there's a moral to this ramble it's this - if you think you know Dickens (or any other classic author) pick up a book and make sure.