I’ve always been a fan of Old Raj Gin, but never had the opportunity to write about it until now. I’ve also never had the opportunity to talk to anyone at Cadenhead, which makes Old Raj, until now. Cadenhead has always been a dark horse: they don’t advertise; don’t do the convention circuit; don’t sponsor parties or spirit competitions. Anyway, I was able to get a few questions answered, so the below article might be of interest to gin fans. One question I couldn’t get answered is why they made the overproof version in the first place. Apparently, no one remembers.
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Old Raj I’ve been aware of since the 90s, and while I’ve had it here and there, and went through one bottle at home back in the naughts, I’ve never paid it much mind. And I’ve never done a side-by-side with the two expressions or particularly against other gins. Maybe it’s time for a gin-off, if I can find the stuff? I know Astor used to (long ago) carry both, so maybe I’ll start there.
I’ve know of Cadenhead’s since the 90’s too, because of all the whacky scotches and rums they age and bottle. Mostly collector/fiend stuff. I probably still have some Cadenhead’s rum kicking around here somewhere.
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It’s hard to find a liquor store that carries both expressions, let alone one. The overproof is the one that stands out.
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What stands out about it in particular?
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I offered them at my bars intermittently, as it was an outlier when outliers were hard to find. Both are certainly unique. My Mom used to say they were great, but you had to be in the mood for them, whenever we went to a restaurant that offered them. I still feel the same way.
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Someone said to me recently that Old Raj surged in popularity in the cocktail revival’s infancy, essentially because it was the rare overproof offering—and the old timey label didn’t hurt—but there are other alternatives they prefer now. Kudos to Simonson for puncturing the age myth.
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Like Martin, I picked up a bottle of the 110 proof when it first came out here, back at the end of the 1990s (I see its trademark was registered here in 1998, and in the UK in 1991, although that might have been a re-registration). There were so few gins on the market back then you really noticed when a new one hit the shelves. To me, it was essentially a higher-proof Beefeater: strong and clean, without the rich oiliness of Tanqueray; I’ve always had a hard time picking out the saffron in it, but that may be just me. It did make an extraordinarily lethal 5:1 Martini, the way I liked them back then.
(Also, like Martin, I still have a quarter of a bottle of Cadenhead’s 16 year old Demerara rum sitting in a cabinet; I should break that out.)
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I think it’s just an excellent example of a classic, well-balanced London dry gin. And if you’re looking for a little extra punch, it gives you that in spades. As for the saffron, I don’t think it adds that much in terms of flavor, but I appreciate the yellow tint it lends. Back in the day, Martinis used to have a slightly yellow hue, owing to the dry vermouths available at the time.
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First, Robert, I loved that you covered this cult classic gin - it is one of my favorites, and I was lucky enough several months ago to snag a reservation at Le Veau d’Or where I had their house martini.
I cannot remember how I discovered Old Raj, but I think Astor Wines is one of the few places that always carried it (even the higher proof version). Some stores out east carry the lighter proof version (which is not bad and higher proof than most London Drys in thenl states these days) but whenever I want it, I go to Astor, although it’s a relatively small bottle and very expensive, and I now live way uptown.
I never tasted saffron, but wow it is clean and makes a damn good martini. I probably got more into it as Beefeater, my old favorite martini gin, kept lowering their proof.
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I saw this headline last week, and I was smug about it because I thought, “Well, of course I’ve heard of that!”
Heh.
Anyway, I remember buying this in the naughts, in Brooklyn. Is it possible LeNell was stocking it? It seems like her kind of thing, given her penchant for having the little guys in her store.
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I’m pretty sure it was in the bathtub there (for those who didn’t get to experience the particular delight that was shopping at LeNells, a place you could let your inner booze geek frolic unchecked, she kept her large gin selection in a bathtub by the front window).
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My Uncle Hank used to describe Tanqueray as ‘oily’ as well. I don’t think that is the case any longer, do you?
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Now, speaking as a Tanq devotee, I want to taste some “oily” Tanq.
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I have an 80s bottle of it where the texture is appreciably thicker. The flavor is pretty much the same, which—I dunno—is probably why it always presents as oily to me even though the current iteration is really not that. Subliminal sense memory, something like that.
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Astor is the place to go. A liquor store in my Brooklyn neighborhood, Heights Chateau, used to carry Old Raj, but no more.
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An update on Old Raj. After my article on the gin published in Vinepair, I heard from James Hayman, owner of Hayman’s Gin. He told me that Hayman’s does NOT make Old Raj gin for Cadenhead, as a rep from Cadenhead had told me. In fact, Hayman’s does not contract distill for anyone. Rather, Old Raj is made by Kimia, division of Hayman Group Ltd., which is indeed Hayman’s company. Old Raj is supplied with a gin called Burlington Gin. So, Hayman does supply Old Raj with gin, but Hayman’s does not distill Old Raj gin. Get it? Confusing, I know.
Furthermore, I was told Kimia predominantly supplies the pharmaceutical sector with alcohol. It is an old James Burrough company that was previously called James Burrough FAD (Fine Alcohols Division). As well as gin it also sells rum and neutral alcohol to some distillers, but Kimia is a reseller not a distiller.
I tell you, when you start delving into the world of gin production, it quickly becomes apparent just how unromantic the business really is.
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Ok. So if I’ve got this straight, Hayman’s Gin is made (that is, rectified, as in redistilled with botanicals) in the three pot-stills at the Hayman’s Gin distillery in South London, which is owned by the Hayman Group.
The Hayman Group, through its Kimia subsidiary, also makes neutral spirit, including no doubt the grain spirit from which Hayman’s Gin is rectified (Neutral Grain Spirit | Kimia). This spirit is made from grain, sugar beets or sugar cane, and is purchased by them and then rectified (redistilled with botanicals, re-proofed, blended, etc.) for market; the products are sold under the “Burlington Spirits” umbrella (https://burlingtondrinks.co.uk/) as vodka, rum or gin under a variety of fairly obscure labels which appear to be suited for use as house brands and such. If a customer wants a more custom brand, they will tweak one of their house brands to suit; hence Old Raj.
Does that sound right?
If so, this is remarkably unchanged from how things worked in the 19th century, when in Britain, and excluding malt whisky and Irish pot-still, there were only a handful of from-scratch spirit makers, a much larger number of rectifiers, and a very much larger still number of brands.
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Good summation. I can’t say for sure as to whether that’s the way things work but sounds right to me. So many moving parts.
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This reads great, the one thing I would say is that I believe Kimia are just middlemen: they source their NGS in Europe (most likely France) and sell them to British distillers or use them in the other operations. They don’t distill.
Under the Hayman Group umbrella, on top of Hayman’s and Burlington, one also find City of London Distillery (Whitley Neill’s) and owner Christopher Hayman is also the director of Thames Distillers, who are behind hundreds of gins, including Ford’s, and were responsible, if I’m not mistaken, for the production of Hayman’s Gin until not so long ago (launched in 2003 but whose own distillery didn’t open until 2017).
There are surprisingly few real craft gin distilleries in the UK.
Burlington, by the way, appears to have been launched in 2007 so Old Raj initially comes from somewhere else. Maybe from another business within Christopher Hayman’s galaxy or another distiller altogether.
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That’s right. Kimia was described to me as a “reseller” of spirits.
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