Old Tom Gin

Where it started

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, copper pot stills could only partly purify the base spirit, so gin was pungent.¹ Distillers masked the rough edges with flavorings such as lemon or aniseed and with liquorice, then, in the 19th century, with sugar; that sweetened style became known as Old Tom.¹ Cane sugar was expensive in 1700s London while gin was very cheap, which is why liquorice came first.¹ Sugar-sweetened gin became more common from the mid to late 1800s as beet sugar spread and sugar prices collapsed.¹

The name has three stories, and only one has evidence behind it. Legend says a cat fell into a vat of gin. Another tale credits Captain Dudley Bradstreet, who sold gin through a cat-shaped sign with a pipe under its paw to dodge the 1738 Gin Act and wrote it up in a 1755 memoir; Difford's finds no evidence linking him to the name.¹ The best-supported origin is Thomas Chamberlain of Hodges' distillery: in a 1903 court case, Boord & Son said they had introduced the term in 1849 and named the brand after "old Thomas Chamberlain."¹

Where and how it's made

There is no recipe in law. U.S. rules allow "Old Tom" as one of four terms (with "distilled," "Dry" and "London") for gin made exclusively by original distillation or redistillation, and set no sugar level.³ The EU regulation does not mention Old Tom at all, and a gin with more than 0.1 grams of added sweetening per liter cannot call itself "dry."⁴ So a modern Old Tom is a distilled gin, often lightly sweetened after distillation, sometimes rested in wood, with a fuller botanical recipe.

In the 20th century, the few Old Tom brands that survived typically held 2 to 6 percent sugar and were made in England for export to Finland, Japan and parts of the United States, until demand faded.¹ Difford's believes "Old Tom" once covered a wide range of pre-London Dry gins, citing distillers' notebooks with recipes headed Old Tom.¹

How to taste it

Neat in a small tulip, Old Tom shows more weight on the tongue and a rounder finish than a London Dry; look for liquorice, citrus and a gentle sweetness. Then use it where it belongs, in a Martinez or a gin sour, where the sugar does some of the work. Food: lemon tart, shortbread, a cheese board with membrillo.

Styles and what the label means

• Sweetened Old Tom — sugar added, the route several modern revivals took; sugar-sweetened gin spread in the mid to late 1800s.⁶¹
• Botanically sweet Old Tom — sweetened with botanicals rather than sugar, as some modern revivals are; the earliest gins used liquorice.⁶¹
• Barrel-rested Old Tom — some modern producers rest it in oak. barrel-aged-gin →
• Dry gin — the unsweetened style that grew in popularity by the end of the 19th century.¹ london-dry →