Tanqueray No. 10
Tanqueray No. TEN is built around whole fresh fruit — grapefruits especially, along with limes and oranges, go into the still whole rather than as dried peel — plus chamomile flowers, the botanical that gives it that soft, honeyed edge. It was the first gin distilled this way, and it reset what people expected a citrus gin could be.
Distillation happens in a small still nicknamed 'Tiny Ten' at Cameronbridge in Scotland, where a fresh-fruit heart is redistilled over the classic Tanqueray base of juniper, coriander, angelica and liquorice.
The nose leads with pink grapefruit and a lick of chamomile over clean juniper. On the palate it's rounded and almost creamy — lemon and orange first, then a zesty grapefruit lift, with coriander and white pepper building underneath. The finish is long and faintly sherbety, lime and chamomile fading last. At 47.3% it has real presence: superb in a martini and needing little help, though it also makes a bright, grown-up G&T.
Pour it when you want a citrus-forward gin with backbone rather than a soft, floral one.
How to Serve
Straight into a properly cold martini with a grapefruit twist, or over ice with a neutral tonic and a wedge of pink grapefruit. Keep the bottle in the freezer — it rewards it.
Where to Drink It
Dukes Bar, St James's — the martini bar to end them all. The Connaught Bar — theatrical, precise, worth the price. Artesian at The Langham — for something more inventive.
Food Pairings
A natural with oysters or a citrus-dressed ceviche — the grapefruit cuts clean through cold shellfish.
