Yes, you can drink gin directly without problem. If pure gin is your drink of choice, then there's nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to drink quality gin, preferably with ice and a slice of lime or lemon. However, drinking gin alone is something that is not very common.
Sipsmith has an excellent variety of gins, but the London Dry is surprisingly tasty and complete on its own. The most notable feature may be the clean nature of the product, which offers a certain welcome freshness that most gins cannot. American oak tends to really influence spirits, sometimes to an extreme, but the gin in this offering shines. The short length of the cup means that the aromas tend to be closer to the nose, which works well with the most delicate gins.
For a tasty and spicy cocktail, combine gin, clamato juice, Worcestershire and hot sauce, olive pickle, lime juice, and salt and pepper to make a Caesar gin. If this is your first time drinking gin, you may not know where to start (okay, all gin fans have been in your shoes at one time). Once you overcome the typical botanical ingredients of a classic London dry gin, such as juniper, coriander, angelica root or citrus fruits, you'll find all kinds of experimental “new gins” that play with lemongrass, Douglas fir or lavender, to name a few possible ingredients that distillers are using playing. George Terroir gin with its herbal botanical ingredients of Douglas Fir and Coastal Sage or the Oakland Spirits Sea-Gin gin, you'll want to show off those salty or green notes appropriately.
It's a good bet that many gin fans think of it so exclusively in terms of these two jars that they wouldn't know what pure gin tastes like in the first place. The history of this gin is one thing, with its production headquarters in Brazil, where gin is practically non-existent. Whitechapel's cocktail menu is extensive, with drinks such as the Narc Angel painting on London's most classic dry-profile canvas, in this case, Fords gin, which goes very well with maraschino liqueur, orange curacao, Campari bittersweet and bright tones of ginger, mint and lemon. Whitechapel is one of the few American bars that can find bottles of gin that date back decades and that can be drunk.
A tasting glass will improve the intensity and concentration of the aromas of gin so that you have the best experience. The same goes for Gordon's, Ginebra San Miguel (a horrible Philippine gin that I bought on a stopover in Olangapo) and Fid Street Gin, a fairly new gin made here in Hawaii. For a variety of reasons, but mostly out of laziness, I've been drinking a lot of pure gin this summer. More on the salty and herbaceous end of the spectrum, this gin will change the way you perceive things and attract you for more.
