Cocktails with London dry gin
London dry gin is a juniper-dominant gin defined by its production method, made only by distilling neutral spirit with natural botanicals and never sweetened or flavoured afterward.
ABV 40–47%
Taste profile
Juniper leads — piney and resinous — over a dry, unsweetened body carried by coriander, root and citrus-peel botanicals, with a crisp, clean finish.
How it's used
Reached for whenever a drink needs a dry, aromatic spine, it works as the base measure, stirred or shaken, and its high-strength juniper backbone anchors a build; in smaller accent measures the exact gin style matters far less.
Substitutes for London dry gin
Another juniper-dominant gin at full base strength; a sweetened style such as Old Tom preserves the juniper aroma and the gin base role but adds sugar and rounder body, which can be dialled back elsewhere in the build. A non-gin spirit cannot reproduce the juniper aroma and fails as a substitute when gin is the base.
Often confused with
Old Tom is a sweetened gin style, whereas London dry is capped at 0.1 g/L sweetening and may add nothing after distillation, leaving it essentially unsweetened and crisper.
Sources
- 27 CFR 5.154 geographic designations — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- 27 CFR Part 5, Subpart I — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787, Annex I — UK Legislation
- Reg (EU) 2019/787 Annex I gin categories — UK Legislation
- Reg (EU) 2019/787 cat 22 — UK Legislation
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787, EUR-Lex
