Cocktails with Old Tom gin
Old Tom gin is a lightly sweetened style of gin — historically the bridge between malty Dutch genever and bone-dry London gin. It has no fixed legal definition, so how sweet it is (and whether it’s neutral-based or maltier and barrel-aged) varies by maker.
ABV40–47%Standard strength is the norm; the point of Old Tom is the sweetness and roundness, not the proof.
Substitutes for Old Tom gin
The difference from a dry gin is sugar and a rounder texture, and only the sugar is easy to put back: a barspoon of syrup per measure gets the sweetness and not the weight. Where the recipe is a Martinez or a Tom Collins, that softness is the reason the style exists.
On the label
- "Old Tom"
- A sweetened, usually juniper-led gin — a style, not a brand, with no legal sugar level, so sweetness varies.
- barrel-aged / malt Old Tom
- Some are rested in oak or built on a maltier base (Ransom), for a richer, less dry character.
Often confused with
London Dry may not be sweetened — no more than 0.1 g/L. The drink lands drier: on a recipe written for Old Tom, add back about a barspoon of syrup.
