We, in India, are fortunate to have a little piece of Alice’s Wonderland tucked away in small-town Bikaner. It’s called Narendra Bhawan. This erstwhile royal abode has today been transformed into a hotel that serves up hospitality how it should be—in a manner that shows concern and care, the sincere type. Suffice to say that their version of luxury is what the big brands should aspire to achieve instead of the cookie-cutter experience that most five-stars have been reduced to. Narendra Bhawan was then the perfect choice of venue for the world’s number one gin, Bombay Sapphire, when they decided to launch their new uber-premium gin variant, Star of Bombay. Between the decadence of the party that we were told to expect and the name Bombay still being flagrantly used instead of Mumbai, I couldn’t even begin to imagine the numerous factions of fanatics who could have decided to play spoilsport with the preparations. I almost imagined driving up to some roadblock or similar protest, but thankfully, none of that happened and the team behind the brand pulled off a fantastic event. For a person of my age and experience, it takes a lot to evoke a wide-eyed wow, but from the carefully-curated menus, which were printed with the precision of currency notes, to the magical train set up at the grand gala to whisk us away on this (grand) journey, they more than managed it.
But once the hangovers had subsided, I had to take a moment to gauge the essence of this event. What does it mean when this behemoth of a gin brand, one that is famous the world over and has pretty much dominated even the Indian market for nearly a decade, decides to step into the premium category of spirits? Or should I say super- or ultra-premium, considering Bombay Sapphire is already a fairly upmarket product? The world over, gin is currently the trendiest white spirit one can reach out for. Vodkas have had their run, but gin, that old spirit of the octogenarians, brunching ladies, armed forces and old-school club members, had remained somewhat away from any limelight. Then came a slew of brands—from Hendricks to T10—and suddenly gin was hip. Mixologists couldn’t get enough of it and people even more so. Gin bars became the new hotspots and it was normal for most to stock up enough gin and tonic to get a battalion sloshed. Bombay Sapphire, it would seem, chose to sit it out for a while. They already had a string presence in the market and didn’t rush in to respond to the craze with their version of a high(er)-end gin. Albeit late to the party, they recently came up with Star of Bombay, which is an expression of Bombay Sapphire. It comes with two added botanicals (to the 10 already present in the regular Bombay), which are bergamot orange from Calabria and Ambrette seeds from Ecuador.
Bombay Sapphire was the first vapour-infused gin and they continue to use this process to extract flavour from the botanicals and other ingredients that go into it. This technique, unlike, say, boiling the brew with the flavouring ingredients, makes for a softer and yet more saturated spirit. The final concoction is fruity and flavourful, strong yet gentle. I found myself using a lot less tonic than usual, mostly to let the gin shine through. Thankfully, we had great tonic at hand, else the event could have felt a bit compromised. Star of Bombay will cost almost twice of what the standard Bombay Sapphire bottle costs, so I suggest you, too, up your tonic game when you bring one such bottle home—Fever Tree is lovely as also is East Imperial. Locally, Svami is a great bet. With this arrival, we can proudly claim to have most of the world’s top gins on our local shelves. There is no more reason to drink those cheap artificially-flavoured molasses-based distillates that pose as gin in our country any more. I was lucky to be privy to the launch, but next time you are at a bar, take this trip down the rabbit hole yourself; just remember to sip slowly and go easy on the mixer.
The writer is a sommelier