Tanqueray: top-shelf gins

So many flavors, so little time

To read our taste audits of these, go here.

Tanqueray London Dry Gin

The one, the original. Tanqueray London Dry is a juniper-forward gin with distinctive flavors of piney juniper and feint lemon zest. It is these perfectly balanced botanicals of juniper, coriander, angelica and licorice which create a classic base for every gin cocktail without overpowering it. It is variously sold as:

Imported 47.3% ABV (United States, Canada, Germany and European duty-free shops)
Exported 43.1% ABV (United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden)
40% ABV (Australia, Canada, and New Zealand)

Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla

Launched in 2018 and inspired by one of Charles Tanqueray’s original recipes from 1862 that used Seville oranges, Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla is the perfect gin to add a twist to your gin creations. Charles Tanqueray was inspired to develop this recipe after he visited the orange groves of Spain. Made from the essence of quality bittersweet Seville oranges, orange blossom and other botanicals, the result is a sophisticated gin with a tangy and sweet flavor profile.

Tanqueray Malacca

In 1839, Charles Tanqueray created a spiced gin using botanicals from Malaysia and it was this recipe, found in Charles’ notebook, which inspired the Tanqueray distillers to create Tanqueray Malacca. It’s made with peppercorns, rose petals, cloves and cardamom as well as the four Tanqueray botanicals in Tanqueray London Dry. Tanqueray Malacca was first launched in 1997 as a limited edition, but due to popular demand it was batched again in 2013 and then brought back permanently in 2018.

The taste of Tanqueray Malacca is robust and smooth. Citrus up front, with a tad bit of acidic tang. Lemon, and Grapefruit. In the middle you get some baking spices, with cinnamon in the middle. The finish is perhaps the shining moment for this gin, where you get a tad bit of juniper and a long creamy finish with notes of creme anglaise, specifically warm creamy vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

Interestingly enough, these warm notes are more pronounced when the spirit is drank neat and room temperature. When chilled, the citrus becomes a bit more pronounced.

Tanqueray 0.0%

Launched in 2021, non-alcoholic Tanqueray 0.0% has been crafted using the same distinct blend of quality botanicals used in the making of Tanqueray London Dry gin including: piney juniper, peppery coriander, aromatic angelica and sweet licorice.

Tanqueray No. TEN

Tanqueray No. TEN is an exquisite gin that set the standard as the first ever super-premium gin when it was launched in 2000. Juniper is integrated with freshly squeezed lime, orange and pink grapefruit juice while white pepper and coriander spice add depth. All these flavors continue through the long, smooth almost creamy finish. It makes a good Dirty Martini. Great Dry with a Twist. It works well in a Gibson. It’s even a great choice in Martini riffs like the Alaska Cocktail. The lack of strong herbal notes leaves an opening that is nicely complemented by a good Vermouth. Further, it works well in mixed drinks like the Gin and Tonic or Gin and Lemonade.

Tanqueray No. TEN takes its name from the compact 500-liter copper pot still No. 10 at Cameronbridge (nicknamed 'Tiny Ten') that it was developed in over 3 years time. Hand-picked, the produce (oranges from Florida, limes from Mexico, and Israeli white grapefruits) arrives at the distillery pre-cut from the Nativity farm just eight miles away, and is used immediately. These are combined in 200 year-old stills (No.1 & No. 3) with de-mineralized water and the hand-selected core botanicals of juniper (99.9% comes from Tuscany in Italy), coriander (originating from Bulgaria, Russia, Romania and Albania), Roman chamomile, angelica (sourced from Saxony in Germany), and licorice. Tanqueray No. TEN is made in very small batches (five at a time), and it takes around 10 hours to create a bottle from start to finish.

Tanqueray Bloomsbury

Launched in 2015, the Bloomsbury is an homage to Charles Waugh Tanqueray, the son of founder Charles Tanqueray, and his recipe for gin dating back to the 1880s when the distillery was located in Bloomsbury, London. Using a heavy juniper berry formula, along with coriander, angelica, winter savoury and cassia bark, the result is a delicately fragrant spirit with a lovely balance of flavor. The juniper is front and center giving the Bloomsbury a classic London Dry profile, but it's soft and graceful on the palate, elegant enough to stand on its own, but begging for a splash of vermouth and a dash of bitters.

Tanqueray Lovage

Launched in 2018 and inspired by an original recipe created by Tanqueray in 1832, the new expression is a “savory twist” on the classic Tanqueray expression, thanks to the addition of English garden herb, lovage. Created with the help of world-renowned bartender Jason Crawley, Tanqueray Lovage is described as “deeply herbaceous, celery-like and earthy, whilst retaining that signature juniper-citrus forward style”.

Tanqueray Rangpur

Tanqueray Rangpur is a zesty, fresh gin made from Rangpur limes that was first launched in 2006. It is distilled with Tanqueray’s iconic base of juniper, coriander, angelica and licorice and it is then complemented with ginger bay leaves and rare rangpur limes. The result is a zesty flavored gin which also still maintains its juniper forward style that Tanqueray is known for.

Tanqueray Rangpur makes excellent GTs!

Tanqueray Old Tom

Launched in 2014, Tanqueray Old Tom is said to have been pulled right from Charles Tanqueray’s personal recipe diary, circa 1835. Botanically speaking, Tanqueray Old Tom uses the same four core botanicals as their traditional London Dry Gin: angelica root, coriander seed, licorice root and of course— juniper. But unlike their dry gin, it varies the proportions of those core botanicals and then sweetens it with beet root sugar. Furthermore, if you’re used to the clean base spirits of many mainstream London Dry gins, you’re going to be surprised. Tanqueray Old Tom, true to the historical origins of the style, retains some grain flavor in the base spirit. This means this gin might call to mind more a genever base, or at the very least a vintage gin base, rather than its modern cousin.

There were only 100,000 bottles made and the label is an exact replica of one of the last labels found in the Diageo Archive.

Tanqueray No. TEN Citrus Heart Edition

In January 2020, Tanqueray No. Ten Citrus Heart Edition (45.3% ABV) was launched in key airports across the world including Heathrow, Dubai, Auckland and Madrid ahead of being released into other markets in the summer. This new innovation balances the grapefruit taste, juniper notes and rosemary finish of Tanqueray No. Ten with sweet, sour, juicy and tart citrus flavors.

Diageo has also partnered with bartender Fabio La Pietra to create a limited edition cocktail bitters that complements the “citrus heart” of Tanqueray No. TEN.

Tanqueray Blackcurrant Royale

Launched in 2021 and inspired by the French heritage and travels of Charles Tanqueray, Blackcurrant Royale is a sumptuous and unique distilled gin made with French blackcurrants and vanilla notes, elevated with a black orchid inspired flavor and balanced with the four classic London Dry botanicals. It is best enjoyed in a copa glass with premium tonic water, plenty of ice and garnished with a wedge of lemon and a bunch of dark berries such as blackcurrants and blackberries.

Tanqueray London Dry gin distillation

Tanqueray No. TEN gin distillation

And on the Seventh Day, He created Tanqueray Gin.

Charles Tanqueray was born in 1810. His father, grandfather and great-uncle were all clergymen in a parish just outside London. But Charles was always scientific and decided he didn’t want to follow in their footsteps, so he took a risk and chose to forge his own path. He and his brother, Edward, went to the Curries Distillery to learn the craft and how to become gin distillers.

By the time the Tanqueray brothers started their own gin distillery in 1830, gin had shed its bad reputation from the earlier gin-craze era. Charles and Edward tried to learn everything they could in those first years, known because Charles’s recipe experimentation notebooks still exist (now stored at the Diageo Archive in Menstrie, Scotland). Charles did things like tweak the proportion of juniper berries depending on where he was sourcing them from, and crossing things out when they didn’t work. He was meticulous in everything he did, right from the start of his gin-distilling career.

Charles Tanqueray was also one of the very first people to create what would become known as ‘London dry’ gin, as opposed to the Old Tom-style that was fashionable in those days. Old Tom gins were heavily sugared to hide the imperfections in the neutral grain spirit because they did not yet have the distillation techniques to create a very pure base spirit. The distillation world witnessed the patenting of the Coffey Still in 1830, which finally allowed high-volume continuous distillation of very pure base spirit — fortuitous for the brothers to pioneer their London dry-style of gin. Edward died only 5 years into their business venture. leaving Charles alone at the helm. Charles made Tanqueray a success ultimately by using only four botanicals, the same ones used to this day to make Tanqueray: juniper, angelica root, licorice and coriander seeds.

The first Tanqueray distillery was established in London on Vine Street, in the Bloomsbury district. Now almost 200 year later, Tanqueray’s assortment of many gins are made exclusively at Diageo’s giant grain distillery in Cameronbridge, Fife, UK (Scotland).

Diageo (Haig) Cameronbridge Distillery

The largest grain distillery in Europe, and the very first in Scotland — with its own rich history.

Each week, the distillery uses 50 million liters of water, 3500 tons of wheat, and 15 tons of yeast

Each year, the distillery produces 120 million liters of alcohol (roughly 1 US gallon every second)
Produces Tanqueray gin, Gordon’s gin, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker whisky, J&B’s whisky, Bell’s whisky, Vat 69 whisky, Cameron Brig whisky, Haig’s Club whisky, Black & White whisky, White Horse whisky, Malibu liqueur, Pimm’s liqueur, Archers liqueur, and more
Produces over 80% of all white spirit consumed in the UK

Tanqueray Milestones

1830: Charles Tanqueray, the 20 year-old son of a Bedfordshire clergyman, sets up the Bloomsbury Distillery in London

1868: Charles Waugh Tanqueray, son of Charles Tanqueray, takes over the business after his father’s death

1898: All production moves to Goswell Road following Gordon and Tanqueray merger

1920: US Prohibition starts; Tanqueray develops special floating cases so that they could be unloaded at sea and floated to islands off the US coast, where they could then be discreetly collected

1922: Tanqueray Gordon & Co joins Distillers Company Ltd., an organization formed in 1877 when six Scotch whisky distilleries joined forces

1925: Tanqueray Gordon & Co receives first Royal Warrant from HRH The Princess of Wales

1941: Goswell Road is bombed by the Luftwaffe, destroying the firm’s offices, warehouses and distillery — except for the single large pot still ‘Old Tom’ No. 4

1948: Tanqueray begins to be produced in the now-familiar green bottle (meant to resemble a 1920s cocktail shaker), along with orange and lemon flavored gins that were discontinued only nine years later (orange will be borne again in 2018)

1964: The then-popular Rat Pack being seen drinking Tanqueray martinis doubles Tanqueray’s sales without a penny of advertising money being spent on the brand

1979: Tanqueray sales hit one million cases

1980: Two randy yanks establish the American Gin and Tonic Designers Association (AGTDA)

1984: Tanqueray production moves to Laindon, Essex and five years later the first gin is distilled using copper stills — yielding better process control and giving the gin a drier and sharper flavor

1986: Guinness buys the Distillers Company and forms United Distillers and Vintners (UDV)

1988: UDV concentrates all spirits production to their largest distillery in Cameronbridge, Scotland (even the ‘Old Tom’ still is moved there), where Tanqueray is now produced exclusively alongside other spirits non-exclusively

1997: Guinness and food and drink giant Grand Metropolitan merge to create a new company, Diageo. By 2002, the food parts of the business go elsewhere and leave the UK alcohol parts behind, established as Diageo (Great Britain) Ltd.

2000: newly-developed Tanqueray No. TEN production is launched, solidifying the next era of Tanqueray variant diversity. A steady stream of new production variants begins

2016: Tanqueray becomes the #1 selling gin in the world, displacing Beefeater

2021: Following a steady stream of new variants, Tanqueray introduces its first non-alcoholic recipe: 0.0%

Tanqueray Videos

A journey behind the scenes with Tanqueray’s UK’s then-Senior Brand Ambassador, Jack Sotti.

Part 1: Botanical Exploration

Part 3: Liquid History

Part 2: Distilled to Perfection

Part 4: Unmistakable Taste

Seal and Crest2.jpg — Tanqueray Seal and Crest

The signature wax seal on the front of the bottle is the official stamp of Tanqueray quality (*colored red for Standards and other colors for Limited Editions*), while the crest on the bottle is steeped in history itself. The crest’s pineapple is a representation of good hospitality and wealth (*you can imagine obtaining a pineapple in the 1800s in London was rather a difficult and expensive endeavor*), and the crossed axes are said to represent the family’s participation in the Third Crusade.