london calling

1 1/2 oz Tanqueray Bloomsbury Gin
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a flute glass. Top with 2-3 oz sparkling wine and twist a grapefruit peel over the top.

Two Tuesdays ago, I attended Tanqueray's launch party at the Sinclair for their limited edition Bloomsbury Gin. I already had a sneak peak at the gin during mid-June's Tanqueray Green Room events. There, I had the opportunity to select a recipe from Angus Winchester's cocktail book collection and one of the gins in the Tanqueray arsenal, so I chose the new Bloomsbury and Jamie Boudreau's Petruchio. The Bloomsbury recipe was created by Charles Waugh Tanqueray, the second generation of distillers back in the 1880s. It kept true to the London Dry style and bolstered Tanqueray's four botanicals, namely juniper, angelica root, coriander seed, and licorice powder, with two additional ones -- cassia and winter savory. Bloomsbury itself refers to the first Tanqueray distillery in the 1830s.
The drink that I tried this day was created by and prepared for me by Sinclair's Dale Murphy called the London Calling. In the flute, it shared grapefruit, orange, and pine aromas. A carbonated sip offered crisp grapefruit and wine notes, and the swallow presented gin, rhubarb, and floral flavors.