The founder
Its creator Charles Tanqueray He was born in 1810 into a family that had nothing to do with liquors, distillates, or anything like that.
His great-great-grandfather David de Roots Charles, originally from France, was the first Tanqueray in England, where his goldsmithing skills were so sought after that he received royal recognition as Goldsmith to King George II. His father, grandfather and great-uncle were all clergymen in a parish outside London. Charles's father was a Church of England minister and, at the age of 41, he married a 17-year-old girl and they had 14 children. Charles was the sixth of them.
But Charles decided that he did not want to follow in the family footsteps, and at only 18 years old he took a risk and chose to forge his own path.
Charles Tanqueray He was passionate about experimenting and invented several things, including a formula for saddle polish and medicines for injured animals.
At that time the gin It was a booming distillate and it soon caught his attention and he decided to go with his brother Edward to the Curries Distillery to learn the trade and how to become gin distillers. During those first years they learned the art and secrets of making gin.
The origin of Tanqueray
Charles and his brother Edward opened a small shop where they began to experiment with the first formulas for making gin. He did things like adjust the ratio of juniper berries depending on where he was sourcing them, experimented with many possible recipes, and traveled far and wide in search of the highest quality ingredients before finding the careful balance of flavors that is Tanqueray London Dry. .
He was one of the 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.
The success
The year was 1830 when Tanqueray London Dry Gin saw the light. Such was his success and demand that this same year, together with his brother, he would take over the Vine Street distillery located in Bloomsbury (London), an area known for its good water quality.
Edward died a couple of years later, leaving the family business alone. Charles made it a success using just four botanicals, the same ones used today to make Tanqueray gin: juniper, angelica root, licorice and coriander seeds.
Charles Tanqueray died in 1868 , his son Charles Waugh Tanqueray taking over the distillery at the age of 20, growing the Tanqueray brand even further than during his father's management, including a merger with Gordon's Gin, one of the inspirations. and competitors of his father, in the late 1800s.
The history
The merger with Gordon's paved the way for both companies. Gordon's took the lead in becoming the gin of choice in Britain, and Tanqueray was introduced to the United States.
There is a legend that while Prohibition was imposed in the United States, Tanqueray continued to clandestinely supply his gin to stores located on islands off the American coast, where high-society Americans went with their boats to get everything they needed. type of liquor prohibited at that time.
It is said that once Prohibition ended the first drink drunk in the White House to mark the end of Prohibition was Tanqueray and tonic.
It was during World War II in 1941 , when an aerial bombardment in London almost completely destroyed the distillery, making it truly unusable, saving only one of the stills, and that was thanks to the staff soaking the still with water to save it. This still remains today in Cameron Bridge, Scotland and is known as “Old Tom”, in honor of the survivors of the German bombing raids who are known by the name Tom. Tanqueray has created "Old Tom" gin in memory of these events.
Faced with this situation, it was decided to build a new distillery on Scottish lands. While this was being built and to be able to build new stills, a freight train car was equipped with special equipment so that while it was being transferred to the new location, it could continue distilling alcohol. during the journey.
In 1922, Tanqueray became a member of Distillers Company , an amalgamation of originally 6 Scotch whiskey distilleries from 1877 (including John Haig and later John Walker & Son and Buchanan-Dewar). Guiness took over this conglomerate at the end of the 20th century.
The Tanqueray factory and brand passed into the hands of United Distillers, (Diageo) and John Tanqueray, the founder's great-great-grandson, was the last member of the family to work for the gin that bears his surname, until 1989 when he retired.
The green bottle
There are several versions about the design of the Tanqueray bottle, which was launched on the market in 1948, with the image that we all know today.
A bottle of green gin (probably the first green bottle in the US). Some say that it is shaped like a pineapple, a fruit that at that time symbolized wealth and power, since at that time it was really expensive and difficult to obtain, others that it is inspired by a British fire hydrant.
But the most credible version is that it was intended to resemble a cocktail shaker, winking at the mixologists at bar counters.
Regarding the sealed seal , history says that Charles Tanqueray personally supervised each of the bottles before they went on the market and put the seal on them as confirmation of the good quality of the product. This seal has been maintained through the ages.
The gin Tanqueray London Dry It is still made with exactly the same formula that its creator invented, with quadruple distillation and the composition of four classic flavors. It is a dry gin, with a perfect balance in flavor, and the alcohol content of Tanqueray London Dry Gin is between 40% and 47.3% worldwide. The manufacturer recommends enjoying it as a gin and tonic with tonic water, lots of ice and a slice of lemon.
The varieties
As it could not be less, Tanqueray evolved by bringing different gin specialties to the market, to cover different preferences of its consumers, we cannot miss trying the also famous Tanqueray Nº Ten, Tanqueray Rangpur, or Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla.
For the Flower of Seville They turned to an old recipe by Charles Tanqueray. The idea for Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla probably arose during a visit by Charles Tanqueray to an orange plantation in Seville. He enjoyed his walks through the orange groves and loved the aroma of bittersweet oranges. This is how the idea of a fruity fresh orange distillate matured. The base of the gin is the classic London Dry Gin , refined by sun-ripe oranges and Seville orange blossom or Tanqueray Malacca , which was launched in 2013 as a limited edition made following a recipe created at the beginning of the company's history, during a trip that Charles Tanqueray made through Southeast Asia in search of spices for his gins.