Gin Tasting E
at One Squar
T
here’s more to Scotland than
whisky,” quips Hugh Gibb
when we meet. Gibb is Senior
Barman at One Square
Edinburgh, where he proudly
oversees a collection of fifty types
of gin. He gets a wry smile when
people come in and do a double-take
“Where’s the whisky?” Of course,
One Square does indeed keep plenty
of single malt Scotch on hand, but he
frequently ordered cocktail at Studio
54 in New York during the late disco
era. “The interesting thing is that
gin is from everywhere; it’s a global
spirit,” says Gibb. “For a brief period
of time it was British. Most cities
that had a port had a thriving
distillery scene.”
That is Gibb’s goal: to get people
thinking about and tasting and
appreciating gin. He loves sharing
the history and folklore of the
spirit, peppering his conversation
with tidbits such as the fact that
the gin and tonic was the most
Experience, a sampling of a few very
different types of gin, each served
with a carefully chosen tonic and
garnish. “All garnish should have
some legitimacy to be there,” he
stressed, explaining how he tastes
and studies the botanicals of a gin
to decide which notes to highlight.
The didactic method Gibb has
invented is called the Gin Tasting
likes to put ten different bottles
of Scottish gins in front of his
customers, to get folks thinking.
I sipped each brand neat before adding
tonic, led by this knowledgeable and
Hugh Gibb
64