🥃 Old Tom Gin

Old Tom gin is a historic style of sweetened English gin, popular in the 19th century and revived in the early 21st. The EU and the United Kingdom have no legal definition. In the United States, standard 27 CFR § 5.144 allows the designation “Old Tom” only for gin obtained by distillation or redistillation, at 40% ABV or more.

According to The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (the entry was written by David Wondrich), Old Tom was a category of retailers, not distillers. They bought unsweetened gin, diluted it with water and added sugar. Old Tom had the least water and sugar, so it was the strongest, above 40% ABV, with about 35 g of sugar per litre. The name first appears in a London newspaper in 1810.

In EU law Old Tom has no category of its own. If a gin contains more than 0.1 g/l of added sweeteners, the word “dry” may not be written on it, and it cannot be London gin (category 22), which has no more than 0.1 g/l of sugar. So sweetened gin is sold as “gin” (category 20) or “distilled gin” (category 21), at 37.5% ABV or more.

At the end of the 19th century tastes shifted to drier drinks, and by the end of the 20th century Old Tom had almost disappeared from sale. The revival began in 2007 in London and in 2008 in Oregon. The Gin Guild describes the style as slightly sweeter than London dry gin: the sweetness comes from sugar or syrup added after distillation, sweet botanicals such as liquorice root, or cask maturation.

Why it matters to you. There is no clear standard, so the words “Old Tom” on a label do not guarantee any particular amount of sugar: producers interpret the style differently. Check the strength and the description on the label. If “dry” stands next to it, in the EU that would mean no more than 0.1 g/l of sugar. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe dose of alcohol.