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OLD TOM’S BEGINNINGS WERE DRIVEN BY COMMODITY, INVENTION AND DESIRE. But the details of both the name and style aren’t straightforward. Holes in history and the romance of storytelling – and drinks marketing – present exciting theories. 

It’s likely that Old Tom was the nickname for a cat. This cat appeared on signs of houses that were selling bootleg gin and it was started by Captain Dudley Bradstreet in 1736, according to a history put together by Haymans and leading gin folk such as Geraldine Coates. 

Those in want of a drink could place their money in a slot underneath the cat’s paw sign and gin would be dispensed via a funnel. And so it’s thought ‘Old Tom’ became an affectionate nickname for gin in general. 

This was also an important time for sugar in England, which was pouring in from the Caribbean. In 1802, West India Docks covered 295 acres (now mostly Canary Wharf) and, according to a handbook of London written in 1850, the docks held at any one time 148,563 casks of sugar, among other things – including 35,158 pipes of rum and Madeira. And so our nation developed a sweet tooth and sugar also helped to mask the nasties often used to make gin palatable, before advances in distilling. 

James Hayman says: “The invention of the Coffey still in 1830 allowed for a more refined base spirit. This started the evolution of the dry style of gin. Initially as distillers experimented, sugar was taken out, but it was still called Old Tom gin. For a period it was called unsweetened gin – we have labels of this description in our archives. It then evolved to be called dry gin.” 

And so it seems logical that there are recipes for Old Tom that don’t contain sugar – such as the one found by Jensen’s, in a handwritten distiller’s notebook from 1840. Sugar or not, the abiding characteristic of Old Tom remains: a higher concentration of botanicals. 

Jensen’s global brand ambassador Hannah Lanfear, once head bartender at Milk & Honey, says Jensen’s Old Tom contains a higher concentration of botanicals with a sway towards root and spice. “I see limited use for sweetened Old Toms. Sweetness is an unknown quantity and bartenders have more control if a gin isn’t sweetened,” she says. 

Last year, Jensen’s started distilling from a new site in Bermondsey, with a recently-installed still made by the company, founded by one Aeneas Coffey. You can visit for a cocktail and Lanfear says sales of Jensen’s Old Tom and London Dry are “equal”. Export markets include the US, Canada, Denmark, Belgium and Italy. “The brand is driven by a good bartending scene,” she adds. 

Hayman also claims his company’s Old Tom sales are driven by cocktail bars, rather than specific markets: “Old Tom gin is most suited to cocktail bars and therefore I don’t think it is country specific, but more bar specific. It doesn’t matter the country, it depends on what style of drinks a bar wants to serve, wherever they may be in the world.”

At Diageo, Tanqueray revived its Old Tom last year for a 100,000 bottle release, also with bartenders in mind. At the time, global brand ambassador Barrie Wilson said: “This exceptional liquid will allow bartenders to recreate authentic Old Tom cocktails with a true sense of how they would have tasted historically. As part of this launch, we’ve identified 10 historical Tanqueray Old Tom cocktails and included their initials along with the bottle number on the front label. “Our hope is to inspire bartenders to bring these definitive cocktails back for a new generation.” 

Like many Old Toms, the company described Tanqueray Old Tom as bridging the gap between genever and London Dry gin and the recipe came from Charles Tanqueray’s 1835 foray into the world of Old Tom. Gordon’s also had a 66-year relationship with Old Tom – its Gordon’s Special Old Tom launched in 1921 and it was discontinued in 1987. Harry Johnson, who was a bartender from about 1860 in the US, listed Old Tom in his famous Bartenders’ Manual as an “essential liquor required in the bar room”. And it’s over to the US for another twist in the tale. 

To wood or not to wood 

Jensen’s claims its Old Tom is faithful to the styles that would’ve been shipped to the US – a clean distillate, heavy on botanicals  and “therefore most accurate for cocktail making”. However, in the US, Old Toms such as Ransom are aged in barrel to mark this passage from the UK to the US, making them brown in colour. 

This journey across the Atlantic is cause for further confusion, says Hayman. “In the 1850s, gin was sold from barrels and it would’ve taken a few months to make the crossing. “But the barrels would’ve been used many times and I think they would’ve had minimal impact.”

Hayman also believes this move has been driven by the boom in brown spirits in the US, leading distillers to look at the relationship between gin and wood. There is currently no legal definition of Old Tom and as more craft distillers spring up, the chance to research and experiment gives way to more interpretation, which can only be exciting for the category. 

The next big thing? 

So for all this, is Old Tom likely to be ‘the next big thing’ in gin terms? In short, the answer seems to be no. Charlie Downing, head of Diageo’s gin portfolio, says there are no current plans to produce any more Tanqueray Old Tom following the 100,000 bottle release in 2014. In his own words: “There is appeal of Tanqueray Old Tom in its rarity, and so there are no further plans to distil further runs.”

Downing believes classic London Dry styles of gin will win out: “Gin is exploding in popularity, partly driven by craft distillers entering the category, tinkering with different botanicals. I see this trend continuing and I celebrate the fact that the category is vibrant. However, I do see people coming back to the classic gin styles – juniper-forward London Dry for example.”

For Hayman, there is no doubt that Old Tom has a place in the gin family, but he says: “I don’t expect it to be the next big thing. The go-to gin for many is the drier style and the majority of gin sold in retail is used to make a G&T – that is not going to change.” Though he says Old Tom makes a G&T more approachable for some. 

In Norway, Arcus has been producing Golden Cock Old Tom since 1936 but it remains in its home market and Eli Wahlstrøm, white spirits manager, says not even the classic cocktail revolution has brought about greater demand for Golden Cock. “The reason is probably higher competition and an increased number of international gin brands,” says Wahlstrøm. Though it is set to get a new design, so who knows where it might end up. 

So Old Tom might be sweet, it might not. It might be aged in barrels, it might not. Without a time machine, we’ll never know the whole story. One thing is for certain, though – the cat is out of the bag.