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I`ve been a GIN drinker since legal age of 18years young in Buffalo, NY! Of course my first taste came from my Dad back in the 50`s when he would concoct his version of the cheapest gin Martini placed in a cool, chilled coupe glass with an Olive! I followed during my drinking years of Nursing School to add tonic to my Gin! To this day it`s MY drink of choice all year round. Good Gin with a Splash of bottled tonic, NOT GUN TONIC @ bars. Now with a splash of Bitters to really make it Pretty!

Does anyone know what brand of gin -- pink or otherwise -- was drunk by Royal Navy officers in WWII? I was born in East London in 1942 and would dearly like to know. Thank you!

Instead of martini or gibson, I usually drink pin gin with a slightly different recipe. My gin is usually in the freezer as well as my martini glasses. Pour angostura bitters over a chilled martini glass. With circular movements, the angostura will paint all the glass. Pour out any bitters that didn't stick to the glass. Fill the glass (now painted in brown) with chilled gin and et voila you'll have your pink gin ready to drink.

The HK recipe for a pink gin was to swirl several dashes of angostura bitters round a very well chilled coupe glass and pour out any of the bitters that didn’t stick to the inside of the glass. The gin was stirred with lots of ice, until well chilled and somewhat diluted, and then strained into the glass and served with cashew or pistachio nuts.
Alternatively, a chilled, thick glass, tumbler was rinsed with bitters and the stirred and chilled gin was poured complete with ice into the glass.

I was born and brought up in Hong Kong in the 1960s and, as well as a traditional pink gin being served at the Hong Kong Club and Shek-O Country Club, both gin and tonic and vodka and tonic were offered with your choice of a slice of lemon or lime or a dash of Angostura bitters.