Bombay Dry and the Indian Raj

[mbanu]

Although the promotional material for Bombay Dry gin says their recipe dates back to 1761, I have run across the rumor that the botanicals in Bombay Dry were actually selected during the British Raj because they reminded the British of the herbs used in Indian cooking, and wanted to use the exoticness as a marketing foothold in Britain. Seeing as the reign of the British raj and the time period where London Dry style gins were popularized are closer together than having a dry gin recipe that predates the invention of dry gin itself, the rumor seems more believable.

I'm interesting in verifying or disproving this rumor, but am unsure where to begin. Does anyone have and ideas of where I might start looking? (Or better still, have an answer to my question? :P)

[eje]

I'm interesting in verifying or disproving this rumor, but am unsure where to begin. Does anyone have and ideas of where I might start looking? (Or better still, have an answer to my question? :P)

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Not really an expert on the history of gin; but, I can tell you some of the botanicals used in Bombay are, "almonds, lemon peel, licorice, juniper, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia bark, cubeb berries, grains of Paradise." Got that from their annoying flash website. Nothing about those really screams "curry" to me.

Is Bombay Gin really that old a company? I don't really remember noticing them in the US until some time in the 1980s or 90s when they started seriously promoting themselves at bars as a premium gin.

[slkinsey]

I believe Gary Regan said at a recent DISCUS gin tasting event that Bombay was developed at the request or under the direction of an American and relatively recently. Can't remember exactly, though, so I might be wrong.

[Joe Blowe]

I believe Gary Regan said at a recent DISCUS gin tasting event that Bombay was developed at the request or under the direction of an American and relatively recently.

Not sure about the 'American' part, but Bombay Sapphire has only been around since the late '80s. Standard Bombay has been around for much longer...

[slkinsey]

This from The Martini Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide by Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan:

In the late 1950s, Alen Subin, an American entrepreneur, decided that the United States had enough room to accommodate one more premium imported gin.  Accordingly, he contacted all of the gin distilleries in England and requested samples of their finest products.  After testing and tasting, he finally selected a brand that had reportedly been made in England since 1761.  Subin dubbed the gin "Bombay," put a portrait of Queen Victoria on the label . . . and started to market the product in the United States.

This, I think, gives the lie to the rumor that the botanicals were selected during the Raj to remind Englishmen of Indian cooking. First, even a cursory taste of Bombay gin reveals that there is no such relationship of flavor. More important is the fact that this idea undoubtedly arose due to the name "Bombay," which brand name was apparently not used until some time in the late 1950s. Also, if the formula for Bombay does, in fact, substantially date from the mid 18th century, it predated the British Raj by some hundred years (the Raj generally supposed to date from from 1858, when the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown, until independence in 1947).