There's something deeply thrilling about holding a piece of gin history in your hands. The Robert Burnett Old Tom Gin, bottled circa the 1940s, is exactly that — a genuine artefact from an era when Old Tom was still a working category rather than the craft revival curiosity it's become today. At 46% ABV, this is a bottling with serious presence, sitting well above the strength you'd find in most Old Tom expressions of any period.
A Window Into Old Tom's Golden Age
What makes this bottling so fascinating is what it represents. Old Tom is the missing link between the rough, sweetened genevers of the 18th century and the crisp London Dry style that would come to dominate the 20th. By the 1940s, Robert Burnett was an established name in the spirits trade, and their Old Tom would have been crafted to a house style refined over decades. The 46% ABV suggests a bottling intended to carry genuine botanical weight — this wasn't a timid, over-sweetened spirit. It was built for purpose.
The beauty of a vintage Old Tom at this strength is the way it bridges eras of cocktail making. This is the style of gin that would have originally powered the Martinez and the Tom Collins — drinks that were designed around that subtle malty sweetness and rounder juniper character that defines the category.
Best Served
If I were lucky enough to pour from this bottle, there's only one call: a Martinez. Two parts gin, one part sweet vermouth, a barspoon of maraschino, two dashes of orange bitters, stirred long over a single large ice cube until properly diluted, then strained into a chilled coupe with a lemon twist expressed over the surface. That's the drink this gin was born to make.
At 8.3/10, this scores on historical significance, strength, and the sheer quality of the Old Tom category it represents. A collectible bottling that reminds us where modern gin truly began.
