Thank you. I, too, use Fever Tree Indian Tonic. I was not keen on the idea of green tea and gin, so I’m glad to learn of your first hand experience. Sounds like a “pass” for me!
Place a third vote on the no tea in gin. I found the Drumshanbo virtually undrinkable.
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Song Cai, a vietnamese gin, has a lovely modern profile with good floral elements, juniper, and a fairly distinct anise/black licorice jelly bean note that holds on the finish. If you’re a fan of gins with a stronger licorice note, I would recommend giving this a try. It is otherwise very well made and balanced.
I know purists want gin juniper forward with as few botanicals as possible, but I love complex gins full of different botanicals. The more the better. My favorite go to gins are:
- The Botanist 22 from Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay, Scotland
- Dillon’s Unfiltered Gin 22 from Niagara, Ontario, Canada. The local Canadian version of the above, made with a distilled grape spirit base as opposed to a grain base and 22 locally foraged botanicals.
- Mistral Gin from Provence, France. A dry Rosé gin with 12 botanicals made with a spirit base distilled from Provence Rosé wine.
- Dancing Sands Sauvignon Blanc Gin from New Zealand. A relatively new gin (at least to me, it only recently made it into the LCBO here), it is made with a spirit base distilled from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grapes. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is already famous for its herbal and fruity flavors so it’s a natural match for distilling Gin. This one has a mere 8 botanicals and is spice forward.
I personally find grape spirit based gin has a cleaner flavor but I recognize that grain spirit based vodka is much richer in body. You can definitely taste the difference in richness and body between The Botanist and the Dillon’s.
Made the drive to P’cola for some fish and timed it to hit the ABC there. They had Citadelle marked down to $24 which in my market is usually around $32. It makes a nice clean Martini and is also good in Negroni.
2 new to me gins:
Gray Whale, which included a free four pack of Fever tree which made the effective price a bit lower.
The Monkey 47 Bathing Ape Edition.
The Gray whale I have had in a gin and tonic, would characterize as light and refreshing. Nothing very distinctive. Haven’t made a Martini yet. The Monkey 47 remains unopened.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-15/the-14-best-new-wine-and-spirits-for-holiday-parties-and-home-entertaining?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Procera Blue Dot sounds interesting, Empirical symphony no.6 sounds very interesting
Hendricks is go to.
I’ll agree on the Procera. The Empirical sounds a bit odd.
No idea what most of these Gins actually are but there are over a hundred coming up for auction. Depending on the pricing I might take a flyer on some.
Does anybody have experience with any of these?
Bought a new one the other day.
St Laurent - Product of Canada
Tried in a Negroni, Gin and Tonic and Martini.
Completely undrinkable in any of the above. Overshadowed everything. Probably the worst Gin i have ever had.
Has a mildew like aroma and a very offputing almost fish sauce like taste. I’m not sure it would be good for anything other than fire starter at this point.
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Anyone try this yet? I bought it for the holiday weekend.
Update- A little too floral for me. It was decent in a G&T with a small grapefruit wedge, but I don’t think I would enjoy it in a Negroni or Martini.
Not a repeat purchase for me.
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I bought this and tried it this weekend. Back on a gin kick as the summer heat starts up in Dallas. Had this and Tulchan, a newish Speyside gin that I believe is owned by one of the big boy groups.
I found the Flora Adora to be an interesting blend of two previous Cabinet releases, Orbium and Midsummer. Orbium rolls off a big juniper and cinchona bitter element, and Midsummer is sweeter and intensely floral. I was surprised that they pushed a Floral drive Cabinet after Midsummer as mission accomplished already.
But I found the Flora Adora to have more of a juniper-driven spicy backbone with a refreshing bitter element missing in Midsummer, but with a rosy, floral accent. I wouldn’t say it was too floral for my tastes, like Midsummer or Nolets, but I am not convinced that the botanicals used really meld together in harmony. It’s an alright gin, but probably not a repeat purchase for me either.
Tulchan is a london dry style from a speyside distillery. It’s a fairly down the middle tasty gin that is overpriced for what it is. Fairly bright profile with decent juniper, citrus, and light herbal notes for a clean finish. Tasty and easy, good in a gin and tonic. A middle shelf gin that just lacks a little pop for me. But I’d be happy to have it if offered.
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