My fault for not drinking it quickly enough? 😆
Went to make a g&t this evening and pulled out the Empress from my bar cart.
Now my drink is clear and boring! 🤣
My bottle is a little less than 1/4 full.
After a long process of trial, error, and a lot of tasting, I've finally made my own gin, Tala. Not available to the public (it lives exclusively in my safari camps) but I'm proud of it! I was inspired by safari and the botanicals of the African bush. Anyone else gone down this rabbit hole? Would love to swap notes.
It's bad. Like pure solvent. Horrible to sip. Added Thomas Henry dry tonic and a slice of lime, made it bearable, mainly cause I don't taste the gin anymore. So it really is the worst of both worlds: Awful when pure and tasteless when mixed.
Asked the clerk at my local liquor store if they stock Beefeater after not seeing it on the shelf. He wasn't sure what it was and looked it up on his phone. It was like a light bulb went off. He went in the back, came out with this, and sold it to me for $6!
He said they don't carry it anymore and had no idea how long it'd been sitting in the back. It's at least pre-2020, because it's 94 proof (47% ABV). Any idea exactly how old it might be?
After a year and a half I was finally able to get my hands on the last bottle needed to completed the collection.
The Whiskey is in my possession, just not on the new shelf yet. Only need the Sausage Tree Vodka to complete the entire ensemble.
I was amazed by their gin selection in a state that tightly controls what can come in, down to each sku.
I will be going back to try more of them soon. What would you recommend I try next? I have had the Hendricks and Drunshanbo.
basically friend only drinks beer. I said he'd enjoy cocktails. I have one chance to win him over, what's the pick?
Short question:
I acidentally Left my bottle of the Botanist open and undclosed overnight. I just realized it the Next Morning and when i drank and smelled it again, it tasted and smelled kinda off…
Could this be because of it standing open for a Night or am i imagining things? What’s your experiences on that?
Hello everyone! In case this is your first time seeing my reviews, I wait until the end of a bottle to review it. I sip mostly neat but also make a variety of cocktails. I work at a distillery and also bartend. Gin is my passion.
Today I am reviewing JCB gin from France. They use upcycled Pinot noir and Chardonnay grapes for the base spirit which really elevates the experience if you’ve ever had grape based gins! 47 plants total with only a few made public (grrrrr…). A hearty price tag of usually 120$ at my local Arlington total wine, but I’ve seen it as low as 60$. I got mine on sale for 80$. Still a big price so the expectations are high.. obviously this lovely bottle will go nice in my collection. But the spirit needs to be good.
The nose is quite amazing. A floral, delicate, spicy, and rich forward bouquet leads the way followed by juniper which is quite faint but accompanied by spices and faint citrus. Really a lot going on here and I like that for this gin.
The taste is pretty stunning. A tea-like, wine-like spice leads the way followed by floral juniper. A warm earthy taste w coriander and bitter sweet honey-like taste follows. Real long longevity with strong complexity; lots of flavor!! Subtle sweetness but not much citrus (though it is there for sure). Every sip is a new experience honestly.
Overall: 4.6/5- would’ve rated higher but honestly, not worth the sometimes triple digit price. If you find it on sale, I recommend it. Sips neat LOVELY!
The
Haven't had Knut Hansen before, but it's fairly popular in Germany afaik. Any recommendations for G&T?
Hello everyone! Today I am reviewing the French gin, Normindia! Only 8 public botanicals with 7 kept secret. These secret botanicals certainly restrict me from being able to accurately describe the taste but I will work with what is available!
The smell is very Apple, ginger, and cinnamon forward! The smell reminds me of a fresh farmers market. Earthy and spicy with bitter citrus notes.
The taste reminds me very much of Ameris, a gin I reviewed here before. An earthy musky spice blends with apple sweetness and distant orange. Very much a contemporary gin because juniper is very hidden and hard to detect (though not invisible). Not much longevity but tons of flavor. Not too sweet but notable. It has an earthy spice note that is not my favorite but I can imagine others loving it.
Overall- 3.7/5- a solid gin but there are better options. Can imagine that if you like the apple ginger taste you will go crazy for this gin! No regrets pickin this up!
In a few weeks I'm traveling to Toronto and I need to know if they have local gin, I'm a collector and I'd like to bring me a couple
To all my fellow gin drinkers, is there anything better than an ice cold martini on a Saturday night? Hope everyone is staying relaxed and having a great weekend. Cheers!
I always see posts about favorite gins and recommendations, but what’s your least favorite gin? I found mine earlier this week and I hate to admit it, but I am not liking Drumshanbo Pineapple at all (please don’t come at me!). Now, I LOVE the OG so I was excited to try this, but it completely missed the mark for me. I’ll drink it in a G&T but I’m not happy about it lol.
What’s on your “I’m never buying it again” list?
Here's to a beautiful Friday night and looking forward to a relaxing weekend after a busy work week. To all fellow gin drinkers and martini lovers, cheers!
The aroma itself is fantastic. I bought two of them because I was traveling, and each bottle was something like $70 dollars, while in my country it was at $700, not even kidding. Two years later and I still have some left. I only share it with other gin lovers