World Gin Day - Some Of Our Favourite Gins From Around The World
Is it crass to point out that World Gin Day coincides with the Queen’s official birthday which this year is taking place on 13th June?
I don’t know what to make of this but I have to say that HRH has stood by gin while many others walked over to the dark side preferring vodka or worse, tea!
I am delighted that the Queen is the inadvertent poster girl for gin; she looks very good on it. She takes hers in the occasional martini or mixed with Dubonnet, just like her mum. And her gin? Gordon’s by royal warrant. Gin may have been born in the UK but there is an amazing array of international gins to enjoy.
My favourite of my favourite websites for gin to visit is Master of Malt website and look at the array of ‘tasters’ from all over the world and then go and purchase one or two to give me an indication of what these gins are like.
Oh my, there are many good international gins to try. We have several favourites. Here are three of them.
Gin Mare
Madam Geneva and Gent was formed over an enormous balloon glass filled with Gin Mare and a very special Peter Spanton cardamom tonic.
This tonic was a wonderful addition to a gin whose botanicals include olive, thyme, basil and rosemary. I almost poked my eye out with the sprig of rosemary garnish which has made me appreciate the far safer wedge of lime a whole lot more.
In the last couple of years gin has come on leaps and bounds. Although Gin Mare is a modern gin the Giro Ribot family who developed it have been creating wine and spirits since 1835. Made in the small Spanish town of Vilanova just outside Barcelona the copper still used in the distillation process is housed in a chapel that was once a monk’s retreat.
It is indeed a holy spirit with botanicals of rosemary, thyme, basil and olives as well as juniper.
St George Botanivore
This is another fabulous flavourful international gin that meets our high and exacting standards.
From Alameda, California, the distillery opened in 1982 creating Eau de Vie. They now have a wonderful selection of spirits including Botanivore gin.
Containing a stunning 19 botanicals it is called the Botanivore as it ‘eats up’ botanicals. And here they are…..angelica root, bay laurel, bergamot peel, black peppercorn, caraway, cardamom, coriander seed, cinnamon, citra hops, coriander, dill seed, fennel seed, ginger, juniper berries, lemon peel, lime peel, orris root, Seville orange peel and star anise.
It is fresh, light and to me it has a mineral earthiness that slightly subdues and controls the citrus element of the drink and makes the floral notes less pronounced but still delightfully there.
Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz
This Aussie gin is a new favourite of the MG&G team. If you had a distillery set in vineyards, you know that at some point you would try to create a gin using grapes or wine. Well, I would!
Most of us would fail however the clever people at Four Pillars Distillery based in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley took advantage of their location and applied their impeccable knowledge of spirits and steeped grapes in their best quality Rare Dry Gin for eight weeks.
I want to tell them that us Brits have been doing this for years with sloes but I think they already know this.
The difference between the two drinks is like comparing canoeing with yachting. You might like both but one is certainly a more sophisticated experience. Before I irritate sloe gin lovers, I will say that Bloody Shiraz has the innate sweetness of the grapes with the delicious regal colour of Shiraz and I have to say it is bloody delicious.
We are great sippers of gin and this is a sipper as far as I am concerned. Alternatively, add a good quality lemon tonic or real lemon lemonade if you want this as a long and refreshing summer drink.
How Gins Pass The Madam Geneva & Gent Test
For a gin to be in the Madam Geneva and Gent Dessert (sic) Island Drinks, it has to be wonderful either neat, in a martini and/or it has to keep its head above water in a traditional G&T. If the gin doesn’t shine through, it will then have to take up residence at the back of our imaginary drinks cabinet.