Today’s gin comes from brother/sister/brother/sister distilling team Sibling. I’ve tried this before thanks to Craft Gin Club so let’s not waste time blathering on about it as you can read my full review over here.
Currently a full sized bottle of this 42% gin is selling for £33.95 on Master of Malt.
Sibling Gin are all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and you can check me out on Twitter and Instagram. Catch up on Ginvent here.
I’ve been wanting to try Hernö gin for a while, and I’m excited that today’s Ginvent offering is their sloe gin. Hernö is the most awarded gin in Europe – and has been for the last three years. When they launched in 2011, they were Sweden’s first dedicated gin distillery, and five years later now produce four gins – their regular 40.5% gin, the 57% navy strength, an Old Tom gin and a Juniper Cask. Plus now the sloe gin.
It smells syrupy and sweet – but not in a sickly way, nice and fruity. In the glass, a wintery and Christmassy smell comes forward – perfect for this chilly Sunday night. Straight up, it is fairly sugary and punchy, a definite berry flavour coming on to the tongue. Because it’s sloe gin, the best thing to do with it would be to make a sloe gin fizz yeah? Mixed up with lemon, sugar, soda and a splash more gin – it’s nice. The tart berry flavours and syrupy texture cut through the tart lemon juice. It’s not too cloying or sweet, but definitely is quite syrupy. Much like how I thought Pinkster gin would be better suited to a hot summer day, sloe gin is definitely a proper winter drink.
The Sloe Gin is available on Master of Malt for £38.95 and you can find Hernö on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Are you enjoying Ginvent so far? Catch up on it here and let me know what you think on Twitter and Instagram.
13, unlucky for some, lucky for us Ginventers to be given Porter’s Gin. Another Scottish gin, this time from Aberdeen – already off to a terrible start thanks to terrible childhood memories of a road trip around Scotland… Nightmares to one side, this gin came from a fairly scientific and incredibly pedantic approach. Years of experimenting with botanicals and distillation temperatures led to them settling on their current recipe. Botanicals in this final recipe include cinnamon, coriander, pink peppercorn and buddha’s hand (I will obviously be able to taste this because I totally know what it is…)
Wow this smells great. A powerful juniper smell hits you right in the back of your nostrils – certainly wakes you up! A sip of it straight drives home the juniper and the cinnamon comes out a bit – warm and tangy on the front of the tongue. It’s quite intense straight (as a good gin usually is), with tonic this is just delightful. Enough flavour to excite you, not so much it’s overpowering. It’s the right balance of sweet and tart, reminiscent of sherbet type sweets. I am a BIG fan. This is brilliant.
Bottled at 41.5%, the 70cl bottle is available on Master of Malt for £31.95. This is going to be my “don’t be sad it is January” present to myself. I LOVE this.
Find them on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Do you know what Buddha’s Hand is? Gimme a shout on Twitter and Instagram and let me know. I like learning. Catch up on the last 12 days of Ginvent here.
Merry day 12 of Ginmas and today’s Ginvent treat is Pinkster gin. I tried this a few weeks ago when Catriona and I visited the Brighton Gin festival and got rather merry, so it’s nice to have another chance to try this. Pinkster gin is so called after the raspberries used to make it turned the gin a pale pink colour. The raspberries used in the gin are grown locally to their Cambridge base – and any extra are turned into their boozy berries!
It certainly smells sweeter than the usual gin smell, but not in a cloying way. Straight up, it’s quite intense on the tongue, definitely tastes like gin! The sweeter taste is at the back of the throat – just before the burning taste! Mixed with tonic, it’s light and summery. Not too sweet or tart, it’s well balanced with the drier notes. This would go well in a cocktail (I’m thinking half gin, half Prosecco yes?), or used to jazz up some Pimms in the summer. It doesn’t feel quite right drinking it sat in my bedroom with the heating on full blast, but come summer this would be perfect down the beach.
A bottle of Pinkster gin is £30.33 on Master of Malt – I think this is about right, I don’t think I would pay more than £30 for the bottle but in the summer this will be a delight. Pinkster are available on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Let me know what you think about Pinkster over on Twitter and Instagram, and catch up on Ginvent here.
Not going to lie – I’ve never heard of today’s gin. After a bit of research, it turns out Napue Gin is a small batch gin from the Finnish Kyro Distillery Company using rye grain as the base spirit. This gin won the inaugural IWSC Gin & Tonic trophy, so fingers crossed it’s good! (Side note: I was telling boy about this gin and pronouncing it in a variety of ways, then it appeared on Sunday Brunch and is apparently pronounced “Nap-we”. So there we go.)
The bottling notes say it is “nose rich in meadow sweet, citrus, cumin and juniper” – hinting at a tangy and spicy flavour. Combined with the rye base, I’m expecting an earthy tone to the gin. Giving it a good sniff, it certainly smells earthy. Deep and cinnamon-y, it smells very nice.
It’s tangy on the front of the tongue, with a smokey taste lingering in your mouth. It’s ever so slightly sweeter than I thought it would be. Mixed with tonic the sweetness comes out a bit more. It’s quite drying, but this simply means you need another mouthful. Oh what a shame. This is a treat. It’s slightly more special than your standard gin, but ‘normal’ enough to have an evening of it. Plus a bit. Not too shabby for day 11.
You can buy a bottle of Napue Gin on Masters of Malt for £34.95 – which I think is pretty reasonable – and they’re over on Facebook here and over on Instagram.
Have you heard of Napue Gin? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter or Instagram!
Keep up to date with Ginvent here.
It’s day 9 and we’ve hit another gin I’ve already tried (there’s only about four in the whole of Ginvent) – it’s Elephant Sloe gin! I got this as a sample with my Craft Gin Club delivery a few months back and it is lush. Rather than entirely repeat myself you can check out the full taster here.
Catch up on Ginvent here.
Let’s start week two of Ginvent with a gin that excites me – I tried Tarquin’s gin a long time ago thanks to my father so ramping it up to navy strength is a good prospect. Bottled at 57% instead of the usual 42% it certainly smells more intense. I gave it a sniff, and it whacks you in the face and burns your nose out. Quite a shock to my lazy afternoon.
Mixed with tonic, it smells very juniper heavy. It’s tastes fairly savoury, I think adding some rosemary wouldn’t go amiss as a garnish. Doesn’t taste as strong as it smells, but the warmth running down my throat says otherwise. I found it very sippable and could happily settle in for an evening with this. Unlike NB’s 57% gin which knocked me out after one drink. This is easy going, despite it’s strength, but have enough flavour to make it stand out.
You can find a bottle of navy strength gin on Masters of Malt for £40.52 a bottle. Whilst I’m not certain I would go out of my way to buy this, it certainly is a good addition to the collection.
You can find Tarquin’s on Twitter and Facebook, and I’m around for a chat about gin on Twitter and Instagram. Did you miss week one of Ginvent? Catch up here.