Mister Cocktail

I’m still updating my first posts I made earlier this year when I started with the G&T Sunday Reviews. I only tested Hendrick’s with Fentiman’s, so 3 others left to go with this most peculiar Scottish gin.

A quick update on what Hendrick’s is, just in case you’ve forgotten: “It has a distinctive bottle, resembling an Apothecary bottle from long time ago, coloured almost black. When you turn the bottle, you may notice the sentence “It is not for Everyone” and I must say: it isn’t. You can read the ingredients on the back label as well and the first stage of the distillation is making a ‘vapour-distilled’ gin, which could be classified as a London Dry Gin. In this first step, ‘ordinary’ botanicals are infused in a neutral grain spirit. Think of Juniper, Coriander and Citrus Peel. But Hendrick’s Gin becomes, well, Hendrick’s Gin after the addition of two extra infusions: Cucumber and Rose Petals. Here’s a link to their blog, where you can read a lot more about their gin.”

1724: The nose is strong and cucumber-rose combination comes directly to you. The taste reveals mainly these 2 flavours with only a slight bitterness. In the aftertaste the coriander comes through, taking over completely. I think this tonic water is not strong enough to complement the dominant flavourings in Hendrick’s Gin
7.5/10

Fever Tree: This taste just scream Coriander from the first sip! CO-RI-ANDEEEER!!!! Cucumber is detectable in the middle which is a bit more sweet and it gets more floury (=rose) towards the end, but wow, I’ve never taste so much coriander in one sip!
7/10

Thomas Henry: Here I also get a little bit of the Coriander-experience, but milder. The taste is much more balanced and I get very pleasant sweet notes in the middle, accompanied by the typical rose and cucumber.
9/10

Fentiman’s: I needed to try this mix again, since I rated it with a 6 last time. One of worst combinations I tried but did I make a mistake in judgement? Time to find out!

Nope. It’s a terrible mix, too citrussy, too perfumed and there’s hardly any cucumber nor rose left in the taste. Both are great products, but not together.
6/10

Conclusion: Hendrick’s Gin has such an outspoken bouquet that it is more difficult to match with a tonic water. Most make an all-right mix, but we’re looking for the best combination, the one tonic water that really compliments the gin and that lets it shine. I only found Thomas Henry to do this for Hendrick’s really well, but with the addition of fresh cucumber I’m pretty sure that the mix with all other tonic waters will be very pleasant. But in my tastings I compare without garnishes so I can taste the combination best.

Now that I’ve got some time to try the other tonic waters with each different gin, I’m meeting old friends again. Tanqueray, one of the world’s leading gins, created by Charles Tanqueray in 1820 is now waiting for me to be tested with the 3 remaining tonic waters: Fentiman’s, Thomas Henry and 1724. Just like in last Sunday’s tasting with Bombay Sapphire, I’m curious how I will rate these gin & tonics considering the amount of specialty gins I’ve been tasting over the past few months. It’s not that my taste is spoiled, but if you’re spectrum of taste gets wider and more experienced there is always a chance that you keep comparing everything to that one perfect gin. It’s like buying a new suit: the one you like most is always the most expensive one and you keep comparing everything else with that perfect € 2000 suit.

It also made me reflect on what I’m actually rating: is it my own taste or the way the gin and tonic match? Letting your own taste lead you towards picking the best tasting g&t is very tempting, as it is the easiest to describe: you like it, you don’t or something in between (that’s some quality writing btw). But since my taste probably doesn’t reflect anyone else’s, this tasting needs to describe only the way the gin and the tonic waters mix together. I do throw in a personal note from time to time (yes, I know: everything I taste is personal anyway) but I try to describe the flavours I get in each mix as objective as possible and the rating below each mix is mostly how these 2 complement eachother. Each gin has another tonic to match and the more outspoken the taste of a gin is, the less likely you can match every tonic with it. There is of course a little bit of my taste in the verdict, so evertime you see a 9,5 it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best gin&tonic on the planet, it means that the g&t match (almost) perfectly and that I really like that mix.

So, how does Tanqueray mix with my tonic-panel?

1724: The gin is very dominant in the nose with loads of juniper. The taste is soft, yet firm and a bit floury. The middle part of the taste is more sweet, coming from the liquorice and the soft taste of 1724 really lets the botanicals in Tanqueray come out. The atertaste is slightly bitter with a salty edge.
8.5/10

Fever Tree: These 2 complement each other quite nicely: The angelica-notes come in from the gin, balancing the bitterness of the quinine very well. The natural sweetness of the tonic goes great with the citrus-notes that are quite dominant in the Tanqueray and together with the pleasantly sweet taste of liquorice it creates a very nice aftertaste.
8.0/10

Thomas Henry: The nose in this mix is very soft and the juniper and citrus stay very well balanced. Sipping this mix underlines how the sweet notes work perfectly together with the angelica and coriander. The tonic adds a lot of length to the Tanqueray in a very good way!
9.5/10

Fentiman’s: The opening is soft and floury with a gentle juniper and a nice bitter. The citrus is quite present, obviously, as both the gin and the tonic are citrus-heavy. It is a very fresh taste and not perfumed as sometimes can be the case with Fentiman’s.
8.5/10

Conclusion: the differences in rating are not too large between these tonic waters, indicating that Tanqueray is easily mixable. It is of course a much stronger gin than, let’s say, Bombay Sapphire, but both gins were created in a very different time. I was quite impressed by the mix with Thomas Henry and I gave it the best rating of these 4. Again, this means that the match just about perfectly ànd I like this mix even more that the other 3. I am very curious if any of my readers (anyone? Echo?) has conducted a similar tasting

When I first started off with my G&T Sundays, I figured that I would rate just 1 tonic with a gin each Sunday. That would give me 52/4 = 13 gins tested. I soon realised that a) there are far more gins than that and b) my posts would become quite boring after a while (if not already). So I switched to testing 4 tonic waters each Sunday which would subsequently give me 52 * 4 = 208 G&T combinations. Admittedly, I couldn’t get through each session anywhere near sober so I had to skip quite a few Sundays. It takes good planning and preparation to execute such a tasting!

Today I decided to complete the Bombay Sapphire tasting. Since I already made a review of the spirit itself and of the combination with Fever Tree, I only had to try it with 1724, Thomas Henry and Fentiman’s. But I threw in a bottle of   Fever Tree just to see if I got it right the first time (spoiler alert: I did, so I just copied the previous text)

Since my tasting with Bombay Sapphire early March, I’ve learned about so many new gins that I was curious on how I would rate this gin now. It’s easy of course to say that it’s mainstream, almost a vodka or just plain boring. But when you put it in historical perspective it’s far from boring. Mainstream: up to a certain level, yes, but thanks to this brand we have been enjoying the revival of gin. Almost a vodka: not at all. Compared to a lot of gins it would be tempting to say so  but to me there’s still so many great flavours in Bombay Sapphire, that saying this doesn’t do any justice at all. And we all know that gins basically are flavoured vodka’s anyway. Boring: it does what it was meant to be doing from the very first start: get those vodka-people on board of the Gin-train. Of course time has kept up with the flavour of Bombay Sapphire with all these new gins that have been launched over the years. But if that makes Bombay Sapphire mainstream, than we’re all in a very good place!

Now on to the important part: the tasting.

1724: The nose is very fresh, with light juniper and some orange. A slight and lovely bitterness comes in when I started sipping and it has a sweet body. A long aftertaste with fresh notes which is slightly spicy follows. A great mix. The only thing is that it’s a bit too perfect, too easy. This combination just lacks that extra  bit of excitement, but these two match very well.
8.5/10

Fever Tree: The nice thing is that together these products become a very interesting mix, complementing each other nicely. Because the juniper is not so heavy in Bombay Sapphire, the upper tones in flavour are those of citrus, coming from the coriander and lemon in Bombay and also from the tonic itself. The bitter elements in Fever Tree are still there, and the sweet notes in Bombay Sapphire, like cinnamon and liquorice balance it out quite nicely. The smell of the two combined is especially nice: the vapour distillation of the gin delivers a light-bodied spirit, but with a strong nose. Fever Tree is well carbonated, so these aromas reach your nose before you take a sip – an extra dimension to the taste.
8.0/10

Thomas Henry: Balance. That’s the first word that comes to mind. The bubble in this tonic is not too strong so the nose is more gentle with a fresh citrus aroma. The first sip brings a floury, slightly silty taste (must be Orris and Angelica) with little juniper.  The middle of the taste is more sweet with liquorice and cassia and also here I get a bit of orange in the flavour. Aftertaste is pleasant and long with just  a hunch of bitterness
9.0/10

Fentiman’s: This tonic water is obviously too much for the delicate bouquet of Bombay Sapphire. A very strong nose and overpowering citrus in Fentiman’s just blow it out of the water/glass, leaving not enough to make a happy couple .
6.5/10

Conclusion: Thomas Henry is for Bombay Sapphire the best companion: well balanced, never overpowering and complimentary where necessary. It’s not just a good combination, but a great G&T in itself so very much the worth of pouring for oneself!

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the Chase Distillery in Herefordshire. I was given an extensive tour around the farm with great weather accompanying me. Master Distiller and also my guide for today Jamie Baggott took a good few hours to show me around, taking me through all the processes they work with to create their 70+ variations. Mainly the production of their alcohol was explained to me: Potato for their Vodka and Williams Gin and Apple for thier Williams  Gin. The two main agricultural products of Herefordshire are indeed Apples (Producing cider is the big thing in this area) and potatoes, for which the red clay soil is perfect.

Chase Distillery was established by Will Chase in 2008, when he sold his previous company: Tyrrell’s Potato Chips. Having learnt a great deal about potatoes, he recognized the potential of launching a spirit-brand and after a testing period of 4 years he launched Chase Vodka. In 2010 it got awarded  Double Gold and best in class at the IWSC in San Fransisco over  249 other brands and it could name itself World’s Best Vodka. I found a great interview with Will Chase here, no need for me to rewrite all that.

Williams Gin is distilled at the farm, where both the apples (gin) and potatoes (vodka) needed for the base-spirit are grown. First, a base spirit made of apples is distilled for the gin. This is then re-distilled with the botanicals, being Juniper, Coriander, Orris, Liquorice, Angelica, Hops, Orange, Lemon, Elderflower and Brambley Apple. They use a small carterhead still for this, making sure the small batch distilling gives it the elegance it needs. To read about their full process of making their products, check here.

The bottle: The shoulder and foot of the bottle are about 2 mm wider than the middle at both sides, creating the optical illusion of a very slender bottle. It is fully transparent, except for the lowest 5 cms, with the absolute minumum of information displayed on the bottle: only the name, origin and some practical information is printed on it. It is decorated with an old apple tree in wintertime and because of the dark bottom, the Union Jack is a nice eyecatcher.
92/100

The nose: Creamy and slightly sweet on the nose, with juniper and coriander coming through right after. It has a somewhat damp yet fresh flavour that I recognise from ciders. This  is logically caused by the base-alcohol being created from  apples. 97/100

The contents:  The first taste I get is juniper and coriander. Due to the high level of alcohol (48 % abv/96 proof), the gin releases some of it’s flavours only later. I kept the fluid in my mouth for 10 seconds and I noticed it started releasing more floral and fruity notes. It also reminded me of a fine Jasmin tea. The orange and lemon zest are part of the very long aftertaste, together with apple and elderflower. The mouth feel is silky-like and doesn’t get tart at any point.
98/100

The Mixability:
You might get the idea that I’m writing a raving review on this product because I had visited the distillery, but I can assure you that this is not the case. I have visited a lot of distilleries (some of them more visitors centres actually) over the past few years and although visiting a location definitely contributes to appreciate a brand more, I’m focussing on the product, which basically is what it is. And on how it combines with Tonic Water. Chase produces both the “Elegant Crisp Gin” and the “Extra Dry Gin”, the latter at 40 % ABV. However, I carried a bottle of the “Elegant Crisp Gin” home with me, so here we go, in the mix!

Fever Tree: I must admit that I expected this to be the perfect match, but it wasn’t. A very dominant bitter taste is produced in this mix. A little strange, since neither the gin nor the tonic are very bitter. Especially in the aftertaste, the bitterness suppresses the palate too much. In the middle there are some sweeter (orange, liquorice, elderflower) and citrus notes. It is not a bad combination, don’t get me wrong, and you can still enjoy this mix for both are great products.
8.0/10

Fentiman’s: This mix goes in a completely different direction, but also not he one I was hoping for. A little too perfumed for my taste, very high on the citrus notes and with a floury (not floral) mouth feel.
7.5/10

Thomas Henry: The first sip indicates that this could be a very good combination. The characteristics of the gin are clearly present, with a nice juniper and citrus note at the beginning. The tastes evolves to more floral and fruity, slight bitterness in still present (quinine of course) but never predominant. The citrus in the gin and tonic work together great an to me this is a great example of how a tonic should serve the gin.
9.5/10 

1724: A nice combination with Chase Gin, as it is a very soft tonic water. Especially the aftertaste is long and nice with citrus (both lemon and orange) and elderflower.

Conclusion: This is an amazing gin to taste neat and surprisingly more difficult to match with a the right Tonic Water. Thomas Henry was by far the best combination for me, but as tastes vary, another tonic water may be better for your taste. I also stirred a Dry Martini and this serves the gin much better. It is an amazing product, with a great story behind it that is honest and true (as I have seen with my own eyes), just like the people behind it.
96/100 

Geranium Gin is a Danish brand created by Henrik Hammer and his father, who worked around the concept of incorporating geranium in a gin. They found historical links between the use of Juniper and Geranium and investigated this combination on a scientific level. They concluded that these two are indeed a great marriage and they proceeded with the development of the gin. It is a London Dry Gin, which means that all 10 botanicals (Juniper, Geranium, Coriander seeds, Lemon, Orange, Liquorice, Cassia, Angelica, Orris root and 1 is a secret!) are distilled at once in a neutral grain spirit. The production of the gin takes place in the U.K. (Birmingham more precisely) and Geranium Gin is distilled in a copper pot-still that is over a century old.

When tasted neat, Geranium Gin is a very smooth and mild spirit. It combines the freshness of citrus (coriander, lemon) and juniper very stylishly with the floral taste of geranium. What a surprising ingredient! The taste is full-bodied, but never out of balance with a great sweetness from liquorice and orange.

Fever Tree Tonic: The combination is an extremely smooth G&T. The bitter notes from the quinine in Fever Tree are nicely balanced by the geranium, which still doesn’t overpower. The long lemony taste from Geranium Gin gives the drink a very long aftertaste, which made me decide not to use a juice-containing garnish in here. Instead of a lime or lemonwedge, I used an orangezest which made the drink just perfect for me.
9.5/10

1724: This is a very soft and gentle combination. A subtle bitterness really complements the taste of the geranium. The bubble in the 1724 tonic is small and slow and combines very well with this gin. In the aftertaste there’s a very pleasant hint of spicy orange. Great g&t for he or she who enjoyes a mild and gentle gin & tonic.
9.5/10

Fentiman’s: When I poured the tonic, a very pleasant small of rosewater arose from the mix. The tonic is the first you taste, the gin a bit later and it gives a very surprising effect. The lemontones are much stronger in this mix and this is the perfect tonic if you like a g&t with a bite.
9.5/10

Thomas Henry: This mix accentuates the more earthy notes like Orris and Angelica. In the middle more floral and fruity notes come through, the Orange and Geranium. A slight bitterness is present from beginning until long in the aftertaste.
9.5/10

Conclusion: This is actually the first gin I’ve tried for this blog that matches great with all the tonic waters that I tasted it with. But is is very important to note at the same time that all 4 mixes are for different g&t-drinkers. I tried to describe along each mix which match is good for which type of drinker. Just like the mix with Fever Tree (which I tested a few months ago), I used a fresh orange zest as a garnish additionally, but the rating is based on just the plain mix of Geranium Gin with each Tonic Water.

One bottle in particular has been waiting for me to taste properly and that’s Bulldog gin. The bottle is pretty distinct amongst it’s competitors, not being transparent nor green nor blue. It is named after Sir Winston Churchill’s dog and produced in the UK, using 12 botanicals in total of which 9 are classic gin botanicals en 3 that are unique to this gin: Dragon-Eye, Poppy Seeds and Lotus Leaves. Visit their site to learn more about these, as well as some claims that it makes that lead me to a short nosing around on the interweb but it’s hard to track it all for being true or false. Here’s the claim to gluten-free, calories-per-shot (all gins are 65 – 70 cals/30 mls), vegan-friendly (but all gins on vegan.fm were declared vegan-friendly) and Kosher and I love this quote: ”Botanicals are generally kosher; however, some of them, such as citrus peels, may come from Israel and therefore may not be kosher due to issues surrounding terumot, ma’aserot and shemittah.” But so far I haven’t found a gin claiming to use Israelian Lemons. But I’m not working as the NY Times Food Critic by all means, I’m just here to taste the stuff!

Bottle: Like the name suggests: masculine and tough, with a dog-collar just below the thick and heavy screwtop. The bottle is pitch-black with wide shoulders and a firm body, making it stand out amongst my other gins (or any other bottle I might add).
92/100

The Nose: juniper and fresh lemon with a hint of pepper. Slightly earthy yet floral.
91/100

The Contents: dry, yet soft juniper first with nice lemon. After that more sweetness: liquorice and cassia that form the middle part of the taste, together with floral notes of lavender and orris. It leaves a long taste behind and unlike the first taste, it’s not dry at all.  A long fruity taste keeps lingering in the back – I guess that should be the Dragon Eye, which is described as “first cousin to the Lychee”.
91/100

The mixability:
Fever Tree: strong bitter notes at first with slight fruity notes and more lemon towards the middle. The bitter notes remain there as well, although they ‘disappear’ after a few more sips. The mouth feel is a bit dryer than I expected with less sweeter notes in it then tasting it neat.

8.0/10

Fentiman’s: This tonic has loads of citric notes in it and combined with the Bulldog Gin it gives a very fresh taste. It never gets to the sweet side of the taste but more floral
8.5/10

Thomas Henry:  This mix stays on the more sweet and earthy side of the spectrum. Liquorice, Dragon Eye and Cassia are very present while more earthy notes from Angelica and Almond are in the middle and aftertaste. It stays in your mouth for a long time with lemon and floral notes lingering in the back. Nice.
9.0/10

1724: I needed four, five good sips of this mix to get an idea of the flavours. At first it felt like a bit of a bummer and it takes a long time to build up some character. The mouth feel is very good on the other hand with the sweetest aftertaste of all mixes, but not the longest. The taste disappears quite fast so not the best combination.
6.5/10

Overall: Bulldog is a gin for the more experienced gin-drinker, but it has a very nice angle with some unique botanicals. It sets itself apart with the packaging and fortunately the contents can match the expectations. The best mix for me was with Thomas Henry, as this compliments the botanicals in Bulldog best. Quite a nice gin and most certainly worth for you to try it!
Overall: 91/100 

Since my last G&T Sunday review, I had tried several combinations during the summer. One of the gins that I had very pleasant experience with, was Caorunn Gin, so I was looking forward to tasting it in combinations with the 4 Tonic Waters. The bottle really stands out, especially the shape of it. Caorunn (read label for pronunciation) claims the Celtic heritage, since there’s some other famous gins being produced in Scotland and marketed as such (Hendrick’s, The Botanist and Old Raj being 3 of them). Next to 6 classic gin botanicals (Juniper, Lemonpeel, Coriander, Cassia, Orange Peel and Angelica) there are 5 ingredients specific to Caorunn. These are 5 botanicals that can be found in many parts of the world, but they have been used in Celtic medicine for ages: Rowan Berry, Bog Myrtle, Heather, Coul Blush Apple and Dandelion Leaf.

I found that the site of Caorunn Gin describes their heritage, production and ingredients very well and to-the-point. No need for me to rewrite or copy that, so make sure to check there!

The bottle: Both the 5-star symbol on the bottle and the shape of the bottle itself represent the 5 Celtic botanicals that are used in Caorunn Gin. It is quite a unique shape and it holds very nicely while working with it professionally. The neck is perfect for a hand to fit around it and swing the bottle upside-down to make a pour. The cork is also very well designed: thick and heavy with a wooden top.
95/100

The nose: Fresh pine and citrus are very strong when the spirit first hits your nose. To me this is an indication that it’s a gin that leans towards the classic gins, which turns out to be so, but there’s much more to it. Sweet fruity notes from the Rowan Berry (also the giver of the name Caorunn, which means berry in Celtic) and Coul Blush Apple appear directly after, giving it a very nice and specific character.
91/100

The contents: The first sip is, just like the nose, very fresh and full of juniper, pine and citrus: a walk in the woods. For a moment, the alcohol takes over a bit too much to lead to the middle part of the taste. This is much more sweet with a nice tingle on the sides of the tongue.

There’s a very long aftertaste, where a menthol-like coolness develops in your mouth (I suspect the Dandelion has this effect). Some very nice sweet notes appear in the end and here you can really taste the Heather and Bog Myrtle, at least I get some flavours that I can relate to from the description, since these are not in my standard palate. In Holland we have a type of liquorice that is based on Bay leaf which has a very comparable taste!
92/100 (97/1oo on just the aftertaste)

The mixability: Because of the 5 botanicals that are specific to Caorunn, it can serve as a base for some classic gin-drinks. Even more so, it can be an inspiration for a load of new drinks and I was curious to try Caorunn in my selection of Tonic Waters.

Fever Tree: Before I added the apple in this G&T, I could already taste the apple in it. The citrus notes were much gentler and the strong juniper was less dominant. The addition of apple makes this mix nice and extra fruity, but in my opinion it could use just a little more citrusflavours now.
9/10

Fentiman’s: This tonic is strong in bitter- and citrusnotes, so obviously this is a completely different mix. The bubble in Fentiman’s in much stronger, giving the mix the taste of apple much faster while it emphasises the lemon and coriander in Caorunn much better.
9.5/10

Thomas Henry: This combination is quite sweet and it works very well with Caorunn. I think the pleasantly sweet notes of the heather play a big role here, leaving a long and pleasantly sweet aftertaste.
9/10

1724: The most delicate of these tonic waters is 1724 and it leaves a lot of room for the Caorunn to move around. I just feel that the quinine in this tonic water dominates the taste, making it a little dry with very little citrus left in the taste.
8.5/10

Overall: This is a very nice gin to stock in your home-bar. If you are looking for one special gin, this is certainly one to take home with you. It mixes very well and I enjoyed it neat at least as much as in a g&t. The mix with Fentiman’s was the best-balanced combination, but differences in taste might lead you to other mixers no doubt. As things usually go.
92/100

After a long weekend, this day feels like a Sunday to me, that’s why I probably  postponed the G&T Sunday posting to today. It’s been a great weekend and I celebrated being married to the Mrs for 1 year exactly last Saturday and treated our guests to a nice amount of G&T’s, which were happily accepted. The next day we enjoyed a friends’ birthday in the park in Amsterdam where we also filled the booze table with 2 nice transparent blue bottles of gin accompanied with some quality tonic. Again, people were happy with this. The gin-craze is slowly starting in Holland, a good 250 years after it ended in the UK (which was 1757 in case you’d like to know).

For this G&T review I choose The Botanist, which had been looking at me for some time from the spirit cabinet. Of course this wasn’t the first time for me to mix it at all, but sitting down and really describing what happens in several mixes is a different ballgame from enjoying one in the sun while reading.

This gin is created by the Bruichladdich Distillery which is located on the Isle of Islay, in the North-West of Scotland. This area is famous for it’s peaty whiskies and this distillery has always been in the centre of innovation since it’s opening in 1881. The still which produces The Botanist is a Lomond Still, the very last of its kind and affectionately called Ugly Betty. This is a steam powered, low-pressure still which takes 17 hours to complete the distillation cycle. And this gin requires two of them: 1 for the ‘standard’ gin botanicals and 1 to infuse the 22 local botanicals in the gin.

The result in taste is a complex, yet strangely accessible gin. The nose contains a lot of sweetness and freshness from the flowers, fruit, herbs and spices: there’s chamomile and elderflower, orange and mint. The juniper in this gin is quite strong, but never overpowering.  In the mouth there’s all these herbs that work together and the huge range of wild flowers they are using work their magic here. Getting the right ingredients at exactly the right time is a proof of intimate knowledge of local vegetation by the distiller. The one that stays there in the aftertaste in the mint (peppermint and water mint leaves). My taste buds are not that refined, so naming all ingredients is too far fetched for me, but you can find the complete list of botanicals on this great gin-blog (but please keep reading mine as well).

Schweppes Tonic: The Botanist benefits quite well from the strong bitter and sweet notes in Schweppes although it struggles to keep itself upright next to this tonic at some moments. The floral notes still shine through and the complexity of the gin still shows.
7.5/10

Fever Tree: These 2 meet each other in a soft and sweet middle taste, which works towards a slightly bitter aftertaste with long floral notes and a lovely taste of mint. I used a slice of lemon to balance the drink more.
8.5/10

Fentiman’s: The Botanist is quite low in citrus taste and benefits really well from the stronger citric notes in Fentiman’s Tonic. This tonic water contains kaffir lime and lemon and balances this gin in a great way. The sweet and floral notes in the gin get all the room they need to come through and are nicely balanced by the quinine.
9.5/10

Conclusion: The tonic water that compliments The Botanist best is Fentiman’s Tonic: in gins with higher levels of citrus notes (could be from lemon, coriander, orange etc) this tonic water tends to overpower, but here they go together just fine!

How to: I mixed 50 mls of The Botanist Gin with 100 ml tonic water in a longdrink filled with icecubes. For garnishing I used a lemonwedge. I tried it with lime, but found this too strong for my taste. I also tried orange and orangepeel and these proved to be quite pleasant as well, taking the drink to a sweeter side. If you prefer an ever more herbal taste, I tried it with a sprig of thyme which worked very nice as well.

The G’Vine people not only thought about the botanicals with which they wanted to create their gin, bus also about the base-spirit. Most gins are based on a neutral grain spirit, but G’Vine opted for a wine-alcohol which delivers a more smooth and soft taste to start off with. Another great addition they made to this gin is a special distillate of macerated grape flowers, that only flourish for a few days in June.

Next to these 2 distillates, another distillate is made with 9 botanicals. Some are traditional to gin, like Juniper (duh), Coriander, Cassia, Liquorice and Cardamom. But 4 others create an even more exotic flavour: Ginger Root, Cubeb Berries for some peppery notes, lime and nutmeg. The result is a wonderful combination of a soft and floral base with a very well balanced range of botanicals, great to sip neat, even better to mix! After that, all three distillates are blended together and distilled yet another time to perfection.

This week I decided to replace Schweppes with another Tonic water, so I’m going to look for a new addition (anyone got a good suggestion for me?). This week the free slot is for Thomas Henry Tonic from Germany.

Fever Tree: the nose of this combination is very soft, the flavours are kept sort of a secret until the first sip. A gentle bitterness at first – quinine of course, with the cardamom- combining very well with the nice citric notes from lime and coriander. The sweet notes from the nutmeg, cassia and liquorice form the middle part with the spicy notes appearing at the end.
9.5/10

Fentiman’s: the nose in this mix is much stronger with more perfume and citrus coming through. The strong limetones in Fentimans don’t overpower the citric notes in G’Vine, but compliment them. The stronger bitterness in the tonic also works great with the sweeter notes. The aftertaste is long and lingering, a pleasant surprise almost resembling a nice champagne.
9.5/10

Thomas Henry: A pleasantly sweet nose in this mix with the soft bubble of the tonic. The taste doesn’t start with bitter, but with the more sweet and floral notes. Soon after there’s the bitter notes of the quinine which somehow very much accentuates the cardamom and cubeb berries. The bitter notes stay all the way through the aftertaste
8.5/10

Conclusion: This is just a great gin, that is very versatile in mixing drinks. I liked all tonic waters very much with G’Vine, and, again, it comes down to personal taste which direction you want to take your G’Vine & Tonic. The mix with Fever Tree is very soft, where the mix with Fentiman’s is much more fresh. Thomas Henry makes a great mix as well, but the combination is not as good as with the other 2 tonic waters.

The story of Monkey47 is that of Montgomery Collins, who was posted in Berlin’s British sector after the end WWII. He was struck by the massive destruction that had taken place there and he decided to spend his time helping to rebuild it. His focus was the Berlin Zoo, where he became sponsor of a monkey called Max.

He left the air force in the early 50s, to start  a career in watchmaking. This turned out not be his calling, but he found himself in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), a great natural area where he not only opened a guesthouse called “The Wild Monkey”, but also started making his own gin. He was British after all.

Montgomery kept the recipe a secret, hidden in a box in his guesthouse, which was discovered some 50 years later. It was decorated with the drawing of a monkey and the words “Max the monkey – Schwarzwalder Dry Gin”. In 2008 the recipe was restored and brought to market.

Lovely soft smell of juniper and lemon, slightly peppery and with floral notes.
All the flavours come to life in your mouth, very well balanced and although there are some main flavours to identify, the 47 different botanicals are working together so well that it’s difficult to identify each individual.

Schweppes: The delicate palate of Monkey47 does not match very well with the dominant flavours of Schweppes. Both the strong sweetness and the long bitterness in the tonic just overpower the gin. I stopped tasting there.
6.0/10

Fever Tree: This is a great combination: the soft citric notes and the juniper in Monkey47 stay upright because of the light flavour of Fever Tree. This tonic water has a subtle bitterness in it and it balances out very nicely with the sweet and floral notes in the gin. The mix is very smooth and I like it how many of the different berries in Monkey47 create a wonderful fruity flavour in here.
9.0/10

Fentiman’s: There’s a lot of citric notes in this mix and there’s an overlap in ingredients that Money47 and Fentiman’s are using: Kaffir lime. Together the sweeter and fruity notes work very well, giving it a very long aftertaste. The more floral notes in the gin, like Jasmin and Chamomile, are highlighted in the mix with Fentiman’s.
9.0/10

Conclusion: Both the Fever Tree and the Fentiman’s work great with Monkey47, which is a very well balanced yet delicate gin. I have given both mixes the same rating, but notice that the are not the same mixes at all! But I just like both combinations equally much