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.