The Top Irish Gin Brands to Try Right Now

Míl Gin is an Irish pot-distilled gin created by the Pearse Lyons Distillery team using Mediterranean botanicals. These include almonds, basil, bergamot orange, gooseberry, olives, orris, rosemary and thyme along with the requisite juniper. In Irish mythology, Míl was a Spanish warrior whose descendants populated Ireland.

Listoke 1777 Irish Gin is made in Co. Louth using 9 botanicals and water from the Boyne Valley. Traditional botanicals such as juniper berries, coriander, and angelica root are used as well as non-traditional botanicals like sweet orange, wild Irish rowan berry and jasmine.

Glendalough takes its Wild Gin and rebalances the ingredients to produce this Rose Gin. Extra fruit, flowers, and spices are used as well as fresh rose petals from three types of roses: wild roses from the Wicklow Mountains, large fragrant Heritage roses, and the ancient and revered Damask roses. Note: Updated packaging beginning May 2023.(SRP $32.99)

Jawbox Classic Dry Gin is produced on a 300-acre county estate just outside Belfast. Not only does the distillery reside there, but the brand grows and harvests the grain for its spirit. It is triple distilled in a traditional copper pot and is made in the classic London Dry Gin style using 11 botanicals including Belfast Black Mountain heather. The name Jawbox refers to the slang term used to refer to the classic square kitchen sink. Bottled at 43% ABV. (SRP $29.99)

Ha'Penny Dublin Dry Gin is a pot still distilled gin made with 13 botanicals. These include blackberries, dandelion flowers, lavender, geranium, and cracked black pepper along with more traditional gin botanicals. Named for the Ha'Penny Pedestrian Bridge which crosses the River Liffey in the center of Dublin.

This flavored extension of the brand's flagship Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin adds California Orange Citrus flavors to the gunpowder tea and other botanicals. This is the second flavored gin brand extension following the Sardinian Citrus bottling which launched in May 2021. California Orange Citrus is available in the US beginning February 2023. (SRP $36.99)

Minke Irish Gin is made from a base of whey sourced by local dairy farmers including the distillery's own. Its featured botanical is the rock samphire, also known as sea fennel. The gin's name comes from the Minke whale which swims along the Atlantic Ocean coastline near the distillery in County Cork.

ShortCross Gin is made at the Rademon Estate Distillery in Northern Ireland. It is made with botanicals such as apples, elderflowers, elderberries, and wild clover as well as more traditional botanicals such as juniper, coriander, citrus peels, and cassia among others.

Dingle Original Gin is technically a London Dry gin, but its botanicals lean towards a modern style by using rowan berry, fuchsia, bog myrtle, hawthorne, and heather among others. It is made in the distillery's copper pot stills and brought to proof with water from their own well 240 feet below the distillery. Dingle is a town located on the rugged Dingle Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. The distillery makes whiskey and vodka in addition to the gin. As of late 2018, these three products are available in the US.

Starting with milk from Irish dairy farmers in County Cork, the curds (used to make cheese) are separated from the whey, typically a waste product. Yeast is added to the whey to convert the milk sugars into alcohol and this is what gets distilled. This is now the base neutral spirit for the gin. To that, eighteen botanicals are used including the requisite juniper, a variety of citrus, elderflower, and sweet woodruff. Local well water is used in the production of this gin.