Tastes

A divisive gin that's considered as medicinal or cough drop tasting by some, but I find the strong berry character with some junipery and herbal, foresty, almost autumny or christmasy spiciness really appealing. You'll read reviews that say it works well with tonic and on ice in summer, but I find it fits the aforementioned seasons far better. Priced regularly but have gotten it as cheap as 16.5 EUR per Bottle before.

A strong body of blackcurrant hard candy or blackcurrant jam also carries hints of juniper, citrus and florals in nose and neat, but with tonic elevated junipery dryness and tartness seem to stand at odds with the otherwise fruity profile. Priced regularly but have gotten it as cheap as 16 EUR per Bottle before.

Delicately junipery, earthy, slightly herbal, well balanced, tonic drowns most of the flavors though making it watery albeit easy to drink especially if chilled.

Very intense profile of juniper, citrusy fruitness, strong florals and something akin to black tea or Earl Grey with a bit of bergamot, though the different notes seem to fight each other for attention especially with tonic's tartness added and put a little at odds with the rest of the flavors.

Maybe I have myself to blame in part for getting my hopes up so high from The Botanist's reputation, but I found it to have a delicately balanced junipery, fresh, wildflowery, herbal, atlantic nose and get worse from there. Neat impression was more muddled and also unusually stingy. Tonic retains some of the character but also makes too much bittersweetness appear. Usually this could easily be blamed on the tonic but if I try every gin with the same ratio of the same tonic and like or even love a lot of them, I have no choice but to see the gin at fault here.

Pretty standard fare medium juniper and hints of citrus in the nose, certain level of sweetness added neat, tonic at my usual sampling ratio mostly drowns the gin leaving primarily a certain bittersweetness. May have been at the forefront of the gin renaissance of the 2000s when it was created, but absolutely unremarkable over 15 years later.

Aging LSM Aether in former port wine barrels as well as former Islay single malt barrels results in a profile that doesn't leave a lot of the coniferous, fresh and pepperminty original and instead introduces extra caramelized fruit and spiced wine in the nose and an initially muddled taste that becomes strongly peaty when swallowing before finishing on a more dark chocolatey coffee aftertaste with junipery hints throughout. It's pretty interesting neat but doesn't do as good a job with ice or with tonic. The batch I've sampled was number 2 with an ABV of 48.8%. This can vary between batches.

A higher ABV version of the regular Needle Gin that's meant for bartending and promises more intense flavors, it is indeed strong and forward on the coniferous woodiness from the feature botanical spruce needles. Juniper is also present, citrus only hints at itself in the background. Also strongly woody, dry and slightly bitter with tonic. I know people who love this gin, but it's definitely a matter of taste.

The Barrel Cut still carries the varied richness and range of notes from the original Monkey 47, but sweeter and fruitier in the nose and especially with a lot of caramel sweetness in the flavor. Absolutely delicious neat, to much surprise ice actually subdues the standout flavor leaving only a fresh herbal sting, tonic on the other hand doesn't, resulting in an impression with a slightly woody, herbal hint reminiscent of cola or maple syrup, only more nuanced and sophisticated, which I wouldn't have expected from my first aged gin. All my thumbs up for drinking it neat or with tonic, it's divine, forget about it on the rocks.