Beefeater London Dry Gin (47%)

The classic go to

Just starting to explore gins. I have a bottle of Beefeaters that's been kicking around for summertime G&Ts but never actually tasted it on its own. FWIW this 1.75 L bottle has been around a few years and is about half full, so I don't know how accurate my experience was. But I found the nose sharply juniper-ish, much more so than the "rounder" juniper flavor I tasted, along with notes of citrus, sweetness and a lingering anise-pepper. Tasting it side-by-side with Bluecoat, I found the Beefeaters much more mellow, but again, that could be its age (I know I'm getting mellower with age!). Dry glass- Christmas trees.