Blackforest Wild Gin Traditional

Aroma: Lemon, green tea. Flavour: Very citrus forward, almost to the exclusion of anything else. Some light herbal notes but I did not detect any presence of juniper, which is most unusual for a gin. The texture is thin and watery. This was one of four samples in a distillery-issued pack of Wild liqueurs and spirits. I was not highly impressed with any of them and this was my least favourite. Sadly, I thought it was a total failure as gin as it was much more like lemon-flavoured vodka. The label states “orange, kardamom, wacholder (ie juniper) and koriander” but of those spices all I could taste was orange, and juniper was conspicuous by its absence. According to their website this gin contains 65 botanicals but for me it showed no complexity at all when tasted neat, and when used as the base for a G&T it disappeared instantly with just a dash of tonic. “Inferior” : 65/100 (1.5 stars)

Hailing from the same region from Germany and featuring only two botanicals less than Monkey 47, this gin clocks in at an impressive 45 ingredients and the profile is accordingly complex. Lime-heavy citrus, ginger spiciness, herbs and berries in the nose, the palate adds black pepper and a little sourness, what sounds like an edgy, strong character actually calms down very well with tonic and works pretty well at the end of the day.