Gordon's London Dry Gin (40%)

First impressions, bad. Added in a squeeze of calamansi and everything changed. Lemon or lime would work as well. Quite dry.

A classic London gin. Juniper with balanced floral and spicy notes. Easily rivals gins twice the cost. A true bargain. If it was good enough for Hemingway, it’s good enough for me.

A truly solid value in the Gin market @ $10-13/750 ml. A well balanced gin flavor spectrum and is exceptionally smooth. Not too herbal, not too fruity. Just the correct balance. My only gripe would be that it’s a little watery for a superb dry martini. Would love to see a 90+ proof version. Cheers!

It started to seem crazy to keep buying $35 plus tax boutique gins and then mix them with tonic. So I'm working my way thru the old school grandpa gins, Beefeaters, Plymouth, Boodles, etc. Hemingway was right on this one. Gordon's is really well made and there is a reason its been done this way for centuries. It being distilled in Canada makes zero difference to me. As the extra extra dry martini (aka chilled straight up) it really jumps with bursts of juniper, citrus, and spice. As a gin and tonic it loses some complexity and tastes strongly of lemon, though not in any bad way. Perfect for a thirst quencher G&T vs. the sit and ponder life's complexity G&T. For bang for your buck it is a 7 out of 5.