Hotel Tango Ready-To-Drink Gin

As always, I'm very happy to support veteran owned and operated distilleries. Although I would say that Hotel Tango's whiskeys are not ready yet, their lemoncello proved very tasty, and I'm hoping their gin does as well. The only way to find out is to taste it from my USAF Glencarin. The scent is quite clean, almost too much so, bordering on a household cleaner. There is medium juniper, plenty of lemon and lime oil, and a hint of some savory spices, specifically clove. The proof is decent at 90, and does require me to recoil after each scent. The taste is at first underwhelming, but rockets into black pepper and clove, amongst other hot and savory spices, just a few seconds in. What's nice is that the spice and the proof don't get too hot, so this very unique flavor profile can be enjoyed. There's juniper here as well, but it's either being overshadowed by the spices or I am simply ignoring it in favor of everything else. The finish is medium, with more of the same aforementioned flavors. I am a fan of this, but this doesn't even taste like what I would consider the flavors of gin to be. I would more readily believe that this is a black pepper distillate, or something similar, given the very strong and concentrated flavors of these dried spices. It excites me to think of how this can transform martinis, or gin & tonics, or how it could be controlled with sour fruit juices, or any other cocktail experiments. As with everything else I've had from Hotel Tango, it's got great flavor, but certainly stands tall as something different.

Bright and flavorful. Our house gin.