Monk's Road Dry Gin

Log Still's take on modern, American gin was tasty when I sampled it after touring the distillery last weekend, but I personally didn't find it unique enough to take it home. My wife, however, disagreed, and for how affordable the bottle was, I'm glad we brought it home after all. I'm always looking for any new modern gin to stow on the shelf, especially ones that have very specific botanical blends that cut through the aggressive, dry, one-note London gins; leave it to England to conquer the world for spices hundreds of years ago, then proceed to use none of them. Anyway, although I don't remember the Monk's Road classic gin for being that memorable tasting less than a week after tasting it, I loved the unique additive of watermelon for one of the botanicals, and perhaps I just need more of it to try in my own environment to unlock more of that flavor. The nose is very dry, and leads mostly with the juniper, despite the distillery representative proudly claiming the botanical blend helped steer away the aggressive juniper. It's also very clean, but unfortunately clean in the sense of cleaning supplies, with a slight ethanol tinge behind it to boot. There is a medium nose of lemon and lime peels and oils, coriander, and just a touch of the watermelon if you go reaching for it. A fairly watery body starts things off, with baking spices leading the flavor charge, including coriander and even some cardamom. Some floral notes start to surface, specifically lilac and lavender, but are very faint. The citrus is one of the last things I taste as the body gets a tad bit hotter, and it's very dry, as if all the oil has dried out with just a bit of rind and pith remaining. I really want to taste the watermelon since it's clearly the most unique botanical used, but I think any flavor I'm just barely getting is only a placebo effect. In the end, this affects me the same as it did while at the distillery; fairly uneventful and plain, but still a good entry into modern/American gin if you're new to the style. I definitely remember the barrel aged gin much more, but after finding out they used a different botanical blend for that one (one that much better complimented the added barrel flavors and character), it makes sense that this gin and the particular botanical blend used is a smart choice for their first and base gin product. Again, if you're looking to break away from the London or juniper-heavy gin world but don't want to stray too far at first, this is a great gin to start that journey with, especially at a very affordable price point. Here's hoping some ice or water will unlock a bit more of the citrus and spring-type botanicals.