Still Austin The Naturalist American Gin

Beginning with an orange/citrus oil in the beginning, then evolving into some drier juniper, allspice, some lighter floral notes near the end and the finish is smooth, quick and slightly honey sweet. The complexity isn’t amazing, as the flavor profile is pretty mild, but it’s a nice citrus/floral Gin!

Very nice and refreshing just like their whiskey

Rating: 13/23 N: Floral citrus with a perfumey sweetness. Some herbal and vegetal complexity, but they aren't big and overwhelming. I get hints of that sort of weird flavor from Sipsmith, but this one mercifully avoids fish. A faint hint of biting pine. That floral citrus smell is just cloying, much like Nolet's. It's interesting, but quite challenging. Very odd, but not bad. P: This is quite fruity and funky, with a lot going on. I get a little bit of Uncle Val's Botanical vibes, but not so much that it's a problem. This is definitely edgy, but it isn't overwhelmingly so. I like the complexity and fun character, but I wouldn't use this as a mixer in those traditional gin cocktails. It's quite perfumey and floral, with rose, orange, and citron flavors coming through readily. There's a bit of a mild spice note like coriander. There's some vegetal root flavor that is fortunately restrained. There's also some bitterness coming out of the roots that moves into pine territory a bit. A lot happening here and it's fairly disjointed, but not totally at odds and the flavors are largely fine. F: The sweet, floral flavor largely disappears, though a light rose petal note remains. I guess a bit of orange and citron as well. The coriander and roots come through more here, with the vegetal and earthy flavors coming through more than before, but not becoming overly bitter or overbearing. It's a solid finish. - Conclusion - This is out there and challenging. Its balance is tenuous. I've certainly had many worse signs. This is generally good, but it isn't blowing my mind at all. I'm finding both Doc Porter's () and New Riff (17/23) to be clearly better gins than this. I don't see this being higher than a 14, but it's not bad. It's just weird. This is so much better than Uncle Val's Botanical (10/23), but it's still funky and out of whack. I'm thinking a 13 or 14. Hendrick's Lunar Gin (17/23) is also crushing this. It's less bold in its profile, but it's more balanced and doesn't have as many challenging flavors. This isn't that difference in quality from Drumshanbo (13/23). Both are funky, but in quite different ways. They're close in quality. I thought that I'd be giving this a 14because there is just so much going on here, but I'm finding this to be too close to Drumshanbo for that. It's a 13 for now.