Voyager Gin

Rating: 16/23 N: Oily, full, herbal, vegetal, and lightly spicy. It's really just everything smooshed together into one. I get some juniper, but it's not intense. There's some paperiness, but not a lot. The other botanicals range (in no particular order) from bitter, to savory, to sweet. Hints of fruit come out at times. The complexity here is solid. The balance is untraditional, but it works. P: This is somewhere between Plymouth and St. George Botanivore. It has some really interesting funk to it, but it's restrained a bit. It's herbal, kind of sweet with a vegetal hint, oily, a bit spicy. This is also more savory than most gins. There's a ton going on here and it's really fun to contemplate. I can pick out individual flavors from the various herbs and spices, though it's hard to identify exactly which ones they are. At moments, I get some fruit in the form of orange and lemon. I definitely do get licorice at one point too though. Of course, juniper is present, and I do get coriander too, which isn't too surprising. I can't figure out what's making this savory, but whatever it is, it does a good job of adding an interesting twist here. This is really complex and it is balanced, but it's a bit aggressive in its presentation of such pronounced flavors. F: More on the bitter and numbing side than I'd expected. There's some substantial vegetal character too. It's less oily than the palate and the fruits are essentially gone. Not bad, but not as complex as I'd like. There is a bit more of that juniper bitterness lasting into the long finish though. - Conclusion - This is a really interesting gin. It's more complex than Plymouth or Ford's, edging in on St. George Botanivore's territory. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a great choice for mixing, but it is fun to have neat. It's a challenging gin that will put many off, but I personally enjoy it quite a bit. I'm thinking it's probably a 16, but I can imagine a 17 for sure. I love the complexity and character here. To make some comparisons over in the tequila category, this has a lot of that Cabeza flair - there are lots of full flavors that balance pretty well, but they're a bit rough and aggressive instead of being smooth and dignified. It's a tough (and weird) call to make, but I think that Cabeza might be a tad better than this. Seeing as Cabeza is already borderline between 16 and 17, I think that means that this is a very high 16.

It smells spicy, herbal, citrus, salty, and complex. There's a surprisingly amount of umami, giving this sort of a roast meat flavor that is strikingly mouth-watering. The flavor is clean and rounded with complexity that invites me to have more. The lemon does come out with nice salt and pepper and a hint of fennel, juniper, chamomile, and corriander. All of the flavors are very good and the balance is excellent. This is an amazing demonstration of what gin can be. This isn't like normal gin (though it is a bit reminiscent of Monkey 47 with some umami and rye notes) but it is an excellent demonstration of what good gin can taste like. It does become a bit monotonous with additional sipping, but it is still a gin exemplar. The nose has a bit of that unaged rhum agricole squash accent to it that pairs with the oiliness. It also smells clearly of corriander and juniper, possibly with the slightest hint of citrus. The palate is oily and complex (yet distinct) with some prickly spiciness mixed with a subdued squash, a little bit of nutty oil, some clean chamomile, a little simple syrup sweetness, a dash of corriander, and some dry juniper. It has the smooth flavor of watered-down Beefeater, but it has a greater complexity and variety of botanicals. This is a strange and tasty gin. It's bit of vegetal side can be odd, but it never has any squash flavor and mostly just tastes like an oily assortment of odd botanicals.