Old tom gin (a sweetened gin) was originally created to hide the awful taste of inferior gin. I wouldn't go out of my way to drink an old tom gin neat, but this is one of the better one's out there. The nose has a bit of pine needles and juniper. On the palate the sweetness hits you first, followed by some citrus notes and the juniper finds its way in there at the end. The finish is short but not too hot. Drinking this neat is pretty uneventful. It's in no way bad, just boring. However, as a cocktail ingredient this is one of best old tom gins out there. I always have this stocked at my home bar and unless the cocktail recipe calls for an aged old tom gin (think Ransom), I use this one. The value is also hard to beat, you can get this for under $25. Overall, I would give this a 3 neat and a 4 if using it in cocktails, so I will take the average and go with a 3.5.