I was chatting to the guy in my local liquor store about gins and he asked if I'd tried a Pineapple Lump one. Now Pineapple lumps are these iconic NZ chocolate covered Pineapple chewy type lolly. And Interestingly 1919 was the year NZ voted on prohibition and it was about to pass when 40,000 special votes from soldiers still overseas, aboard ships, or in camps or hospitals in New Zealand from WWI were counted. Prohibition was beaten 264,189 votes to 253,827 (yes NZ is a small country!). Yet another thing we can thank our brave service people for. This was the first – and last – time that the question would be decided by a simple majority in a nationwide poll. A second referendum held alongside the December 1919 general election included a third option: state purchase and control of the sale of alcohol. This time prohibition came within 1600 votes of victory. Although the prohibitionist cause remained strong until the 1930s, New Zealand would never again come as near to banning the bottle as it did in the twin referendums of 1919. Anyhow four things struck me with this gin when I was drinking it: 1) It really shouldn't be the mantle /poster child for celebrating such a momentous event (although to be fair it's the distillery which is named 1919 not the actual gin version) 2) Despite being informed it was going to be a lot better than it sounded...it wasn't 3) Are we reaching peak gin when we see stuff like this come out 4) How much more crazier are the gin flavors going to get! I won't rate it out of kindness to the person who gave me a taste but as you can guess it's nowhere near 5 stars.