Nose - juniper, lemon zest, cucumber, celery, effervescent lime, anise, black pepper, subtle bitter nut, herbal and floral notes, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - juniper, lemon zest, sweet lime, ginger, black pepper, unidentifiable herbal and floral notes, honey, licorice, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast with juniper, sweet citrus, and spicy herbal notes. This is the beginning of a series of gins I plan to review over the next week. With the exception of vodka, gin is my least liked spirit category. I’m hoping this week of gin immersion my change my opinion of it. As for Beefeater, I chose it to kick off the series because it happens to be my house gin and I’m told it has a fairly standard profile to use as a benchmark against which others can be compared. I find it to be fairly mild, with sweet, sour, spicy, and bitter notes sharing the stage. For the price, I think it’s a great value and works well in the traditional gin cocktails. I’ll go with an above average rating based on my scale, but may revisit the score as I do more tastings.