Bulldog is a gin that is trying to make a statement. The bottle is dominating and brash, Bulldog is a brand name that evokes Britishness, and the marketing materials are fond of the union flag. It seems to have in some ways been created for the American market, the bottle is designed for their requirements, and the British version has some labels over the top of the glass etching which makes it seem a bit at odds to it’s premium design look.

The brand appear to have launched in 2006 and since then they seem to have been well received. In 2008 they gained a Top 50 Spirits Placement from Wine Enthusiast magazine; unfortunately their marketing materials deem this as a the ‘highest rating ever bestowed upon a gin’ which appears to be in the Superb (90-95) category. That statement may have been true at the time, I’ve not checked the archives though in the last Top 50 Spirits in 2010, Old Raj Gin achieved a Classic(96-100) rating.

Regardless of their ranking in arbitrary ‘Top 50′ lists, they do have a unique set of 12 botanicals present in their gin, the rarer items include lotus leaves, lavender and dragon eye. (As an aside ‘twelve of the rarest botanicals’ also include Lemon, Angelica, Cassia things that are known to be traditional botanicals).

When it comes to taste you know it’s a gin the Juniper is certainly present, but overall the botanicals seem to have only left a light imprint on the gin. When a little bit of water is added to the neat spirit it gets more creamy, and quite floral. I can see this working in mixed drinks, but as a martini I don’t think it can stand up on its own.

For Bulldog if you look past the branding, marketing and general spin then the contents are pleasant enough. It just feels a bit at odds, having such a light spirit in such a strong bottle.

Have you tried Bulldog Gin? What are your thoughts on it, and favourite drinks to use it in?

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1. Imbibe – The Gin Edition
2. Beefeater Winter Gin – The Taste Test
3. World Gin Day – 11th June 2011 – The Prizelist

This Old Tom is a product from Christian Jensen, who originally set out to recreate a traditional style of London Dry gin. He had through his work abroad in Japan had the opportunity to taste a range of older gins, some from the 1940’s and earlier. A challenge was set by the bartender that Christian should make his own gin in the older style, and he took a sample of an old gin to Thames Distillers. Following many recipes with their master distiller they agreed on a recipe and the resultant London Dry Gin was named Jensen’s London-Distilled Dry Bermondsey Gin

Following the success of his Jensen’s Bermondsey gin he turned his attention to the precurser of London Dry gin, the Old Tom style which was around before the process of gin production had been refined.

Most people will refer to Old Tom as a ‘sweetened’ gin, and some on the market will contain 3-5% of sugar, certainly sugar was used to sweeten old toms but that practice only really occurred when sugar prices got cheap. Originally the gin was naturally sweetened (or in reality its flavours were masked) by choosing to use greater quantities of botanicals to help remove the flavours provided by the impurities in the gin.

This Old Tom is based on a recipe from the 1840s and has again been produced by Thames Distillers, it is an old tom in the botanical style containing no extra sugar. Instead a rich set of botanicals provide all the flavour to the gin. The exact mix of botanicals is not public knowledge, but there is definitely juniper, coriander, orris root, angelica and liquorice , I’d take a stab in the dark and presume there is a lot more liquorice in this botanical mix than you would use in a London Dry; as it can provide sweet notes to the gin.

It tastes quite unlike other Old Toms I’ve tried in the fact that it has quite an overpowering taste at room temperature, it’s certainly not what you would call sugar sweet. The botanicals provide a real intense flavour, which is packed full of juniper and citrus, the sweetness does follow.

When tasted at a blind tasting next to a sugar sweetened Old Tom, most people seemed to prefer the other old tom on offer. Though for cocktails that call for an Old Tom style of gin, such as the Martinez and the Tom Collins the flavour profile of this gin really lends extra character to the drink.

It depends what you are looking for in your gin, but for me I love the depth of flavour that the Jensen’s Old Tom provides to my drinks and its certainly in the ‘to buy again’ list. I can remember my first taste of it back at Rules when Brian made me his Charles II, and I know that without this gin it would taste so different. If you do own an Old Tom already, do consider getting this as well – it’s not as if you have more than one London Dry in your cabinet already right?

Buy Jensen’s Old Tom Gin ~ £24

Things you might like:

1. The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
2. Imbibe – The Gin Edition
3. YAG Tasting #2 – Premium Gins

The Botanist is a limited edition gin produced by the Bruichladdich distillery based in Islay. The distillery is more well known for their whisky and they have produced what they have termed an ‘Islay Dry Gin’. It is very much a product from the isle of Islay, as they sourced 21 out of the 31 botanicals used from the island itself, including the Juniper.

Looking through the list, only the Juniper is a ‘normal’ gin botanical, and they supplement the gin with some more ‘traditional’ botanicals not found on the island:
Angelica root, Cassia bark, Cinnamon bark, Coriander seed, Juniper berries, Lemon peel, Liquorice root, Orange peel and Orris root

These are placed into a low pressure lomond pot-still, called ‘Ugly Betty’ and then distilled in a process that takes around three times longer than the traditional gin production process due to the low pressures they are operating at. This means that the gin is slowly simmering away for quite some time, assisting the release of the aromatics from the botanicals.

Only 15,000 bottles of The Botanist (2010) are being released, and it looks likely that if it is a success that they will produce yearly versions (due to the ever changing selection of botanicals they might use, which reflects some characters of the Blackwoods Vintage gins).

When it comes to tasting, the first thing that hits you is that it’s a very complex gin. Quite simply with the number of botanicals it is no suprise that on the nose its hard to pick out the different aromas, the juniper is certainly dominant When you consider that something like Gordon’s only has four botanicals, and most gin usually stopping at 10-12 botanicals then The Botanist is certainly something different.

When sipped neat the flavours do come through, though I’m certain I couldn’t quite say what every botanical is bringing to the table through flavour. It’s got a depth and the high alcohol content is noticeable, it’s juniper led moving into citrus and some grassy essences – it keeps on giving and the flavours linger.. At the blind tasting this was a gin that was a divisor, partly due to the higher strength but also because whilst having those citrus hints it quite a spicy finish.

It is a gin that you won’t find everywhere, and it will not please everyone but it’s certainly one I’m considering of getting another bottle of. It’s the first Islay Gin, but hopefully not the last that Bruichladdich produce.

On an aside, it’s also interesting to see on the bottle that they mention it has not been ‘chill-filtered’ (cooled down/frozen to help remove impurities) which is something you would expect to see mention of on a Whisky bottle than a Gin bottle.

Buy The Botanist – £25

Things you might like:

1. Plymouth Distillery Visit, Part I: The making of ‘Morning Tonic’ Gin
2. Gin Botanical Profile: Juniper Berries
3. Jensen’s Old Tom Gin

It’s not one I’ve had the chance to taste, but it seems to certainly polarise opinion and I’d suggest you try it before you buy it!

Things you might like:

1. The Coconut Rundown: Pepsi Challenge (Inc. Hoxton Gin!)
2. Jensen’s Old Tom Gin
3. The Imbibe Debate: Gin

Edinburgh Gin is produced by The Spencerfield Spirit Company, a company more familiar with the production of artisan Whisky than Gin.

Though in the summer of 2010, they released this new Gin and it’s not a leap into the unknown. After all Edinburgh has a long history of gin production, back in 1777 there were 8 licensed distilleries and its estimated that there may have been as many as 400 illegal stills in Edinburgh and the Port of Leith. [Source: History of the Port of Leith Distilleries]

As gin rose to become the fashionable spirit the Edinburgh distillers, like their London counterparts, produced gin from locally sourced ingredients.

So whilst a new gin has been produced, they have kept to the routes of scottish gin and it’s likely that some of botanicals they are using would have been used back in the 1700s. The juniper berries are scottish, alongside milk thistle, pine and heather (as well as the more traditional and other exotic citrus botanicals). It’s also produced on a small scale, in a copper still called ‘Jenny’.

The gin is presented in a beautiful bottle, with a striking simple art deco logo and is bottled at 43%. When tasting this gin it goes well in a Gin & Tonic, and  does manage to hold its own in a Martini.  Though as with other Scottish gins I’ve tried I don’t think it’s going to please everyone, which I think is down to some of the botanicals used. That said, it’s a nice variation on other more familiar brands out there.

Certainly worth seeking out, and you can buy a 20Cl bottle, instead of going straight for the 70Cl too.

Things you might like:

1. The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
2. Jensen’s Old Tom Gin
3. Bulldog London Dry Gin