This as far as we can reasonably tell is the first spirit we have from the African continent. This excludes wine of course, and technically this is made in the UK, but at least it’s technically correct. The botanicals here really do produce a gin that is very unique.
It has a certain type of tropical fruit that’s not commonly used, and the very abrupt and clean taste would make this a great gin if only that burn and harshness wasn’t there to sour the party. It is certainly though the best African gin we’ve had.
What they Say: “Small Batch. A HANDCRAFTED GIN of exceptional quality. Inspired by the captivating flavours of AFRICA. Fresh citrus BAOBAB fruit and aromatic CAPE GOOSEBERRIES dutifully blended with 7 TRADITIONAL BOTANICALS in an ANTIQUE COPPER STILL to produce a gin with TRUE AFRICAN SPIRIT.”
Taste: 5.5 – You get some of that goodness from the aroma, but not enough.
Aftertaste: 6.5 – Clean is the word today, and it comes less as a vodka clean put purely a botanical clean. Rather short as well.
Burn/Smooth: 3.5 – There is certainly a harsh part to this and it leaves a sort of burning taste on the lips as well.
Aroma: 8.5 – It’s a bit like citrus, but very unique instead of the standard tropical. Combine that with the other botanicals and this smells really quite good. No hint of paint thinner, or offness – just a really good gin that’s not super heavy juniper.
Honesty: 7.5 – This is our first African spirit as far as I can tell, and if honest – good show. The bit of burn and tingle isn’t great, but the gin has character and can stand among many other contenders. You then get into design and labelling – and it’s fantastic. There is a hitch though and it’s the FACT that the TEXT looks like this.
Mixability: 6.0
W/ Rocks: 6.5 – That helps the harshness and maintains a lot of the rest of the gins so certainly preferable
Gin and Tonic: 5.5 – It’s okay here, but it mostly disappears into the tonic, and it’s not as good as having on rocks.
Value: 5.0 – Based on looks, and how this does with Rocks it’s actually not bad at that price (being above the budget tier, and before where gin prices get crazy), and we need to do a proper martini test.
Google Shop Average: $32
Website: https://www.whitleyneill.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 6.5
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Metric Score: 42.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.07 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.5
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Final Thoughts: At the core of this problem though is that there’s not a universe where someone should choose this over Rangpur or Hendricks for a unique gin at this price range.
