Another week, another spirit that was a little hard to find online. This time though by being confused with Eden Mill Gin, which is something we guess also needs to be reviewed. For this gin however we can rejoice, because while it’s not god’s gift to mankind it makes a gin and tonic that might as well be.
It’s possible we’ve become quite cynical as time has gone on, because for some reason we wanted this to be bad. We saw the fairly generic name referencing Christian nonsense complimented by the almost arabic design and thought – ugh. The result however is something that doesn’t waste time, and while it might not be the gin of choice for most folks – we can’t stress enough how the simple addition of some tonic turns this tincture into a thing of true beauty.
What they Say: “A soft floral violet and apple nose. Upfront, smooth taste with sweet finish.”
Taste: 6.0 – Okay a lot of unpack there, let’s get started. You actually get that missing juniper from the aroma here, but combined with the other bits of fruit and floral flavors it works well and is pretty balanced
Aftertaste: 5.0 – They’re not totally off on the sweetness here either, though it’s unclear where it comes from. There’s also a lot more of a botanical/spice component. If anything the black mark here is the taste being ruined slightly by the burn.
Burn/Smooth: 3.5 – Now there was a lot of unpack in the taste. For the smoothness though – it’s fairly simple. This burns far more than it should. We hope the addition of some ice will sort this, but as it stands this is not a gin you sip neat, which as often for us – is a sad fact.
Aroma: 7.0 – Not sure what an apple nose is, unless we’re playing Bugsnax. Jokes aside though, if you’d asked us what this smells like before reading the back – we actually would have said floral with some apple or pear fruit. (according to our notes) The effect is – well pleasant. It doesn’t smell juniper-y like a standard gin, but it does smell delicious.
Honesty: 8.5 – We want to deduct point for apple nose, but considering we literally wrote apple/pear in our notes we have to give it to them for honesty. The design itself is nice, they don’t pontificate, and for the most part they seem to back up what little they say. Honesty tends to be a bit more of the subjective points, but objectively we have to give it to them.
Mixability: 6.0
W/ Rocks: 4.0 – Nope. While there’s certainly been worse gins on the rocks, the bit of ice failed to save the gin from it’s harsh burn. This should have been a triumph where on the rocks that pure flavor could shine, but once again – nope.
Gin and Tonic: 9.0 – You know how sometimes you buy one of the ‘fancy’ tonic waters with more flavoring and it really ups your G&T game, this is that but with a basic broke ass tonic. We even went a step further to confirm, but adding a bit of lime/lemon here is Aces. There’s just the right amount of juniper, fruit, spice, and tonic. This honestly wants to make us do a blind taste test with other high scoring G&T’s because fuck this is delightful.
Martini: 5.0 – Can vermouth and an olive save us? No. This is passable. We’ve had worse martini’s, but fuck have we had better. It’s deeply unfortunate we did this post-tonic reviewing because we were ecstatically hoping for another redemption story.
Value: 6.0 – Now we come to the true conundrum. Overall this isn’t worth that price point. But then we pour ourselves a gin and tonic in this near 90 degree weather and – you know – maybe this is totally worth the price.
Google Shop Average: $22
Website: https://gjdistillers.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
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Metric Score: 42/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.0 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
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Final Thoughts: It’s hilarious for us really. Last week was a vodka so bad we had to think through ways to manage it, but this weeks it’s us thinking how no matter what we do to that vodka to make it better, mixing this with tonic will outshine it every time. We are politely surprised that this isn’t totally shit, but make no mistake, there are better gins out there. Though maybe if you just want a G&T – there’s not.
