This gin reminded us (look-wise at least) of Gin Mare. That spirit, however, had some weird distilling methods leaving it ultimately like a cocktail in a bottle. Where that was expensive though and worked really only in a martini, we have at different beast here. This is a gin (and it’s been a while coming) that we can’t point to a major flaw.
It surely doesn’t have an aspect that makes it the king of the castle, but everything about it is above par, above average. That’s a rare breed – sometimes you do well in a few categories of our reviewing objectives, but it’s uncommon to do well at all of them at once. By virtue of doing so, Mistral is one of the better gins on this site, but it’s difficult to truly embrace it.
What they Say: “French Gin – 100% grain neutral spirits maceration of fresh provencal herbs.”
Taste: 6.0 – There’s not a huge botanical element at the beginning, it’s basically a bunch of junipers and then a kind of wheat like vodka flavor. It’s not entirely a nice sipping gin, but it’s not bad.
Aftertaste: 6.0 – That sort of wheat like aftertaste does continue for a long while. There are some botanicals mixed in as well, and the overall effect is nice.
Burn/Smooth: 6.5 – A whiff of burn accompanies that bit of juniper and it’s also going on with the long aftertaste; however it is VERY minor overall so it really does well here.
Aroma: 7.0 – It’s light, and the juniper is there, but not alone. However, the other spices don’t have a need to fight to the top, because as stated it seems the goal here was something a bit more subtle, but well-executed.
Honesty: 7.0 – Short, sweet, and lack of wank. Add that to the nice bottle and really they’ve committed no crimes. Oh sure they could have maybe done more to earn points, but they do well.
Mixability: 6.83
W/ Rocks: 6.5 – Ice removes any minor awfulness and lets that juniper mellow out among the taste, you do lose some of the complexity, but overall it’s nicer.
Gin and Tonic: 8.0 – Yes! It excels here in a way that neat or rocks just don’t. It’s amazing.
Martini: 6.0 – Better as a Churchill martini in our minds – that is to say very little vermouth and olive.
Value: 6.0 – That is not crazy expensive for one of the better G&T’s we’ve had in a long while. However, that is in a certain price range where it’s competitors are also good. This fares slightly better, but it’s not a steal.
Google Shop Average: $25
Website: We honestly can’t find a website folks.
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 6.5
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Metric Score: 45.33/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.48 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.5
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Final Thoughts: We mention it is hard to love this gin, and it’s likely because it doesn’t have glaring flaws. We often talk of not caring for things that are just average across the board, but it seems that applies to things that are just slightly above average across the board. It’d be unfair to say we’d buy this again (the G&T is killer everyone), but we can’t deny a job well done.
