Now most people when they think Bombay picture that iconic blue bottle of Sapphire. Only those who’ve spent their time looking at the bottom shelves or met with a terrible fate asking for G&T at a bar to find there is another. So if Bombay Sapphire is the premium model, what’s the basic version like – well it’s certainly basic.
The Sapphire isn’t god’s gift to gin, but it’s decent and even has a few bright spots such as serving it over rocks. This however – there’s nothing good. No single feature which makes it anything other than purely awful.
What they Say: “Based on a 1761 recipe, the heart of Bombay Dry Gin is its unique distillation process, vapour infusion. Unlike many other gins, which boil their botanicals directly in the spirit, the 8 exotic botanicals in Bombay Dry Gin are hand placed in a perforated copper basket. The spirit vapour passes through the copper basket delicately infusing the spirit with aromatic flavours of the botanicals. This way Bombay Dry Gin acquires a subtle, full flavour taste which makes it such a rounded and distinctive gin.”
Taste: 2.0 – It starts off like a horrible tasting gin with Juniper trying and failing to save the day.
Aftertaste: 0.5 – We have not tasted a gutter, but if we had we imagine it would taste like the aftertaste of Bombay Gin.
Burn/Smooth: 1.0 – Mercifully this does not burn like a 2 dollar gin. It does burn though and is not smooth beyond the alcohol so lotta points lost here.
Aroma: 5.5 – Gin: Hello, it’s me. You really get a very simple juniper gin that holds nothing back. There are no sore spots on the peach though so while it’s very much gin, it’s also not so bad.
Honesty: 3.0 – That’s nothing egregious, but fuck you. This is swill and no amount of literature or design can help it. What’s there isn’t even capable of that regardless.
Mixability: 2.17
W/ Rocks: 3.0 – Ice will not save you, merely dull the pain before you die.
Gin and Tonic: 3.0 – For those thinking, well at least this should mix – decent? With tonic it’s awful – it’s literally every bad G&T you’ve had from a bar.
Martini: 0.5 – We debated not doing this, but fuck this gin – let it suffer the bad scores. That is without doubt one of the worst martini’s we’ve ever had. The olive and tiny bit of vermouth just accentuate the terrible gin.
Value: 1.0 – We don’t know about you as this price can vary wildly ($12-23 dollars) but regardless of the cost – this is not good value for money. Buy a better gin, hell buy New Amsterdam.
Google Shop Average: $17
Website: http://www.bombaysapphire.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 0.5
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Metric Score: 15.17/70 |+| Metric Average: 2.17 |+| Reviewer Average: 0.5
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Final Thoughts: This was a tough debate to give 0.5 or the full zero because frankly this gin does nothing for you aside from the future hangover it will provide. That point five is purely because this at least upfront smells like a gin – even if that is a trick to get you to drink it and realize what a mistake you’ve made.
