The gang of 3...I wanted to wait until I had the right collection and mix of domestic, international, and non-London Dry gins together before I did my next piece in this series. To view the first Premium Gin ‘Fight Night’ click here, and see how G’Vine, Bombay Sapphire, and Van Gogh measured up against one another. A similar mix of gins to review finds itself in front of us this go around. In Old Raj we have a highly-regarded London Dry gin that puts a twist on the old formula by adding saffron to the mix, giving it a distinctive yellow hue. In Hendrick’s we have a very popular Scottish gin in a simulacrum of an earthenware bottle whose ‘gimmick’ is the inclusion of cucumber in the botanical infusion process. And finally, Leopold’s, a proudly small batch U.S. gin that I knew nothing about upon picking it up. The selection of Leopold’s came down to a choice between Blackwood’s, Leopold’s, and Quintessential and I went with Leopold’s to provide a non-European contender and something in the back of my mind warned me of Quintessential being a marketing job. I have no basis for that, but something just struck me wrong about it. Maybe it will make the next round and prove me decidedly wrong.

I decided to follow the same review, tasting, and testing process I did in Vol. I, evaluating the gins based on ‘cupping’, a neat tasting, and a mixed drink. The wife and I did try the one-to-one water tasting in place of the neat, as Michael Dietsch outlines here, and just found it, well, put simply, watered down. The one-to-one (water:gin) tasting does cut down on the alcohol burn one gets in drinking most gins straight but, for us, at the expense of the brightness of flavor and character a room temperature neat tasting provides. Plus, I sort of want to know how smooth or rough a spirit’s character is on its own. The other thing we changed was the drink in which we tested the gins. In Vol. I we went with a Gin Gin Highball, which was a fine choice, but in this case we went with a classic gin & tonic (2:1 tonic to gin and a hearty squeeze of lime wedge) and a non-premium tonic water that’s a tad drier than most tonics available in your grocery store. Part of the reason for this was that the G&T is a drier drink than the Gin Gin Highball and we thought it would pare down the drink to show off the gins’ essences more. I think we made the right choice, but at least one of these gins doesn’t belong in a Gin and Tonic. Like to know which one? Read on…

Old Raj:Good Old Raj, he's a pally

Old Raj comes in two labels, red and blue. The blue is bottled at 55% ABV and the red at 46%; the blue is what I found and purchased. Old Raj uses a traditional London Dry method of distillation and infusion but with the addition of saffron, a pricey spice produced from the Crocus flower. This gives it a distinctive yellow color and, supposedly, a distinctive flavor.

This is the most expensive gin in the group, and besides that, the most expensive gin I’ve run across. So, it’s bound to be held to a slightly different standard than your other premium gins. Let’s see how it does.

Cupping/Bouquet: As you might expect with a 110 proof spirit, the alcohol (isopropyly smell, heh) comes blazing through. Behind that, there is a rich floral and spicy scent but it’s heavily covered by the alcohol.

‘Neat’ Tasting: Once you get past the alcohol, and believe me, it takes a moment, there is a very full-bodied experience here. Its texture is heavier than I expected with such a high alcohol content and the flavors are predominantly ‘brown spice’, if that makes sense. I don’t really capture the saffron from this, which was surprising, but it is heavy on body and light on character. I expected the opposite though the sheer quality of the product does come through.

Cocktail Tasting: Old Raj is a more timid fellow than you’d think. The alcohol burn is completely missing when it’s mixed which is very nice. This gin sort of sat back and let the tonic and lime play the melody while it hummed along nicely adding a note here and there in harmony when it willed. When it did so will it, what came through was a surprising bitterness and almost aspirin flavor that had a long and tart finish. Once again, it added more body than character to a drink; not necessarily a bad thing but not as distinctive as one would think.

Hendrick’s Gin:
Hendrick'sHendrick’s serves up a similar ‘gimmick’ as Old Raj in that it espouses, almost ad nauseum, its “unusual” nature and its “iconoclastic” production technique. Essentially, it seems they’ve added cucumber to the mix and changed up the botanicals used in its production to make it as distinctive as possible. In that sense, it seems no different than the Van Gogh, G’Vine, and other gins in the world seeking to separate themselves from the ‘traditional gin’ pack.

This is a pricey gin that has received a lot of accolades from people I respect, so I’m more than willing to give it a shot…or three. Ok, Hendrick’s, I know if it’s not Scottish, it’s crap!, but just how uncrappy are you?

Cupping/Bouquet: This has bite of alcohol at first and then develops into a nice juniper/floral blend. This is crisp, slightly perfumey, and as Joana says, ‘Springtime!’. I pretty much agree, it’s very nice.

‘Neat’ Tasting: This comes across with heavy floral tones that are very pleasant and smooth; crisp and spicy and bright all at once. I’m pretty darn impressed with its complexity while it remains smooth. Joana mentions it has something going on she can only describe as ‘powder’.

Cocktail Tasting: Of the three gins, this one does the best job of melding all the flavors together. Where the Old Raj hung back and mucked about with its yellow self, this one demands an equal, while mild, presence. It has a sweet but full-bodied character so it’s no wimp, but it doesn’t dominate the drink like the Leopold’s will come to. This is a great mixing gin; I’m very pleased with it. As is Joana, because she won’t let go of it at this point. She claims she’s got to ‘figure out what this taste is I’m getting…’ Uh huh.

Leopold’s:
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This is a hand-crafted gin which I’d not seen before until I went to a little boutique spirits and wine store in Denver where I was looking for Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette (no luck). But, I did find this little gem. There are a couple of distinct things about the Leopold’s distillation process that are worth mentioning. First, they distill and infuse each of the botanicals separately and then blend those final products to create the final gin which is supposed to be more refined and smoother in nature because of this fractional process. This is like making several different individual and simply-flavored ‘gins’ and then blending them, much like is done with bourbons and whiskeys. They also focus on American botanicals such as Florida Oranges and California Pummelos; whether this is for better or for worse, at least it’s distinctly American. And finally, it is distilled in small batches, only fifty cases, versus a continuous still process which means each batch is unique to itself. My bottle happens to be from batch 07-02. Ok then, let’s see how this translates into flavor.

Cupping/Bouquet: This is strongly dominated by, are you ready for this?…dill. It’s smooth, but almost entirely, dill. As Joana said, ‘It makes you want potatoes…’ Indeed.

‘Neat’ Tasting: Leopold’s is much lighter in body than either the Hendrick’s or the Old Raj. The front is strongly flavored with, you guessed it, dill, but as it settles in the back of the tongue and throat and finished the traditional citrus and juniper notes you expect in gin start to come through.

Cocktail Tasting: As with G’Vine, this gin completely changes the character of the drink. Where the Old Raj sat back and was a polite English gentleman and the Hendrick’s made with the Scottish party-making, this is a good old American individualistic show-off. The dill flavor comes crashing through the party and tells the lime and tonic to get the hell outta the way. It’s smooth and not altogether unpleasant, but it makes for an odd G&T. It’s lighter and sweeter than the others and if you have a cheap tonic you want to mask, this isn’t a bad choice. As a side note, this made a tremendous dirty martini. With the brine and the vermouth this added an extra savory note to the drink that complemented the brine perfectly. Other than that, we’ve not found a good drink for it. It’s not bad, it’s just so different as to make you want to be careful is switching it out with more predictable products. Plus, there’s the added fun of not knowing if I bought another bottle from a different batch whether it would behave the same.

This was, again, a great exercise in demonstrating how different ingredients with differing characters impact the exact same drink. In the final equation I have to say the Old Raj underperformed (given its $55-65 price tag), the Hendrick’s was best-in-class in this group, and the Leopold’s was an exciting product that is so individualistic as to be tough to categorize and make it play nicely. Hendrick’s will be the only one I put into consistent rotation on my shelf. It’s done wonderfully in just about every damned drink I put it into and I always approach it with tittering excitement. I can’t say that about the other two. Old Raj I think is one of those things that’s good to say you did it but not something you want to necessarily make a habit of, much like shotgunning cheap beer. Next up, Dutch/Genever gins; I can’t wait.

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