Hello, Mixology Mondayer-ers! My fine and esteemed friend Jay, at Oh Gosh, is hosting this month with a broad topic much-beloved by me, Gin. Instead of posting yet another gin recipe to which I’ve applied my addled expert palate (because you’ll get plenty of those visiting here with any regularity) I’ve decided to whip up another ‘Fight Night’ involving premium gins; where I blindly purchase and try many overpriced gins so, hopefully, you won’t have to without being at least somewhat informed.

In honor of Jay I considered featuring gins exclusively from the U.K. but since I’ve covered many fine samples already I found myself staring at three bottles from the United States’ West Coast. The two from Oregon include Desert Juniper Gin from Bend Distillery in Bend, Oregon and Rogue Spruce Gin from the Rogue Distillery in the coastal area of Newport, Oregon. I also invited a guest from the south (San Francisco, California) in the guise of No. 209 Gin, the sole product of 209 Distillery (so far as I can tell). In these gins we’ll see how gins influenced by readily-available ingredients in the US compare to more traditional London Dry gins and/or bring their own character to the game. Not surprisingly, I’m consistently finding that there is a higher degree of variation between American hand-crafted gins than between London Dry-style gins from overseas, even when an ‘innovative’ product such as Tanqueray Rangpur is introduced it has more similarity to competing London gins than these American small-batch gins to which I’ve recently exposed myself (not like that, you pervs).

I decided to follow the same review, tasting, and testing process I did in Vol. II, evaluating the gins based on ‘cupping’, a neat tasting, and a mixed drink. The mixed drink we used was, once again, the Gin & Tonic with White Rock tonic water (fairly high on quinine and low on the sugar, giving it a more tart and bitter character than most grocery store tonics). I’ve kept with the G&T because I’ve been drinking the hell out of them recently and so I’m very familiar with how different gins affect the character of it as 1: I always make them myself and I always measure, 2: I’ve rotated about 4-5 gins on a regular basis, even within the same night, and 3: I know I’ll be able to finish whatever I mix. All three of these gins are high-quality and you can tell they’re trying to justify their price tag, but one falls just short of being worthy of regularly stocking on my shelf. Let’s find out which, and why…

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Desert Juniper Gin:

When it came choosing time, I had to decide between the Desert Juniper or Cascade Mountain style of gin from Bend Distillery. I decided on the Desert Juniper because it was lower proof and it seem to emphasize the natural and juniper-heavy components of its make-up. There’s no longer much information to be found on the Bend Distillery website re: Desert Juniper Gin, but from its label it makes a point of its using wild hand-picked juniper berries, 100% natural grains, and fresh Northwest botanicals as well as the water used to dilute the gin being filtered through volcanic lava rock. Well, ok then, you’ve convinced me.

Cupping/Bouquet: This comes across with a good deal of citrus and then a floral/perfume smell that edges on the side of tropical flower (think hibiscus) without it being overpowering. Very smooth and nice nose to it.

‘Neat’ Tasting: First of all, extremely smooth and this, like Old Raj, has a nice and unusual yellow hue to it. The smoothest of the three in this group of gins and one of the smoothest I’ve ever tasted. The florals from the cupping aren’t as prevalent but there’s still some complexity withut it being up in your face about it. This is the antithesis of Bombay Sapphire where, yeah, there’s a lot going on but who cares because it’s changing shape faster than Britney Spears’ lips (and it’s about as in-your-face about it). My concern at this point was the consistent ‘light’ness of this gin and its lack of body.

Cocktail Tasting: Unfortunately, even in something as simple as a Gin & Tonic, Desert Juniper Gin got lost. As I suspected from the neat tasting, it doesn’t hold its own in a mixed drink. It mellowed the bitterness of the tonic a bit and there was a slight juniper/floral addition but instead of melding and getting the balance you seek out of a refreshing G&T, this gin just got beat into submission. Hell, even the lime had more to say. If you’re looking for a gin for vodka-drinkers this, moreso even than G’Vine, is the one to go with. It’s subtle (too subtle for my taste) but still has the traditional gin flavor profile though it’s a pushover.

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Rogue Spruce Gin:
Rogue Distillery is also aiming to provide a gin distilled from ingredients native to the Northwest, and from the list of 14 ingredients, including spruce – an unusual entrant in gin distillation -, they’ve certainly covered their bases. My first concern is whether juniper on top of spruce would create an explosion of pine tree on the tongue (a definite turn-off to many trying gin for the first time), but the inclusion of cucumber has me excited. Rogue Distillery uses a copper pot still method of distillation that seems similar to Bombay Sapphire’s where the evaporative alcohol is seeped into and then recondensed from the botanicals and then collected and cut (or smithed) with coastal ‘free range’ water. Reports vary.

Cupping/Bouquet: This has a lot of juniper up front and then recedes into conifer and cucumber notes. Not quite as ‘pine tree’ as I was expecting and seems more confidently structured than the Desert Juniper.

‘Neat’ Tasting: First off, this has a very heavy body texture-wise. Almost to the point of feeling slightly (but not unpleasantly) oily. There’s a lot of ‘bite’ when it hits the tongue and you get flavors very close to the bouquet; juniper, cucumber, and conifer. But not in that order, and not always at the same time. It stays on the tongue forever though without going into a dry ‘give me water to get this infernal liquid out of my mouth’ area, very pleasant.

Cocktail Tasting: The structure of this gin stays very consistent from nose to mouth to glass. It maintained its character and provides a welcome crispy tang to the G&T with a lot of juniper notes. In fact, this reminds of Leopold’s strength but where Leopold’s overpowered the G&T the Rogue Spruce does just enough to make itself known without being a bully or leaving a person wondering, ‘What the hell can I use this in?’. Again, just enough character to make it very distinctive but still plays well with others, sort of the Winston Churchill of this group (thought I’d toss you a referential bone there, Jay).

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No. 209 Gin:

There is very little information about the ingredients used in 209 Distillery’s gin or the process used for distillation but from the material I’ve been able to find it’s obvious they care about quality, creating a distinctive gin true to gin’s roots, and are extremely proud of reopening the 209 Distillery operations on Pier 50 in San Franscisco. They make a lot of the gin being 5XD (5 times distilled) but I’m always a tad suspicious of that ultimately improving the product to the degree the price demands. So, is live or is it Memorex?

Cupping/Bouquet: Of the three, this gin is the one most dominated by citrus. It’s very crisp and towards the end stails off into astringent territory. It reminds me of Van Gogh gin especially.

‘Neat’ Tasting: This has a lighter body than the other and hits the palate hard with a lot of pepper/spice with a slight licorice tone. The juniper is a medium presence throughout. The finish is very long, but unlike the Rogue Spruce which seemed to gain its length from its heavy body and texture, the 209 seems to rely on its complexity to keep the tastebuds working it long after its left the palate. Crisp and clean as well.

Cocktail Tasting: This makes a very nice Gin & Tonic. The complexity really comes through in the front without dominating the drink but you can tell it accentuates the bitterness of the tonic as well. Of the three gins, this seems to have the most character. It’s hard to pin down any one overarching quality of the gin but it never falls apart into a muddled quagmire of a land invasion anywhere in Asia cheaper compound gins. Of the three, this would get me the most excited if I were a bartender looking for a gin to create featured drinks from, but for my personal tastes the Rogue Spruce comes slightly ahead because of its focus on juniper.

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As always, tasting quality gins like these side-by-side is educational in how different gins’ characters can be, how distillation processes affect the character and quality of a gin, and how the classification as ‘gin’ can be broad enough to cover a whole array of choices. Of these, the Rogue Spruce was my personal favorite simply because of my particular tastes in what I’m looking for when mixing a drink with gin, but the 209 has many charms that make it worthy and, honestly, seems to deserve the elevated price tag more than the Rogue Spruce (unless you count the ‘free range’ water of course – it’s never been bottled, folks!!). As for the Desert Juniper Gin I should have gone with the Cascade Mountain version as I now understand it to be a more hearty and robust style of of gin but, as I mentioned, it’s a great addition for someone looking to enter the world of gin but wanting to avoid the pine tree perfume quality many ascribe to it. And still in the wings and coming someday soon, Dutch/Genever gins.

Desert Juniper Gin: Rating:

Rogue Spruce Gin: Rating:

No. 209 Gin: Rating: