Review: No. 3 London Dry Gin

Berry Bros. & Rudd is London’s oldest wine and spirits merchant with over 300 years of experience and tradition to draw on. They chose to use this expertise with a team of spirits experts creating the recipe which would be called No. 3 London Dry Gin. The recipe is based upon three fruits and three spices, and to those I shall speak to in the review. However, I shall say as a bit of foreshadowing, that sometimes artistry can be found in simplicity.

I first sampled the No. 3 Gin at a store called Lacombe Park Spirits in St. Albert, Alberta. I have come to know the proprietors, Karim and his brother Jeff, quite well over the past couple of years, and when Karim discovered that I was about to venture into a series of Gin reviews he insisted that I try one of his favourites. I was convinced after one sip that this was a gin which I wanted to review, and after contacting the website for No. 3 London Dry Gin, Ross Hendry from Berry Brothers & Rudd, arranged for me to receive a bottle sample.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…When that first sample was poured for me at Lacombe Spirits, the first thing I noticed was the assertiveness of the aroma around the glass. I commented to Karim (the proprietor of Lacombe Park Spirits) that this was exactly how I liked my gin to smell in the glass. The nose was full of juniper, but it was not sharp and unpleasant, rather it was full of aromatics which lifted the juniper scent out of the glass and then surrounded it with floral notes and a beguiling sweetness…”

Here is a link to the full review:

I have provided a couple of nice recipes for the No. 3 Gin, the first is a nice Classic Gin Martini recipe which is provided on the No. 3 Gin website, the second recipe is a classic Gin cocktail recipe called the Bulldog Cooler.

Please enjoy my review and the recipes that follow!

Review: Shiver Gin

Shiver Gin is a new product of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Commission (NLC). It is a Canadian made gin which is produced in the ‘London Dry’ style in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Of the various styles of gin, London Dry Gin, is the most common. (For those who do not know, the legal requirement is that London Dry Gin must be distilled in the presence juniper and other botanicals.) Of the botanicals used in the production of this particular gin, the company makes specific reference on their website to anise which is said to give the gin “an unexpected uplift with each sip“.

I contacted Gregg Kerr of the NLC  a few weeks ago informing him of my plans to begin a series of gin and vodka reviews hoping to include at least a few Canadian spirits. Greg was kind enough to forward me a bottle of Shiver Gin and here is an excerpt from the resulting review:

“… The juniper aroma was perhaps a little understated on the nose; but, that unmistakably punch of alpine berry reveals itself immediately when you take your first sip. Beside the juniper lie sweeter flavours which I would describe as maraschino cherry liqueur, sweet mandarin oranges, citrus pith, and just a hint of licorice…”

You may read my full review here:

Following my review is an excellent cocktail which I highly recommend you try with Shiver Gin, The Darby Cocktail.

Please enjoy the review and my suggested cocktail!

Review: Gordon’s London Dry Gin

Alexander Gordon founded the Gin Distillery in London in 1769, and although the company is now part of the Diageo conglomerate, they have apparently remained true to their original Gin recipe which includes handpicked juniper berries and other secret botanicals. (According the company website, only 12 persons in the world know the secret recipe.)

I picked up a 375 ml bottle of Gordon’s London Dry Gin a few months ago, and I decided that it was finally time to publish a review here on my website. Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…As I nosed the glass a nice piny juniper aroma climbed out of the glass into the breezes. This scent was quickly surrounded by sweeter lemon and lime citrus aromas. As well a light, almost birch-like aroma was hinted at, and the overall effect is quite nice…”

You may read the full review here:

As well I have included a nice “Fizz” style recipe which tastes great with the Gordon’s Gin called The Lime Fizz.  Please enjoy my review of Gordon’s Gin and the Cocktail recipe which accompanies it.

Review: Empire London Dry Gin

Photo courtesy Highwood Distillery

Highwood Distillers is a Canadian distiller situated in the town of Highwood, Alberta, which lies just about 40 minutes due south of Calgary, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  Recently, I visited the distillery and watched first hand as they turned the local wheat into whisky, vodka. and gin.  I sampled the whisky, (See my reviews of Centennial Whisky & White Owl Whisky) and was delighted by the quality I encountered.  So when I started to review gin on my website, I decided to sample Highwood’s  Empire Gin to see how a locally produced gin would rate.

Although Empire Gin is a London Dry Gin, the moniker “London Dry Gin” refers to the double distillation method of production which defines London Dry Gin, but is not a reference to the country of origin.  Rather than being produced in England, Empire London Dry Gin is produced and bottled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in the Highwood Distillery. It is a Canadian Gin, and I was very curious as to how it compared with the more well-known brands like Tangueray No. 10 and Bombay Sapphire.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…The initial entry into the mouth is a little spicy as the tangy citrus seems to be in the forefront of the flavour.  The piny juniper seems to be more evident on the palate than it was on the nose, but it does not overwhelm the citrus, rather it seems to sit just underneath acting as an anchor to support the gin flavour through the palate…”

You May Read the full review here:

Empire London Dry Gin

Enjoy the Review!

Review: Bombay Sapphire Gin

Bombay Sapphire Gin is distributed by Bacardi.  It was launched in 1987 and draws its unusual name from a marketing competition where several marketing agencies were asked to submit possible new names and bottle designs for Bacardi’s new Gin.  The chosen name refers to an Indian heritage of gin, as it was an extremely popular drink during the time of the British Raj.  The Star of Bombay is a famous Indian Sapphire now on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

Bombay Sapphire Gin is considered a London Dry Gin.  This refers to the process of distillation and not the current origin of the gin.  London Dry Gin is made through a double distillation of a neutral grain spirit with botanicals added during the second distillation.  The ten botanicals listed on the Bombay Sapphire website are: Spanish almonds and lemon peel, West African grains of paradise, Chinese licorice, juniper berries from Tuscany, orris root from Italy, angelica root from Saxony, coriander seed from Morocco, cassio bark from Indo China, and cubeb berries from Java.

It will be most interesting to see what this bevy of ingredients from around the world has imparted into the spirit.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…I am a naive son of a gun.  I actually expected a light blue coloured gin to flow out of the bottle the first time I poured it.  Alas, the bottle is blue, not the gin.  It is a clear colourless liquid which imparts just a very light sheen of oil on the side of my glass.  The aroma from the glass is   a clean aroma with a piny (juniper) citrus note…”

You may read the full review here:

Gin Review: Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin

Cocktails: Six More Rescued

Today I rescued six more cocktails from the pages of my reviews and placed them into my cocktail menus,  two gin recipes, two whiskey recipes, and two more rum recipes.  My gin recipes were first published when I reviewed Tangueray No. 10 Gin.  They are both variations of the Gin Gimlet.

The first is called the Key Lime Gimlet and is pictured to the left.  Using key limes instead of regular lime in the recipe gives the gimlet a little different flavour,  which I find really mixes well with gin.

The second recipe called the Key Lime Slushy for gin is basically a blenderized version of the gimlet with crushed ice and grenadine. The grenadine is their purely for aesthetics and can certainly be replaced with simple sugar.

Here are my two new Gin recipes recently added to the recipe menus:

Gin Cocktail: The Key Lime Gimlet

Gin Cocktail: Key Lime Slushy

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The two whiskey recipes added today are of completely different origins. The first the Double Diamond Fizz is my first ‘fizz’ style recipe added to the database.  Although I am using a particular whisky in the recipe it is actually quite easy to sub in any rye or Irish whiskey into the recipe.

Count Turf is a recipe based upon a Martini contest held in 1951.  The winning entry was dubbed The 1951 Martini.  When I looked at the recipe I knew I could use a similar approach with a nice Kentucky Bourbon.  I explain it a little more in the recipe write-up.

Whiskey Cocktail: Double Diamond Fizz

Whisky Cocktail: Count Turf

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The final two recipes added today are rum based drinks. They are perhaps two of my nicest constructions. The first, Romantic Traffic, uses Aged Barbados rum as its base mixing with Curacao and gin.  It is a little boozy, but it is also delicious.

The second rum cocktail uses light amber rum and a nice long combination of grapefruit and pineapple.  I decided to call it Enjoy The Moment. It is perhaps my favourite of the six cocktails introduced today.  Here are the final two recipes:

Rum Cocktail: Romantic Traffic

Rum Cocktail: Enjoy The Moment

Remember, the aim of my blog is not to help you drink more…it is to help you drink better!

Tangueray No. 10 (A gin review)

Oh my!  The Rum Howler Blog has branched out again.  This is my first attempt at a gin review.   My plan is to review at least three different gins by summertime subjecting them to the rigors of my peculiar review methodology.

I want to caution my readers that Gin is not a primary alcoholic beverage of which I indulge.  This means that my reviews of gin (and tequila for that matter) may more closely resemble fantasy than reality.  However, I would rather fail in trying to write a worthy review than to be satisfied with where I am at and make no attempt to grow and branch out.  (By the way I do not plan to fail!)

My method of reviewing any spirit is to discuss and score my enjoyment of the spirit. I am confident than an honest discussion of this enjoyment will lead to a worthwhile review.

So it is that we come to the first bottle of Gin which I will review,  Tangueray No. 10.  This is a premium quadruple distilled gin which sits at the top of the benchmark as far as Tangueray gin is concerned.  Here is an excerpt from my review:

“Tangueray No. 10  gin is soft and remarkably approachable.  Juniper berries lead out in front with hints of pine and spruce behind. My mouth tingles wherever the gin stops to rest which is probably caused by the higher than normal alcohol proof (94.6).  I can taste a light orange sweetness akin to Triple Sec or Cointreau in the background.  Floral notes drift  in and out of the currents of my palate, as do other citrus flavours….

You may read the full review here….

Gin Review: Tangueray No. 10

Of course I have added a few “forrest approved” cocktails including my sumptuous Key Lime Gimlet!

Enjoy the review!

Cocktail: The Pink Rocket

The Pink Rocket

Sometimes I play with old ideas in an attempt to come up with something fresh. In this case the old idea is from a the 1937 publication, Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, Coronation Edition, compiled by W.J. Tarling. I introduced a cocktail from this book in my review of Appleton Estate Reserve Rum and the cocktail is called The Celebration.  (A link to the same recipe is found on the Internet Cocktail Database)

The idea of mixing gin and rum was new to me, but obviously it has a tradition back at least 80 years.  So I thought I would experiment with the idea and tweak it to make a nice sweetish cocktail (not Swedish but sweetish).   My idea was to come up with a more feminine cocktail that I could bring out to wow my friends.  My first change was to adjust the fruit juice slightly adding just a bit of pineapple juice and decreasing the grapefruit juice.   Not anything remarkable there, just a slight change in flavour profile. Then I reduced the ratio of rum to gin somewhat.  Finally I unabashedly used grenadine as a substitute for groseille syrup.  Each change made the drink progressively sweeter. At this point I cut the quantity of Grenadine to one half of the amount of Groseille syrup, and used a lemon wheel garnish to act as a counter punch to the sweetness.  I think it turned out very nicely.

Click here to view the entire recipe:

Rum Cocktail: The Pink Rocket

Howling Highlight: The 12 Spirits of Christmas

As promised I have selected 12 special spirits which would be perfect as Christmas Gifts.   These are in no particular order except that I  have saved the most expensive for last.  In the Spirit of the Twelve Days Of Christmas, allow me to introduce my Twelve Spirits of Christmas. In the instances where I have reviewed the spirit I have included a link to the review. Just click on the name of the spirit and the review will pop up.  Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

Here is my top twelve gifted spirits for Christmas:

1)  On the first day of Christmas: Amrut Indian Single Malt

An exquisite Malt from India which is not only unique but also very good.  (About $80.00)

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2) On the second day of Christmas: Havana Club Barrel Proof Rum

An Authentic Cuban Rum which will delight the connoisseur. (About $60.00)

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3) On the third day of Christmas: Herencia de Plata Reposado Tequila

This is the Tequila which has made a convert out of me.. fantabulous! (About $45.00)

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4) On the fourth day of Christmas: Highland Park 12 Year Old Scotch Whisky

For myself, I consider this to be the ultimate Peated Whisky. (About $50.00)

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5) On the fifth day of Christmas: Renegade Panama Don José 1997 Rum

If you can find this anywhere in the world…buy it!  (About 80.00)

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6) On the sixth day of Christmas: Tangeray #10 Gin

Just a great smooth Gin… (About $35.00)

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7) On the seventh day of Christmas: Knobb Creek 9 yr Old Bourbon Whisky

What a nice Kick this Bourbon has! (About $45.00)

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8   On the eighth day of Christmas: Flor de Caña Centenario 12 Year Old Rum

Smooth, Elegant, and probably the best Rum Bargain out there.  (About $35.00)

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9) On the ninth day of Christmas: Wyborowa Exquisite Polish Vodka

The Polish know how to make Vodka.  This is one of the best! (About $40.00)

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10) On the tenth day Christmas: Alberta Premium Rye 25Yr Old (100% rye whisky)

This is the best bargain in the World! So Smooth… So good!  (About $30.00)

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11) On the eleventh day Christmas: Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Premium Rum

In Venezuala they make some of the best rum in the World.. Another Bargain! (About $40.00)

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12) On the twelfth day of Christmas: Wiser’s Red Letter Whisky

Okay not a bargain.  But what a whisky!   (About $150.00)

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*All prices were based upon shopping in my good ol province of Alberta.  Prices will vary considerably around the world!