Greylock Gin.

And since I still have a bit of tonic left, I feel obligated to break out the other bottle of interesting gin I found the other day. Greylock is an award-winning gin out of Massachusetts. First nose: thank you, it smells like a bonafide gin. Flowery juniper, lavender, and some sort of dark, homey spices. It actually tastes like gin too. A strong juniper component with cinnamon, grass and citrus on the back end.

Mixed with the remainder of the Fevertree: It stands out in the tonic, but the lavender component mixes strangely with the quinine. Not sure if G&T is the way I'd want to go with this. Wired Gin recommends more complementary drinks like a Mississippi Mule, Lavender Martini or an Aviation, none of which I've had before but will certainly get around to trying.

Bottomline: I like this gin. It's assertive, refreshing, and new without being obnoxious. Tonic is not its domain, but it will probably lend itself well to more subtle, simple drinks.

No. 209 Gin.

I have a few bottles of gin sitting, none of which I really intended to open before I returned back east, but cutting that Domaine de Canton left me with an open bottle of Fevertree, and I shouldn't let that go to waste. So here we have gin No. 209, an SF-based distillery. I am always on the lookout for local/regional product so this was recommended to me by the staff at Beltramo's. Of note, there is also a kosher version of this gin which is $10 more. I suppose the blessing only worth $10, but I'm also not really sure why gin needs to be kosher.

Straight: Fairly tight in the nose, juniper and citrus, orange maybe. Taste is very neutral. With a 2:1 of tonic, the gin gets pretty lost in there. It's five-times distilled "to extract the most subtle flavors in crafting a truly modern gin". Not sure if that's the way I want to go with this. If this is modern gin, following the trend of spirits like New Amsterdam, well, that's not gin. (New Amsterdam, by the way, while not a bad gin, is a gin for vodka drinkers.) The gin I know grew out of Dutch courage. Courageous, this is not.

Addendum: As I get to the bottom of this G&T, I've started to think that maybe I was initially too harsh. While it still doesn't stand up nearly as well against tonic as other gins, No. 209 is decidedly clean and crisp, so that is worth mentioning.

Bluecoat Gin.

Remembering the recommendation from last time, I made it a point to pick it up this time. This is a solid martini gin with notes of lavender that manage to show through tonic as well. I had it in a martini with two olives and it was more floral than pine, rather herbal. A little lacking in the classic gin character, but still decidedly a gin. Mixed with some Fevertree tonic, the quinine bitterness is very nicely offset by the smooth floral lavender character. A very nice gin.

Rogue Spruce Gin.

I saw this when I first arrived here four years ago. I thought that I would try it "next time". "Next time" kept getting deferred and then it just disappeared. For four years. Apparently, they lost license to distribute over here or something. In any case, it turns out it's back. Not missing out this time. Thought about it, almost bought two.

Tasted straight sipping. Strong juniper nose. Smooth, oily mouthfeel but finishes with but a sheen. Woody, slightly sweet, grassy and fresh but well-blended and developed. Cool on the palette.

New Amsterdam Gin.

I had been wanting to give this gin a try for a while now and noticed that a local store was having a tasting for it. I had heard mixed reviews about this gin, it being rather un-gin-like and too citrus-y for martinis and G&Ts.

I had part of a tasting straight to assess how ridiculous this gin really was and found it distinctively citrus-y and noticeably muted (to the point of being merely absent) juniper flavors. I had the rest with a bit of tonic which I think is the ultimate test of a gin's drinkability. Though the martini is very nearly straight liquor, mind you, being able to balance with other flavors, particularly quinine, is an important trait.

Having a proper G&T at home (no lime at the store) confirmed what I had surmised at the tasting: drinkable, yes but refreshing, no. Tanqueray is an iconoclastic gin: crisp bite with juniper-dominated nose but contains no features that scream for distinction which makes it very neutral and thus a very good all-around, flexible liquor. Others place more emphasis on other botanicals like Bombay Sapphire or Magellan which make them excellent with tonic but less so with other mixers. Bafferts, I found to be a more refined version of Tanqueray in that it's distinctively gin but smoother and just as crisp. New Amsterdam is the inverse of Bafferts in that it masks the juniper with citrus and, while smooth, takes it to an extreme and turns the crisp edge into flab.

I'm sure it will make a great mixing gin for melon-based drinks, but I'd rather shell out the extra cash for Bafferts or Tanqueray. Also, Polar < Schweppes.

Bafferts.

Probably the best gin I've had thus far. Remarkably smooth, both on the tongue and nose. Mixes very well with tonic and has a well-defined herbal and floral bouquet. Very pleasant all around.

Boomsma Genever.

I finally tracked down some genever. After all the hype, it's pretty good. The taste and mouthfeel is distinctive from London-style dry gin. I haven't figured out anything interesting to do with it yet, though it's supposed to be bad with tonic.

Magellan Gin.

Well, it looks like I've finally started branching out a little here. Tanqueray has always been my gin of choice, though I've had various well gins and Bombay Sapphire. I was about to pick up another Tanqueray when I thought to look for a genever, a more traditional, Dutch-style gin. I did find one that had "genever" in the name (Boomsma, which seems to have the most favorable reviews for being traditional, so I'll pick it up at some point) but I didn't want to pick it up until I could confirm its origins . In the meantime, I thought that this was the most interesting: Magellan, iris-flavored gin from France.

Somewhat lower in alcohol (88 proof), it's remarkably mild, and, lo and behold, tastes a bit flowery. It's also legitimately blue, unlike Bombay Sapphire, also flavored with iris, which just has a blue glass bottle. I didn't care much for martinis when I had one made with Tanqueray, but this gin would make me reconsider.