Crystal Palace

I have no clue why I bought this back in the day. I think it was one of my first gin purchases when I was just getting out of college and clearly didn't appreciate gin like I do now. I found it after probably many years just sitting in a box. It was still over half full. The fact that it comes in a large plastic bottle, should have given me enough warning as to why would I even consider trying this again, but I did. The nose is all ethanol. I couldn't even really detect anything else. The palate is all heat and burns the tongue to the point it's hard to detect anything else. There are the faintest lemon peel notes, but honestly, it was just hard to even finish it. Speaking of the finish, it was short, peppery and just an overload of heat. I should have just left the bottle where it was, or even better just dumped it all down the sink without trying it. It's really just awful stuff and even if it is less than $10 for a liter, it's just not worth it. Could it be used in a cocktail without ruining it? I don't think so, but since it's insanely cheap I'm going to give it a 1.

[1.30.21] The in-laws broke this out of the cupboard and we had a blind tasting. Granted, this bottle was found during a move and over 30 years old. So maybe not reflective of the current brand. But I was pleasantly surprised. Room temperature, straight from the bottle. This is plain and simple, a distilled spirit with botanicals that taste zesty up front and like a pine branch on the backside. As if lemon vodka and juniper schnapps had a subtlely flavored child off the record. 1 star for the flavor and smoothness, 1/2 bonus for the price point.

Pretty harsh. More moonshine than gin.