Rat Bastard Gin

11: The nose is surprisingly vegetal, yet bitter and sort of like Copper Fox Rye a tad. There's something sweet and floral in a sickly but not vanilla way that I'm having trouble placing. Not a very complex nose or a super appealing one, but it's a bit interesting. The palate is initially clean and sweet with no heat, but then some strong juniper bitterness comes in. There's plenty of cucumber flavor throughout. The body is moderately viscous and there's a numbingness that persists on the end. It isn't bad, but it is fairly simple. It's interesting that it's distilled from grapes because it has a bit of that clean flavor of grappa with the cucumber and sweetness, but it doesn't have any of the gross bread. So it isn't as bad as grappa at least. It's a tad interesting, but is otherwise not very good. The flavor is mostly clean with a bit of dry gin. It isn't as interesting or well executed as Voyager is. I think it's largely grape distillate and juniper. Voyager is less sharp, more balanced, more rich, and more interesting. Voyager is also a bit more viscous and is just generally better executed. Voyager is definitely at least a couple of points better, possibly as many as 4 or 5. Yeah, Pacific Voyager is a lot better. I'm thinking 5 points better now. The sophistication is just that much better. Maybe the gap isn't so severe. The grape sweetness is fun. I'll give this an 11 for now, but I can imagine a 12. I can also imagine going lower. It's really not a very good gin, unfortunately.