St. George Botanivore Gin

Here's my take on a couple of gins that I enjoy. I have to admit I'd be hard pressed if pushed to decide which I love more, gin or whiskey. Fortunately I don't have to decide, so I'll just continue to enjoy an afternoon martini or Manhattan as conditions dictate. Life is too short for such choices! I don't drink gin neat. I'm a martini guy. Up or on the rocks, as the muse dictates. Sometimes with a twist, sometimes an olive or two. Every now and then I might go the route of the Gibson. My preferred vermouth is Dolin Extra Dry, but I love to experiment. Speaking of which, a few drops of black pepper tincture can completely change a martini and makes putting a garlic or blue cheese stuffed olive in the glass completely understandable. For this comparison I've taste both of these gins neat from a glencairn. Both bottles are 3/4 full and have been open for several weeks. The liquor was allowed to rest for several minutes after the pour. Botanivore is crystal clear and offers very little sheeting and small, quick tears on a swirl. The nose offers a sharp ethanol note. After a bit of rest I get citrus, lemons in particular. There’s also notes of juniper, dry cilantro, coriander, tarragon, green leaves, earth and some floral notes. Overall the nose is very light, playful and not terribly intimidating. The Botanist’s nose is sweeter, equally light and approachable. I get more anise, cloves, and light herbal elements. The Botanist and the Botanivore are very similar, but the former doesn’t have the earthy almost mushroom-like notes I find in the latter. Like the Botanivore, the Botanist is also crystal clear but it shows significantly more sheeting and larger tears on a swirl. On the palate the Botanivore is slightly sweet and a touch antiseptic. It has a soft entry, nuanced middle and long, warming clove and ginger finish with good staying power. There are elements of mushroom and earth. This is quite sophisticated, very clean and easy to drink neat or in a martini. The Botanist turns up the volume on the Botanivore. It opens just a little sweeter, a bit more licorice in the body, is both complex and floral. In a side-by-side the earthy, mushroomy notes are conspicuous by absence. The finish is shorter and slightly less spicy, but the mouthfeel is a bit creamier. This is one of my favorite martini gins of all time. The two gins are very similar in the glass and I enjoy both. It might be challenging to tell them apart in a cocktail. That’s tough to admit since The Botanist is at least 25% more expensive than the Botanivore in my market, but it’s also easier to source. The Botanivore has a richer, more earthy and full flavor profile. Its flavors hit the back of the tongue while the Botanist is more to the front. I'm almost willing to say its more complex, but that's not entirely accurate either. The Botanist has tremendous depth of flavor, but it leans in a slightly different direction. Bottom line is this: you can't go wrong with either and that's why I'll likely keep both in my regular gin rotation. Cheers!

Rating: 16/23 N: There's a big green juniper scent here. It's kind of earthy and slightly vegetal. It smells a little sweet, but not like Plymouth. It's faintly peppery too and a get a whiff of alcohol. There's a dash of oily lemon too. There's a bit of something that reminds me of Bols Genever. P: Not for the faint of heart. I get plenty of that green juniper berry from the nose. It's kind of sweet with some lemon that when combined with the mineral flavor occasionally borders on tasting like lemon heads (though on the dry side for that, if that makes sense?). It's definitely earthy and there are some vegetal elements tending toward herbal that lend additional complexity. There's certainly more going on here than in Plymouth. There's a rich bitter layer vaguely like mild black licorice beneath this that's fairly flat but provides a nice backing. It's a challenging, but complex and interesting, profile that grows on me. I'd love to try it in some mixed drinks and see how it fares. F: The green juniper berry, vegetal, and funky bitter sweet backing carry through. It's a decently full finish, but it has nothing on the palate. - Conclusion - This is a real stand-out gin. It's kind of like Roku in how it puts a twist on the standard formula (though their profiles are very different). Both seem like great choices to keep on the shelf, though a dash of genever mixed with juniper-heavy gin might be an adequate substitute for this in a pinch. The more robust and complex (albeit challenging) flavor here puts this ahead of Plymouth by a couple of points. I'd also put this ahead of Ford's a bit. I'm definitely not feeling a Monkey 47 level or quality coming out of this though. I think I'm going to land on a 16 here. I can imagine going up to a 17 though. Perhaps I should get a bottle. Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine for the sample!

This is the second gin I'm trying from this distiller, the first being the rye variant. 19 seems like a great number for botanicals; it seems at first a little high, but it has room to insert some unique items, like the cilantro. I am also excited that there are so many of them that are steeped as opposed to added to the gin basket, so I look forward to a different blend to taste. There is mostly floral and herbaceous notes on the scent, but no one thing that overpowers another. It smells like it would taste fantastic with some citrus, but I don't actually get any on the nose. You can tell juniper is there, but it's definitely an afterthought behind the other botanicals. The initial taste is certainly floral, and almost sweet, but I can still tell it's a gin. The taste really just develops from the smell that you get from standing in a National Park garden, but I still just vaguely get a citrus note suggestion, and if it's anything, I'd call it lemon and lime peels that were dried out and then rolled in sugar. The finish feels light, but the flavors that have been tasted thus far still shine evenly until the palate is completely cleared. This is especially nice given the slightly higher 90 proof on a gin. This variant was very impressive. I did not purchase the green label, which in all research seems like it would be the brand's flagship gin, but even without trying that one, I would argue that this should be the one that any gin novice turns to if they want an awesome American gin spin that is still very approachable for most casual drinkers. With the rye version also having it's own impressive notes to it, I am looking forward to purchasing full size bottles from this distillery, minus the green label variant, since I couldn't care less about California "specialties."

I've been in search of a Gin that I could use in cocktails and not feel so bad about mixing, based on price point. But also one that would serve up the complexity to be enjoyed neat. Initially, Nikka's Coffey Gin seemed like a good choice for a mixed drink but the taste profile was a tad one dimensional. Will this Gin offer the qualities I'm looking for and then some? Spice and citrus offer up a bright, vibrant nose. Oranges, lemons, anise, green peppercorns and thyme all tickle the nose. Pushing deeper into the nose really intensifies the citrus qualities but also brings out a nostril tickling cinnamon red hot candy quality. This Gin smells so lively! A soft, citrusy start to the palate gives the impression of water, served up with slices of lemon. That softness doesn't last though; the taste opens up wide with Juniper, peppercorns, cinnamon red hots and ginger. That citrus sticks around, all the while offering backlighting to the spice. But as it fades into the background it turns almost sweet and effervescent - like lemon lime soda. The finish is quite extraordinary. Remember the lemon-lime soda like quality at the back of the palate? Well, that fizzy effervescence dances across your tongue the entire length of the finish along with a soft backdrop of Juniper now playing second fiddle to the tart and sweet citrus. Wow! This Gin is bright, exciting and complex. Truly one of the very best and at the sub-$30 price point it is screaming value for money. I cannot wait to try this in a Gin and Tonic.

Nose: Lavender, sage, thyme, rose, orange pomander, juniper. A rounded, soft and plush botanical nose with coniferous and citrus notes on the side, but rich and soothing overall. Palate: A huge floral and fragrantly spicy arrival that broadens out to a rich bittersweet herbaceous palate. Interesting and deep with bay leaf, cardamom and other spice & herbal notes emerging. Finish: Medium/long. An herbal flavour like sage seasoning in the aftertaste. The nose on this is very good - forceful, deep and richly textured. In comparison the palate was a slight let-down (but only slight) as it seemed to focus on a simpler and more direct floral-herbal base. In a way this gin is almost too robust to enjoy neat, the profile is so forceful. It's certainly not a subtle spirit. However surprisingly, considering the boldness of both nose and palate, this gin seems to disappear completely in a G&T. I guess that can be either good or bad, depending on your point of view. In this case the sweet floral character of the gin balances out all the bitterness of quinine in the tonic so the final drink is so balanced it is almost neutral. You know that saying "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"? Well in this case the whole is precisely equal to its parts, and personally I prefer a G&T where I can still taste both the gin and the tonic as separate constituents. A good G&T needs a little fight going on. A very nice gin, impeccably made, but 97 seems wildly exaggerated as a score. "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

Very nice. On the nose citrus is most prominent for me, with a soft floral note. The taste hits with that sharp citrus and then mellows out into a delightful, sweet, lemonade-like flavor, crisp and clean and delicious. Juniper is not the strongest flavor here but it's there, especially at the end. A slight spice also enters at the end and continues into the finish. I'm finding that this type of flavor profile --- light, floral, fruity, and crisp --- is my favorite style in gin. My favorite is Drumshanbo, and this isn't quite as good as that, but it's in the same flavor space and it's very tasty. I got this as part of the St. George gin sampler pack, and this is probably the one I liked the most, although it's close between this and the Terroir. However, I suspect that for me this one may fall victim to the "wingman effect": because I think Drumshanbo is similar but better, and Drumshanbo costs only slightly more, if I'm going to buy a bottle I'll probably get Drumshanbo over this. Thus ironically I may be more likely to get a bottle of the Terroir than the Botanivore, even though I probably like the latter a little more, just because Terroir is more distinct. Anyway, that's just me. A bottle of this is available for around $30 and it's certainly worth that. (My price here is pro-rated based on the bottle size I got.)