If you’re a fan of Hendrick’s Gin you’ll be familiar with their limited-edition releases from their Cabinet of Curiosities, the first of which – Midsummer Solstice – was launched in 2017. Today, as we prepare to bid farewell to Lunar Gin, it’s time to welcome their latest creation: Hendrick’s Flora Adora!
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Some of the gins featured were kindly gifted. Article contains affiliate links.
This year’s top ten strikes me as rather different to my last six, with notably fewer new releases, so it seems as good a time as ever to clarify how I’ve gone about choosing these gins over the years. It goes without saying they need to be exceptional (in my personal opinion!) but beyond that the only other (self-imposed) rule is that gins can only feature in my top ten once. Ideally they are gins I know well (which, more often than not, means I have a bottle in my collection) but they don’t have to be new releases; just new(ish) to me. So, with that (hopefully) cleared up, and without further ado, here are the top ten gins I enjoyed last year (and a few honourable mentions too)…
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Some of the gins featured below were kindly gifted. Article contains affiliate links.
2021 was another odd year for just about everything and the gin category was no exception. While less gin may have been sold in 2021 than 2020, last year also saw the opening of 110 new gin distilleries (bringing the total number in the UK up to an incredible 820, according to the Office for National Statistics). To truly understand what all this means check out Olivier Ward’s insightful article What happened to gin last year? on Spirits Beacon. What I’ll say, is that there was definitely plenty to get excited about in 2021, and plenty of reasons to feel positive about gin’s future. So, without further ado, here are my top ten gins of 2021; technically not all were new to the market in 2021 (though most of them were) but they were all new to me and all stood out for different reasons.
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Some of the gins featured below were kindly gifted. Article contains affiliate links.
What a year 2020 was. And what resilience, generosity and determination distillers have demonstrated; adapting events to online experiences, turning their hand to sanitiser production and continuing to not only make our favourite spirit, but create new ones too! Unsurprisingly, most of last year’s releases were line extensions rather than new brands, but my goodness, there were some crackers in there. So, without further ado, here are my top ten of 2020.
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Anyone who knows me, or reads my blog, knows that I don’t just love gin; I love the stories behind gin too. Where, why and how it’s made. What first inspired its makers. I suppose you could call it the origin story. Today’s tale is a little different; for this time the gin has been created to enable the true story to take place.
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I’ve long been a fan of The Gower Gin Company – having reviewed their original Gŵyr & Pinwydd Gins in 2018 and placed their Bara Brith Gin in my Top Ten of 2019 – so I was excited and delighted in equal measure when I heard they were releasing a Navy Strength Gin.
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I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Rachel and Andy from Sky Wave Gin a couple of times. They were guests on my table at the World Gin Awards two years running and when, in that second year, they won Best English Contemporary Gin their delight was written all over their faces. Better yet, that award was swiftly upgraded to World’s Best Contemporary Gin 2020! Since then they’ve gone on to claim Gold at the Women’s Wine and Spirits Awards 2020, Double Gold at the China Wine and Spirits Awards 2020 and a Double Masters medal at The Spirits Business The Gin Masters Awards 2020.
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Much like their Jekka Edition, 6 O’Clock Gin’s latest release is both a collaboration with, and tribute to, another local figure; in this case Romy Gill MBE. A British/Indian chef and food/travel writer, Romy was a fan of 6 O’Clock Gin from the first time she served the local spirit in her restaurant, Romy’s Kitchen, also located in Thornbury. In a departure from the rest of the 6 O’Clock range, however, Romy’s Edition signifies a step toward the ever growing, and increasingly popular, flavoured gin category.
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2019 was yet another remarkable year for gin, which is predicted to overtake vodka as the UK’s biggest-selling spirit a mere ten years since Sipsmith, the instigators of the craft gin revolution, were granted the licence that opened the floodgates. And, with flavoured gin seeing 300% growth year on year (compared to gin’s modest 11%) – and WSTA playing catch-up with a new category definition – those floodgates are well and truly open. But amongst all that there was also innovation (in the ready-to-drink and low-alcohol markets), environmentalism (with Greensand Ridge leading from the front), fun to be had (who can forget #GinADayMay?!) and some really, really cracking gins. So, after much consideration, here are my favourites:
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Inspired by the Picts – a tribe believed to be some of the first settlers in the Scottish Highlands Greenwood Distillers call home – as depicted by Theodore de Bry, a 16th century engraver and publisher. Produced by two master distillers – one British and one French. Influenced by the art of perfumery and combining old and new production techniques. With liquid (currently) produced in London and Cognac but blended and bottled in Scotland. The story behind Theodore Pictish Gin is every bit as complex as the spirit itself.
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Gin A Ding Ding 