Excerpt: This is an intriguing, old style of gin, with a faintly yellowish tinge and light, earthy flavors that wind into a complex, spicy finish marked by hints of black pepper, anise and cassia bark. Best when served very cold.
Excerpt: Cadenhead’s Old Raj 92 Proof Gin is awfully similar, and while it’s clearly designed to be easier-drinking than its 110-proof big brother, I frankly didn’t notice a lot of difference in the two gins when tasted side by side.
Raided Score is a conversion from an external site's score, to our in house uniform scoring system. Please see the FAQ for more.
House Review
Intro:
Distilled at an undisclosed distillery for Cadenheads, todays gin review features their 46% ABV release, from Lot 1048. Produced using juniper, coriander, seville orange, licorice, angelica root, orris, cinnamon, cassia and nutmeg with saffron added after distillation. Let's dive in.
Nose:
Powerful, pine forward and very juniper forward. Good hit of ethanol. Not super complex on the nose, its fairly one noted, but up my alley.
Taste:
Thick and rich on the palate. That heavy ethanol from the nose doesn't translate to astringency or too much heat on the palate, which is delightful. Syrupy, loaded with pepper, rising sourdough, pine, juniper and a strong citrus notes.
Finish:
Short finish, a bit hotter than I'd like, which surprises me from the palate. Pine, juniper and orange peel lead things out.
Overall:
Overall, I quite like this. It holds up super well in a cocktail, especially against things like vermouth and heavy citrus. This is screaming martini material.
Score:
6
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources