12 Bridges Gin

Initial taste is a touch minerally, with some citrus oil and juniper and some warming spice and salt to the taste. It is a bit astringent, but also has a sweetness to it as one of the first flavors that hits the mouth. Juniper and cardamom and oddly also some floral notes akin to rosewater follow.

New Amersterdam Gin

First taste is of orange peel and orange oil. It’s sweet almost to the point of candy and soft to the point of producing a soapy mouthfeel. There’s an overwhelming orange flavor, which builds on the palate to the point of tasting almost PEZ-like.

Maker’s 46

The initial taste is that of slight caramel, but more of oak and sourdough bread with some traces of sour cherry also coming out. It’s toasty and slightly nutty, with a trace of leather on the aftertaste.

Sobieski at Tales of the Cocktail

We went to enjoy the lunchtime circus in the room taken over by Sobieski and Imperial Brands. Definitely not craft distilling, given their huge presence in Europe, but when at Tales of the Cocktail…

Aviation Gin

Hmmm… An unusual nose for a gin. There’s an initial sweetness and citrus, with the scent of cardamom and a little nuttiness, as well. Little to none of the juniper note we commonly expect from a gin.

Dry Fly Gin

Dry Fly is a nice, light gin. There’s a slight sweetness and flowery note to the nose, with traces of citrus and coriander and some other mineraly scent I can’t quite place.

Mazama Pepper Vodka

First nose is of earth, and a trace of pepper heat. Then the more full scent of roasted red bells or other sweet peppers, comes out. It really makes me think of summer evening tapas and the scent of frying up some Nardellos or some Italian sweet peppers with some coarse sea salt sprinkled on top.

Vermont Gold

Vermont Gold is actually distilled from the sap of a maple tree, rather than just flavored with maple, after the fact. So the effect is subtle and sweet, not some over-the-top, cartoon flavor. The nose is a light, sweet one, mostly of maple and a hint of sweet pecan.

Balcones Rumble

On the taste, there’s a more than a bit of a burn at the tip of the tongue and back of the palate, and then you can almost taste the flowers that the bees made the honey from. After that, it opens up and you a get a lot fruit from the figs and also what seems like a trace of citrus.

Lovejoy Hazelnut by Integrity Spirits

At first taste, a smooth, almost sweet nuttiness comes through, with only a hint of burn at the end from the vodka. The finish has a lingering nuttiness, slight bitterness, a bit of warmth, and basically is very soft and smooth. It’s definitely not in the sweet liqueur category, but is not bad sipped on its own.

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