Review: Tamworth Garden Summer Solstice Gin and Watermelon Flavored Gin
I get excited when I hear Tamworth Garden is releasing a new gin. The distillery, fronted by Steven Grasse, has earned our respect (and a place on our annual top gins list) for consistently producing gins that brilliantly highlight the character of their distinctive botanicals and bring them into harmony. Today we are trying two summer gins that are about as far from the London dry style as one can go. Instead of highlighting juniper, both showcase their fruity components and complexity as well as hitting a lower abv, which seems appropriate to summer sippers. As the heat spikes in August, I can’t wait to give them a try.
Tamworth Garden Summer Solstice Gin – This gin is made with peach puree as well as botanicals including juniper, angelica root, lemon, dandelion, sweet woodruff, blackberry bark, and coriander. When the gin is bottled, a clipping of sweet woodruff, drawn from Tamworth Distilling’s backyard, is put directly into the bottle. It is quite beautiful in the bottle and adds character to the gin. Poured in a glass, the gin offers rich dessert aromas of sweet peach cobbler and cinnamon. The palate follows suit, and though it introduces additional complexity, this is peach cobbler in a glass. Primary flavors include sweet peaches in syrup surrounded by cinnamon and vanilla. There’s also a touch of anise and pine along with a little black pepper. Sipped straight, the gin shows a lovely, silky mouthfeel, but it was a bit too sweet and syrupy for me. Adding an ice cube diluted the sweetness nicely, and it proved enchanting in a G&T, where the gin’s sweetness paired perfectly with the tonic’s bitter character to make a cocktail that seems ideally suited to sitting outside on a hot summer afternoon. 60 proof. A- / $85
Tamworth Garden Watermelon Flavored Gin – Wow, this is a summer gin! It is made with a base of watermelon and cucumber, to which grains of paradise, hibiscus, and fresh mint are blended in. Each of the components shines in the final product, which bursts on the nose and palate with bright notes of cucumber and watermelon, coupled with lime, mint, pine, perfume, and a touch of black pepper. The flavors come together quite beautifully with an ice cube and are even better in a G&T. Delightful stuff! 60 proof. A / $55
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