Review: Devil’s Grin Gin

Distilled at the Trinity River Distillery in Fort Worth, Texas, Devil’s Grin Gin is the brainchild of Master Distiller Brett Luchesi who set out to make a gin that was in the London Dry style but was not too pine forward. He explained:

That resinous flavor can dominate from first sip to last. I wanted to create something balanced and complex—where the flavor evolves across the palate instead of spiking. The goal was a gentle ascension of flavor that avoids palate fatigue and allows people to enjoy the experience from beginning to end.

The gin is made with 14 botanicals including toasted mesquite bean from south Texas, anise from Turkey, and cardamom from Guatemala, as well as juniper, galangal, rose hips, allspice, orange peel, orris root, lemon verbena, angelica root, lemon peel, and white sage. The botanicals are added using a step maceration process to, as the distillery explains, give “each botanical its own time to shine before distilling them together.” Let’s pour a glass and let the gin speak for itself.

Devil’s Grin Gin Review

The gin opens with aromas of gentle, piney juniper, lemon peel, and a touch of allspice. I was curious about the mesquite, but it does not appear on the nose.

Taking a sip, the gin shows these notes and additional complexity. As advertised, the juniper notes are not dominant but appear in balance with other botanicals. Along with gentle pine and lemon peel, bold notes of anise come to the fore as well as all spice and earthy angelica root. Midpalate, some lavender appears and stays through the lingering finish. If mesquite is in there, I couldn’t taste it.

Nevertheless, this is a lovely sipping gin, and I enjoyed it most with just an ice cube. It serves well in a G&T, but the distinctive botanicals became muted and didn’t particularly shine. It also did not play well with vermouth in a martini. But if you’re a gin fan that likes to drink it neat or on the rocks, this one is delicious and shows excellent balance. It deserves note that the price is fantastic for a sipping gin.

88 proof.

A- / $22

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