Junipero gin first came to my attention by way of Mrs. McDrinkerson, who had a measure dropped in her tonic while in San Francisco a few years back. It’s distilled there by the craft-brew pioneers responsible for Anchor Steam beer. Mrs. McDrinkerson liked what she tasted and reported that the locals quite enthusiastically recommended it her.
But alas, I had to wait several years to try Junipero myself, since it has only just become available in Pennsylvania, and only by special order at that.
Junipero claims to the first of the “new gins,” by which they presumably mean the small-batch variety that riff on London drys.
I’m wary of the new gins.
I’m quite happy with the old gin. And the recent incarnations self-consciously try to set themselves apart from the classic recipe. They throw in left-field botanicals and go crazy with the citrus flavors. Sometimes this has surprising results (see Hendrick's and its cucumber and rose petals), but more often they seem faddish and overcooked (see the highly regarded Bulldog).
But I had high hopes for Junipero. For one, “juniper” is in its name. The juniper berry is gin’s raison d’être—otherwise it’s just funny-tasting vodka. And yet, newfangled gins tend to downplay the juniper to prove it aint your father’s gin.
Thankfully, Junipero is true to its name. It’s bold and has some of the high heat you’d find in standard-bearer Tanqueray. Still, it gets a little jiggy with the citrus—thinking grapefruit here. And it just didn’t come together for me. It struck me as very similar to Bluecoat—softer but not as well balanced. Advantage Bluecoat.
In the end, it was not worth the wait. If it were $15 at my local hooch shop I would pick it up occasionally. But as a special order at more than twice that, this San Francisco treat is a one-and-done.
No comments:
Post a Comment