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Pink Gin may be more rightfully thought of as a cocktail.
The cocktail is a a healthy pour of gin: sometimes as much as 2 or more ounces, augmented with six to eight dashes of an aromatic bitters such as Angostura.
The Bitter Truth Pink Gin is an apt product from a company as well known for bitters as The Bitter Truth. The team even makes their own aromatic bitters which I quote, “Unsurpassed in complexity of flavor, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, anise and clove come through strong.”
Tasting Notes
The Bitter Truth Pink Gin is indeed pink in color. I’d describe it as carnation in hue, likely the result of the bitters and some additional coloring added after distillation as disclosed on the back of the bottle.
Citrus predominantly on the nose. Lemon and grapefruit leap out of the glass. As it sits though, these floral notes give way to a spicy lower layer. Lemongrass, cinnamon and brown sugared crumb cake among them.
The palate does indeed taste like a classic pink gin. It’s somewhere between an Orleans style bitter and a classic Angostura. There’s clearly lot of a spice and complexity here to dissect:
Bitter early with a touch of gentian, rhubarb, cinnamon and a hint of clove. It’s spicy and slightly fruity. Mid-palate the juniper comes through, while the fairly strong anise and fennel notes start to come on loudly. It has a strong anisette note that shifts towards the finish when caraway absolutely takes over. Toasted caraway seeds almost suggest a finish that might be part of the Aquavit family.
Nicely complex, and although The Bitter Truth Pink Gin may be a bottled cocktail, the combination of bitters and gin chosen by The Bitter Truth do combine to nice effect.
Cocktails
Truth be told (or perhaps even the bitter truth of the matter is…) that any cocktail made with The Bitter Truth Pink Gin can be roughly approximated by adding bitters to an existing cocktail. There’s a few that I routinely add bitters to myself, such as The Gin and Tonic and Martini. Though in the G&T I normally opt for citrus bitters, I find that The Bitter Truth Pink Gin is delightful with tonic. For the Martini, I tend to opt for something such as The Pascal Martini and add something unusual, once again I find it works quite well and is even nice opposite of nearly any Vermouth.
One outlier that I think opened my mind to new possibilities was The Tom Collins. It was so good I’m considering adding a dash of Angostura Bitters to my next batch of the cocktail. Recommended.
Or you could just sip The Bitter Truth Pink Gin neat and have a Pink Gin. It’s really good as that. Recommended.
Overall
In general, The Bitter Truth Pink Gin is a flavored gin that is delightful in flavor. Although as a pre-bottled cocktail it only optimizes for a rather trivial step, the drink itself is good and worthy as an addition to liquor cabinets of Pink Gin fans.
While it doesn’t do anything that you can’t replicate at home, it has a nice flavor and it’s something I reach for when I’m feeling lazy and just want an easy pre-made cocktail. The fact alone that I do that, is evidence that this is a worthy product.
Recommended in its category.
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