Flavor Profile
Bloom Gin is tall, elegant and distinctively contemporary styled. A bold and striking gin from G&J Greenall who recently celebrated their sestercentennial. With over 250 years of gin making, they currently are the proud distillers of their mainline Greenall’s Gin and the bright herbaceous Berkeley Square Gin.
Somewhat controversially, especially upon it’s launch— Bloom was part of a movement among the gin community to specifically target certain demographics [see Ish Gin]. Bloom Gin does so without overtly pandering or compromising the core values of the storied distillery. Simple put, its proof that if you make a good product, the marketing does its own work. Bloom Gin is marketed as a “gin for women.“
I prefer to look at Bloom Gin as a “gateway gin,” for people who wouldn’t traditional refer to themselves as gin drinkers, or for people who have been raised on the contemporary style of gins such as Hendrick’s.
Tasting Notes
Bloom Gin smells sweet and floral. Honeysuckle and citrus bright and on the nose. Very inviting and very not traditionally gin like.
The taste is bold and unraveling. There are not a ton of botanicals in here: only seven. I want to say that each one of them clearly does their work in here and combined to create a luxurious rich flavor. The mouth feel is somewhat oily, somewhat thick. Bloom Gin begins quiet for a quarter of a second: nothing. Then the juniper jumps out at you. Honeysuckle and bright citrus, just a hint of peppery tea. If you breathe in deeply while tasting you get a bit of the chamomile. The finish is peppery without ever being sharp. The finish is long and flavorful, juniper lingering long and dry but never hot. The alcohol is understated, but at 80 proof that shouldn’t be altogether unsurprising. That is definitely the angle that it is taking.
Cocktails
It makes some nice cocktails as well— but it is smooth enough to drink straight of neat. Add some ice and enjoy a rich luxurious floral flavor. But I have to say, cocktails really do this some justice. Gin and Tonics, martinis, Aviations, French 75’s [highly recommended] are all great.
With stronger flavors, I find that it somewhat gets overpowered just a hint. The Negroni didn’t highlight Bloom’s strong characteristics as well as I might have hoped. While nice, the bright notes of the chamomile and Pomelo are somewhat lost.
Overall, Bloom Gin
Floral and sweet, but exceptionally well balanced. Each botanical is noticeable and each adds something to the drink. Bloom is a solid gin for the learning gin-taster as its a masterclass in botanical balance. But more seriously, bartenders will find Bloom to be a great contemporary style workhorse gin that will work in any cocktails. And fans of contemporary style gins will find a lot to like here.
Recommended in its category
My wife’s absolute favourite, so maybe the marketing behind it isn’t all hype. For my taste , not quite robust enough.
Floral, respectably (though not outstandingly) junipery, and with a slight bitter edge that allows it to cut through the sweetness of (for example) bianco vermouth rather better than its marketing might suggest. Gets somewhat overwhelmed in a traditional (red) negroni, as the official review suggests, but is truly *outstanding* in a white negroni with Suze and Alessio Bianco. I contemplated only giving it four stars for the fact that it would be quite improved by increasing the juniper a bit (or more than a bit) while leaving the balance of the other botanicals the same, but given its market positioning, I decided that this would be unfair. A “feminine” gin that has real steel in its spine, and that is still solidly a London Dry. Likely to appeal to Hendricks drinkers, but not *only* to Hendricks drinkers.
Really loving this gin for its floral take on a London Dry. Don’t get me wrong, I am thoroughly enjoying the Gin Renaissance we are experiencing and have about 5 favorites at the moment (hello Miller’s, Gale Force, Plymouth), but Bloom is definitely in that rotation.
Wow. Thought this gin was extremely ordinary.
One of the nicest gins I have tasted in a long time…
It is definitely up there with my favourite other gin (hendricks ) and it’s nice to have another good quality one to drink
P. S….tastes even better with strawberries. .
Christmasy take was with strawberry and coriander using elderflower tonic from Fever Tree.
It tasted like perfumed soap to me. Too sweet for my taste. I prefer a gin like Hendricks or Islay.