Flavor Profile
Bush Tucker Gin hearkens back to another of Chilgrove Spirits’ gins.
It starts as the Chilgrove Bluewater Gin. Which conceptually is a little bit England meets Australia. Fourteen botanicals: four from England and four from Australia. Like other Chilgrove gins, both Bush Tucker Gin and Bluewater Gin are distilled from a base spirit of grape. But Bushtucker differentiates itself in one key way— it amps up the Lemon Myrtle.
Lemon Myrtle is another of these interesting Australian native botanicals named by Europeans. It’s botanically unrelated to anything in European botanical culture; however, when Europeans discovered this tropical plant native to Queensland they remarked that when its leaves were crushed…. it smelled like Lemon.
The lemon-scented Myrtle tree was a common fixture in native Australian medicine practice. But owing to its bright lemon-y aroma, it has now spread around the globe. Not just in gin, but also as an ornamental plant.
Tasting Notes
Poured from the bottle, Bush Tucker Gin is clearly citrus-forward. Bright lemon, herbal lemon verbena and juniper as well. There’s a hint of finger lime on the nose that reminds me of— well Finger Lime Gin. Mint, stone fruit and a hint of celery seed round out the lower notes. Bush Tucker Gin is complex. Despite its emphasis on Australian botanicals, it seems more grounded in European gin culture in terms of its aroma.
Bush Tucker Gin is powerfully citrus-forward on the palate. Intense lemon oil and lemon leaves early. The citrus curtain clears about mid-palate as it becomes a bit more spicy. Black pepper, ginger, and cranberry notes all come to mind.
Piney, slightly resinous juniper seems present— but depending on the sip, I sometimes think I’m getting far more angelica root than juniper here.
Bush Tucker Gin has a short-to-moderate length finish accompanied with a kiss of warmth an thick, pithy citrus rind.
Overall, Bush Tucker Gin
As an ode to Lemon Myrtle, it perhaps falls a bit flat. It might be that lemon myrtle is too obscure of an ingredient to pick out above and beyond the other ingredient— or it’s just that everything in here is rather loud. That being said, Bush Tucker Gin has a nice story on the palate that evolves from citrus forward early to spicy, earthy and jammy late.
Overall, That Boutique-y Gin Company have made a nice citrus-forward gin, but I’m not sure it stands out in one of the most crowded flavor profiles in the contemporary style.