Flavor Profile
The Corgi Spirits line of products by the Jersey City Distillery, draws inspiration from the U.K. while innovating locally. The company has several seasonal offerings. For example, their Very Merry Gin is a seasonal winter offering. And Bee Blossom Gin is their spring seasonal offering.
Distilled from a base of potatoes, Bee Blossom Gin adds a bunch of floral spring-like botanicals including orange blossoms, elderflowers, rose and honey.
Bee Blossom Gin is also a limited edition release, though they’ve made it a few years running.
Tasting notes
Nose: Intensely floral with orange blossom dominating. Strong suggestions of geosmin as well. It almost has an o-zone aroma quality to it. Reminiscent of Fresh Rain Gin from That Boutique-y Gin Company.
Flavor: Bee Blossom Gin is among the most intensely, evocatively floral gins I’ve ever had. Early, hints of juniper poke through.
Mid-palate, intense neroli and geosmin flavor leading into a powdery, musky back.
Finish: Long, with dusty rose, neroli and sweet clover honey.
Cocktails
Bee Blossom Gin is a wildly intense honey and floral gin. Bartenders should approach it as a specialty gin; however, it has wide appeal when mixing.
The Bees Knees is delightful (try it with orange blossom honey) if a bit on the nose. It pairs beautifully with citrus adding a musky perfumed note to the Pegu Club Cocktail while adding a fullness to the Tom Collins that you didn’t know it needed. Further, Bee Blossom Gin elevates the Monkey Gland into something exotic and complex.
It’s not that there’s a cocktail it doesn’t work in. It’s just that bartenders expecting pine, or perhaps something more like the Old Tom style Barr Hill Gin will be left surprised.
Overall, Bee Blossom Gin
Intensely, evocatively, and beautifully floral Bee Blossom Gin strikes me as a hybrid between Neroli Gin and Fresh Rain Gin and Barr Hill Gin that I didn’t know I needed.
That being said, it is fair to say it’s a bit light on the juniper. There’s so much floral in here that there is room for more juniper.
Overall, it’s an enjoyable gin that is perfectly designed for spring and summer. It will have huge fans among those who love floral, contemporary style gins. While I enjoy it, I think it could benefit from a bit more juniper.
But don’t let that turn you off, in a world of botanical spirits, Bee Blossom Gin is a beautiful five star botanical spirit. It’s a celebration of floral flavor in a way that few spirits truly are.