Flavor Profile
From the distilling hotbed of the Pacific Northwest, Endeavour Gin comes from the Liberty Distillery on Granville Island in Vancouver. Founded in 2010, it took four long years before the still was running and the spirits were pouring. Their gin is built on a base of local wheat, completely triple distilled on site on their copper stills and diluted with local water. Keeping with the spirit of local, their gin uses vapor infusion and twelve carefully selected botanicals on that same copper pot still.
The folks at the Liberty Distillery have been quite experimental with gin since their opening. They also have an Old Tom and a West Coast riff on traditional gin featuring 25 local botanicals. Hopefully we can get our hands on one of those soon, but for now here’s our impressions of their primary gin offering.
Impressions
The nose of Endeavour Gin is warm and slightly floral with a some grassy, wheat lined underpinnings. Floral strawberry and lemon notes on the nose, honeysuckle, spring pollen, and a hint of licorice. The palate is rich, with red grapefruit, black peppercorns, and a licorice. Juniper comes on strongly mid-palate with still a bit more citrus. The finish is quite long and warming with affable coriander and even a syrupy licorice/fennel that reads more clearly as licorice as it carries on.
The overall quality of the base spirit is quite nice as well, with a crisp fineness to it, though it lacks a bit of the oily thickness of other spirits.
All that being said, I think this is quite a fine gin. And one that I would look forward to experimenting with a full bottle and trying in cocktails, and a promising first gin that whets my palate for their other offerings. Worth seeking out if you’re in the area.
Overall
Probably on the contemporary side of the fence, but fans of grain-to-glass spirits and juniper should find plenty in Endeavour Gin worth seeking out. Nicely balanced with a flavorsome profile, this is an incredibly promising first release that has me expecting big things from them down the road.
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