Flavor Profile
About a year ago we reviewed Ish Gin. For those of you who haven’t tried it, it’s the gin with the 50 Shades of Gray marketing campaign a.k.a the softcore bondage handcuff advertising campaign. So when David brought me a sample of Ish Limed gin, I was excited.
Tasting Notes
Nice juniper on the nose. Hint of citrus, not necessarily lime. But citrus for certain. Smells quite classic, quite nice.
Spicy at first on the palate. Hint of coriander and warm spice. Warm bread notes. Evolves quickly, building heat. Ish Limed Gin brings sharp juniper, bright and brisk. Citrus on the close, a little bit of heat. Slightly lime, slightly lemon. Long finish with a bit of heat in the corners of the mouth, a little bit of lime and a little bit of almond and even a vegetal herbal note of cucumber on the close. But still – Nice, and squarely within the classical style camp, with a couple of notes- specifically the citrus, amped up in the close. Ish Limed Gin has a nice cohesive taste with the flavors evolving and melding together nicely. The spices lead nicely into the juniper which lead nicely into citrus forward closing.
Cocktails
A gin and tonic highlighted some really different notes in Ish Limed Gin. Cinnamon and nutmeg, those spices that seemed present on the first sip of the palate are amplified, and the tail notes of juniper and then citrus are nicely restrained. The lime and citrus is present, but not so strong that Ish Limed Gin would be out of place in the Evans.
Overall, Ish Limed Gin
Although I like a lot of the flavors and I think there’s something cohesive happening on the palate, I’m not sure Ish Limed is completely there. As in, I do think it could be improved upon . A tad less citrus on the close and more emphasis on the middle of the taste might have made this a solid gin. But when you’re creating a variant and you already have a juniper forward gin, its hard to put out a second quality gin without a gimmick. The extra lime seems a tad superfluous to me. It doesn’t make Ish Limed a bad gin. It makes it a gin which might have lost a little bit in the process of trying to differentiate itself from their primary offering.
International Gin Exchange 2013
Thanks to David over at Summer Fruit Cup for helping make this tasting possible. Because the bottles are small sample bottles, this review is not as thorough as my normal gin reviews. There’s only enough for some tasting neat and no more than one normal-sized cocktail. Although I do my best to give as full of a review as possible, complete with ratings, the tasting is not as complete as I would normally want to do. If a bottle enters into my possession, I will update this review with more tasting notes, and I reserve the right to update my rating accordingly.