Flavor Profile
Some gins are immediately striking for a variety of reasons. Some gins bring to mind a place in vivid detail: from the bottle design, to the botanical choice, to the smell. Yet other gins bring to mind a place a time: Hendrick’s Gin reminds me of Friday nights in college at just a waft of the rose and cucumber bouquet. And yet other gins remind me of a thing: River Rose Gin reminds me of cookies. What about Vapor Distillery’s Roundhouse Gin? Well it reminds me of a warm cup of tea in the winter.
Tasting Notes
The nose of Roundhouse is a bit warm, a bit junipery, with a hint of floral. Then Roundhouse Gin gives hints of summer flowers.
On the palate it’s clean and smooth, citrus initially. A bit of juniper revealing some soft chamomile notes which increase in intensity and timbre, revealing other floral notes: Lavender primarily, before the chamomile fades late in the tasting leaving a bitter clean juniper in the back of the mouth.
Roundhouse Gin is a rather complex floral gin in the contemporary style that uses chamomile very nicely as a point of different from other gins, while never overpowering or not leaving room for the juniper. I think its very nice, and a worthy gin neat.
Cocktails
With Q Tonic, I think all of the right notes of the RoundHouse Gin come to the forefront. You get the chamomile, perhaps a bit stronger than you do neat. The bitterness that you get neat is a bit amplified here. Not unpleasant by any stretch, but bracing enough to perhaps turn off the casual G&T fan. You get a bit of fresh tea on the palette with a floral after taste, predominantly lavender. As you can read [and maybe even try] it makes for a rather nice gin and tonic.
Aside from the G&T, I like the way Roundhouse works on its own and would not hesitate to recommend it in a martini. Some of the bolder floral notes trail off in the Negroni or Tom Collins, but don’t go away completely. Not sure the chamomile works with the acidity of the lime cordial in a Gimlet, but I found it to be acceptable.
Overall, Roundhouse Gin
Basically, Roundhouse Gin is a versatile gin that I think has enough sweetness and warmth to pull of most drinks you throw at it. It remains smooth enough to make a solid martini, and has an interesting palette that might not be for everyone, but should appeal to a good number of gin-lovers and gin-novices.
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