Flavor Profile
Seagram’s has quite the line of flavored gins. We’ve covered quite a few on here so far, and I’ve come to a single conclusion. Your general appreciation of the flavored gin will likely reflect your approach to candy of the same flavor. Like Apple Jolly Ranchers? You’ll probably find the same flavor in the apple gin. With the Peach Twisted Gin— if you like Peach Rings candy, you’ll probably like— or at least fine the flavor unobjectionable.
Tasting Notes
The nose of Seagram’s Peach Twisted Gin is strong of peach candy. Sugary, peachy, very sweet, with a faint citrus dryness on the tail. Decidedly one note though. You’ll recognize the flavor pretty much immediately.
The palate is a bit more nuanced however. Quiet peach shnapps, lemon, on the front end. The middle has notes of juniper, coriander and angelica. The finish is a bit more lemony again, with the peach candy note coming in. Some heat in the back of the palate that has lemon, juniper and peach schnapps. Although the nose screams peach candy, the palate has significantly more in terms of a gin like profile. The peach candy note is there through most of the tasting, though most pronounces on the tail. It’s a bit jarring, and not usually a note I associate with gin, but it isn’t so blown our of proportion. It’s a bit more balanced than expected.
Cocktails
In terms of “what this seems immediately good for,” would be a gin to use in place of a combination of gin and peach schnapps.” So for cocktails like the bikini martini,* the jacuzzi, the Miami Ice #1**, the Mount Red, Strawberry Camoflauge*** and the surprisingly potential filled Christmas Kiss. Well, I don’t have a lot of Tropicana Twister juice chillin’ in the apartment, so I’ll leave it up to you to take my word on this: Seagram’s Peach Twisted Gin is probably a more than suitable sub for this kind of drink.
But as for the rest of the gin cocktail canon? I’d pass on most of them. The Gin and Tonic is forgiving, rich creamy peach, a touch of juniper, but very sweet. With tonic syrup, I’d leave this at home. Noisy, fake peach seems to throw the balance out of proportion. It didn’t work with Vermouth in a martini, and the peach was not a favorable counterpoint in the Negroni.
Overall, Seagram’s Peach Twisted Gin
Rather than being a harsh critic, I want to just settle on what Seagram’s Peach Twisted Gin does and what it doesn’t do. It’s a good quick mixer and should be treated as such. It’s not a great cocktail ingredient, unless you’re making one of the examples in the list above. In that case, rock out.
The peach notes are a little fake, and the overall flavor a bit cloying. For parties, this will do. For more sophisticated cocktail craft, I suggest finding a good peach liqueur and a good gin, and mixing your own.
Footnotes
*Trying to hold back the snark. No, it’s not really a martini.
** Too afraid to ask what the Miami Ice #2 is?
*** Quoth the description, “It takes like it’s non-alcoholic, but it will get you plastered.” I think there should be an addendum, “and will leave you nursing one of the most unforgiving hangovers ever.”