Flavor Profile
“Inspired by a man and his garden,” Uncle Val’s namesake— Valerio Cecchetti— known to brand founder August Sabastiani as Zio Valerio, was an avid Italian gardener and cook. Therein lies the inspiration for Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin. The side of the bottle describes the process as “Distilled 5x and infused with Uncle Val’s favorite botanicals.”
Infused suggests a less-traditional process. Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin botanical tea bags to infuse the spirit with the botanicals. While,”distilled gib” by definition permits the addition of both essences and other ingredients after distillation (for example, Hendrick’s infuses its distilled gin with rose and cucumber). Uncle Val’s is perfectly clear, suggesting some sort of post-infusion distillation. Though that vibrant, fresh cucumber note reminds me of other gins which add a cucumber note after distillation (as distilled cucumber often is a bit heavier and more vegetal). Process-wise there isn’t a ton of detail available, so some of this is educated speculation.
Tasting Notes
Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin has an incredibly vivid nose. It’s exceptionally bright with fresh cut cucumber in water, with a slight hint of sweet pickles; lots of citrus. Tangerine, Amalfi Lemon with a lemon verbena edge slightly suggestive of lemon window cleaner. Mentholic, slightly cooling juniper is present as only an afterthought on the nose; receding into the background behind a bold and aggressive cucumber and lemon note.
In terms of texture, Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin is deceptively smooth. With a gentle, moderately viscous mouthfeel, Uncle Val’s coats the tongue and produces a long-lasting flavor.
Gentle cucumber at first, the lemon is fresh and herbal. Cooling notes of Melissa and Neroli oil mid-palate, with floral hints of geranium, orange cream, and a hint of French Lavender. Juniper is present from the mid-palate on, but it comes through most clearly on the finish. Long and slightly piney, the juniper note hovers for quite a long time; however, by the time you do get that juniper note, you’re likely to have already thought you’ve had perhaps one of the most contemporary gins on the market over the last ten years. Widely available since 2012, Uncle Val’s pushed boundaries from the get-go and still is. Although not the only cucumber and lemon bomb out there, the vibrancy of the botanical notes suggests something altogether more memorable.
Cocktails
One of my favorite ways to enjoy Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin is in a Martini. Nicely complimented by Vermouth, it’s best served up with a twist.
The Gin and Tonic is incredibly sweet and lemon-forward. If you’re a fan of Hendrick’s or Martin Miller’s Gin, this G&T will appeal to you. Though if you pair it with a sweet tonic water, it may almost be cloying.
The cucumber and lemon notes are also a wonderful compliment in a Ramos Gin Fizz. Despite Uncle Val’s bold flavor, it’s a fantastic mixing gin with a bold perspective that meshes well with so many other ingredients.
Overall
Highly recommended to fans of gins like Hendrick’s, Martin Miller’s or Malfy Gin. If you want to be a process snob, you might be able to find things about Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin not to like. But strictly from a taste and mixing perspective, Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin is quite wonderful. It has a beautiful flavor, a great mouthfeel and it might be one of the most dangerous gins I’ve ever tasted. It’s so easy to sip Neat.
Recommended.
Awards
What martini spec to do you recommend for Uncle Val’s? I usually agree with the ratings on this site but I’m really not enjoying my usual 4:1 w/ Dolin that I whipped up.
The 6:1 w/ Dolin I just made was fantastic
The 6:1 w/ Dolin I just made was fantastic
For Gin & Tonic.
I love Monkey 47 because of the flavor explosion. But this seemed like a cheap knock off version of Monkey 47, to the point it was super unenjoyable after one glass. Flavors didn’t seem exquisite, seemed cheap, generic, and for the first time ever for a gin I’ll say Overwhelming. I never understood when people said a “pepper” taste. Now I do, as it is so overwhelming as it is the last thing you taste after a sip. I found one way to make this enjoyable for me. I mixed 60% just regular beefeater to 40% this gin in an empty bottle & then it was actually was enjoyable.
With that said, if you want 2 bottles of something very similar to Monkey 47, but half the price. This + the Beefeater is the way to go. HA!
Believe it or not a bought a bottle of Uncle Val’s in a tiny Utah state liquor store this afternoon. It was one of only two types of gin in stock. I enjoy buying novel gins and thought it was worth the 30 bucks.
When I got to my hotel and tried some over ice, I realized that I had gambled and lost. To my bombay saphire-loving palate, it was undrinkable.
Here’s my description: Take a bottle of pure vodka and add just enough citrus and cucumber shampoo to give it a little flavor. That’s it. Nasty stuff. I tried three sips to see if it got any better and poured the whole bottle down the drain. I’ve had some bizarre gins lately that I didn’t love, but could at least finish the bottle over several weeks. I think it’s about time to stop using the word “gin” to describe these strange flavor experiments.
Interesting stuff. Not like any gin I’ve ever tasted. The only comparison I’d make to Hendricks is that it’s cucumber forward.
But the overall mouth feel is, to me, very different. It’s kind of thick tasting with a background of something brown – coffee? Chocolate? Doubt either one of those is in there but that’s what I taste.
It’s weird with olives. Lemon twist would be better but
As a long time Tanker Ray fan. This Gin is wonderfully smooth and very nice on the tongue! The cucumber brings a fresh and unique clean taste.
The easiest gin to sip neet as well.
This is the most unpleasant tasting gin, tasting more like medicine than something I would EVER serve to anyone else. If I could get my money back I would do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nope. Sorry. This gin was a$$.
Tasted like a bottle of perfume.
Tried a martini, a little dirty, with a little Dolin, and it tasted… weird.
Then I tried an Aviation, which was better, but the florals were still overpowering.
This was a total mistake that I wish I could have back. Citadelle is my go-to, and I was thinking about trying Aviation. Think I will just serve this to gullible friends and go out and get a gin that I can drink without gagging…
Uncle Val’s gets my vote as the worst gin I have ever tasted. I suspect the botanicals used were composing vegetable matter from ‘ol Val’s beloved garden. This is truly nasty stuff. My wife thought she could maybe use it in a Bloody Mary where the nasty flavors would be hidden. Nope, they showed through loud and clear. After both of us gave it a shot it went down the drain!