Flavor Profile
Wild Hart Distillery describes themselves as “aggressively Vermont.” Situated in Shelburne, Vermont, it began as a partnership of Naomi Clemmons and Craig Stevens who met each other while working in the area of public health. From an unusual beginning, the two brought along distiller Joe Buswell and have since launched an array of products including at least three gins as of Fall 2019.
They work with local farmers and growers to source the grain for their products from Vermont. They describe the idea behind their Wild Hart Gin as combining “classic botanicals with the non-traditional.” It features a mere four botanicals as well.
Guessing based on the picture they posted— it appears the botanicals are angelica root, coriander, juniper and rose hips.
Tasting Notes
Slight and mild pine nose with resiny juniper facets and a hint of green, raw citrus along the edges.
Sipped, Wild Hart Gin is rather bold. Juniper hits you up front on the palate with a lot of resin and green notes. Spice hits the palate about mid-way— a scintillating spicy piquant dose of coriander heats things up.
Towards the finish the juniper fades slightly taking on more green and angelica facets. Spice, tart rose-hips kissed citrus fade with in the dull glow of a tenacious note of juniper.
Wild Hart Gin chose a short botanical bill but made expert use of it. All of the botanicals come through, while juniper remains front and center.
Cocktails
Wild Hart Gin is botanically intense. When mixing you’re going to get more gin presence than you might normally with a classic gin like Plymouth or Gordon’s. In that way it lends itself nicely to providing a punch of juniper, even in low ABV gin cocktails.
Overall, classic gin fans may appreciate the boldness in a heavy Vermouth Martini, especially because it pairs really well with the herbal notes of Vermouth.
Overall, Wild Hart Gin
Tart and juniper-forward, Wild Hart Gin is botanically intense. What I really like is that Wild Hart Gin is a flexible mixer, which means it has a lot of uses behind the bar. Secondly, I really like the boldness that shows off all of the botanical— it’s a great gin for those who are learning to taste gins as well, because you can pick out moments on the palate where each individual note shines through.
Made possible through the New England Gin Exchange
Special thanks to John at Foodie Pilgrim. Since 2012, John has shared and sourced gins from New England and nearby that we at The Gin is In haven’t tried yet. This gin sample was shared by John, who is also a big fan of gin. So check out his New England Gin Reviews as well.
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