12 New & Notable Gins from 7 Countries Around the World to Try Now
Gin is in. According to IWSR total gin consumption is predicted to rise 4.4% from 2018-2023 and the compound annual growth rate (2013-2018) for gin sales in the ultra-premium segment has been a staggering 50.1%. Perhaps not surprisingly, gin drinkers now have an ever wider range of choices when deciding which gin to pour into their glass.
Master distillers the world over are adding local flavor (and sometimes color) to their spirits and expanding the definition of what gin can be, from international takes on the classic London Dry, to modern style gins crafted with native fruits and spices. While by no means comprehensive, here are some gins that are worth trying.
Australia
According to Spirits Beacon, domestic gin consumption in Australia has grown from 5% to 15% in recent years.
Australian producer Four Pillars Gin offers a vast array of gins flavored and aged in all kinds of ways, many as limited editions or seasonal specials, out of their Healesville distillery in Victoria's Yarra Valley. Best seller Bloody Shiraz calls out the local shiraz grapes as the main botanical, while their Modern Australian expresses Asian botanicals like Szechuan pepper, quandong-a superfruit from the outback– and fresh ginger root. Four Pillars has a USA Gin Shop and ships to 30 US states.
Viet Nam
Widely considered the first producer of gin in Vietnam, Sông Cái Distillery recently expanded their line-up of unique Vietnamese gins to include Spiced Roselle Gin, a deeply spiced, berry-hued tribute to the country’s fertile Central Highlands.
Founder Daniel Nguyen told us "I look at sourcing botanicals as building a relationship with terroir and community. Sourcing isn’t like going to a grocery store and picking something off the shelf. We have to be cognizant of how weather and climate will impact a year’s crop or how community developments will impact ecology. The rose myrtle berries and wild citrus…thrive in forest environments. With the rise of illegal logging, we are working with local H’re and Ca Dong communities to…improve forest management and reforestation programs. This not only ensures longevity of rose myrtle or citrus botanicals, but also ensures we are directly invested in the environmental, social, and economic integrity and health of our community partners as part of our botanical sourcing."
India
According to Gin magazine, India is undergoing a craft gin revolution.
Hapusa means juniper in Sanskrit, and this complex, earthy sipper shows plenty of Himalayan juniper, plus bright tart lime and a rainbow of interesting native spices as botanicals.
Jin Jiji India Dry Gin is packed with native botanicals like cashew, black tea, tulsi (holy basil), and chamomile. This Goan import is weighty and complex like a good London Dry, appropriate for some fine gin and tonics in a nod to where they likely first started.
United Kingdom
While the precursors to modern gin originally came from Holland, today gin is most closely associated with the storied brands in England. It’s also a hotbed for gin innovation and creativity.
The 28 organic botanicals called out in Linden Leaf Gin create a complex yet subtle modern-style gin. Created by Cambridge scientists, these self-described nerds use low temperature extraction to gently coax flavor out of their chosen roster of ingredients, from juniper to calamansi to kiwi.
Minke Irish Gin, from Ireland’s Clonakilty Distillery on County Cork’s Wild Atlantic Way, features locally harvested Rock Samphire, also known as Sea Fennel, which lends salinity and a bit of anise/carrot top freshness to the liquid.
From a remote rural area deep in the Irish Heartlands, Shed’s Distiller PJ Rigney uses copper pot stills and Eastern botanicals including Chinese gunpowder green tea and local meadowsweet to create Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin.
France
Citadelle more well known as a cognac producer, launched their first gin in 1996. More recently Citadelle ‘Vive le Cornichon’ Gin is the first release from the aptly named Les Excentriques collection from the famed French distillery. Packed with local lemons and juniper, the new spirit has a distinct pickle-y punch, perfect for savory G&T’s or a vinegar-y version of a dirty martini.
Iceland
While you might assume vodka was popular in Iceland, there are no fewer than 10 gin distillers as well.
Brunnur Distillery in Reykjavik produces Himbrimi Winterbird London Dry Gin. The signature botanical is wild Arctic Thyme, which contributes a deep floral note along with native angelica and other more common additions. Iceland’s spring water, naturally low in minerals and high in pH, proffers a smoothness and purity to the spirit.
South Africa
Cape Business News reports that gin is the second most popular spirit in South Africa, behind vodka, according to Edward Snell & Co.
A pretty pink sipper Atian Rose Gin features a delicate rose aroma and draws heavily on native fynbos. Brett Schmulian, Atian’s founder, explains the mix. “Fynbos, meaning ‘fine plants’ in Afrikaans, is a small belt of natural vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa, making up about 80% of the Cape Floral Kingdom. This area boasts incredible biodiversity, with more than 9,600 species found within the Cape Floral Kingdom - an area smaller than 90,000 square kilometers.”
He explains that Atian merges traditional gin botanicals with those unique to the region, such as “Rooibos which adds an earthy note, buchu which is often described as having a spicy flavor, resembling black currant, but also reminiscent of a mixture between rosemary and peppermint, African ginger, licorice plant, rose hips and rose geranium, which add a delicate, rose-like, floral yet herbaceous flavor.”
Bayab Gin starts with local wheat and a rainbow of botanicals including baobab fruit from Africa’s legendary tree of life. Distilled in copper stills with pure water sourced from the Kwazulu-Natal in the Midlands of South Africa, this one drinks like a London dry with a citrus twist. Spearhead Spirits founders Chris Frederick, Thabo Maloba, and Damola Timeyin will be releasing two colorful new varieties, a Burnt Orange and Marula, and a pink-hued African Rose Water, later this winter.
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