2012-03-01

The Edinburgh Raspberry Gin

Unmistakeably gin in all its bitter juniper loveliness, this beautifully coloured drink has a delicate - nay, elusive - red fruit edge.

If you did not know (I didn't - I was handed a glass with instructions to taste it) you might suspect cranberries or pomegranate; anyway, some sort of tangy red fruit.

Made by Spencerfield Spirits, the company responsible for Pig's Nose and Sheep Dip, this stylish bottle is doubtless colonising style bars everywhere. (or so I imagine. My knowledge of style bars is somewhat hypothetical)

It's sweet in the same way that sloe gin is, and with the same bitter backbone. At the second or third nosing the raspberries are there to be found - Himbeergeist is a good comparison.

It is lovely to drink by itself, but I should think this would make an interesting, if rather potent, alternative to red vermouth in, say, a negroni.