Taste and Nose
Cucumber and citrus on the nose. A tad lemon, but there’s a nice bit of juniper in here. Recognisable as not normal Gordon’s for sure. That faint vegetable note, although sweet, might be enough to push folks out of the comfort zone.

Taste is weak and slightly sweet at first, culminating rapidly with a flash of heat and juniper. The middle is where a lot of the traditional gin notes lie. A little bit of coriander, and some earthiness, a bit citrus. It’s nice. The finish is cooling, rather quiet but leaves a long lingering note of cucumber and juniper. Finishes quite smooth, but at 37.5% alcohol, you might expect this a little.  A little bit of bitterness on the long finish.

Mixing.
The promo material for Gordon’s crisp cucumber proudly states that it’s meant to be mixed with tonic. So of course that’s where I’m going to give it a try first. The cucumber comes out really nicely with tonic actually. Just adding a hint of sweetness, and a bright note of juniper. It really maintains a lot of that London Dry formula but with the added sweetness of cucumber. Quite nice, and understated. The cucumber is in nice balance.

Folks who like the idea of a martini but don’t like a lot of power might like this. Basically it would make a really easy sipping martini almost on its own. It doesn’t pack a lot of punch, so it can be overpowered in drinks, though I find that the flavour of the cucumber comes through somewhat even still.

Distiller: Cameronbridge Gin Distillery | ABV: 37.5% | Price: €5