By
George Brozowski
I
generally
enjoy Gin in the summer on hot sunny days, but what the heck
it's almost Spring so I guess we can, as they say, spring
ahead and pretend its summer and dive into the Gin.
When
it is all said and done Gin can be created in two basic ways
within which there are a few variations. One way is to take
the grains and distill them into spirits with the botanicals
present during distillation. The other way is to distill the
grain into a spirit and then introduce the botanicals afterward
as an infusion; this is how Crater Lake Gin
is produced.
Crater
Lake Gin is hand-crafted from grain in Bend, Oregon,
with local, hand-picked wild Western Juniper berries with
no doubt other secret and select Northwest botanicals. They
use mountain spring water that has coursed through lava in
Central Oregon's landscape. It is finally filtered through
indigenous crushed lava rock.
Gin
is one of those wild and virtually unregulated spirits that
only require Juniper as a main ingredient and then the sky's
the limit. I have tasted some underwhelming Gins and on the
other hand have been blown away by over the top Gin, let's
see where this one falls.
The
nose is actually quite laid back with hardly a whisper of
alcohol even though this Gin is a whopping 95 proof. I immediately
get a whiff of the juniper followed by pine and citrus. On
the palate it is medium bodied and again surprisingly smooth.
The tastes are again juniper, pine and citrus this time followed
by vanilla. These are all much muted making this one of the
more subtle Gins I have tasted. The finish is spicy with pepper
overtones and undertones of juniper and lemon and lasts a
medium length of time.
This
Crater Lake Gin falls very nicely right in
the middle of the pack taste wise. It isn't as over the top
as some and not as crazy a concoction as others. It is surprisingly
smooth for being 95 proof and seems to maintain a decent although
minimal presence even when diluted in tonic and on the rocks.
If this really was the middle of the summer I might want something
a bit more flavorful that would quench my thirst while stimulating
my taste buds a bit more. At $25.00 per 750 ml bottle it is
a very decent and dare I say delicate Gin.
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www.bendistillery.com