The power of the ginaissance is such that distillers have to be imaginative to ensure that their product muscles its way into the consciousness of gin lovers. One way is to do it by the design of your Bottle, another is to have a good back story for the gin and a third is to have an unusual flavour combination. Perhaps master distiller, Meindert Kampen, is being greedy because he seems to have ticked all three boxes with his Black Tomato Gin.

The gin is distilled at the Kampen Distillery in Zeeland in the Netherlands and comes in a rather dumpy 50cl bottle with a black matt finish and a dark red, almost maroon cap, suggestive of a black Tomato, and an artificial cork stopper. It is certainly distinctive in size and colour. There is a dark red label at the front with a picture of a black tomato. The words “Dutch, quality, premium, gin” are embossed on the shoulder of the bottle and the label at the back raves about the qualities of these tomatoes; “full of nuances of merlot, salt, and citrus, with robust, tangy firmness. Dark fruits with rich, sweet, dynamic flavour and a smoky note”. There is no mention of any other flavours or botanicals, it is all about the black tomato. The rear label did inform me that mine was bottle number 2,377 from Batch 24.   

Black tomatoes are not everybody’s cup of tea but aficionados claim that they are the best tasting of all, turning a bluey-black on ripening and with deep, blood red flesh inside. They are also stacked full of anthocyanin, the same antioxidant you find in the likes of blueberries and blackberries. It may not come as a surprise to you that this is the gin, at least so far, that uses this fruit as one of its main ingredients. The tomatoes that go into this gin are grown in Sicily where the combination of salty groundwater and sun produces especially flavoursome fruits.

Once the ripened tomatoes, grown organically (natch) are picked from the bushes they are crushed and mixed with a neutral spirit, the resulting liquid then filtered and distilled. The two other botanicals in the mix, juniper, of course, and an unnamed secret botanical, it is annoying when this happens, are each distilled separately and then three separate distillations are mixed and purified salt water, from the Oosterschelde which the distillery overlooks, added. Grain alcohol is then introduced and the hooch is finally reduced to its fighting ABV of 42.3%.

So, what is it like?

I think it is fair to say that it is not for everyone’s taste. On removing the stopper, there seems to be little in the way of subtlety about the aroma. It is overpoweringly one of tomato, strong and fruity, with juniper and whatever the secret ingredient is barely getting a look in. Surprises continue when the spirit is poured into a glass. It is a light brown in colour. In the mouth, when drunk neat, there is an initial sensation of salt but that is soon overwhelmed by the tomato. It is not clear what the juniper is doing as the taste is predominantly one of a fruit juice rather than the more peppery taste one normally associates with a gin.

Pouring in a tonic, I expected that the gin would settle down and the other flavours would surface, if only briefly. Far from it, though, the tonic seemed simply to give the tomato a fresh lease of life. The aftertaste is sweet and tomatoey. It wasn’t an unpleasant drink, in fact the sweetness makes it quite a refreshing drink, notwithstanding the presence of salt, but it was just not what I would have expected of a gin and would probably make an interesting base for an adventurous sort of cocktail.

Several glasses have convinced me that is worth persevering with but if you are thinking of indulging, be certain that you like tomatoes. It is certainly as far left field on the taste spectrum that I would care to venture.

Until the next time, cheers!