The ginaissance seems to have spawned a bit of a competition at the moment – who can come up with the strangest combination of Taste sensations to mix up into a gin. I suppose it helps to raise the profile of my favourite spirit but I find that the search for eccentric or outlandish mixes of botanicals comes at the expense of the more traditional tastes that we associate with gins, principally Juniper, as also rans.

Here are two that have almost kissed juniper goodbye but in their different ways provide us with flavoursome contemporary styled gins. Such is the popularity of Chocolate – for many it is the ultimate comfort food – that it was inevitable that a chocolate based gin wouldn’t be too long in making an appearance. When it emerges with the imprimatur of the master chocolatiers that are Hotel Chocolat, then it is one to take note of. So I was intrigued to try Hotel Chocolat’s Cocoa Gin which, as far as I can tell, is only available via their outlets (and the web, of course).

The grey labelled dumpy 50 ml bottle, which was of two which Santa kindly brought me, informed me that the gin uses seven botanicals – juniper berries, lemon peel, macadamia nuts, angelica, coriander, roasted cocoa shells and minneola aka tangelo which is a hybrid of a Dancy tangerine and a Duncan grapefruit, some of which come from Hotel Chocolat’s Rabot Estate in St Lucia. The base spirit is a vodka made by the English Spirits Company and the label states that this “small batch artisanal gin” with an ABV of 42% is “infused with cocoa shells.” From this I can only deduce that this is done after the gin has been distilled which would account for the slight discolouration of the gin.

As you might expect having perused the list of botanicals, the aroma upon removing the black wax cap is heavily citrus-orientated but there were hints of chocolate coming through. To the taste it had a strong citrus flavour with a smidgeon of chocolate coming to the fore. The juniper was very much in the background but spices did come to the fore as it moved to the back of the throat, leaving a pleasant, mellow aftertaste. It certainly seemed well made but without a very strong chocolate taste or, indeed, a more traditional juniper-heavy feel to it, it seemed to me to be neither one thing nor the other. It did complement the chocolates that accompanied well, though.

I’m not much of a cake eater but I do like a Bakewell tart. A gin which boasts the principal ingredients of the tart, cherries and almond, was bound to pique my interest and I was lucky enough to be offered a sample of Bakewell Gin. This is a craft gin which features juniper, cubeb peppers, sweet gale, cardamom, hibiscus flowers and cherries and almond. It has a very distinctive pinkish-red colour to it and at 40% ABV has enough kick in it to tickle any palate. The cherry and almond are to the fore but not at the expense of the more traditional flavours and the aftertaste is a subtle mix of cherry and pepper. It is not as sweet as you might think and if you are after something very different, then it is well worth a try.

I was looking at my rapidly diminishing gin supply and I may well have to make a trip down to Cornwall soon. Until the next time, cheers!