As
everyone knows, first impressions are very important. When
I first laid my eyes on this bottle of gin, my first impression
was - are these people crazy or kidding or both? Who in their
right mind would name their gin Death's Door Gin? They might
just have gone ahead and called it Nazi Death Camp Gin or
Liver Failure Gin. Yeow, I've been a marketing guy throughout
my entire career and branded a good number of products and
services but never, even in my over the top, totally insane
brain, would I have come up with that one.
Well,
it turns out that they had quite a logical reason for naming
it Death's Door. They are located on Washington Island in
Wisconsin, which is nearby a treacherous stretch of water
that bears the name Death's Door Passage. Still, I might have
gone in a different direction with that branding campaign,
but hey who knows; it might actually be a stroke of genius
if it garners attention and gets folks talking about it.
Putting aside my trepidations about the name, I discovered
that it only has three botanicals, and for Gin, that's about
as few as I've ever seen. Many gins will have over a dozen
botanicals to give their hooch that over the top taste. These
folks just use the traditional juniper berries along with
coriander and fennel. The base spirit is distilled from organic,
hard red winter wheat from Washington Island Wisconsin.
Let's
take a stroll through Death's Door. The nose is ripe with
juniper berries and has a citrusy yet sweet back mixed with
the coriander and fennel. It's simple and to the point and
smells inviting. There is a slight sharpness provided by the
alcohol that quickly dissipates. On the palate, the wheat
seems to come forward followed by a very mellow and understated
juniper that gives way to lightly spicy coriander. All of
this is accompanied by sweet citrusy notes that provide a
bit of sharpness and definition to the taste. The finish is
fairly smooth and fruity and long in length with just a bit
of tingle at the back of the mouth. The taste of juniper and
the citrus notes along with the tingling sensation last a
nice long time.
On
the rocks, everything seems to homogenize and all the distinct
notes of the ingredients are gone and have blended into a
subtle gin taste highlighted by the juniper. Death's Door
gin makes a very nice traditional gin and tonic. Everything
blends and plays together well. As a matter of fact, it was
so tasty we had another one. I do believe that straight up
is my favorite way to go with this gin in order to get all
the nuances of the flavors. Everything seems to become vague
on ice and in a martini but the gin and tonic rocks. I do
believe there's something here for everyone.
This
gin normally sells for around $29.99 per 750 ml but can be
found on sale for $26.99 or sometimes even a bit less. Get
it when it's on sale and you'll enjoy it even more. (Check
out a special cocktail with Death's
Door Gin here.)
By George Brozowski
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more Rants & Raves click
here.
https://www.deathsdoorspirits.com/