Twelve Miniature Swiss Gins To Savor During Lock Down
Because I have a lot of time on my hands now that I have been on lock down since the 20th of March 2020, I went digging through the boxes we had unpacked from our recent move, and this is what I found.
My stash of Swiss gin that I had brought home from our travels to Geneva. It is a little wooden crate of 12 sample sized bottles of gin from all over Switzerland, altogether enough to send you reeling but individually not even enough to get a flea drunk.
my first mini batch of bottles to sample
- from drink.ch
Keeping that in mind, I’m going to show them off to you over the next couple of weeks, describing them the way I learnt to taste wines in the Sommelier courses I have done as well as the WSET courses I have completed, dialing back on the Somm-speak so everyone can follow along and enjoy.
The first gin is The Alpinist, a premier dry gin made at the foot of the mountains. The company has access to ice tunnels which supply glacial water from the Jungfraujoch over 3,454m in altitude. The botanicals used to flavour the juniper schnapps are sourced from the mountain surrounds as well, arnica, lady's mantle and silver thistle, all native to the Swiss Alps.
My Tasting Notes:
When you first scent the gin, lemons imediately come to mind, bright sunny lemon peel. Then when a deeper breath is taken, something blue, like pine needles. On the palate, when you inhale, before the burn of the alcohol, there is a spicy sweetness that spreads over the tongue.
I feel like this is a lighter gin, the burn is more elegant than some inexpensive gins. One can almost taste the clear glacier water in the aftertaste, a clarity that isnt an absence of flavour but a clarity of flavour. The blue, pine needle flavour lingerson the palate for a very long time. The arnica really comes through with the aroma of camomil flowers and a slight medicinal quality.
Personaly, I think this gin would do really well in a classic cocktail,
Recipe courtesy of Shay at The Drinkery in The Heritage Square, Cape Town.
A Dry Gin Martini:
2 shots The Alpinist Dry Gin
2/3 shot of Noilly Prat French Vermouth
Stirred over ice
Strained into a chilled martini glass with three pimiento stuffed olives
A garnish of orange peel or a juicy orange wheel would go when if it's served neat.
My star rated opinion of the Alpinist Dry Gin