Navy strength gin seems to be appearing quite a bit at the moment. I’m not complaining… a decent 57% not only hits the spot on a tough day but also offers a totally new flavour experience, as a good proof gin needs a fine heady dose of botanicals to balance the alcohol. With that in mind we have the pleasure of tasting Edinburgh Cannonball bottled at 57.2 % abv, using double Juniper, Szechuan pepper and lemon peel.
On the nose this packs a really nice juniper punch with pleasant pepper and citrus notes. It has a hint of savoury-ness.
Tasting on ice this gin, even though it’s a navy strength, is very smooth and rounded. It has a delightful blast of aromatic pepper which, combined with the abv seems to carry the pepper notes ‘upwards’ through the mouth and leaves a very pleasing ‘buzzing’ sensation. Following this there is a spine of dry and then delicious sweetness and lemon notes to the linger making this very well-balanced from start to finish. As a by the way this is a very nice sipping gin.
With tonic the Gin lengthens out, the pepper notes round out giving a warming (pepper heat) spice which contrasts and balances nicely with the lemon notes from the lemon peel and the limonene in the Szechaun pepper. In the middle there is a very nice crisp dryness and the linger is lemon sweetness.
This is a very easy drinking gin and would be amazingly good in a red snapper. It would work excellently paired with food and has a lip smacking quality that would work very well with savoury dishes.
Another excellent gin, you can find it on our tasting menu for the next 6 weeks or so.