Quaffed the Raven

Inspired by their beautiful surroundings and with a G&T in hand, the Sabatini family began their quest to create a gin that could transport the drinker to the sunny calm of their Tuscan estate. After making a few connections in London, deciding on a recipe (one that brought back childhood memories, the smells and tastes of the gardens) and no doubt a lot of hard work, Sabatini gin was born.

This gin was another from the Craft Gin Club, so my thanks to them for introducing me to it!

Design

Look! Look at it! Oh I love it. Using the indentation in the bottom of the bottle to create a verdant hill on which the little trees can sit, and colouring the back label to make use of the distortion of light through the gin to act as a backdrop of rolling Tuscan hills and blue sky, is nothing short of genius! OK so the bottom of the bottle has to be at eye level for the effect to work, but still, kudos to the designers!

Nose

On the nose, Sabatini is bright and fresh with plenty of juniper that rises out of the glass on a cloud of floral, herbal notes. There are some lovely crisp citrus tones too, and the slightest hint of creaminess, which all adds to the overall feeling of fresh and dry sunny gardens. It’s a lovely smelling gin.

Taste

Neat, there’s a delicious herbal hit of juniper that playfully swims around on the tongue with all those beautiful fresh herbal notes. The sage leads, with the thyme and lavender quick on its heels, followed by a somewhat nonchalant suggestion of coriander. It’s like drinking a herb garden in the height of summer, but with sweet floral and citrus notes to keep anything from tasting too stewed or pungent. Right at the back there’s a bright nip of alcohol like a burst of sunshine.

Add a drop of water and the sweeter notes fade away, allowing the herbs to expand and cover the tongue. The sage is still very much at the forefront for me, but the coriander saunters in and takes a seat. It’s still fresh, but as I find often with the water added, things get a bit earthier. It’s bolder, with more depth and richness, but less sweet.

In a G&T (indian tonic with a thin wedge of lemon), I found the flavours seemed to collide a little and become a bit of a confused mess. I have no doubt of the quality of gin in this drink, but this is an example of why I’m not as big a fan of a G&T as a lot of people seem to be. That said, there’s still plenty of bodacious herbaceous notes (can you tell I’m writing this as I drink?) which do make for a very interesting flavour profile with the tonic, but to my mind, this is the kind of gin that indian tonic makes a little too bitter and I think it deserves better. I’d serve it in a martini, or even better, an aviation cocktail. Oooh yeah.

Overall

Sabatini is a delicious, fragrant and herbal gin that manages at once to retain a classic juniper forward flavour, and also to surprise with a fresh, herbal twist (the kind your mother would approve of). It’s simple, crisp, and fresh. A very, very good gin.

Sabatini is available online

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All reviews are of the author’s personal collection, bought and paid for by the author, unless otherwise stated.