Quaffed the Raven

The Whitley family boasts over eight generations of distilling heritage, dating back to 1762. John James Whitley was the Managing Director of Greenall Whitley & Co Ltd and G&J Greenall Ltd until 1942. His grandmother, Isabella, was the daughter of Edward Greenall, Chairman of Greenalls & Co, and son of the Greenall’s founder, Thomas Greenall.

John James Whitley developed a curiosity for finding fine ingredients from a young age. Indeed, in his formative years at Chester Road, he spent days exploring expansive gardens and natural hedgerows for wild vegetation while living among the Daresbury countryside. This inherent love for nature would underpin his life as a master distiller.

To this day, John’s thirst for original flavour combinations and unique infusions lives on in the JJ Whitley name. It is this same endeavour that spurred his great-grandson, Johnny Neill, to create the award-winning Whitley Neill Gin brand in 2005. And why we continue to travel the world in pursuit of palate perfection.

Design

The bottle is tall and slim, cylindrical, and beautifully embossed with a swirling, floral pattern around the front, and detailed branding on the back. What’s odd is that there seem to be 2 different versions, one with plain glass and purple labelling, and this one, which is a lovely smokey grey glass with white labels. Suffice it to say I think the latter looks infinitely better and more premium. Front and centre in black and gold, the tree logo appears above the name of the brand, with a paper label around the base again pleasantly detailed with the style of gin. There’s a cork stopper and and elegant tamper label up the neck. All in all I actually think it’s a lovely bottle. It’s only drawback is that I think the brand has become synonymous with cheap flavoured alcohols.

Nose

Right away a smooth, lightly spiced aroma of pine and citrus rises from the glass. It’s a little shy, and remains so for me, offering up only hints of earthiness as well as a touch of sweet liquorice. I get a little caramel too, along with a slightly pungent grassy note that fades quickly. It’s fairly one dimensional and short-lived, but a pleasant, classic gin aroma nonetheless.

Taste

Neat, the commonly mentioned flavour of parma violets is immediately evident, along with some slightly bitter citrus notes and a touch of woody spice. To give it credit, all of the botanicals are evident in the flavour, and they work well together to make a classic gin flavour. There are plenty of earthy notes, a lot of citrus, a little sweetness, spice, and that floral note all together but individual as well. It works well, but it feels like it’s missing some body and depth. It’s nice, but quickly forgotten.

Water brings out the flavours better than I expected, though it does also increase the bitter earthy flavours. The parma violet is still there but less bright, though the orange really shines before giving way to the more earthy seeds and roots, finishing with a bitter pine flavour mixed with the violet that lasts reasonably well but may not be the best flavour to linger on. It holds up much better than I thought it would, though.

Finally, a G&T (3:1 M&S Diet Indian Tonic with dried orange and juniper berries to garnish). The result is pleasant but a bit lacking in depth and flavour. Thus I add an extra glug of gin. The flavours are predominantly pine and earthy, with a splash of citrus at the end that lifts it nicely. It’s dry and refreshing, perhaps a little bitter so possibly suited to a sweeter tonic, but ultimately the flavours are spread too thin.

Overall

If we were looking at how well a gin performed only drunk neat, this would actually be a decent contender. As it is, though, I think this needs as little dilution as possible which in my opinion doesn’t suit a good G&T or gin in general. It has a good flavour, just not enough of it. The price point definitely works in its favour though, but even then it’s got some strong competition. It’s a decent budget gin.

J.J. Whitley is available online an in supermarkets

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