Christian Drouin Le Gin + Glas

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 42% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Le Gin combines Normandy's apple aromas with a recipe featuring eight separately distilled botanicals: juniper, ginger, vanilla, lemon, cardamom, cinnamon, almond and rose. Guillaume Drouin adjusts the balance of the individual distillates for each small batch rather than always blending them in fixed proportions.

The base is neutral alcohol flavoured with distilled apple cider made from more than 30 cider-apple varieties. The botanicals are also prepared according to each ingredient's needs: lemon peel and cardamom seeds are macerated and redistilled, while blanched almonds are chopped and roasted before maceration and distillation. The almonds contribute subtle woody and roasted notes. Rose adds a restrained floral accent, while ginger, cinnamon and vanilla complement the spicy and sweet side.

The set contains a 0.7-litre bottle of Le Gin at 42% alcohol and a glass, presented in gift packaging. The gin can be enjoyed neat or over ice. For a gin and tonic, the house recommends thin apple slices and, if desired, a thin slice of ginger as a garnish.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The nose reveals apple and pear, accompanied by juniper, herbs and spicy nuances with pepper.
• Palate: The gin opens softly and freshly on the palate. Fruit comes forward on the mid-palate, with apple notes shaping the flavour.
• Finish: Pleasantly spicy notes return in the long finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

Christian Drouin is a family house in Normandy specialising in Calvados. Guillaume Drouin represents the third generation. A trained oenologist and agronomist, he first gained experience in wine and rum production before joining the family business in 2004. Working alongside his father, he focused on the maturation and blending of Calvados and developed new aromatic combinations. This experience also inspired the idea of a gin made with apples from the family's own orchards.

For its cider distillate, the house uses bitter, bittersweet, sweet and sharp apple varieties. After the apples are crushed and pressed in autumn, the juice ferments slowly during the cold winter months. The following year, the cider is distilled twice in small copper stills. This apple distillate brings the house's orchard-growing and distilling traditions to Le Gin.

Facts: