Bathtub Gin keeping its craft credentials under wraps …
Don’t be fooled by the erzatch allusions of the name or the slightly seedy appearance of the brown paper wrap to the bottle, Ableforth’s Bathtub Gin is a properly smooth spirit with a real personality to the taste and the aroma.
At 43.3% this copper pot distilled gin is probably in the upper quartile of back shelf brands in terms of strength, but there is no rawness to the sensations. Instead we’d have to endorse the Kent based maker’s allusion to a “thick and creamy” texture as well as delicate nuances to the taste.
However, we felt the cloves – traditionally used to punctuate pomanders or as a stimulant in Indian medicine as well as for curries – are more to the fore than the citrus and cardamom though these are definitely discernible in the layered experience.
This graduation is probably due to the way – after the initial copper pot distillation – the gin is infused for a week with half a dozen fresh botanicals, in a process that allows delicate flavours to make a stronger input than if they’d been introduced at the start.
Basically then, you can forget any echoes of Mother’s Ruin or some of the more colourful back stories we’ve run in reviews such as Old Bakery Gin, Bathtub is perfect for a civilised G&T while it apparently also works well in cocktails.
And Ableforth’s isn’t even trying to clean up on its pricing, with a 70cl bottle costing just £25 online and from most major supermarkets.
