When last at Aldi, it was with great anticipation of tasty things to come as I lovingly placed the beautiful ceramic bottle of Eden Mill’s Chilli & Ginger Gin into my trolley; you see, we’d really enjoyed it several months ago, but mistakenly believing it was a ‘one off’ from the German/Scottish retailer and distiller, didn’t review.
So I was delighted to see it still on the shelves, the partnership between Aldi and St Andrews-based Eden Mill distillery obviously still going strong, in what I have since discovered, the two businesses are calling their ‘Botanical Project.’ They teamed together to create three gins, these being Blueberry and Vanilla, Chilli and Ginger, and an Original blend – two of these we’re yet to try, but I’m sure we’ll get around to it!
Having borne the blond bottle home, we of course repaired to the gin decking, with Josh shrieking in dog-excitement at our heels – him looking forward to some biscuits – us our evening G&T. Hubby had prepared our concoction with Fever Tree Indian tonic and grapefruit but boy, was I disappointed: not the fiery kick I was looking forward to. What had we mixed it with last time? Neither of us could remember; but perhaps it may have been Aromatic, or even Mediterranean tonic – again, we were being reminded of just how important your mixer is. Indeed, Eden Mill suggests pairing with a light tonic, which is perhaps where we’d gone wrong; our full-fat tonic was simply too overbearing for this particular gin – or with a ratio of two to one, we’d added too much mixer.
Paul Miller of Eden Mill Distillery
At 43%, this gin should’ve given me the hot chilli pepper-based spiciness I thought I remembered and, for the sake of this blog, I’ve just tried it neat (somebody’s got to do it) – and there it was: that awesome kick, followed by zesty ginger, coriander and citrus. Evocative of East Asian cuisine, I can see why many fellow reviewers suggest that this gin can be enjoyed with food, and that lemon grass served as a garnish would compliment this tipple further.
For me, Aldi and Eden Mill’s Chilli & Ginger Gin – like Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Gin – is one for the hip flask, to be enjoyed neat on a cold winter’s day while standing on the side lines watching a game of rugby – but this evening, I’m going to try it with a 50/50 mix of light tonic.
I don’t have any lemon grass, but a wedge of juicy lime will do just as well; along with some dog biscuits.
[…] to the spiciness of Whitley Neill Rhubarb & Ginger, or even Aldi’s Chilli & Ginger offering, this tipple is most definitely the easiest on the stomach – but in comparison to them, […]
So I was delighted to see it still on the shelves, the partnership between Aldi and St Andrews-based Eden Mill distillery obviously still going strong, in what I have since discovered, the two businesses are calling their ‘Botanical Project.’ They teamed together to create three gins, these being Blueberry and Vanilla, Chilli and Ginger, and an Original blend – two of these we’re yet to try, but I’m sure we’ll get around to it!
For me, Aldi and Eden Mill’s Chilli & Ginger Gin – like Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Gin – is one for the hip flask, to be enjoyed neat on a cold winter’s day while standing on the side lines watching a game of rugby – but this evening, I’m going to try it with a 50/50 mix of light tonic.
[…] to the spiciness of Whitley Neill Rhubarb & Ginger, or even Aldi’s Chilli & Ginger offering, this tipple is most definitely the easiest on the stomach – but in comparison to them, […]