Larios Gin Review

The Three Amigos Part III: The Final Shootout …

Aficionados of spaghetti westerns, as opposed to bull-fighting where the term came from, will know that the climax of the plot almost always builds to one big final shoot out; where even if the baddies have a Gatling Gun, the hero will pick ‘em off with his trusty Colt.  In which case you’d better get to know our third protagonist in this latest series of blogs before the shooting starts.

Larios is yet another London Dry spirit produced by the gin loving Spanish: this time packing just a 37.5% punch compared to the 40% of the Wint & Lila and Nordes we’ve already quaffed and covered.  In terms of the original film’s cast list then, this should mean ‘lightweight’ Larios appears in the guise of little Ned, played by Martin Short.

“What this spirit might lack in stature, however, it partly compensates for in attitude: mainly in the form of citrus overtones.”

Not surprisingly coming from a Club-Med country, these originate from lemon and bitter oranges, with the juniper seemingly relegated to somewhere in the chorus line.  The London Dry links are also there somewhere in the form of a little coriander and cinnamon; though I didn’t feel that the spices lingered for the sort of long finish that distinguishes the best of the breed.

One thing my research did turn up is that all the on line retailers, such as Masters of Malt and Amazon, are busy selling Larios 12: the premium rated big brother to our sample, which is distinguished by its deep blue bottle and a full dozen botanicals.  We were impressed enough by our first taste of Larios the minor, to consider investing in a bottle of the 12 at some point in the future, but in terms of this contest, the last man standing has to be the sharp-shooting Nordes, which we let Clint Eastwood champion.  That grape spirit base and a genuinely interesting set of botanicals, including Samphire proved too much for the more lightly armed contenders.