I was introduced to this gin a few years back by Neil Bhattacharya. Both Sharmila and I took an immediate liking to it. I am sure part of that was driven by our noses recognizing some aromas from the long past in India.

First, the root of the name “Rangpur”. Rangpur is an area (there is a city and a district by the same name) in north Bangladesh. There is a particular citrus fruit that is very popular there and the fruit itself is believed to have originated from there. Although it is referred to as “Rangpur lime”, in reality it is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. It is reddish-orange and not green like a lime. The aroma is floral and is somewhat sour in taste like a lemon.

It is this Rangpur lime that lends this gin a memorable and a fiesty citrus profile. On top of that, this gin has bay leaves and ginger – something Sharmila and I grew up with all our childhood (very common ingredients in a Bengali kitchen). Of course, the gin has to have the juniper in it to be considered a gin.

Like the Harahorn gin, this gin met with great success in the San Francisco World Spirit Competition within one year of being born (2006). In fact, it bagged top awards three years in succession starting from 2007.

The nose, palette and finish – all are overwhelmingly citrusy – and a lot of different notes of citrus too. The juniper makes its bitter presence felt only towards the end. There is a chance that some puritans might consider the smothering of the juniper by the citrus in such a pronounced fashion to be rendering less of a “gin” character to this drink.

If you like citrus, you cannot go wrong with this. I tried on the rocks and it was delicious.