First, let me admit that I have no idea where is the distillery that makes this gin. I know it is in France. And I have written multiple times to the distributor that imports it from France. But they had steadfastly, refused to respond.

When you open the bottle – which is pretty cute in shape – the first thing that hits your nose are the citrus notes. This is certainly what would be called a citrus-forward gin. I tried this with some Indian Tonic Water. The nose sure was citrusy and juniper. The palette initially is that of juniper but soon in the finish you sense something even sweeter – almost floral. And that is when you realize that you are drinking one of the rare gins that uses rose petals during the distilling process!

The base of the gin is neutral spirit made from indigenous French wheat. The infusion includes juniper, citrus, orange blossom, cucumbers and rose petals,

Try it some time. You will not be disappointed. Stick with a martini or a gin and tonic (or even gin on the rocks) to truly get a sense of the gin. The rose petal aroma can get very quickly overcome by the ingredients of most cocktails.

Tried a London Fog with the Ophir gin. The end result was good. However, the absinthe completely drowned the botanicals in the nose. The spicy kick from pepper and cardamom was good though…

Very interesting gin. The brand is built around the Oriental touch. The bottle is decorated with Oriental themed pictures and designs – for example, elephants. Many of the ingredients are sourced from countries along the Spice Route. The spicy cubeb berries come from Indonesia and Malaysia, the black peppers, cardamoms and ginger all come from India, coriander from Morocco, cumin from Turkey and the bitter oranges from Spain. The staple of all gins – juniper is sourced from Italy and angelica comes from Germany. It also has grapefruit peels but I could not find out the source during my research.

These all are put thru the distillation process by master distiller Joanne Moore in G&J Distillery in Birchwood, England. This is renowned to be the second largest distillery in England and they claim to be the oldest. They have been using the same London Dry Gin method since 1761.

I tried this straight up. On the nose the junipers and cardamom were immediately noticeable. The citrus made it presence felt too. On the palette, the juniper was once again felt as was the spiciness of pepper. The finish included traces of orange and what appeared to me as most likely berries.

This should work well with since tonic water (try Fever Tree Indian tonic water) or in classics like a Negroni or a London Fog.

This cocktail is made with Cointreau, Sweet Vermouth and Gin. I, of course, experimented with the German Gin – Monkey 47. So that cocktail was pretty much a concoction of a German alcohol, a French liqueur and an Italian liqueur. Should have had an Alpine name!

While the cocktail itself was great – especially for anybody who likes orange, the Monkey 47 struggled mightily trying to stay above the strong orange nose and finish from the Cointreau. I am more or less convinced that Monkey 47 is so complex, it is best taken straight up (or on the rocks). I would not even bother it with tonic water.

This is definitely one of the costlier gins – if not the costliest. For a bottle half the size (375ml), you pay about twice the price of normal gin bottles. It is also one of the few German gins. This also has the distinction of having the largest number of botanicals in the gin. 47, to be precise. That explains the “47” part of the name. (It has nothing to do with the ABV content of 47% – 94 proof; that is a mere coincidence).

To get to the other part of the name – “Monkey” – one has to go back to 1945. The Second World War had just come to end. An Indian born, British Royal Air Force Commander – Commander Collins was sent to divided Berlin to overlook reconstruction. At that time, he had adopted an egret monkey in the Berlin Zoo called “Max”. Commander Collins created a new gin out of the botanicals he had learnt about in India and the ones available in the Black Forest area in Germany. He called it “Schwarzwald Dry Gin”. It was not very popular outside of the guesthouse that Collins owned.

Much later – in 2006, one distiller Alexander Stein discovered about the story and reconstructed the recipe. And then the name Monkey 47 was given – in deference to Commander Collins’ affinity for Max.

This gin is made by Black Forest Distillers in South West part of Germany not too far from the French border.

The gin itself is extremely complex. Here is another unique trait of this gin. The base alcohol is made from molasses. I had it straight up today. The nose is very rich – thanks to all those botanicals. The juniper, rose and lavender is very distinct. To the palate, initially it was all mint and juniper. As time went though, you could detect some more herbals – different berries, pepper and peppermint. Of 47 botanicals, I was probably able to detect no more than six or seven. The finish was strong in citrus.

If you have tried different kinds of gins, you may want to try this. If you have not, this may not be a good buy. For one, it is too pricey for no good reason. For another, my guess is if you use it for a cocktail, you cannot find much difference between this and Nolets or even a Vivacity. Unless you have a far superior ability to detect small traces of other herbals.

Continuing with the Genever experiments, this cocktail is made from Genever, Orange Curaçao, Lemon juice and simple syrup.

One more cocktail with the Genever from The Netherlands – Boomsma. This one is made with Boomsma Genever, simple syrup, lemon juice and then garnished with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

Speaking of the name of the drink, do you know the difference between Holland and The Netherlands? If not, look it up. You might be surprised!

This evening’s mixologist challenge was to come up with a drink that uses the Genever Roger gave me and deal with the fact that Atlanta temperatures went from balmy 70s to wintry 50s with high cold winds. After looking up a few places, found out one in the magazine Food and Wine.

The cocktail is called the Dutch Apple. This is the first cocktail ever where I had to use the stove!! This is 2 ounces of Genever, 2 ounces of apple cider, 1 ounce of honey liqueur and bitters. But here is the thing – you heat it up till it simmers and then pour into your drink glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Both Sharmila and I loved the output. A great wintry drink!!!

This is a bottle that was gifted to me by Roger. It is an interesting gin in many respects. First, most people will not recognize it as a gin. In fact it is a Genever. Genever – Jenever as alternately spelled – is the original ancestor of modern day gin. You may remember I had featured a Old Tom Gin once. Well, roughly speaking we went from Genever to Old Tom Gin to modern day Gin. Even modern day Gin – which was for the longest time called London Dry – has many variations. In fact, the latest going around is American Gin.

The big difference between Genever and Gin is the fact that it is aged in (mostly oak) barrels. Gin is never aged – it is bottled straight after distillation. This is what gives the Genever the distinct color.

Genever itself is of two varieties – Oude (old) and Jonge (young). And this – unlike wine – has nothing to do with how long it is aged. It has actually got to do with how much malt wine is in it (at least 15% for Oude and less than 15% for Jonge) and the amount of sugar in it (less than 20 grams per liter for Oude and less than 10 for Jonge).

Boomsma Distillery in the Netherlands – which makes both the Oude and the Jonge variety is one of the oldest genever distilleries in the world. It goes back 125 years and is still owned by the same family. Started by Jodocus Boomsma, it is now operated by the fifth generation after him (Saskia and Chantoine Boomsma)

Content wise, Boomsma Oude Genever is made from a blend of grain alcohol, malt wine and cornwine, botanicals and juniper distillate. The Genever is then aged in oak casks – sometimes for a full year.

The nose, of course, immediately speaks to its aging which will remind you of the peaty scotches. Once the wood has settled, you can get the palette and the finish of junipers and rich vanilla.

Genevers are often recommended to be imbibed cold and straight up. I added a King Ice though.

Pomegranate Vodka, Champagne and a dash of grenadine!!