This review was originally published on July 1, 2019, at Bourbon & Banter.
BOTTLE DETAILS
- DISTILLER: Treaty Oak Distilling
- MASH BILL:
Undisclosed
- AGE: NAS
- YEAR: 2018
- PROOF: 94
Proof (47% ABV)
- MSRP: $29.99
NOSE: Floral Perfume |
Honeysuckle | Herbal Essence
TASTE: Vanilla
| Nutmeg |
Herbal Essence | Mild Spice
FINISH: Long and lasting. Very herbal and slightly
sweet.
SHARE WITH: People who are scared to drink gin or folks
who really love gin. But, not me.
WORTH THE PRICE: I wouldn't buy this for my home bar, but I'm
also not a gin drinker.
BOTTLE, BAR, OR BUST: I'm rating this a Bar, but only
because I didn't chew on a Christmas tree, and it is honestly different from
any other gin I've tried.
OVERALL: I am Whiskeyfellow. I am not Ginfellow,
and despite the fact that there are two hilarious videos of me drinking Malort
at the time of this review, I am most definitely not Malortfellow. I
review whiskey; it is what I know, it is what I enjoy, and it is my niche.
However, there’s this whole damned #DrinkCurious lifestyle that I’ve honestly
embraced.
I will be perfectly
transparent before I even pour Treaty Oak’s Waterloo Antique Gin into my glass.
I don’t just dislike gin; I hate it. Gin was my dad’s drink. He loved Gibson
martinis, straight up, with a hint of vermouth. My hating gin has nothing to do
with my father; I’m just saying this because I’ve been around gin much of my
life. I’ve tried many gins from many distillers, and I’m going on record
stating that I have never found one I like. They all taste like grabbing a
Christmas tree branch and brushing my teeth with it.
When the folks at Treaty
Oak Distilling told me they were including a sample of their Waterloo Antique
Gin in a sample package of whiskeys, I told them not to bother. I essentially
explained all of the above. I was told they would send it anyway because this
would be the gin that would change my mind about gin.
So, I’m back to this
#DrinkCurious thing that occasionally gets me in trouble (such as drinking
Malort twice). I am going to give this an honest, impartial attempt. I also
have no idea what I’m doing regarding gin reviewing, so I’ll treat this exactly
like I would a whiskey review and use the same process.
I’ve now poured the
Waterloo Antique Gin in my Glencairn glass. While letting it sit, I’ll share
some background on what makes this gin different. It is aged for two years in
new, #3-charred oak barrels “under the hot Texas sun.” Treaty Oak claims this
is the oldest-aged gin on the market. Not being a gin expert, I’ll take that
statement at face value.
In my glass, the gin was
very similar to a younger whiskey. It was a lighter amber, and if you handed me
the glass, I’d have told you it was whiskey. It left a skinny rim on the wall,
creating thin, slow legs to drop back to the pool.
The solid floral perfume
dominated my nosing experience. I expected to smell juniper; if it was there,
it wasn’t coming past the flowers. Inhaling through my lips didn’t bring any
juniper, either. That, also, was sweet flowers, what I would describe as
honeysuckle. There was a milder herbal essence beneath the honeysuckle.
The mouthfeel was thin and
watery. I picked up vanilla and nutmeg up a very nice front. But, in the middle
was that typical ginny herbal quality that I just didn’t enjoy at all. On the
back was a mild spice, but it was utterly overwhelmed by that damned herbal
taste.
The finish was very long
and lasted several minutes. And, as I’m not a fan of the herbal quality, it
lasted much longer than I wanted. It did eventually taper off from herbal to
sweet and was slightly warming as it went down my throat.
Did Waterloo Antique Gin
live up to the promise that it would forever change my opinion of gin? It is a
different gin from what I’ve tasted and more mellow than I’ve had. But this
didn’t turn me into a gin fan, and I would never consider buying a bottle, much
less ordering this at a bar, regardless of my Bar rating. In fact, I still hate
gin. Back to whiskey. Cheers!
My Simple, Easy-to-Understand
Rating System
- Bottle = Buy It
- Bar = Try It
- Bust = Leave It
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