(Rob Reiner ???)
On the eleventh day of Advent Gin (yes, I’m 2 days behind) the gin du jour is Isle of Harris. I’m acquainted with this through friends with a family attachment to the island, who served a dram with drops of sugar kelp water added. I don’t have kelp water on hand, so I resort to a simple G&T on ice. The promotion for Isle of Harris features said sugar kelp, with Macedonian juniper, pine needles, coriander, cubebs, bitter orange, angelica, cassia, orris, and liquorice, and they ascribe to the whole a marine taste. I spotted the not-quite-salty tone right away (it persists on the palate as what they aptly call a ‘flinty’ note), likewise the pine. The botanicals knit together beautifully; the orange stands back, the liquorice moves slightly forward, but all work famously. Margaret prefers the gins with a stronger fruit flavour; I enjoy those, but purer gins face head on the challenge of turning an astringent, medicinal taste to an appealing spirit with subtle blending of the juniper with other botanicals, and I especially admire those that meet that challenge. Isle of Harris enjoys the benefit of recency bias, but it’s right up there with the best from this Advent.