Sometimes midwifery takes over the gin

Hi guys, sorry for being so quiet, my midwifery degree has taken a front seat lately, and my hobby has had to take the old back seat, boooo. I've had a run of coursework (pfft), placement (yayyyy), followed by more bloody coursework!! I want to make sure and give time to my hobby though, I feel it's important....to drink gin haha! I plan to do a blog every two weeks at minimum now, and I want my next one to be about the festival that I volunteered at Friday just past. It was called berries, beans, and beer...and it was FANTASTIC, there was loads of gin (over 80..I know right), beer, music and people. Amy from Turncoat gin was there too, there's loads for me to talk about and I cannot wait!! I hope you forgive me (smiley face) and I look forward to hearing what you think of my future blogs!
Lots of loves,
LetsTalkGin (Jordan)

Yuletide Gin review

Aromatic tonic and juniper berries

A garnish of raisins and cinnamon

Original Fever tree tonic

I often look at Master of Malt's gin collection, they have quite a good extensive compilation of gins.....and I also like to add a lot of them to my wishlist, who doesn't, right?? haha! On one of these visits to their website I came across the one and only Yuletide gin by That Boutique-y Gin Company, I hadn't been feeling very Christmassy so I thought I should probably purchase this....I did, AND I felt instantly Christmassy!!!

The look:
That excitement when you sign for a parcel and you KNOW its the Master of Malt package you've been waiting patiently for!! The design is all about that picture on the label for this company, it always reflects exactly what the gin derives from, in this case PURE Christmas.....the fireside, the tree and all the trimmings! The ingredients within this gin is pure genius not to mention the fact that there is edible gold floating around like a friking snow globe!! This gin is a very healthy ABV 46% and it's ingredients include:

• Juniper, cassia, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, medjool dates, cloves, allspice, clementine, cardamom, ginger, pomanders, Christmas tree needles, Christmas cake, charred oak, chestnuts, Christmas puddings, chocolate truffles, lebkuchen, mince pies, panettone, a whole gingerbread house, frankincense, myrrh, and edible gold flakes.

The smell:
I instantly opened this bottle because I just love to have a good sniff ASAP so I know what awaits......MMMMMM bloody incredible is an understatement! Christmas puddings and mince pies galore, that whole gingerbread house also comes through with a hit of cinnamon on the back!!

The taste:
I had my first taste of this along with Fever tree's original tonic, and a lovely slice of dried orange from The Juniper Club to garnish. To start with I get a slight sharpness from the clementine followed through by a warmer taste of clove, raisins, cinnamon and ginger. On top of this, every now and again I get a slight reminder of the freshness from the Christmas tree needles. My favourite combination of thin gin is Fever tree's aromatic tonic with a few juniper berries to garnish, I feel like the aromatic tonic gives it another depth and helps to bring out the freshness of the Christmas tree needles and the warmth of the spices. This gin really is a mix of Christmas day, and a staff Christmas party in my mouth all at once....INSANE RIGHT??!!!

Thank you so much That Boutique-y Gin Company for this bloody fabulous gin, I will be purchasing this again in the near future...merry Christmas everyone and thanks for reading!!

Gin count: 54   
 

Needle Blackforest Gin review

I chose to review one of the Aldi's new gins released on the 14th November because; well, everyone has been going crazy about them, and so have I haha!! I have to say I was drawn to the Needle Blackforest gin, and I think it was just because it's a bottle green colour, rather than transparent like the rest (simple, I know!). The design is quite simple but a touch elegant, and packs a fair punch measuring in at 47%vol.

The Blackforest recipe has been used by the distiller, and the handpicked botanicals are:

• Juniper
• Lavendar
• Orange
• Lemon
• Ginger
• Spruce needles

I tried this gin with a number of combinations including, Fevertree Indian tonic with a slice fresh orange, Fevertree Indian tonic with a cinnamon stick, Fevertree Indian tonic with a sprig rosemary, and Fevertree aromatic tonic with a few chunks of nutmeg. I decided to try all of these combinations as Aldi describe this gin as a dry, spicy gin, and some of the combinations came from the Ginventory app. 

When I get a gin the first thing I do is smell it, and either make an mmmmm, mmmMMM, or MMMMM noise.......or, no noise! I pulled the cork out and said 'mmm not bad'. The smell was quite smooth with a hint of citrus. I have decided only to talk about my top two favourite combinations and my least favourite.

My least favourite combination was the Fevertree Indian tonic with a slice of fresh orange, I found this brought out extreme bitterness within the gin, and it left a bitter aftertaste too. My second favourite combination was the Fevertree Indian tonic with the cinnamon stick, waow what a wonderful warm taste, there was no bitterness what so ever, just smooth and warm probably bringing out the ginger, though this was not distinct. My most favourite had to be the Fevertree aromatic tonic with the nutmeg garnish, I found that this brought out a warm earthiness taste, again, not a very distinct earthiness, but it definitely added a more fresh taste to the warmness.

Over all, this gin isn't too bad and it's obvious that what it's paired with makes a difference. The main theme when tasting this gin was the warmness brought through from the cinnamon and nutmeg garnishes. I found that there was not a particular bontanical I could taste, however I feel this would make for a nice Christmas gin paired with cinnamon or nutmeg, at a budget friendly price of 14.99GBP for the 50cl bottle.

Gin count: 53
Thank you for reading :)

Hello, lets talk gin!!!

Hello, my name is Jordan, I'm 26, a student midwife, Northern Irish, and I am as you guessed a gin fanatic, and I thought I would share my gin journey with all you lovely people. if you have not already guessed I will be talking about gin..... a lot!! 

I have been talking about doing this for quite a while, so today I finally bit the bullet and here I am. I just want to share my love for gin, and I know there are plenty of other gin lovers out there too. I have loved gin for quite a while, before it became "fashionable" I guess, I started with the Gordons and schweppes combination, no fever tree back then haha!! I remember my mum (hi mum!) always told me that gin just makes you cry, and that I definitely shouldn't drink it....now she's also appreciative of a good G&T courtesy of the bottle I left at hers. The gin that really sent my taste buds into turmoil was Hendricks, going from Gordons to this was spectacular, and from this point I lost count with the amount of gins I have tried. 

What to expect from the rest of my posts.....
When I buy a gin I will want to tell you all about it, I will also share my favourite garnish, tonic, and nibble to go with each gin. I am also part of the craft gin club, therefore I will be updating you with plenty of pictures and thoughts from these boxes. I have plenty of tips to share which every gin lover needs......basically anything including gin will be on here haha!! My next update will be within the next week to two weeks, as I want to purchase one of the new Aldi gins, released yesterday.

Thank you so much for reading my post, please please feel free to comment or suggest what you would like to see in the future. Enjoy your next gin, see you soon :)