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 :)