What better for Mother's Day than a bottle of 'Mother's Ruin'? We've selected some of the finest gins on the market which are sure to give your long-suffering parent a treat.
This is our now-legendary collection of Mother’s Day gin, but if you’re looking for non-boozy alternatives for Mother’s Day then our Mother’s Day gifts round-up is just the thing.
Bathtub Grapefruit & Rosemary Gin
The bottle of Bathtub gin is one of the most distinctive on the market, bell-shaped, encased in brown paper, with a wax seal and string around the neck, redolent of the days of the Prohibition and bootleggers. Another brave initiative was to conduct a social media campaign to invite consumers to suggest what should go into their first flavoured gin.
The result is this intriguing and stunning gin. Retaining the light-brown colouring, botanical profile, creaminess, and strength (43.3% ABV) of the original Bathtub Gin, this gin is then blended with grapefruit and rosemary. The grapefruit announces its presence straightaway before allowing the earthier notes of the juniper and cinnamon and the rosemary to develop. A long, lingering aftertaste of spice and sweet citrus completes a gin that is a pure delight to drink.
Democracy sometimes produces the right result.
£25.95 (currently on offer) at Master of Malt
Kyrő Pink Gin
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the team behind the Finnish Kyrő distillery came up with the idea of using rye as the base for their spirits in a sauna. This is their take on a pink gin, which uses strawberries, lingonberries, and rhubarb to provide the sweetness and colouring. Often pink gins can be very sweet, but the careful addition of spicy and herbaceous botanicals produces a well-balanced, creamy, pale pink drink, ideal to sip on a warm summer’s evening and, with an ABV of 38.2%, a second glass is almost irresistible.
Inverroche Verdant Gin
What a lovely touch! This Mother’s Day presentation gift set from South African-based distillers, Inverroche, includes six balls made from clay, peat-free compost, and chilli powder, the latter to ward off slugs and snails, chock full of wildflower seeds designed to bring a riot of colour, aromas, and pollinators to the garden.
Sustainability and being at one with nature are the key drivers behind their Verdant Gin, all the botanicals hand-selected from the mountainous, rocky terrain of the Cape provinces, giving it, fittingly, a distinctive golden-green hue. In the glass the spirit delivers a heady mix of fresh, vibrant floral notes with juniper and hints of limoncello playing gently in the background. No shrinking violet with an ABV of 43%, this elegant, smooth drink is a must for lovers of floral gin.
Tarquin’s Black Cherry Gin
Tarquin, one of Cornwall’s top distillers, has infused fresh pressed black cherries and a touch of orange zest with their award-winning Tarquin’s Cornish Gin recipe after distillation to produce this limited-edition gin.
In the glass soft juniper, rich cherry, and vibrant orange combine well to produce a zingy, tawny purple spirit. The finish is long and lingering, a combination of Maraschino balanced with warm spices. Imagine a Black Forest gateau in liquid form.
Attractively presented in Tarquin’s distinctive bottle with its dripping candle wax seal and with an ABV of 38%, it will feature highly on many people’s wish list.
Bayab African Grown Classic Dry Gin
The baobab tree, its unusual shape giving it the sobriquet of the “upside-down tree, is a distinctive sight in the sub-Saharan savannas of Africa. Its fruit, with its delightful citrus flavours, takes central stage in this gin from the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal province. Full of African botanicals and blended with the purest waters from the region, it is a complex melange of zesty and sweet citric notes, gentle spices, mellifluous herbs, and peppery juniper.
Made firmly in a London Dry gin style, with an ABV of 43%, and presented in a brightly designed bottle by black-owned African spirits brand, Spearhead, it is an impressively refreshing, crisp drink.
£29.25 from The Whisky Exchange
Artingstall’s Brilliant London Dry Gin
It is surely no coincidence that a gin coming from Hollywood film director Paul Feig should exude quality, glamour, and style. The bottle is stunning, a huge, square block of embossed glass, reminiscent of the classic cut glass decanters of the 1950s and 60s. Bearing Feig’s mother’s maiden name, developed in conjunction with distiller, Ravinder Minhas, and steeped with eleven of the finest botanicals, it is a gin that tastes as good as it looks.
The earthy flavour of orris root is the yin to the yang of the underlying peppery sweetness, finished off with a long aftertaste of perfumed lavender. With an ABV of 42% it packs a punch and is versatile enough to hold its own in a martini or negroni as well as making for a satisfying drink with a premium tonic. Brilliant by name and brilliant by nature — though it has a price tag to match.
£39.95 from The Whisky Exchange
Nouaison Gin
Distilled by G’vine in the Cognac region, Nouaison uses a neutral grape spirit, made from Ugni Blanc grapes, a tradition in making juniper-based spirits in France dating back to the 13th century. Its name comes from the French term for the blossoming of a vine flower, the mature petals from which are among the ten botanicals that make up this bold, punchy gin.
It is a crystal-clear spirit with an ABV of 45% that unveils a smorgasbord of flavours in the glass, a big slug of juniper leading on to fresh coriander, zesty lime, intense floral notes and the strong, lingering taste of liquorice, ginger, and spice at the end. It is a gin unapologetically designed to appeal to the traditionalist and there is nothing wrong with that.
£34.95 from The Whisky Exchange
The team at Bruichladdich distillery on Islay, an island best known for its whiskies, is determined to turn the adage of less is more on its head. Gin is a versatile spirit, capable of accommodating as many or as few botanicals as the distiller cares to use, the skill being in the selection and calibration of the tastes and textures. The Botanist tests this statement to the limit, using 31 botanicals, twenty-two of which are hand foraged from the island, all distilled in the local spring waters. In contrast, the bottle is elegant in its simplicity.
This crystal-clear spirit, with an ABV of 46%, is wonderfully aromatic with intense floral notes and enough citrus to keep it fresh and allow the botanicals room to breathe. It is surprisingly cool at first, but soon mellows out and leaves with a long, spicy finish. The Botanist has long been a regular on my gin shelf.
Inginious Gin
With 58% of people drinking more NoLo (no alcohol or low alcohol drinks) in late 2021 than a year before, and eight out of ten looking to embrace more options, according to Nielsen CGA, the time for launching a NoLo gin seems perfect. Step forward Inginious Gin, the brainchild of founder, Simon Liddle. Using twelve responsibly sourced botanicals, which are distilled in water rather than a neutral-based alcohol, it packs — or claims to pack — ten times the flavour concentration of an alcoholic gin in its 20cl bottle.
Just 5ml — measured out with the ladle provided — mixed with 150ml of tonic is enough to recreate what to the taste is like a classic London Dry Gin. With juniper to the fore mixed with earthy spices and peppers and a pronounced citric element provided by lemongrass, grapefruit, and lime, it is a well-balanced, refreshing drink which does not compromise on taste, while reducing the alcohol content to just 0.2 units per serve. Inginious — although at this price and with such small measure, you’d better have steady hands with that ladle…
£26 for 20cl from inginious-gin.co.uk
Darnley’s London Dry Gin Original
Produced by the Wemyss family, at whose Fife castle Mary Queen of Scots first set eyes on Lord Darnley in 1565, this crystal-clear spirit is unmistakably made in a classic London Dry style using just six botanicals. After an initial gorgeous hit of juniper and lemon, elderflower comes to the fore before earthy, gingery notes produce a warm, lasting aftertaste. With an ABV of 40% it makes for a well-balanced, elegant drink, surprisingly delicate, creamy in the mouth, and a must for those seeking a juniper-led gin with a touch of fresh citrus and floral flavours.
Rooted in history the Wemyss family may be, but their eyes are very much on the future. As part of their sustainability strategy, they have launched a set of recyclable gin pouches, made from plastic material (grade 7), which is not only recycled but also is less than half the weight of a a glass bottle to transport. Customers are encouraged to order a refill in a pouch, which can be returned free of charge, and decant the gin into their original bottle. It’s great idea — and you’ll only get a £4 discount for your trouble since the pouch costs £28 compared to the £32 bottle. That said, it’s a bit of a cheek that they charge the same hefty £5 for shipping, despite the fact that the pouch weighs 50% less than the glass bottle to transport.
Tanqueray Blackcurrant Royale gin
Looking for all the world like the sort of thing they’d have swigged in Tsarist Russia, this grand, almost imperial-looking bottle is the sort of eye-catching concoction that you’d love to have on your drinks trolley — as well as something that looks far more expensive than £20 (its current offer price). There are notes of vanilla as well as blackcurrant, and it makes a wonderful G&T garnished with berries.
Caorunn Raspberry Gin
The Scottish gin maker Caorunn has not ventured into the world of flavoured gin before now — not too surprising, when you consider how tricky it might be to balance their regular mix of dandelion, heather, ‘coul bush apple’, bog myrtle and rowan berries with something else. But this raspberry edition is an intriguing prospect.
Available online from Master of Malt at £20.10
Chase Hedgerow Elderflower Gin
‘Hand-made in Herefordshire’ reads the label on the bottle of this delicate, floral gin which has a strong whack of gin’s traditional juniper notes — not something that you can say of all the gins on this page. Elderflower is a lovely taste that seems perfect for the season as we head into Spring, and the fact that this comes in a pretty and hugely tasteful bottle is an extra bonus.
The Premium Gin Collection
Rather than sell ‘normal’ miniatures, Drinks by the Dram have their own bottling: wax-sealed 30ml containers, each with a different liquid inside. The benefit? They can be put into gift boxes like this one with 12 different gins included — and there are some crackers included. Old favourites like Conker , Bathtub and Tobermory gins rub shoulders with more avant-garde choices such as Copper Republic Rooibos & Grapefruit.
Taste the gin rainbow
The various flavoured gins of Warner’s (formerly Warner Edwards) never disappoint (or at least, not yet), so their idea of a ‘Gin Rainbow’ gift set seems a perfect way to show that off — even if their maths is a little out (not that many people will be complaining that this ‘rainbow’ actually includes eight gins). Varieties include sloe, lemon balm, rhubarb and raspberry.
£32 from warnersdistillery.com
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