Our Daffy’s Gin review finds a classy and supremely drinkable gin from the Scottish Highlands. And, with that bottle, what’s not to like?
Daffy’s is bottled at 43.4% and is nicely priced for a what is an excellent product. Alongside the juniper, its main botanicals are coriander, cassia, orris, angelica, lemon and orange peel, and mint from Lebanon. It’s distilled at the Strathmashie Distillery in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. If you know your Scottish geography, it’s pretty much up the A9 road and turn left at Dalwhinnie! A truly beautiful part of the world.
And that stunning bottle design? Now, I’m terrible at art. My father was an artist, including on the Beano comic, but my brother inherited all the artistic genes. However, I can appreciate art – and Robert McGinnis’ depiction of the Goddess of Gin that adorns the Daffy’s Gin bottle is stunning. I’ll not retell the story behind the image – it can be found here – but it has to be one of the most arresting images you’ll find on a spirits bottle.
Here’s another confession too. This is a review I should have conducted and written up a long time ago. Daffy’s banners adorn our local pub here in Morningside, Edinburgh. A Daffy’s and tonic is a real favourite for us down there. So what would we make of tasting away from the warmth of our local?
Daffy’s Gin review
At 43.4%, Daffy’s Gin has the promise of a nice, robust feel. On opening the bottle, that’s the sense you get too. On the nose it isn’t shy, with those citrus peel botanicals being really apparent. Pleasingly, the juniper is also there, alongside a what we variously described as a ‘fresh’ and ‘clean’ aroma, which we put down to the mint.
To taste, we were really impressed. As mentioned above, we’re no strangers to Daffy’s Gin, but this is the first time that we’d taken a step back to think about what we were drinking.
The immediate taste we agreed on was that citrus. Quite distinct, but with a nice earthy undertone supporting it. What we weren’t expecting was almost a candied like sensation. It’s always hard to describe a taste, but if you take the sensation of eating an butterscotch pudding, but swapped much of the sweetness for citrus, then that’s where we got to on taste! It has a satisfying full mouth feel, and is very pleasant. There was perhaps less of the mint than we were expecting from the nose, but that didn’t distract from what is a confident and assured gin.
How to serve Daffy’s Gin
Taken neat, as we did above, we were fans. You could easily spend some quality time with a Daffy’s Gin over ice. However, we think the real triumph is Daffy’s in a gin and tonic; a D&T. The suggested serve is with fresh mint and a slice of lime (and we’ll add it to our list of which gins go with lime). We can’t argue with that suggested serve – it’s fresh, clean and hugely enjoyable.
As Negroni lovers, we gave that a whirl too (using Lustau Vermouth). We’re happy to confirm that Daffy’s worked well here too, and one we’ll return to when a Negroni-hankering takes hold again.
Our overall verdict? Daffy’s Gin is an absolute triumph. At a c£30 price point, to us, it represents great value. With that bottle making a beautiful addition to your gin shelf too, we think Daffy’s Gin makes a great purchase.
Where to buy Daffy’s Gin
The great news is that Daffy’s Gin is widely available, so make sure you compare prices. You can buy here from Amazon or here from Master of Malt.
I hope you enjoyed this short review, and thanks for reading. Cheers! Andy
