We review Fynoderee Manx Dry Gin (Spring Edition). What does this gin from the Isle of Man, with locally foraged botanicals, have to offer?
A gin thats sits in a mid-to-premium price point, the Spring Edition of Fynoderee Manx Dry Gin is bottled at 43%. The Isle of Man is an island situated between mainland Britain and Ireland. Fynoderee comes from one of two gin-producing distilleries on the island.
Sample botanicals: Juniper; gorse; mint; coriander
Fynoderee Gin review
I’m a regular visitor to the Isle of Man for family reasons [Andy writing here]. As a gin fan, I never miss the opportunity to sample local gins, and Fynoderee is a treat. I’ll be adding a longer article on Isle of Man Gin in due course but, since we’re in mid-Spring at time of writing, I thought I’d seek out a Fynoderee Spring Edition for us all to try.
Fynoderee is distilled up in the north of the island (near Jurby, we believe). There are other seasons of Fynoderee available (Winter, Summer and Autumn are all there!), as well as a Pink Gin and a Kerala Chai edition. All are bottled to 43%. What we should say up front is that none of these gins appear to be too easy to get hold of – and some of the gins have sold out – so make sure to snap some up if you get the chance.
So how about the gin? Well, it just shows you how tastes can differ! The bottle promises a rejuvenating drink, like a “clean, refreshing Manx breeze'” [‘Manx’ means something relating to the Isle of Man, by the way]. We’d definitely not argue with that description. This is a super gin – warming and really rewarding. But we didn’t get the sweet lemon-sherbet finish that the label also suggests. After the juniper, we found instead a really pleasing pepperiness to the gin. We also got what we thought was the gorse shining through. It’s a complex and smooth gin, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
How to serve
Make no mistake, this gin makes a great gin and tonic. It’s a traditional, juniper-forward type of gin. We thought that the pepperiness we mentioned above made it work equally well with both the premium Indian tonic and the elderflower tonic we paired it with. Perhaps a bit more left-field (we do live on the edge) we also tried it with mediterranean tonic – that was also a winner.
We thought it worked nicely with double the amount of tonic to gin (per our normal serving suggestion for a great gin and tonic). As always, make sure you load up on ice too. We did try to sip at this gin neat; it may work for some, but much preferred the classic gin and tonic approach. For a garnish, we thought both lemon and lime worked well. Something like a bramble (or another soft fruit) might work really nicely too.
Buy Fynoderee Gin
As we said, this isn’t an easy gin to get hold of if you’re off the Isle of Man, which is a real shame. The Fynoderee website is the place to start for online orders.
We have seen it available in the UK on Amazon (the Spring Edition appears sold out, but the Winter Edition is still available if you’re quick). Worth checking back regularly, or you can try looking for gins at Master of Malt.
I’m afraid we haven’t seen Fynoderee Gin for sale in the US or Canada yet. Try Drizly below to see if that’s changed.
Incidentally, Fynoderee also do a vodka (Bumbee). We’ve not tried it, but a link below if you’d like to:
We hope you manage to get your hands on some of this lovely gin (or the vodka). If you do manage to get hold of some of the other Editions, please tell us what you think in the comments below, or email us at [email protected].
