Our Gin Mare review reveals a beautiful gin from the sunshine of Spain. We’ve made it our Gin of the month for July 2019.
We’d seen Gin Mare for sale in the UK before – it’s widely available in supermarkets or from Amazon or Master of Malt. However, for our sins, we’d never actually tried it before.
A recent trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca offered us – just whichgin.com Andy and Evey (Mrs whichgin.com Andy!) on this occasion – the chance to try it in its natural habitat. In the baking heat of 40C (104F) we certainly needed some refreshment. Our respective Scottish and N.Irish skins also appreciated a retreat to the bar and a break from the sun…
Gin Mare review
The Gin Mare botanical mix, which includes arbequina olives, thyme and rosemary, promises a real taste of the Mediterranean. First things first; this gin doesn’t disappoint on that front. The olives and rosemary are very obvious to the nose even before tasting. They positively leap out at you. It’s quite rare that botanicals seem quite so apparent prior to tasting, but these aromas grab you straight away.
The taste then follows this pattern. The juniper is certainly there, but the rosemary and thyme provide the background while that smooth olive taste eases this gin down beautifully. Incidentally, the arbequina olives impart a different flavour each year – this is down to the relative acidity levels of the annual harvest.
The botanical list also includes orange, lemon, cardamom and coriander. We detected the citrus botanicals, but we don’t have this one down as a citrusy gin. Gin Mare comes from near Barcelona on mainland Spain, down east on the Mediterranean coast. The distillery itself is in a 13th century chapel in an fishing village between Costa Brava and Costa Dorada. Many of the botanicals comes from Spain, but the rosemary is actually from Greece, the thyme is from Turkey and the basil is from Italy. This is truly a fine Mediterranean collaboration.
How to serve Gin Mare
We thought it wise to try many different servings of this gin (due to the heat, you understand). Our favourite by far was in a classic gin and tonic, served with large ice cubes and lemon-infused tonic. Garnished with pink peppercorns and a slice of lemon you can almost taste that Spanish sun.
Bottled at 42.7% ABV this isn’t a gin that overpowers or weakens you at the knees. As a result, the gin worked well just over ice too. You’d definitely need to like your rosemary and olives for this though.
As alternative serves, we’d also recommend Gin Mare with a Mediterranean style tonic and a sprig of rosemary or thyme. You could also pop an olive in there too if you’re going for a full-on Spanish vibe.
We should really also promote the bottle to be one of our 10 best gin bottles too – it’s unusual and a welcome addition to any gin cabinet.
Our overall verdict? Ok, well this is based on only two opinions and not our normal full merry band of whichgin.com tasters. And, admittedly, our view is likely helped by the Mediterranean air and the setting we experienced this gin in. But we’ll admit that we loved it. In fact, we loved it so much that a large bottle of Gin Mare made it into our duty free basket (alongside some others) before we departed from Palma airport…
Buy Gin Mare UK
Well, hopefully our Gin Mare review has whetted your appetite for a taste of summer. In the UK, you can buy Gin Mare from Amazon or Master of Malt.
Buy Gin Mare US
Some great news for our US and Canadian readers is that Gin Mare may well be available for you too. See if you can get delivery within one hour from Drizly in your area: click on this direct link to order Gin Mare on Drizly or on the advert below.
