Palmers Gin comes from the depths of Angela, a century-old copper pot still. A small batch, classic dry gin Palmers Gin is bottled at 44% ABV.
You can buy Palmers in the UK for between £25-£30 for a standard 70cl bottle. It’s relatively widely available (from Selfridges or Master of Malt, for example) and there’s a 20cl bottle size available too.
Botanicals: juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, orris root, liquorice root, cassia bark and grapefruit.
A well-known name in the industry, Palmers Gin is crafted by the WH Palmer Group who own the Langley distillery in Birmingham, England. The distillery itself is built where springs meet, a feature common to many older distilleries.
‘Angela’ the still is named after the great granddaughter of the founder, William Henry Palmer. That family connection has continued, through Angela’s son Adam and her own granddaughter, Natalie.
There’s something very classic, time-honoured and traditional about Palmers Gin. Look at that botanical list. Nothing left-field, nothing daft. Just the promise of a gin that all the hallmarks of a recipe that works well and has been tried and tested.
So how does it measure up?
Palmers Gin review
It’s interesting to note that Palmers uses 100% English wheat spirit. Many in the industry believe that wheat is the best grain to use as it’s excellent at picking up those botanical notes. That’s a debate for another day, but what was clear on opening our review bottle of Palmers was that this is a fine smelling gin. Plenty of strong aroma, and unmistakably a gin that promised plenty of flavour.
There’s also a two day distillation process for Palmers. A gentle heating to release the botanicals’ essential oils first, before the main event. That likely adds to the fullness of the aroma we describe above. To us, there was definite coriander and juniper. On very first opening we also thought there was a hint of that grapefruit too, but it faded away a little on the nose.
To taste? Fantastic. Everything a gin should be. The juniper is there in abundance, but that grapefruit isn’t shy either. That relatively high bottling strength of 44% likely helps make those flavours sing, but without overpowering or presenting too much of the alcohol. It’s beautifully balanced and smooth with it. Make no mistake, this is a dry and robust gin that has a quality mouthfeel.
We were really pleased – if a little surprised – that there was very little ‘linger’ on tasting. For all that flavour, there was no residual strength on the palate. It’s light and dry.
How to serve Palmers Gin
You can certainly serve Palmers Gin neat – it’s smooth enough – but we preferred it in a gin and tonic. Premium tonic worked well, and we tried it with a range of flavoured tonics too. By far the most popular was grapefruit tonic (like those below). Whatever you do, make sure you serve your G&T with plenty of ice and, for Palmers, a nice grapefruit garnish. This really does enhance the grapefruit in the gin itself.
Overall, Palmers is an excellent, traditional gin that you should add to your own gin library. It’s a very welcome addition to our own A-Z gin review list.
For those with perhaps slightly sweeter tastes, Palmers also have a Strawberry and Rose Celebration Gin. It’s a touch less strong at a 42% bottling, and is distilled with rose petals and strawberries. You can also buy it here at Master of Malt in the UK. As expected, it’s far more floral and fruity. We really enjoyed it, but have to confess that the Dry Gin was so good that we found it hard to see past it.
Buy Palmers Gin
As noted, you can buy Palmers Gin at Master of Malt and Selfridges. It’s also available in the UK from Whisky Exchange and Palmers’ own website
Unfortunately you can’t yet buy Palmers Gin in the US, or in Canada, from Drizly. Please do try one of their other gins using the link below. If you’re looking for something similar, we think a Bombay Sapphire might be one to try.
Gifted gin
We were very grateful to have been gifted both Palmers Dry Gin and Palmers Celebration Gin to review. We have a policy of only featuring gins on this site that we can recommend. We’re delighted to be able to recommend Palmers.
