Sipsmith has a range of gins available, but we chose its benchmark London Dry Gin, bottled at 41.6%, to review. The whichgin.com team are rarely unanimous in their appraisals – we all have different tastes after all – but this is a gin we did all agree on. We think Sipsmith is the perfect summer gin, which is why we’ve chosen it for June. Who knows, at some point we may even see some summer weather so that we can enjoy more of it in the sunshine (we love Scotland where we’re based, but we’ve getting a lot of liquid sunshine recently).
Sipsmith Gin review
This gin is made in London and uses an unashamedly traditional recipe and approach. Think copper pot stills, one shot distillation and relatively small batches. The botanical mix doesn’t involve anything too leftfield. There’s coriander, orange and lemon peel, liquorice, orris and angelica roots, cassia and cinnamon amongst those in the mix with the juniper.
Of all the botanicals, we think it’s the citrus fruits that show through first (and most). It’s all quite subtle though – if you don’t like citrusy gins don’t be put off by that statement. This isn’t a gin that makes you purse your lips. One description was that we though it tasted a little like a very light lemon curd, with notes of satsumas. That isn’t to say that we mean the flavours are weak; they’re just beautifully subtle. In fact, we think this is one of the most well-balanced gins we’ve tasted in a while (and there really is a lot of good competition out there).
Sipsmith is a gin that’s very pleasant on the nose, and one that doesn’t have a bitter after-taste. It should be said that we detected other flavours when tasting too – there’s a bit of a floral thing going on – but it was the lemon and orange that were the highlights for us.
How to serve Sipsmith Gin
There was one way that we all preferred our Sipsmith served; a classic gin and tonic. Perhaps the traditional approach used just lends itself to that best. Some chunks of ice, a good quality tonic and a simple citrus fruit garnish were the perfect serve for us. We liked it best with a slice of orange, but were quite happy with lime, lemon and even grapefruit. We’d not recommend going away from a traditional tonic – we don’t think it needs any elderflower to make it work. Or anything else for that matter. Actually, we found that the flavoured tonics we tried just detracted from the quality of the gin itself.
For all its smoothness, we weren’t converted to having Sipsmith Gin neat (here are some gins that we think do work well neat). It would likely work very well enough in pretty much any cocktail. We didn’t try that but, with the Sipmsith G&T working so well, we didn’t feel the need to.
We’re sure this is a gin that’ll keep you happy all year, but please do try it this summer if you haven’t already.
Buy Sipsmith Gin UK
If you’ve read our Sipsmith Gin review and would like to try it, the good news is that it’s widely available. In the UK, you can buy Sipsmith from Amazon or Master of Malt.
Buy Sipsmith Gin US
Sipmsith is available in the US and Canada. See if Sipsmith is available for delivery within one hour from Drizly in your area: click on this direct link to Sipsmith on Drizly or on the advert below.
