Let’s get this out of the way. There’s something different about Manchester-based Thomas Dakin Gin. And actually, on first taste, we’ll admit that none of us who reviewed it were particular fans. First impressions can be wrong though, and we’re glad we gave this gin another try (or six). So why did we get it so wrong first time around?
Thomas Dakin gin review
There are 11 botanicals at work in this gin. They include coriander, grapefruit and orange zest. So far, so good. What was it that made us unsure at first? Well, it’s a very juniper-led gin. It doesn’t hide it. There’s no issue there – many gins are juniper-led. What seemed to jolt a little first time around was that we’d come off a run of tasting far more ‘floral’ and lighter gins (not in the same night, we hesitate to add). Our palates had become accustomed to that. So we left it a couple of weeks and gave Thomas Dakin another try.
The redemption
What we’d unkindly noted on first review to be a taste of slightly wet pebbles, turned out the second time of tasting to be really pleasant notes of green peppers (bell peppers in the US). Actually, there was generally just a very refreshing earthy quality, that had fantastic punches of citrus coming through too. We think the former may be coming from the angelica root but there’s also, unique to Thomas Dakin as far we know, a botanical called red cole (quite an old term for horseradish) involved. It’s another root botanical, so there’s a good chance it’s hard at work here. Whatever the reason, we’ve come to really like Thomas Dakin Gin.
We served our Thomas Dakin Gin with a good quality tonic (Fever-Tree on this occasion). The suggested serve is with orange peel, a sprig of coriander and about 2 and a half times the tonic to gin. That’s far too precise for us lot at whichgin.com; a good glug of double the tonic to gin works well along with plenty of ice. We’d definitely go with the orange peel garnish though – or a good sized slice of orange – it works brilliantly with this gin. The coriander we were less fussed about.
Where to buy Thomas Dakin gin
If you like what you’ve read in our Thomas Dakin Gin review, you can buy it in the UK from Amazon or from Master of Malt. In the US/Canada you can buy Thomas Dakin Gin from Drizly.
So, Thomas Dakin is well worth a try and will admit we got it wrong on first taste. Wet pebbles indeed. See how many of our other gin reviews you think we’ve got wrong in our A-Z gin reviews!
