gin no. 064 – Blend No. 802 Gin

On August 4, 2020 we visited Smugglers’ Notch Distillery. It was the end of the summer of COVID and our summer vacation was limited to a small roadtrip to Vermont. We sat outside and enjoyed a spirit flight. Don’t mind my haircut it was COVID.

I tried two different gins, Blend No. 802 and Hopped Gin. I bought a bottle of Blend No. 802 to add to The Collection.

Then in August of 2023 I made a visit to Burlington where I stopped by their tasting room on Church Street. While there I tried their Maple Gin for the first time. I don’t remember it existing back in 2020. After the visit, I decided to officially enter my bottle of Blend No. 802 into the collection as gin no. 064.

I finally opened the bottle more than three years after I bought it. On September 25, 2023 I was hosting a dinner party for Sotheara’s birthday and we decided to break it out. Blend No. 802 is a mild gin. It is made with organic juniper berries, coriander, angelica root, and select aromatic botanicals. I tried it in a 1-2 gin and tonic, but it was too mild and so I tried it in equal parts. That allowed the gin to come through more, but it still not very exciting.

It’s a strong gin at 44% ABV, and it comes at a pretty expensive price, $35. It’s made in small batches and my bottle is numbered as batch #25, bottle #486. There is nothing offensive about this gin, but there also isn’t anything that makes it work tracking down. It is not a sipping gin, but it is a juniper forward gin that makes a good local substitute for a big corporate London Dry. But if you are going to pick up a bottle from Smugglers’ Notch, get their Hopped Gin or better yet, take home a bottle of their truly unique Maple Gin.