gin no. 095 – Kew Botanical Gin

In February of 2024, we took a trip to London, England for school vacation. During the trip, I tried ten new gins and bought two. The first one that I bought was Kew Botanical Gin and that is entered into The Collection as gin no. 095.

On February 21, we took the Underground to Kew Gardens to see the Orchid Festival. It takes place in the Princess of Wales Conservatory each year in February and is very impressive. There was also a very cool cactus display, tiny Venus flytraps, and a oddly-named suicide palm. In the gift shop, they were selling bottles of gin, and since I already have a bottle of Royal Botanical Gin in my collection, no. 081, I absolutely wanted to get another.

Kew Botanical is distilled in London, a partnership between the gardens and The East London Liquor Co. It is made with botanicals from the garden including Douglass Fir, orange, and lavender. It comes in a slightly smaller bottle than American gin, just 700 ml (70 cl as the packaging says), and is 42% ABV. They sell it for £38, a little less than $50.

The bottle is very cool and I took a picture of it in the garden that I really like. Unfortunately, I did not get to try it at the gardens as I had hoped. We went to the bistro and had a rather unpleasant experience with host who wouldn’t even tell us how long the wait for a table was and just suggested we go down to the snack shop in the gift shop. He was rude. I was not pleased.

I did open the bottle once I got back home. It is as expected a floral gin with strong notes of lavender and a subtle taste of orange. Because it is lighter in alcohol, it deserves a little less tonic than the normal two to one ratio. Try 2 oz of gin with 3 oz of tonic. I like this gin. It is unique in its flavor and it’s a fun bottle to have added to the collection.