gin no. 021 – Flaming Leprechaun Gin

• Flaming Leprechaun was an American gin distilled in Ireland
• It shut down for five years but sprang back to life in 2024, in Ireland and the UK.
• I got this bottle as a gift from Jeff Smith and only drink it on St. Patrick’s Day.

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What gin can you drink on St. Patrick’s Day? Well Flaming Leprechaun Gin from Ireland of course. I reviewed this when starting the collection and then the bottle sat on my shelf or floor or wherever the collection was temporarily housed for many years.

Here are some of my original thoughts on it:

The Flaming Leprechaun brand is the result of a partnership between two companies, one Irish the other American.  Malcolm Brown is responsible for distilling their spirits in Ireland and Three Hearts of Ireland is responsible for selling them in America.  In a way, Flaming Leprechaun is kind of local.  On the Flaming Leprechaun website, they give a Franklin, MA address even though they call their made-in-Ireland gin “Celtic”. (note: I have reached out to them directly to get some clarification and if they respond I will update this post.) (Note on the note: they never responded)

As for the gin, it is a very traditional London dry style.  It won a double gold medal at the 2016 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  It is extremely mild and well balanced. Flaming Leprechaun once seeps and twice distills botanicals in a neutral spirit and their method produces a smooth, mellow result.  They keep the alcohol on the lighter side at just 88 proof.  Even when sipped neat, the alcohol taste is almost nonexistent. All this makes the ideal G & T ratio equal parts gin and tonic. Even then the light flavor gets a little lost behind the tonic and although it is smooth enough to drink neat, it isn’t exciting enough to be really enjoyable.

Maybe that was too harsh. It is a very good gin, it’s just that it is very straight forward. The base spirit for Flaming Leprechaun is made by fermenting molasses, which is exciting. They then distill that with botanicals including juniper berries, sloe, coriander seeds, cassia bark, angelica root, nutmeg, orange peel and lemon peel.

Sadly, Flaming Leprechaun is no longer in business. Their website is dead and their Instagram has not been updated since 2019. I got my bottle as a gift from Jeff Smith and at the time I noted that you could get a bottle for about $25. Total Wine’s website says they have some on sale, only in stores, and it still costs $25. I’ve been and there aren’t any bottles in store. I still have about a third of a bottle, so if you want to try it come on by, but I only pour it on St. Patrick’s Day.

Update: Flaming Leprechaun is back. After five years of silence, their Instagram account sprang back to life in October of 2024. Now however, it seems only to be available in Ireland and the UK.

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