A PREMIUM GIN PRIMER

Hendrick’s Gin ($33): From Scotland, this “small batch, handcrafted” gin comes in a stubby brown bottle with the warning: “It is not for everyone”, but local retails say everyone is buying. Infused with the usual botanicals, plus the unusual addition of rose petals and cucumbers.

Q (Quintessential Gin) ($35): A Warrington Dry, Quintessential is distilled five times for crystal clarity and a silky smoothness. It’s strong (45%) with only five botanicals and a distinctive peppery flavour behind the usual juniper.

Bombay Sapphire ($27): Bacardi-Martini owns this brand which started the premium gin craze with it’s pretty blue bottle and intense style – lots of  juniper flavor and nine other botanicals, including eucalyptus and citrus.

Citadelle Gin ($45): Among the most expensive new gins, this French product lays claim to infusing the most botanical flavours into its gin – 19 in all – and being “hand crafted, one cask at a time.”

Plymouth Gin ($25): Well priced, fruity and smooth in martinis or G&Ts, this is the world’s only geographically designated gin – you can make “London Dry” gins in Canada or Calcutta, but Plymouth must be made in Plymouth.

Tanquerey No. Ten ($55): The Tanquerey brand upped its gin ante with this super-premium product, made with only fresh (not dried) botanicals for an intense fruity flavour. Elegant green bottle with a red seal.

South Gin (n/a): From New Zealand, this new premium gin is popping up at all of the finest restaurants in Vancouver (West, Cin Cin, Araxi) but hasn’t appeared in Alberta yet. It’s flavored with the usual botanicals, plus local manuka berries and kawakawa, making it taste like “walking through the bush after it’s rained.” Imagine that.