Stocking up your home bar and looking for the perfect gin? Whether you’re fixing for a classic gin and tonic, or looking to try your hand at making a martini or gimlet at home, Gin is an indispensable spirit and an essential part of any well stocked bar cart.

We got you! Today, let’s taste and rank the most popular gins you can get at any grocery store, so you can decide for yourself which one to bring home!

TLDR: We taste and rank all the major gin brands you can find at your local supermarket.

The Classics: Gordon’s  👑🐗 | Tanqueray🍸🟢 | Beefeater  🥩💂 | Bombay Sapphire  ⭐💠

The Contemporaries: Hendrick’s  🌹🥒 | Roku Gin  🇯🇵🌸 | Monkey 47  🐒🍒 | Aviation Gin  ✈️👨🏻‍✈️

What We’re Generally Looking For When It Comes to Gins (AKA What Makes a Good Gin?)

When it comes to what makes a good Gin, often times it comes down to the balance of its botanicals and the quality of its base spirit.

Gin is essentially a distilled spirit that starts out as a base of neutral alcohol (usually distilled from grain) and is further infused with a range of botanicals for added flavor and mouthfeel. The selection and quality of these botanicals can vary from producer to producer, but a crucial underlying commonality is that all gins must have juniper berries included in its botanical blend.  While traditionally juniper was added to be the most dominant flavour in the spirit, these days, more contemporary gin distilleries are differentiating their gins based on the other unique botanicals they curate and throw into the mix. For example, Tanqueray’s London Dry Gin is known for having only four botanicals (juniper, coriander, angelica root and liquorice), while Monkey 47 is famously known for incorporating a whopping 47 botanicals, which includes the likes of ligonberries, English hawthorn and pomelo, with juniper being only a small component.

Given that there are seemingly endless combinations of different botanicals that can be found in gins, gin is also a category of spirit that can have enormous versatility and variance in the types of flavours you can find. This might make it tricky for you to select the bottle that you would like, but generally speaking, a good gin is one that achieves a harmonious balance of flavours. For example, even a gin that is touted as predominantly juniper-forward in flavor shouldn’t taste one-dimensionally pine-y, but should also have subtle and complementary flavour accents that are brought out from the other botanicals in the mix. Additionally, the gin should ideally never burn or feel scratchy, nor come across as bitter, metallic or thin. The best gins tend to have some richness to its body, and should feel like it’s gently coating your tongue. Also, it shouldn’t taste artificially sweet.

Now, that we’ve some basics sorted, let’s dive into the bottles itself!

Let's Get to the Gin Reviews!

The gin reviews will be sorted into two main categories: The Classics and The Contemporaries.

The Classics refer to gins that are known for offering a more traditional juniper-forward gin profile, and are usually London Dry expressions with a longer history of being distilled. If you like juniper in your gins, then stick to this section:

• Gordon's London Dry Gin 👑🐗
• Tanqueray London Dry Gin 🍸🟢
• Beefeater London Dry Gin 🥩💂
• Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin ⭐💠

The Contemporaries represent more modern and recent additions to the Gin market. These gin brands tend to emphasize other unique botanical flavors, with juniper being present but taking more of a backseat. If you're looking for more contemporary, diverse flavours in your gin and not a fan of the piney-juniper profile, then go ahead and browse the gins under this section:

• Hendrick's Gin 🌹🥒
• Roku Gin 🇯🇵🌸
• Monkey 47 🐒🍒
• Aviation Gin ✈️👨🏻‍✈️

The Classics:

Gordon’s Gin  👑🐗

It makes sense to start at the very beginning, and so we kick things off with Gordon’s, which is undoubtedly one of the gin OGs and the oldest gin brand in today’s line up. Gordon’s gin was first distilled over 250 years ago, back in 1769, by a Londoner called Alexander Gordon. The exact botanical bill used in Gordon’s is still a trade secret today, but the usual suspects are juniper, coriander, angelica and licorice.

While it originated in London, today, Gordon’s is distilled across multiple regions and owned by Diageo. Fun fact: on the label, you’ll notice a picture of a wild boar. The story goes that one of Alexander Gordon’s ancestors had saved the King of Scotland from a wild boar during a hunt. Since then, the Gordon’s family crest was that of a boar. This motif was then repurposed by Alexander for his gin label, and has been kept the same since!

Gordon's London Dry Gin, 37.5% ABV - Tasting Notes

Aroma: Lays on thick with the scent of piney juniper, backed by a prickly pepperiness and a hint of lemon citrus peel.

Taste: Fresh and crisp with predominant juniper character. The underlying profile is quite earthy, with notes of coriander seeds, angelica root and licorice. In the mix is also some lemon zest and menthol.

Finish: Medium, with fading notes of juniper, coriander spice and citrus peels.

Overall Thoughts:

Gordon’s is traditional but not old fashioned, and can still hack it in today’s modern times. It’s a very quintessential London Dry that’s bang for buck - delivering a fresh, crisp piney spirit with nice earthiness and citrus accents at a comparatively affordable price option and with minimal fuss. It’s very mixable, particularly with tonic water or with more spirit-forward classic Gin cocktails like the Negroni or a Martini.

TLDR: Buy Gordon's if you’re looking for a pine-forward gin for mixing in Gin & Tonics and Spirit-Forward Cocktails, at an affordable price point! 

Tanqueray Gin  🍸🟢

If it's good enough for Stanley Tucci, it's good enough for me! (Just kidding, we're still gonna put this through a taste test.)

Tanqueray is probably one of the most recognizable gin brands, thanks to its eye-catching green bottle that just oozes sophistication, and its partnerships with celebrities like Stanley Tucci and Snoop Dogg. Tanqueray was first distilled in 1830 by Charles Tanqueray in Bloomsbury, and is today owned by Diageo and distilled in Scotland. 

It's recipe famously only includes four botanicals – juniper, angelica root, liquorice and coriander seeds, with simplicity at its core. Up til today, Tanqueray is often held as a benchmark for what a classic London Dry should be. Fun fact, the shape of the Tanqueray bottle is actually modelled after a cocktail shaker, aptly referencing Tanqueray’s use in a range of different cocktails.

Tanqueray London Dry Gin, 43.1% - Tasting Notes

Aroma: Robust pine needles and distinct juniper flavour, with subtle citrus notes.

Taste: Very creamy and smooth. Notes of juniper dominate, with accents of fresh cut grass and citrus zest. I also detect a subtle sweetness to the gin that had a fruity character of red berries and candied licorice.

Finish: Long, with coriander and black pepper. Some tangy notes of lemon peel and orange zest, with lingering sweetness of licorice. 

Overall Thoughts:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Tanqueray is that cool kid in school that's effortlessly cool not because it follows trends, but because it remains unaffected by them. It's a well-rounded gin that stays true to its classic roots by delivering a solid juniper-forward profile, while offering depth and complexity with spicy accents and candied licorice notes. Great all-rounder when it comes to mixing for cocktails. 

Flavour-wise, it’s not so citrus-forward as other brands like Bombay Sapphire or Beefeater. If you'd like a more citrus-leaning gin that still retains the same Tanqueray classic juniper-spice profile and have a higher budget, spring for the Tanqueray No. Ten. 

TLDR: Buy Tanqueray if you're looking for a classicly juniper-forward gin with a step up in balance and complexity. Great for a range of cocktails, and perfect (in my opinion) when garnished with a lemon peel on a Gin & Tonic. 

Beefeater Gin 🥩💂

Another oldie but a goodie. Beefeater has been distiling its original London Dry Gin recipe since the late 1800s, and was created by a pharmacist called James Burrough.

For those of us on the other side of the world from London, the name Beefeater should not be mistaken as a reference to the beef-obsessed. Rather, it refers to the Yeomen of the Guard, who act as bodyguards to the British monarchy.

Beefeater's signature London Dry recipe uses nine botanicals, which include: juniper, angelica root, angelica seeds, coriander seeds, licorice, almonds, orris root, Seville oranges, and lemon peel.

Beefeater London Dry Gin, 40% ABV - Tasting Notes

Nose: Bold juniper notes with a hint of orange slice and lemon peel. Some peppers, coriander seeds and licorice adds a warming prickle to the nose.

Flavor: Meets the palate upfront with robust juniper flavours. The pine character here is apparent, integrated with a touch of citrus that leans more towards that of bittersweet orange pith, rather than of lemon zest. White pepper and coriander gains in strength near the end, adding a touch of warming heat.

Finish: Medium. Notes of piney juniper, white peppers, and orange peels. 

Overall Thoughts

A great all-purpose gin that comes in at an unpretentious price point. It's admittedly not very complex in its flavors, but I do like that you still get bold hits of piney juniper. It's also one of the few mainstay London Drys whose citrus flavours uniquely leans more towards that of deeper orange peels, versus the more sharp, lemony ways of Bombay Sapphire - which is useful to note depending on what flavor profile you're partial to.

That said, I'm not sure what your supermarket stocks at the moment, but where I am located, we tend to only get the lower-proof versions of Beefeater, which may lack a bold enough backbone to withstand mixing in certain cocktails. For this review, I tried the 40% ABV, but I've been told that the 47% ABV version far outshines in strength of flavour and body. 

TLDR: Buy Beefeaters if you want a juniper-back gin with a more orange-leaning citrus accent. But watch for its proof at your local supermarket! 

Bombay Sapphire  ⭐💠

Ah... that iconic pillar-shaped, sleek blue bottle I'd recognise anywhere on the gin shelf. Bombay Sapphire is produced in Laverstoke Mill in England, under the supervision of Master of Botanicals Ivano Tonutti. Their London Dry botanical bill includes almond, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb and grains of paradise.

A key point of differentiation for Bombay Sapphire is its use of vapor infusion to distill its gin, a process that the brand credits for giving its gins a characteristically light and delicate profile, with a citrusy and spicy balance. Vapor infusion involves a distiller adding their chosen botanicals into a gin basket that hangs over the spirit within the distillation still - rather than distilling the gin with the botanicals directly steeped in the spirit. This way, the essences and the flavours of the botanicals are absorbed through the steam that rises and passes through the gin basket during distillation, before being gently introduced into the gin when the steam condensed back into the spirit.

Bombay Sapphire is named after a extremely rare and extremely valuable Star of Bombay, a 182-carat violet-blue sapphire that was mined from Sri Lanka. Given it's namesake, is it truly a gem of a gin? Let's find out. 

Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin, 40% ABV - Tasting Notes

Aroma:  Opens with a strong hit of citrus akin to fresh squeezed lemon zest. You do get sharp whiffs of alcohol notes there, punctuated by accents of fresh juniper berries and light sweetness of caster sugar.

Palate: Coats the tongue with a gentle oiliness. At first sip, there is a bit of punchiness and the alcohol notes do take some time to settle. Once it does, some spiciness come to the fore - cinnamon, white pepper and coriander. The notes of lemon grow in prominence as the spirit lingers on the tongue, intermingling with the spiciness in a way that reminds me of lemon herb spice blends. There's also some mild earthy background notes of almond. 

Finish: Long, with some apparent prickly heat here - I get notes of black pepper, chilli seeds, and coriander. This gradually evolves into a lingering sweetness of citrus (kind of like a carbonated Sprite canned drink) and liquorice.

Overall Thoughts:

The alcohol notes was a tad bit harsh when drunk neat, and while I enjoyed the bold and straightforward citrus and spice flavours, I do wish there was a stronger influence of the earthy juniper and bittersweet liquorice to add complexity. 

That said, I can see why this gin is so popular! While it may be a tad bit acrid for sipping neat, it shines best when mixed! It's high proof makes it a breeze to use in cocktails, while the uncomplicated spicy-citrus combo gives the gin a very distinct brightness that is likely to withstand the addition of other ingredients without being dulled.

TLDR: Buy Bombay Sapphire if you want a punchy citrus spiced edge to your drink, and are looking for a high-proof mixer to your cocktails. I wouldn't recommend sipping this, as it can be a bit sharp when drunk neat! 

The Contemporaries:

Hendrick's Gin  🌹🥒

The gorgeous black apothecary-style bottle that's been repurposed as a vase on your indie friend's shelf? That's Hendrick's! Hendrick's Gin is often marketed as the "most unusual gin" by its creators, and for good reason. It was one of the first few contemporary gin brands that challenged the notion that gin had to be juniper-forward, and really debuted on the market with what was - back in the early 2000s - considered to be quite a fringe flavour profile for a gin. 

The current formulation of Hendricks consists of 11 different botanicals: chamomile, elderflower, juniper, lemon peel, orange peel, caraway, coriander, cubeb berries, angelica root, yarrow root and orris root, which are distilled with neutral spirit either in a Carter-Head still or a Bennett pot still.

Crucially, cucumber and rose essences are then added to blended distillates - a flavour choice inspired by the notion of a English tea party in a garden. As a result, the gin is often touted as very floral and perfumery in nature, with juniper being only a supporting character in its blend. Because the cucumber and rose essences were added post-distillation, Hendrick’s marks a slight departure from the traditional London Dry Gin style – which is defined as gin with no added ingredients apart from water after distillation.

Hendrick's Gin - Tasting Notes

Nose: Very floral and fresh - musky notes of rose petals, perfumery elderflower and cucumber slices. Juniper has a very subtle presence, and a light orange zest scent also builds after several nosings. 

Taste: Very light, floral and delicate! It had a somewhat alkaline quality to it, and was really smooth without any astringency. There were these bright, fresh notes of cucumber juice, frangipanis as well as mild tannic quality of white tea leaves.  There is some spiciness to this gin, but its very mild - I get hints of coriander, white pepper and earthy angelica root. 

Finish: Medium - fades with a cooling mint and cucumber effect. Notes of juniper, musky potpourri notes and angelica root.

Overall Thoughts

Hendrick's Gin is often praised as being the gin for non-gin drinkers, and I can see why. This gin has an elegant and dainty profile and doesn't come on too strong with the juniper, while still managing to deliver a quirky and unique combination of perfumery floral and fresh vegetal notes. 

That said, I did find that perhaps its flavours were a tad too gentle and dainty for mixed cocktails, and the subtleties of the cucumber notes are often drowned out with heavy mixing. I would probably save the Hendricks for a straightforward martini or a gin tonic with some cucumber slice garnishes.

TLDR: Great elegant mouthfeel with some refreshing fresh, floral notes. A truly unusual flavour that's great if you're looking for a sipping gin or in the mood for a refreshing Gin & Tonic. I wouldn't recommend this if you're planning to do some heavy mixing though, as the subtleties of Hendrick's flavours are likely to get drowned out.

Roku Gin 🇯🇵🌸

Roku Gin is a uniquely Japanese gin launched by Suntory, who also distills the likes of Yamazaki, Hibiki and Suntory whisky. Despite it's relatively young age, having only been launched as recently as 2017, Roku Gin has quickly become a bar-cart staple for a classic after-work G&T today.

Very romantically, Roku Gin's creation is said to be inspired by a quintessential Japanese concept – the notion of shun (駿). Shun refers to the Japanese ideal that all food and drink should be enjoyed in their proper season. It is the exact moment when an ingredient is at the peak of its flavors and freshness – in other words, when it is closest to perfection. 

Shun is embodied through all the various steps of Roku Gin’s production, from the selection to the harvesting to the distillation of the botanicals. Roku, meaning "six" in Japanese, contains six Japanese botanicals, each carefully selected to represent the best of what each season in Japan has to offer. For spring 🌷: Sakura Flower, Sakura Leaf, for summer ☀️: Sencha Tea, Gyokuro Tea, for autumn 🍂: Sansho Pepper, and for winter ❄️: Yuzu Peel.

Roku Gin - Tasting Notes

Aroma: Floral and sweet, with notes of Sakura and candied mandarin peels, and a very faint accent of cinnamon and star anise at the back.

Palate: You're greeted with an immediate citrusy note of yuzu. After a while, a thicker earthiness and herbaceousness kicks in, rounding out the palate with notes of umami, tannic green tea, and some slight bitterness.

Finish: Medium. A deep herbal note lingers, but is joined by faint pepper and a tinge of baking spices – cinnamon, star anise and cumin come to fore.

Overall Thoughts:

Overall, this is a pretty complex, multi-layered gin that gives you something to chew on as you sip it. There's a floral and herbal note from the Sakura flower and Sakura leaf botanicals coming through, just as well as some citrus and spice from the yuzu peels and sansho peppers. The beauty of this gin is revealed in the way the various botanicals seem to dutifully take their time to show themselves in stages, never clashing with one another. Very demure, very mindful, as they say. 

My favorite way to enjoy Roku Gin is in a gin and tonic, garnished with a ginger slice to elevate those peppery notes; or with some freshly cut basil leaves to amp up the earthier undertones. I've also tried a Gin Sour made with Roku Gin before, where the lemon juice was substituted with Yuzu juice - and let me tell you, that truly converted me to Japanese gin. 

TLDR: A multi-layered gin that truly reflects a sense of provenance through its Japanese botanicals. I'd recommend putting this to work with a gin tonic or a martini, but adding a ginger or basil garnish. Alternatively, use it in any citrus-leaning cocktail but substitute lemon juice for yuzu juice if you're feeling extra.

Monkey 47 🐒🍒

Not to be a person to stereotype, but I don’t think it’ll be far-fetched to draw a link between Monkey 47’s German roots and those classic German attributes of precision and meticulous attention to detail. 

While most gin brands are made from around 12 botanicals, German-born Monkey 47 Gin is made with a whopping 47 (that’s right, 47!) different botanicals. Each was carefully curated and selected by head distiller Christoph Keller after countless taste experiments documented obsessively across excel sheets. 

While you’d be forgiven for not being able to remember all 47 botanicals, the key ones to keep in mind if you’re tasting this gin would be the use of hawthorn, blackberry and lingonberry. These fruity botanicals were specifically added to invoke a distinctive “Black Forest feel” in the Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin.

Monkey 47 - Tasting Notes

Nose: Very bright and fruity. I get notes of rose, citrus and juniper at the fore, with some subtle fruity underpinnings of blackcurrant and black berry notes adding depth.

Palate: The sweetness of blackberries, blackthorn, and stewed raspberry jam comes forth first, before being joined by more earthy, herbaceousness notes of licorice root and pine. Upon further sips, I also get some light spiciness of coriander and cinnamon. All these fruity, vegetal notes held together by an earthy juniper backbone. 

Finish: Medium, with notes of juniper, pepper, lemon and some lingering berry sweetness.  

Overall Thoughts

What stands out for this gin is how big, punchy and powerful it is. It’s remarkably flavoursome with lots of different fruity, herbal, and spicy notes being held together in a harmonious balance, reflecting the eyewatering amount of 47 botanicals that have gone into this gin. Its truly a contemporary gin - juniper here isn’t a main star but more of a backstage production manager that brings all the various flavours onto stage.  

Because it’s so flavour-forward with such a bold presence on its, this is a gin that can be readily drunk neat, or with tonic or soda water. I would be less inclined to use it in more complex cocktail recipes, as I think this gin has enough character to speak for itself and might not be so mixable.

TLDR: Big, punchy and powerfully flavorsome. Buy this gin if you're looking for a gin that can be readily drunk neat, or simply paired with tonic or soda water. This gin has enough character to speak for itself, so let it! 

Aviation Gin ✈️👨🏻‍✈️

“Tastes like a sunrise had sex with a feather duster," was how Ryan Reynold’s described Aviation Gin. I don’t know what this means, but I’m intrigued enough to want to try it.

Aviation Gin was actually first launched in 2005 by distiller Christian Krogstad and bartender Ryan Magarian at the House Spirits Distillery in Portland, United States. It was named after a pre-Prohibition era cocktail called The Aviation. It was only in 2018 when Ryan Reynolds acquired a stake in the gin brand and began marketing the heck out of it! 

The gin is made out of seven botanicals: juniper, coriander, lavender, cardamom, sarsaparilla and two types of orange peel. In its early years of production, co-founder Magarian felt strongly that Aviation Gin did not fit neatly into any of the existing categories of gin. Magarian hence coined the term “New Western Dry Gin” and advocated for this new categorisation of gin. In his words, New Western dry gins would be an entirely new designation of gins that “shift away from the usually overabundant focus on juniper, to the supporting botanicals, allowing them to almost share centre stage”. 

Aviation Gin - Tasting Notes

Aroma: Prickly and fragrant with notes of angelica root, sarsaparilla, licorice, as well as floral accents of lavender. A mellow note of juniper shows up, but with quite a bit of restraint. 

Taste: Spice-forward, leaving a nice coating on the tongue. There's an earthy, spiced undertone that carries through from the nose onto the palate - cinnamon, oak shavings, angelica root and coriander seeds, punctuated by notes of orange peels, lemon balm and a touch of juniper pine. 

Finish: Long and warming with a flourish of spices. Cinnamon, angelica root, sarsaparilla and cassia brings forth an almost Root Beer like quality that's quite pleasant. It comes to a close with a light menthol note of mint and licorice at the end.

Overall Thoughts

Aviation Drink is quite soft, smooth and approachable, with a fragrant blend of spice flavors and subtle oaky, floral accents that gives it enough complexity to make things interesting. There have been some past criticism about Aviation Gin, likening it to a more spice-forward vodka. While I can see where that might be coming from given the lesser influencer of juniper in Aviation, I don't think that characterization is altogether fair. There's actually still a degree of piney juniper flavors in here that I reckon it still keeps to the spirit of being a gin.

I find Aviation to be quite versatile when mixed, and would recommend using this spirit if you want a more spicy kick to your classic cocktails like the martini. It also pairs with more floral liqueurs such as St Germaine. In a gin & tonic though, I found it a bit too muted for my liking. 

TLDR: Buy Aviation Gin if you want a spiced gin suited for all-purpose mixing, though not so much in a gin & tonic. It has a great aromatic spiciness that is best used to add flavor accents to cocktails, and would go especially well with floral liqueurs. 

With juniper & joy, 

@lotusroot518