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It's fancy new flavor time for gins. Though the dominant taste usually comes from the juniper berry, distillers can add anything they like to neutral grain spirit to make gin go down easier. The recipes are always secrets, but nearly all manufacturers play with some of the following botanicals: cinnamon, bay leaf, ginger, coriander, nutmeg, lemon, orange peel, cassia bark and licorice root. Despite those common denominators, the latest entrants in the field -- Tanqueray Rangpur and G'Vine -- have starkly different flavors.
Tanqueray Rangpur smells and tastes strongly of limes. Native to India, Rangpur limes are added during distillation, instead of after, along with juniper, coriander, bay leaf and ginger. This gives the London dry gin a crisp, clean taste and a pleasingly dry finish. It also means that this gin might not work as well for certain drinks. It's smooth enough to be consumed on the rocks, and pairs nicely with tonic and ginger, but it may be too citrus-y for a proper martini.
G'Vine sounds like some new hip-hop artist, but this gin owes its name to French grape vines -- an unusual provenance for a gin. The spirit, distilled in a cooper pot still, is a combination of green grape flowers, Ugni Blanc grape spirit and ginger root, licorice, cardamom, cassia bark, coriander, juniper berries, nutmeg, lime and cubeb berries, an Indonesian plant once used to treat gonorrhea. Floral notes leap out of the glass, most notably lavender. It has an obscenely complex flavor and is sweeter than most gins. It works with tonic and martinis, but this gin is so strong and distinct, you'll either love it or you'll hate it.
-- James Oliver Cury
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Tanqueray Rangpur