Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin Review And Tasting Notes
The Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin is an exciting distillate you can drink neat or use to make lovely cocktails. The sharp and pungent gin flavor has been sweetened by a good dose of Demerara sugar and then smoothed by a quick 3-4 month aging in wood.
Nothing new under the sun. Old Tom has always been present in the history of English gin. It is a sort of younger brother who is cut with sugar to be less grumpy. So, why are we so excited since you can’t usually find gems in this category? This Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin is different. It was born as an aesthetic experiment. It is a distillate with ambitions, so reducing it to gin sweetened with sugar would be an understatement.
Organoleptic characteristics of Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin
The bouquet is a play of light and shadow, forest and tropical island, ice and fire, caramel and juniper that chase each other relentlessly. It has an excellent aromatic tension played on ripe fruit and sweet-spicy suggestions. Flowers, sugar cane, pepper, cumin, fennel and shards of cinnamon lost in a sea of bitter oranges. Overall, despite being very rich, it keeps its development clean and precise.
On the palate, it is juicy, pungent, well balanced in terms of alcoholic thickness, with excellent structure, but there is that sweet touch that caresses you. The juniper and ginger blades have been blunted slightly, adding a more velvety touch. In any case, it is consistent with the nose: flowers, ginger, spices, juniper in the finish, which is almost spicy for so long that it is spicy but ends with an aromatic ascent. Overall it is well done, not too stylized and pleasant.
If you’re a lover of beefy, roaring, earthy and licorice-filled London Dry gin, you won’t like this one. It is more plump and floral and sweetly spiced, but of its kind, it is a well studied and calibrated distillate in every facet.
How is it make?
The spirit is the same famous Citadelle gin. Then it is sweetened with Demerara sugar cooked in copper cauldrons until partial caramelization. The blend is placed in wooden barrels to find balance, tannins and a minimum of harmony. Then it is bottled.
Price of the Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin
30-35 euros: a reasonable cost for an atypical gin, but with a certain charm.
Cocktail to do with Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin
For the great classics based on Old Tom it is perfect. Use it to make Martinez, Tuxedo, Tom Collins, Casino.
