We recently sampled some Barreled Gin from Nashville’s Corsair Distillery. The gin spent some time in used spiced rum barrels where it does this, per Corsair’s web site, “Classic gin forward nose evolves into a spice medley of cinnamon, clove and coriander. Anise, black licorice, clove hit the pallet initially but give way to vanilla and rum notes before a clean dry finish.” Now we didn’t quite detect all that and we generally don’t like craft distilleries taking too many liberties with good old gin but we enjoyed this Barreled Gin in a dry Martini. It definitely has a little something extra without betraying its “gin forward nose.”
Corsair says this barrel-aged style of gin is becoming increasingly popular. You may not be able to find Corsair in your neck of the woods but there are a number of other distilleries giving barrel-aged gin a go.
– Jet Cannon
