Review

Origin Albania Gin

Master of Malt, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.

Master of Malt. 

Master of Malt is one of the UK’s leading online liquor retailers. Established in 1985 they originally concentrated on Whisky but this soon grew to encompass a full range of spirits.

Ben Ellefsen, Sales Director at Master of Malt, first encountered a phenomenon when he was making their Professor Cornelius Ampleforth Bathtub Gin. He noticed there were differences with the flavor from the juniper berries (even when from the same country) and this got him thinking. Just as the same varietal of grape grown in two different locations (e.g. Bordeaux, France and California, USA) taste very different, Ben wondered if the same was true of Juniper. The difficult task was to actually source juniper berries from just one specific location, in sufficient quantities, to really test the theory.  

This Gin was launched in summer 2012 and does contains juniper grown in only one particular location, and is just one from their range of 7 “Origin” Gins. The aim of these Origin single estate Gins is to explore the effect of a given regions terroir upon the Gin’s flavor. Spoiler Alert: The end result is the Origin range does demonstrate the terroir of where the juniper is grown (e.g. altitude, climate, soil etc.) does indeed affect the flavor of the Gin.

This Gin uses juniper grown only in Valbonë, in the hills of an 8,000-hectare national park. This is a beautiful, clean and relatively untouched place, found in the Tropojë District of Northern Albania. The area takes it name from the Valbona River, which has created the Valbonë valley across many thousands of years.

Each Gin is made in exactly the same way. The juniper from a specific location is ground and then steeped in a neutral base of English wheat spirit for 24 hours. This mixture is cold distilled (at room temperature) using a rotary vacuum still before being condensed to produce the Gin.

The rotary vacuum still is also used to produce a second separate distillate of the other botanicals, at 45% ABV/90 proof. This is provided in a small (third of an ounce) jar, which may be added to the bottle of juniper Gin (to create a more rounded or complete Gin) if one wishes.

The Gin is presented in a clear, cylindrical bottle with rounded shoulders and medium length neck. There is a large light yellow label with colorful hand drawn images of the botanicals used. “Origin” is found in large black colored letter toward the bottom of the label. The bottle is capped with a black wax seal.

London Dry Gin.

46% (92 Proof).

$$$$$$. Not available in the USA. Try Master of Malt in the UK however expect to pay an additional 50% for shipping. This is also available in a 3cl sample jar for around $6, or you can purchase a sampler set of 5 Origin Gins (those using juniper from Albania and Croatia are excluded) for just over $30 (but add another 60% for shipping). 

This Gin only uses one botanical: juniper berries.

A separate jar of distillate is provided, to add to this juniper Gin, made from 9 other botanicals, which includes: angelica, camomile, cardamom, cassia, coriander, cubeb berries, lemon peel (fresh), liquorice and orange peel (bitter).

Origin, besides a play on the word Gin itself, hints at the use of single estate juniper i.e. the origin of the juniper berries.

Choice is a great thing but sometimes this choice makes it much more difficult to decide. In this situation, given the Origin “experiment” is all about how juniper from a specific location can vary the flavor of the Gin, we certainly had to ponder the addition of the botanical distillate to the Gin. In the end we tasted the botanical distillate by itself to gauge the effect it might have upon the juniper Gin and found this helped (to some degree):

On the nose is cardamom with citrus and other herbal spice notes. On the palate this sweet tasting spirit (liquorice) has clear cardamom with citrus whilst in the background there are hints of earthy spice and floral aspects.

However, the best piece of advice we found was from The Cocktail Geek. They suggest, rather than adding the whole jar of botanical distillate to the bottle of Gin, using a syringe to add 1ml to 70ml of Gin - we tip our hats to them accordingly. This is a perfect way of tasting the Gin and distillate together without affecting the Gin for further tasting. So, with this in mind, let’s get on with the tasting!

On the nose is a light earthiness with hints of fruit. On the palate this softly light-bodied spirit has a pine (juniper) and spicy dark red fruit taste. On the close there is a hot earthy and slightly bitter finish with hints of chocolate and tobacco plus a slight saltiness. With the addition of the botanical distillate everything is raised to a creamy sweet level with the citrus making this a lively and refreshing Gin. This is quite complex with the botanicals making a very pleasant balanced and rounded Gin.

This is a nice juniper only Gin but we preferred this with the botanicals added. In a Gin and Tonic the juniper only version lost a lot of its character but when tried with the botanicals added more of the juniper “bite” came through. In a Martini the juniper only Gin is light and subtle but with the botanicals added more spiciness comes through with a very nice smooth and creamy feel to it.

Overall the juniper only Gin was light and subtle with some heat and harshness to it – some Gin lovers may really like this combination taken neat. However, with the botanicals added it really came alive and was much more refreshing and enjoyable with a fair amount of citrus on the palate, making this version the most suitable for using in mixed drinks.

Ben Ellefsen and Master of Malt have our heartfelt thanks and praise for producing this Origin range of Gin. It is a very interesting experiment and we are so pleased they have made this commercially available. Whilst it might be of limited use to many Gin drinkers, for those wishing to understand and appreciate more about Gin it is a wonderful opportunity. If you haven’t tried their Origin Gins we urge you to do so, it is a real education for novices and connoisseurs alike.

Well, as they say in Albania, it’s “Lamtumirë” (Albanian for “goodbye”) for now.

Unknown.