During the season last winter, I bought a broad selection of tasty gins on my trip to the UK, including my absolute top favourite gin so far. Pickering’s 1947 is so good! Smooth, citrus forward without being too overwhelming on the palate, some herb/spice notes, but very well balanced. It is one of the few gins I tasted and immediately thought to myself, “Self, you are having another one of these as soon as this one disappears!”. It is based on an original recipe from 1947 given to the founder’s father in India. When in Edinburgh, a visit to the distillery in the Old Dick is very worth it.

Unfortunately, I have finished the bottle and, being in Canada, am finding it very hard to replace. Anyone have any suggestions?

Another fantastic bottle that has unfortunately been emptied is Achroous Gin from the Electric Spirit Company. Also a smooth sipper, happy either on the rocks or with a good tonic. When I was exploring St. Andrew’s in Scotland with Katie Murray, we stopped at the local spirit shop. So many fantastic flavours I wanted to try! Having a limited budget, I asked the proprietor which bottle I had to get. “Give me the rarest, most unique, tastiest gin you have.” He pointed to this garish, fluorescent orange bottle and said that was the one. Though a little put off by the colour, I liked the fact that this distillery only makes 300 bottles a year, and they are very local to the area. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be awesome! If you ever find it, do yourself a favour and pick up a bottle or three.