9/2008 D.H. KRAHN GIN
We caught wind of this new gin a few months back. Not many booze companies ballyhoo their spirits as being made by single distillation. D.H. KRAHN of California does. It arges that its high quality, Stupfler pot still produces a smooth, flavorful gin in a single distillation. KRAHN also claims that maturing its batches of gin in steel barrels “for at least three months” before bottling improves the gin’s flavor.
We’re not sure what to make of these claims. First, while KRAHN may distill the spirit just once, whomever KRAHN gets its raw spirit from already has distilled it at least once, presumably in a column still. That would make it a twice-distilled spirit. Second, does using a Stupfler model make for a superior gin? Its hard to say. Using pot stills to produce gin is nothing new. If the spirit coming is of very high quality, then the probability of getting a good spirit coming out the second distillation would seem to be high, as impurities already would have been stripped away. Finally, does aging gin in steel containers alter the taste? Aging a spirit in wood barrels, for sure, alters the flavour, as the spirit and the wood (charred or uncharred) chemically interact. But steel? Unless the containers were open to the air and/or the botanicals pitched in the Stupfler still were dumped into steel containers, it’s just hard to see how aging would change anything. Maybe we’re missing something.
Anyhoo, questionable marketing aside, let’s not lose the most important matter — taste. This is a good gin. It’s simple — KRAHN boasts that it uses fewer botanicals, just juniper, coriander, orange, lemon, grapefruit, and ginger. It certainly shows much less juniper that BEEFEATER and more citrus notes, and the ginger adds an interesting twist. It makes a very good martini. (Rating ****) For further details, surf to http://www.DHKrahn.com/. To see if our retailer can sell you a bottle, click here.
