I’ve heard good things about the December Craft Gin Club box from my Mother in Law – in fact, I saw the offerings they sent last year and they were quite impressive. So, I had some high hopes when my December box was delivered, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed! This month’s box is inspired by the picturesque villages of the Cotswolds which, of course are beautiful any time of the year, but especially so during the festive season. Of course the Cotswolds has a personal note for me too as it’s where we got married, so it was definitely a nice touch. So far so good!
Disclaimer: I am not an affiliate for Craft Gin Club, and have not been compensated in any way for this post. My gin subscription is ordered and paid for out of my own money and all opinions are my own.
What’s in the Box?
Cotswolds Dry Gin: The Cloudy Christmas Edition
The London Essence Co. Indian Tonic Water
The London Essence Co. Pomelo & Pink Pepper Tonic Water
Gnaw Winter Wonder Milk Chocolate
Codorníu Cava Non Vintage Brut
Tyrrells Hand Cooked English Crisps – Lightly Sea Salted
Crafted Mango and Passion Fruit Juice Drink
The Dormen Christmas Mix
Kind Bars – Limited Edition Apple Almond Spice and Caramel Almond Sea Salt
Gin Star Martini cocktail syrup
Grapefruit and star anise garnish
Cotswolds Dry Gin: The Cloudy Christmas Edition
I’ve actually had the original Cotswolds Dry Gin before and it has to be one of my favourite gins of all time, so I was so excited when I saw it featured in this month’s box. Exclusively for Craft Gin Club members, the Cloudy Christmas Edition is filled with festive botanicals including juniper, angelica, grapefruit, clementine, black pepper and lavender. It smells AMAZING for starters, and flavour wise, it doesn’t disappoint either. You initially get the hit of citrus from the clementine followed by a warming and spiced finish – it’s definitely a perfect choice for Christmas!
The London Essence Co. Indian Tonic Water/Pomelo and Pink Pepper Tonic Water
The London Essence Co tonic featured in September’s box, albeit the blood orange and elderflower edition. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always really enjoyed their tonics and it was nice to have the original Indian tonic water again as it had been a while. Having a simple Indian tonic meant that it really gave the gin a chance to shine and you could really experience the flavours in it. Overall, the tonic itself was really light too, which is always a win for me as I can’t stand the ones that linger with a bit of a sickly finish. I hadn’t tried the pomelo and pink pepper one before, but I wasn’t disappointed! The pink pepper added a hint of spice to the flavours of the gin and had a really warming flavour to it, plus it smelt gorgeous!
Snacks
The snacks offered for this month were a mixed bag but it was definitely a good one! In all fairness, they had me sold as soon as I discovered a share size bag of Tyrrells crisps in there. The rest of the offerings certainly had a festive vibe to them – I’ll be honest, anxiety has meant my appetite hasn’t been great lately so I’ve yet to sample them fully, but everything that’s been included is something I’ll eat eventually, and I love the flavours in the Kind bars, especially the caramel almond sea salt which regular readers will know is right up my street!
The Cocktail: Gin Star Martini
The Crafted Mango and Passion Fruit juice previously featured in July’s box, so I knew this would be a great component for the cocktail. The cocktail was a gin-inspired take on your usual Pornstar Martini and it certainly didn’t disappoint. While I was a bit dubious as the syrup smelt quite sickly sweet but with all the ingredients together it worked perfectly. It was certainly boozy and the clementine flavours of the gin really gave it an extra citrussy twist, and the Cava itself was also rather nice too. To be honest, it didn’t feel like much of a Christmassy cocktail (I feel it’s more of a summery thing), but I didn’t mind because I love a Pornstar Martini, and anything that incorporates gin in my opinion is a winner.
Final Thoughts
Craft Gin Club certainly ended the year on a high with their December offerings. Of course I didn’t start blogging about their boxes until June, but as of December I’ve had a full year’s worth of gin-fuelled treats. As you will have read in certain reviews, certain boxes haven’t been as good as others, but that’s a price you pay overall with subscription boxes isn’t it? I’m currently going through their advent calendar (if you’ve been reading my IG stories you’ll have seen brief reviews!) but I’m planning on doing a post about it at some point after Christmas. On the whole, there have been some really good offerings from Craft Gin Club in their monthly boxes, and I can honestly say that over the year, there hasn’t been a gin that I haven’t liked. So, for now, my monthly box reviews will still be continuing!
Overall Rating for December’s Box: 8/10
Catch Up on Previous Reviews
April 2021 – QVT Dry Gin Édition CGC
March 2021 – The River Test Distillery Chalkstream Gold Gin
February 2021 – Seppeltsfield Rd Distillers House Gin
January 2021 – Pennington’s Lakeland Moon Snowfell Gin
November 2020 – Pienaar & Son Orient Gin
October 2020 – Whitby Gin The Demeter Edition
September 2020 – Stranger & Sons Gin
August 2020 – Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Gin
July 2020 – Amázzoni Gin
June 2020 – Dartmouth English Gin
Even though I don’t drink, there are some items in this box that still interest me. At one point, I would probably cave and try the fruity drinks – anything mango sounds divine! I definitely think that you got the best subscription box out of the bunch that I’ve seen floating around on the internet. 🙂
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Some of the mixers/fruit drinks are amazing! It’s certainly one of the better value for money ones! Thank you for reading 😊 xx
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The gin star martini sounds amazing!
Happy Holidays!
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It was so good! Definitely a nice twist in the usual one! Hope you had a lovely Christmas! X
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