Craft Gin Club Subscription Box Review | March 2021

I must admit, like last month, I’m a bit behind with sampling the offerings in the latest Craft Gin Club box. Again, it’s been a combination of things, largely that I’m still a little bit cautious of upsetting my delicate little snowflake twat of a stomach, and I’ve also been a bit more into wine this month. Okay, that’s a bit hypocritical. I largely mean that my stomach is the reason I’ve not been sampling the snacks lately, while on the drinking side, I’ve been putting away the wine. It’s all good though – I had a blood test at the end of February, and despite my fears, my liver isn’t buggered as a result of my lockdown drinking.

Anyway, on to this month’s box. This month’s offerings are perfectly themed around the arrival of spring, and the contents of the box celebrate the British countryside, with a gin crafted by a Hampshire distillery located on the banks of the River Test.

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?

The River Test Distillery Chalkstream Gold Gin

Hartridges Grapefruit Tonic

Prodigy Chunky Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt

Flawsome! Sweet & Sour Apple

Real Crisps – Jalapeno Pepper Flavour

The Soho Juice Co. Cucumber, Mint, Lemon & Lime

Chika’s Wholegrain Rice Crisps – Salt & Vinegar Flavour

Riverside Sunrise Cocktail Syrup

Lemon and Cucumber Garnish

The River Test Distillery Chalkstream Gold Gin

Located on the river banks, The River Test Distillery created this special edition gin exclusively for Craft Gin Club members. The first thing I love about this is the bottle – it’s so pretty! I’m developing quite a collection of empty gin bottles from previous boxes, which I’m upcycling to create a display in my dining room once we eventually get some shelves put up, and this one will be added to it once it’s empty. Anyway, this is a juniper led gin combined with coriander, angelica, Maris Otter barley, grapefruit and lemon, and the result is this lovely, fragrant gin with a touch of sweetness. I’m not normally a fan of the gins with woody based aromas as I find them a bit too intense, but I really enjoyed this one, and it definitely had something unique about the flavour, which from doing my research was apparently down to the Maris Otter barley, a highly sought after English grain for brewers and whisky distillers.

Hartridges Grapefruit Tonic

I’d never heard of Hartridges drinks before, and their grapefruit tonic was a lovely surprise and paired beautifully with the gin. It was light and zesty, and definitely was one of my favourite G&Ts so far from Craft Gin Club. There’s the added bonus that it’s made with gluten free and vegan friendly ingredients too, so it’s a brand to bear in mind if you’re looking for a tonic that ticks those boxes. The members’ store also stocks an Elderflower flavour as well as the standard Indian tonic, and I’m tempted to give these ones a try too because of how nice the grapefruit one was.

Snacks

Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed by the snacks in this month’s box. While I’m currently biased given that I haven’t actually tried them, they’re not particularly foods or flavours I usually go for. For example, I’ve had Real Crisps before and they’ve been really good, but I don’t think given the current state of my digestive system that Jalapeno Pepper flavour is a good shout for me. Had they been something a little more tame, I more than likely would have eaten them by now, because I bloody love crisps. Speaking of crisps, I’m afraid the Chika’s Rice Crisps will not be eaten either, because (and this is just my opinion), any food made from rice (except rice itself) is disgusting. Rice cakes make me want to vom, as do rice crisps so…bye hun. The Prodigy Chocolate on the other hand seems like something I might eat in the future, but I’m a bit weird with chocolate in that I have to be in the right mood for it. I’ll go months thinking it’s disgusting and then all of a sudden I’ll be shoving a massive bar of Galaxy into my face. I’m currently in between the two so I’ll pass for now. Out of all of the snacks though, this probably the thing I’m most likely to actually try at some point, so I’ll be adding into my emergency snack stash (which, funnily enough, is starting to get very full up with unwanted Craft Gin Club snacks). Shout out to the Soho Juice Co drink though, which I decided to try one evening with the gin, and it was lovely! It reminded me of a mojito style cocktail because of the flavours, just without the fuckton of ice watering it down. It was nice and light, and it was the perfect balance of the cucumber and mint flavours too. 

The Cocktail: The Riverside Sunrise

The Riverside Sunrise cocktail combines the gin with the Flawsome Sweet & Sour Apple. January’s box had an apple based cocktail with it, and I mentioned that it was a bit too sickly sweet, so I was a bit cautious about this one. However, they certainly got it right this time – it was like boozy apple juice and I bloody loved it! It was sweet, but still light enough to the point where I probably could have drank a couple of them and not felt sick afterwards, so all in all – a win! 

Final Thoughts

My regular readers will have noticed that there seems to be a theme recurring in these reviews, in that I really like the gin/G&T/cocktail recipes that come in each month’s box, but the snacks just end up pissing me off. It was certainly that way this month – the gin, tonic and cocktail were all right up my street this month, and each one was light and refreshing, so it definitely had some spring-time vibes with it. Unfortunately, the snacks let the side down, but let’s be honest, I’m not in this relationship for the snacks so…

Overall Rating for March’s Box: 7/10

Catch Up on Previous Reviews Here