It’s time for that little nugget of joy I get every month – my Craft Gin Club delivery. I make it sound like there’s nothing better going on in my life, and that’s not true. However, my gin delivery is the highlight of my month generally so…
Anyway, on to July’s box. This month’s box took inspiration from across the pond, with a gin distilled in North Carolina, and a whole bunch of snacks and treats that represented the American spirit, just in time for the 4th of July. What followed was a beautifully boozy cocktail and a refreshing citrus-y gin that will almost certainly be added to my wishlist.
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?
Chemist American Gin
Mulberry Creek Tonic Water
Mulberry Creek Bitter Lemon
Bodega Bay Elderflower with Lemon & Mint
Penn State Sour Cream & Chive Pretzels
Luscombe Organic Sicilian Lemonade
Copperpot Pecan & Maple Fudge
Manilife Peanut Butter
The Curators Smoky BBQ Almonds
Lime and blueberry garnish
Peach Gin Iced Tea Cocktail Syrup
Chemist American Gin
Inspired by the Appalachia Mountains of North Carolina, Chemist American Gin is distilled in Asheville, a city known for its long history of spirits – most commonly, moonshine. The first gin to be created by Chemist Spirits, Chemist American Gin is a botanical led gin that combines citrus notes along with subtle spices and florals. It combines a number of citrus flavours including lemon, orange, tangerine and grapefruit, along with juniper, coriander, angelica root, rose petals, and lemon verbena, with the end result being a highly versatile gin that’s perfect for the summer. What instantly stood out to me with Chemist American Gin was the bottle, which is designed to look like an old-style medicine bottle and one that will be immediately added to my ever-growing collection as soon as it’s empty.
Taste wise, I really enjoyed this gin. The citrus notes become instantly apparent as soon as you open the bottle, and if you’re a regular reader of my Craft Gin Club reviews, you’ll know that I love a citrus flavoured gin! You get the floral notes after that first sip, but it’s just enough so that it’s not too overpowering, and you’re left with a very subtle hint of spice afterwards. Overall, it’s light and refreshing, and I can see exactly why the team at Chemist Spirits said it works in both modern and classic cocktails. I would definitely buy it again!
Mulberry Creek Tonic Water
I’m not all that familiar with Mulberry Creek as a brand, but after sampling their tonic water in this month’s box, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for them in the future. July’s box included two cans of Indian tonic water as well as a can of bitter lemon, presumably because of the citrus notes in the Chemist American Gin. Where possible, the mixers are made with locally sourced ingredients and the company themselves have a reduced carbon footprint too, so it’s a great brand for those who are more environmentally conscious. The tonic water had some light and refreshing citrus notes, so it paired incredibly well with the gin, and when you added in the lime and blueberry garnish, it took it to a whole other level. I also tried the bitter lemon and again, it worked really well with the gin and the citrus flavours from both were really refreshing. I sometimes find that bitter lemon can be a bit overpowering, but this one was just right.
Snacks
It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that I wasn’t all that impressed with the snacks this month. As I’ve said many times before, I’m all about the booze, so there’d have to be some pretty shit offerings on both fronts for me to even consider a bad review of a box, but again, most of this month’s snacks were added straight into the “Guest Lucky Dip Nibbles” bag. Let’s start with the pretzels – generally, I quite like pretzels. I don’t eat them all the time, but every once in a while I get a craving for them. Just not the sour cream and chive flavour. Nah, I’m all about the salt. Give me a bag of plain, salted pretzels any day. I’m not down with all these fancy flavours (not that sour cream and chive is fancy, but you know what I mean – keep it simple). As for the Copperpot fudge, this was a much more welcome addition – the brand has featured in an earlier box and it was so good! I’ve yet to actually try the maple and pecan flavour (for me, fudge is one of those treats that you have to be in the mood for), but it’s definitely something I’ll be doing at some point. Sadly, the peanut butter and the BBQ almonds also went into the nibbles bag – I absolutely hate peanut butter with a passion, and the idea of BBQ flavoured almonds genuinely turns my stomach. Again, keep your goddamn flavours simple. Finally, we came to the Bodega Bay hard seltzer. Until about a month ago, I wasn’t really aware of the whole hard seltzer thing, but since then I’ve heard that it’s become much more of a thing. It’s basically alcoholic fizzy water right? Meh, if it’s got booze in it, then I’m all for it. Anyway, my new thing is to try all of the mixers in the box with the gin – presumably that’s the way to do it? So this evening, I made myself a hard seltzer and tonic. Admittedly, I quite like the lemon and mint flavour, and it’s nice and light without being overly sickly – however, at the same time, the smell is very sickly-sweet, so it can be a little off-putting at first. I probably would try it again in the future, but I’m not sure I could drink them in multiple quantities. I guess on the plus side though, the brand itself has a lot going for it – they’re gluten free, vegan, low calorie, low sugar, and free from added colours and preservatives. Plus, they’re low alcohol at only 4% (unless you do what I did and mix them with gin), so they’re a good option if you don’t want much of a heavy sesh.
The Cocktail: Peach Gin Iced Tea
Peach Gin Iced Tea instantly got me thinking about a Long Island Iced Tea – one of my favourite cocktails. If you don’t know what that is, imagine pretty much all the spirits, topped up with coke and a slice of lemon. That’s right, it’s fucking lethal. But it’s so bloody good and it’s the perfect way to start a night out (what even is a night out anymore? I can’t remember). Anyway, sorry, I spiralled there. Bearing all that in mind, I was gagging to try the Peach Gin Iced Tea, and ultimately, I wasn’t disappointed. It was wonderfully boozy, and the syrup really brought out the peach flavours without being too overpowering. The cocktail also combined the organic Sicilian lemonade, which balanced everything out so that it wasn’t too sweet. The end result was this gorgeous summery cocktail that was light and refreshing, but still boozy enough that drinking just one of them gave you a bit of a buzz. While it wasn’t quite as boozy as a Long Island Iced Tea, it was still pretty good – to the point where I had three of the buggers.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I was impressed with this month’s offerings. While I wasn’t too happy with the snacks (let’s face it, I never am), the gin, mixers, and cocktail recipe were enough to redeem things. The gin and the cocktail recipe were both perfect for summer, and there’s extra points for how pretty the bottle was. I think overall, this has been one of my favourite boxes this year.
Sassy Cat Lady 