Crows Gin

Nine of the twenty-three botanicals are sourced in the Philippines, and those nine are what separate this gin from a competent import. Crows Craft Brewing and Distilling launched it in 2016 under Josemari Cuervo as the country's first small-batchSmall batchProduction in small quantities per distillation run, often in a small still. The term has no legal definition.Glossary craft gin, at 40%.

Citrus · Spicy · Floral · Herbal

Two of the local ingredients carry most of the identity. Pandan is a leaf used across Southeast Asian cooking, and its aroma is genuinely strange to a European nose: rose, almond and vanilla at once, sweet without any sugar involved. Calamansi is the local citrus, small and green-skinned, with a sweet-tart profile pitched between the two without belonging to either. Around them the aroma is a medley of citrus: kumquat, tangelo and candied lime peel, with floral and herbaceous juniper notes underneath rather than in front.

The palate moves in stages. It enters smoothly on lemon and orange, then ginger and galangal bring a genuine heat, galangal being the sharper and more medicinal of the two. Makrut lime leaf takes over in the middle with an intensity that peel cannot reach, and the close brings green bell pepper, cardamom and a citrus finish that keeps going. Lemongrass, lavender, anise and a native chili fill in the rest of the list.

Bronze at both the 2019 World Spirits Competition in Singapore and in San Francisco. It handles a Gin and Tonic, a Martini, a Tom CollinsTom CollinsA long drink of gin, lemon juice, sugar and soda water, served over ice in a tall glass.Glossary and a GimletGimletGin with lime cordial or sweetened lime juice, served well chilled without ice. It is said to come from the Royal Navy, as a guard against scurvy.Glossary equally well, which is what a versatile profile actually means. Hold the tonic neutral and give the pandan all the room it needs to register. Being first in a country is a claim that expires the moment somebody else opens a still. Being built from nine local ingredients does not expire, and it is by some way the harder half of the achievement.