BUSS N°509 Belgian Apple Gin

Belgian orchards and Calvados casks explain what happens in BUSS N°509 Belgian Apple. Fresh regional apples are infusedInfusionFruit or plants are steeped in the spirit to release their flavour. Done after distillation, infusion often adds colour too, and the gin can no longer be called London Dry.Glossary into the house gin, and the liquid then spends a short spell in Calvados barrels, which is where the woody accent in the profile comes from. Buss Spirits bottles it in Antwerp at 40% ABV.

Woody · Fruity

The botanical frame is the one the N°509 range shares: juniper, coriander, cardamom, angelicaAngelicaThe root of a tall umbellifer, earthy and musky. After juniper and coriander it is the most common botanical: it binds the aromas and holds the finish.Glossary, vanilla, liquorice, iris, orange and lemon, with Belgian apple added to it. None of that is there to sweeten the drink. No sugar, synthetic colouring or artificial flavouring goes into the bottle, and the fruit is worked in during production rather than added to a finished spirit, which keeps the apple tasting crisp instead of candied.

Apple leads the aroma, clean and orchard-fresh, with soft citrus around it and restrained spice underneath.

The palate balances that fruit against the botanicals: orange and lemon give definition, coriander and cardamom a quiet aromatic lift, and the short barrel ageing leaves a smooth, faintly oaky roundness. Vanilla reinforces it without turning the texture syrupy, and the finish stays dry.

A neutral tonic and a minimal garnish are all this needs. Take 4cl over ice, lengthen with 10cl of cold tonic and add a thin slice of apple if you want the fruit underlined. In a highballHighballA long drink served in a tall, straight glass with plenty of ice: a spirit topped with soda or tonic. The word also names the glass.Glossary the botanical line stays perceptible while the dilutionDilutionThe water added by melting ice. In the right amount it opens the aromas and softens the alcohol; too much flattens the drink.Glossary does its work, and the apple never runs away with the glass. It is also an interesting bottle for autumn cocktails, where the Calvados influence gives it common ground with apple brandy drinks. Few flavoured gins take a detour through a cask at all, and that short stay is what keeps this one from tasting like an orchard cordialCordialA concentrated syrup of fruit (often lime) and sugar, made to be topped up.Glossary.