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Hinterhaus Distilling South Grove Gin
About Hinterhaus Distilling South Grove Gin
Hinterhaus Distilling South Grove Gin is produced by Hinterhaus Distilling – an Arnold, California based spirits brand that is family operated. As a brand, they aim to reflect the nature surrounding them in the Sierra Nevada region, using small batches and locally sourced ingredients.
This particular bottle of South Grove Gin is made using a wine base from California grapes, which is distilled using fresh Sierra Nevada water. It uses botanicals that are native to the region such as juniper, gooseberry, rose hips, elderflower, and ginger root, which are vapor infused into the spirit.
Bottle Specs
❖ ABV: 42%
❖ Distillery: Hinterhaus Distilling
❖ Aging: N/A
❖ Price Point: moderate price
My Tasting notes
The aroma of this gin was slightly sweet and had faint hints of berry, as well as a juniper scent that was smoothed out and not too bitter.
I took a sip, and there was a lively sense of heat on the back of my tongue. The flavor had a strong herbal bitterness, with a sweet note in the finish that reminded me of the boysenberry pancake syrup that my parents used to buy when I was a kid. In some sips, there was also a honey-like quality to the sweetness. Overall, there was a bit too much heat for me to comfortably sip this gin, but I was still able to appreciate the flavors, and grew more excited to try it against mixers.
Cocktail
Fitzgerald
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz gin
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- garnish: lemon slice
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled
- strain the mixture into a small glass
- garnish with a lemon slice if desired
Overall, I found this cocktail to be a little on the sweet side, which I suspected would be the case when I saw that it calls for an entire ounce of simple syrup. I wish I had reduced the amount of syrup a bit to really appreciate the other flavors. Still, the berry notes were nice, and the alcohol was pleasantly smooth. Unfortunately, I found that the herbal and bitter notes got a little buried amongst the sweetness.
Bottom Line
RATING: 4/5
At the end of the day, I really enjoyed trying out this bottle of Hinterhaus Distilling South Grove Gin. Although the flavors were less complex than I was expecting and hoping for, they were still delicious. A few days after my official tasting, I made a different low volume cocktail with this gin (a riff on the Last Word using a couple dashes of chartreuse bitters instead of actual chartreuse), and the gin balanced out with the other flavors quite well.
For the price of this gin, I think I was hoping for a little more complexity and wow factor. I’m a big fan of botanical-forward gins, and the marketing materials for this gin made it sound like it would be fairly botanical-forward. In the end, it was more on the clean and sweet side, which is still great, but not what I was expecting.
That said, I appreciate that the company that makes Hinterhaus is family operated, and the owners seem to have good values in the way that they run their distillery. I love supporting companies like this, and I’m even hoping to visit their tasting room sometime soon, as it turns out it’s only a short 1.5 hour road trip from where I live. I look forward to trying out some of their other spirit expressions.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this bottle of Hinterhaus Distilling South Grove gin to a friend.
As always, drink responsibly.
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