Spirited News 02/2017 – Elephant’s Navy Strength Gin
It’s again time for a new gin! Yet, this one comes in “Navy Strength”. The magic words which set hearts of spirits connoisseurs racing. Apart from that, already the regular Elephant’s Gin won me over completely. So, obviously I was more than curious what the few extra percentages ABV could do!
Right now we are at a point, where I usually would not care much about a new gin, because what could a new one possibly do better than other gins out there? Of course, gin producers are more than welcome to proof me wrong here! Nevertheless, as stated above when “Navy Strength” is mentioned in the name of the product my curiosity is awakened. Exactly this was the case with the Elephant’s Navy Strength Gin. The recipe for the gin is the same one as with the regular bottling of Elephant’s. This means that there are 14 different botanicals, with some of them being indigenous to Africa like African wormwood, baobab and Buchu. In contrast to the original Elephant’s gin, the Elephant’s Navy Strength is only brought down to an ABV of 57 % instead of the usual 45 % after distillation. Apart from that, the design of the bottle is also different, instead of red colouring blue is used and a map of the sea is illustrated on the label.
It’s really true that the Elephant’s Navy Strength Gin is an amplified version of the gin with the regular ABV. There is a lot of piney juniper and other prominent gin spices in the nose and taste. However, you can also find a healthy portion of fruitiness in the sip. Both Elephant’s Gins manage to incorporate a strong apple note, without drifting off into an apple eau de vie direction. For me this is a sign that despite the gin flood, Elephant’s Gins manage to express their individualism. On top of that, the bouquet of the Navy Strength also evolves into slightly floral rose petal notes with a touch of lemon eau de vie. I guess that after a while you are bound to repeat yourself with gin reviews, but of course the Elephant’s Gin incorporates all of the typical notes. So, it does not come as a surprise that the Navy Strength works perfectly well in a Gin & Tonic. However, I should mention that I got a great result with a slightly sweeter tonic water like Thomas Henry. All in all, the only thing left to say is that indeed Navy Strength is always better!
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product.
