Crowhurst’s Meme – Benguela Diamonds Gin
As with the B My Gin, I also am revisiting the Benguela Diamonds Gin. This South African inspired gin shows a great balance between juniper and New Western Style notes. On top of that, I was looking for a gin to use in a Beer-Negroni. While this drink might sound a bit weird, it turns out that the Benguela Diamonds Gin was the perfect choice!
Florian Faude also produces the Benguela Diamonds Gin. The list of botanicals features some classic gin botanicals and a mix of Southern African ones like African wormwood, African lavender and sweet kelp. For more details you can check out my first review of the gin. The gin is bottled at 45 % ABV.
Juniper and gum cistus
Contrary to the B My Gin, the Benguela Diamonds is a rather classic gin with pronounced juniper notes. At the same time, you can taste a lot of effervescent powder and gum cistus which I in turn associate more with Western Dry gins. Nevertheless, the Benguela Diamonds is a well balanced, quite spicy gin which works well in all sorts of classic gin cocktails. Since the gin already has a lot of spice notes, I decided to combine it with the Fever Tree Aromatic Tonic for a Gin & Tonic.
Built Double Old-Fashioned glass over ice cubes;
Garnish: Dried Grapefruit Wheel;
Hops and wheat
For the “Crowhurst’s Meme” I again was inspired by Drinkstagrammer Distiller’s Cut. He created a Beer-Negroni for the Landgang Brewery from Hamburg. I instantly knew that I needed to try this, too. So, I made a Negroni with the Benguela Diamonds Gin and topped it off with beer. However, I also added two dashes Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal and used the excellent Del Professore Bitter instead of Campari. Last but not least, I replaced the pale ale or Indian pale ale from the original recipe with a wheat IPA from the Maisel & Friends brewery, Bayreuth.
2 Dashes Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal
3 cl Del Professore Bitter
3 cl Mancino Chinato
Stir – strain – chilled Highball glass over ice cubes – top off with Wheat IPA;
Garnish: Dried Blood Orange Wheel;
Song: Ben Howard – Crowhurst’s Meme;
When you are sipping the cocktail, your palate is bound to be a bit confused: While you can taste a lot of typical Negroni notes, the wheat beer flavour of the wheat IPA is something you usually do not associate with that drink. Nevertheless, the flavours work together quite well. All in all, the beer definitely keeps the whole Negroni interesting.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The gin was provided by Benguela Diamonds Gin.
