Summer Daze – Brewdog Guava & Red Banana Gin

The folks from Kirsch Whisky were so kind to send me the current Distiller’s Edition of the Brewdog Lone Wolf Gin. On top of that, I also received a sample of Vietnamese rhum. Since, the gin has exotic fruits as extra botanicals, I thought to combine them both in a Sour suitable for late summer!

Brewdog continue to use crazy botanicals for their 2022 Lone Wolf Distiller’s Cut edition. This time they use guava and red bananas. Additionally, the list of botanicals includes almonds, angelica root, cardamom, coriander seeds, grapefruit peel, juniper, lavender, lemon peel, lemongrass, orris root and pink peppercorns. After distillation the gin is bottled at an ABV of 42,6 %.

Surprisingly classic

On first glance, the Brewdog Guava & Red Banana gin tastes surprisingly juniper forward. You get a lot of resinous flavours with hints of citrus. However, after a while you also discover fruity notes reminiscent of guava and bananas. Still the exotic fruits are well balanced with the other botanicals.

Slightly “Improved” Gin Sour

For a drink, I first wanted to make a Gimlet style cocktail. However, since I had fresh coconut water on hand, I thought it would pair nice with the exotic fruits. As mentioned above, Kirsch Whisky also sent me the Sampan Vietnamese Rhum and I threw that in as well. Finally, I emphasized the banana notes a bit more with the Tempus Fugit Crème de Banana.

The “Summer Daze” starts with some gin and tropical fruit notes. The coconut water pairs excellently with the gin’s fruity side and the overripe fruits from the Sampan rhum. All in all, the drink is well balanced with just the right amount of funk.

*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 and the rhum were provided by Kirsch Whisky.