Wild Season – Wilder Mind Gin

There a lot of gins out there, but still you can find really good ones by coincidence. My good friend Torben from Trinklaune suggested that I try the Wilder Mind gin. Obviously, I had to comply and try the gin Paul Brusdeilins distils after building quite the resume with other gins.

Paul worked as a site manager at Gin Sul unit September 2017. After doing some contract work for other gin start-ups, Paul and his girlfriend Katharina started producing their own gin in 2021. Paul distils the gin in East Holstein on a copper pot-still. Fifteen botanicals are used, among them bitter orange peel, cedar, galangal, lavender, lemon peel, sage and Timut pepper. Paul also extracts fresh lemon and grapefruit peel through vapour distillation in the still. In the end, the gin is not chill-filtered and bottled at an ABV of 42 %.

Peppery and intense

Although, the Wilder Mind Gin ‘only’ has an ABV of 42 %, it tastes very complex. The mandatory juniper is the first thing you notice, but soon a lot of pepper and resinous notes kick in. You can also find some citrus flavours and tannins in the taste of the gin. All in all, I enjoyed the gin very much with its rather classic taste.

Kind of a Negroni variation

I cannot tell you why, but I wanted to pair the Wilder Mind Gin with jasmine tea. So, I came up with a kind of Negroni variation where I replaced the sweet vermouth with apple Verjus and jasmine tea syrup. The final touch to the recipe was a bit of blood orange eau de vie.

*Brew jasmine tea twice the amount that is instructed on package – let cool – add sugar in 2:1 ratio to the tea – bring to boil in a pan – bottle in clean bottles;

With the first sip you instantly get the Negroni reference with the combination of gin and Italian red bitter. Yet, the blood orange and apple flavours take the drink in a different direction. It also gets more autumnal vibes. Yet, the drink is quite refreshing and a little softer on your palate than the original Negroni.

*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 Wilder Mind Spirits.