Juniper Arms – Citadelle Juniper Decadence
Citadelle already have a lot of experience with ageing gins. Yet, they went the extra mile with their Juniper Decadence bottling. So, I came up with a Sazerac version – a drink I usually would not use a gin in.
For their new Citadelle Gin edition Ferrand uses the same 19 botanicals of their original gin. However, they increased the amount of orange peels. After distillation on one of the nine pot stills. The aeging is done in small, heavily charred 100 l casks made from juniper wood. Afterwards Ferrand bottle the gin with 44,4 % ABV.
Herbal juniper notes
Obviously, the gin only gets a slight barrel flavour from a month in the juniper casks. Yet, the notes of the regular Citadelle, which you instantly can recognize, are supported by distinct herbal notes. On top of that, I got the impression that there are slight new wood flavours in the taste. On its own, I already enjoyed the gin quite much.
Juniper Sazerac
I have a friend who likes to order Genever Sazeracs. Yet, most bars only carry the unaged Bols Genever which in my opinion lacks the barrel flavours for a Sazerac. This gave me the idea of using the slightly aged Citadelle gin together with some genever in a Sacerac variation. Part from that split base, I added a bit of the spicy Chesapeake Bay bitters besides the obligatory Peychaud’s.
3 cl Old Duff Genever
0,75 cl Giffard Gomme Syrup
1 Dash Bitter End Chesapeake Bay Bitters
3 Sprays Absinthe Blanche de Fougerolles
Stir – strain – chilled Old-Fashioned glass;
Garnish: Lemon Twist;
Song: Adam Torres – Juniper Arms;
The ‘Juniper Arms’ starts with an interesting mix of gin and genever. Yet, soon afterwards the absinthe and the bitters kick in. All in all, the drink is smoother than the regular Sazerac. At the same time, the herbal and spicy notes add complexity to the drink.
*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 Ferrand Deutschland.
