It was hard to find a better Gin to review after the last one.

That Gin was really surprising, but Gin Italy was lucky enough to have a new unique kind of Gin to study, a handmade Cornish Gin. Tarquin’s Dry Gin.

Tarquin’s Handcrafted Cornish Dry Gin is made by Southwestern Distillery, in a special bottle, with handmade details, numbered and signed, to celebrate the extreme care needed for this Gin.
Tarquin’s is the first Gin distilled in Cornwall for centuries, in small batches of just 300 bottles each; the wheat alcohol is infused with a single shot distillation with juniper, coriander, zest of oranges, lemons and grapefruits, angelica roots, cinnamon, liquorice and Devon violets. The water is sourced in Boscastle.

The Tarquin’s was just announced on the market but it got quite a reputation already around the world, the work of this independent microdistillery is just perfect.

It tastes of good juniper, in a smooth way, leaving space for the citrousy notes. Drinking Tarquin’s neat shows that this is a high quality Gin: complex, smooth, warm without burning, perfect after a good meal. In Italy we’re familiar with a good Grappa for this, and I know I’m saying a big thing, but try it yourself: a Gin can be used neat, instead of a Grappa, to appreciate the multiple flavours, the complexity of the distillation, the high quality.

It’s true that Gin is born to be mixed, that’s what we all do, but when we have these kind of Gins, something that can elevate the quality of an entire category, we need to understand it from the very starting point, to understand its soul.

Of course Tarquin’s work perfectly when mixed, the Martini for example is very clean and dry, a true pleasure, a very well combined marriage.

We advice an extreme proportion for a G&T (1 part Gin + 2 parts Tonic Water) with just a lemon zest as a garnish, for one of the best G&T possible.