My Wandering Eye is an ongoing series reacting to the rising prices in the bourbon world. We’ve reached a place where even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mid-range bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. My hope is to see if another spirits category offers something that is downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits, but to maximize the quality, I’m getting at a particular price point. And one thing to remember is that these reviews will all be written from the perspective of a bourbon drinker.
It is summer time here at the ol’ Burke household and in my mind, summer means gin. And since I saw this very interesting gin sitting on the shelf of my closest Total Wine, I decided to revive my favorite series on the site: My Wandering Eye. Now, this isn’t the type of spirit that my eye usually wanders to. In the past I’ve stuck pretty close to the brown spirits of Rum, Brandy, Tequila, etc. Though there was that one time that I compared every gin in my house.
But regardless, this is the very definition of a wandering eye. I was standing next to the gin aisle waiting for a response from my wife regarding a text I’d sent to her. As I was standing there, the bottles of Hendrick’s Gin caught my eye. There were three of them. And while I am not a huge fan of the original, I’m always intrigued by new takes on the gin flavor profile.
I love flavor. It’s why I love to cook and one of the reasons I found spirits so interesting in the first place. I love how flavors can combine to create something better than the sum of it’s parts. So when I saw three different Limited Releases of Hendrick’s sitting side by side, I decided to take a closer look to see which I was going to pick up.
And yes, I knew I was only going to get one, I already have 10 or so other gins in my cocktail cart.
I ended up getting Orbium, a version that is flavored with wormwood, quinine, and Lotus Blossom. I don’t care for Gin and Tonic’s because I find tonic water to be too sweet, but I like the bitterness that tonic water provides. My hope was that when used in a Gin Rickey, this would kinda split the difference between your normal Rickey and a G&T. So before we jump into what I thought of Orbium, let’s see what the distillery has to say about it:
Hendrick’s Gin reimagined with additional extracts of Quinine, Wormwood and Lotus Blossom. Deeply and dazzlingly complex, Orbium combines surprising sweetness with a distinct lingering finish that spirals from zesty to floral, moving onto an altogether unexpected alluringly bitter climax.
Hendrick's Orbium Gin
Purchase Info: $38.49 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN
Price per Drink: (50 mL): $2.57
Details: 43.4% ABV.
Nose: : Floral botanical notes that include sage, mint, and lemon zest among others.
Mouth: Sage, ginger, mint, lemon.
Finish: Spicy and warm, lemony, and after everything else fades, bitter.
Thoughts: Ok. So this isn't something I would just sit down and sip out of a glencairn. But that said, out of the 10 or so gins in the cocktail closet, this is the closest I've found to one that I'd sip neat. I'm a much bigger a fan of gin cocktails than I am of sipping gin neat. So let's try it in my favorite gin drink, the Gin Rickey and then in a ginger ale highball as recommended on the back of a different Hendrick's gin that I almost picked up instead.
Gin Rickey: This pairs very well with the lime juice in the Rickey. I usually use Beefeater for it's assertiveness in the cocktail, but with the quinine in the gin, this is halfway between a Rickey and a Gin & Tonic. Very tasty.
Highball: This is sweeter than I'd like, but that is the fault of the ginger ale, not the gin. The gin and ginger ale play very nicely together. The floral gin notes meld perfectly with the Seagram's ginger ale.
I am so glad that I picked this one up. It is delicious. I love the bitterness that it brings to the drinks. The lemon citrus notes play very nicely with both the citrus notes in the ginger ale and the actual citrus in the Rickey. Big fan. I think this will be my go to until it is gone and I head back to Beefeater.
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