300 gins on the tasting table / Boar is Gin of the Year / Distilleries from the Black Forest at the forefront
In hardly any other segment is the aromatic and qualitative diversity as great as in the world of gins, and it's all too easy to lose the overview. However, the results of Meininger's International Spirits Award 2021, which put around 300 different gins to the tasting, now provide reliable orientation in the juniper jungle. The basis for the evaluation was once again the proven ISW scheme, in which the products are not only judged, but also described in a decidedly sensory way.
The wide variety of distillates prompted the jury, consisting of spirits experts, distillers and bar professionals, to award a total of 46 gold and 40 silver medals during the large blind tasting. Four gins also received awards for outstanding quality in their respective categories.
Gin of the Year national: BOAR Blackforest Premium Dry Gin
In 2019, this benchmark from the Black Forest already won the title of "Gin of the Year", followed by a gold medal in 2020, and in 2021, the characterful dry gin brilliantly secured the coveted special award at national level. BOAR thus impressively underlines its class and symbolises continuity at the highest level. Incidentally, the secret that makes it so harmonious is the use of Black Forest truffles in the botanical mix.
Gin of the year international: Broker´s Premium London Dry Gin
This is what a true titleholder looks like: after its triumph in the same category last year, Broker's Premium London Dry Gin will again reach the summit of the ISW international gin Olympus in 2021. In its powerful 47% by volume variant, it is a real highlight among the gins of classic style, whose ideal image it serves perfectly.
Gin of the Year barrel-aged: GINSTR Barrel Aged Gin
Barrel-aged gins have been enjoying greater popularity for some time, as they are most likely to leave the popular field of application of gin in classic highballs and also serve the target group of purists. The GINSTR Barrel Aged Gin from Stuttgart does this in an extremely impressive way and thus secures the first-ever special prize as the best barrel-aged gin of the year. of the year with barrel ageing. After all, the final ageing gives it exactly the harmonious-complex dimension that one might expect from a gin of this style and thus interprets the subject of gin in an extremely exciting way.
Sloe Gin of the Year: Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Sloe Gin
Monkey 47 can justifiably be called the spark of the new German gin miracle. The Black Forest company, which has since become a global brand, redefined gin in terms of both quality and aroma and is considered a pioneer of the national New Western Style movement. With Monkey 47 Sloe Gin, the makers have once again succeeded in creating a masterpiece that adds a fruity, tart and sour dimension to the standard Monkey and takes home this award with aplomb.
Alexander Thürer, BRANNT - Magazin für Spirituosenkult, und Christian Wolf, Verkostungsleiter des ISW, stellen die besten Gins der April Verkostung vor:
