Qual­ity bou­tique gin is sweep­ing the states, so it makes sense that France’s famous micro-distiller (Gabriel Boudier of Dijon) has given us an arti­sanal Saf­fron Infused Gin. The gin is based on an old French colo­nial recipe, cen­tered around the spices of India, and hand­crafted in small batches that uti­lize an old pot still method.

The first thing you notice is the golden orange color. I’d imag­ine they’d like you to think that comes from the saf­fron infu­sion, how­ever after fur­ther inspec­tion you’ll notice that the ingre­di­ents include cer­ti­fied color and FD&C Yel­low #5. This is a bum­mer, but I pow­ered through it as I’m on a mis­sion to try all gins known to man. But yeah, neg­a­tive points for that one, Gab. The upfront smell is of juniper, nat­u­rally. The sip test revealed a spicy saf­fron and almost a sweet honey taste. You’ll also notice a hint of fen­nel, corian­der and orange peel. It’s def­i­nitely a drier gin. Very crisp and clean. Offi­cially the botan­i­cal heavy recipe includes saf­fron, juniper, corian­der, lemon, orange peel, angel­ica seeds, iris and fennel.

So maybe I was a bit hard on this gin. It’s pleas­ant and I think the color could be lever­aged nicely in some pre­sen­ta­tions. You can def­i­nitely taste the saf­fron, which gives it a very unique taste.

Sells for around $30 a bottle.

Note: Gabr­ial Boudier of Dijon also makes a fan­tas­tic creme de cas­sis.