Wasabi. Gin. That's right, the ever-wonderful Dancing Sands distillery in New Zealand has gone and created Wasabi Gin! Local Golden Bay wasabi root is used alongside kelp, orange, horopito (a native peppery herb) and other botanicals. It's bottled at 58% ABV, rather than the traditionally used term 'navy strength', Dancing Sands would prefer you used 'wasabi strength'.
A kick of wasabi straight off the bat, swiftly followed by earthy juniper, sweet orange and gentle notes of almond, warming horopito fades into a savoury and slightly salty finish.
A heavenly hit of super strength gin with a fantastic after taste, so much better than these newfangled wish yeast guns!
In one word, disappointing. Auckland airport is a heaven for gins lovers--the variety of local craft gins alone is impressive. I saw this one rated very highly, the idea of Wasabi is most unusual, so I decided to dedicate to it half my 2-bottle duty-free allowance. The alcohol content is so high, the first whiffs remind me of a vodka. By itself, it tastes like a Wasabi-flavoured vodka. Not extremely enjoyable, not very gin-like. Next attempt, tried mixing it with a botanical and a plain dry tonic, and both the results were disappointing. It becomes more palatable but also quite boring--the wasabi kick subsides, just barely detectable in a 1:3 mix. The alcohol still comes through rather strong, and nothing else is too interesting.
Full on, potent, Wasabi! Strong and spicey, tick, tick, tick! Well don’t Dancing Sands!
