Consider the Jaffa cake. A timeless treat. Now, if something is delicious, chances are someone will make a gin with it, and that’s exactly what has happened here. Jaffa Cake Gin is distilled with oranges, fresh orange peel, cocoa powder and Jaffa cakes. Actual Jaffa cakes. As in “Right, we could eat these yummy Jaffa cakes, or we could put the Jaffa cakes in this vacuum still and make Jaffa Cake Gin.” It’s that kind of situation.
The result is just like you’d expect - full-on Jaffa cake tastiness built around a distinctive base of crisp juniper. The label claims it’ll make the best Negroni mankind has ever seen, but we’ll let you be the judge of that one - though you will get top marks if you stick a Jaffa cake on your glass like a citrus wheel garnish.
Zingy orange (marmalade-esque) is swiftly overtaken by a rich and earthy chocolate undertone. Hints of vanilla-rich cake and just a touch of almondy-goodness. A solid backbone of juniper brings up the rear.
Jaffa cakes! Perhaps not surprising, but the resemblance is uncanny. Nice balance and great poise. The flavour never oversteps the mark - this is still resolutely 'a gin'. Delicately sweet - not sickly or in any way liqueur-like.
The orange-y palate fades into unctuous hot cocoa, and a note of bitter dark chocolate remains to the last, ably shored up by the piney tang from the juniper.
Does what it says on the tin, this one. Nicely integrated, and extremely crowd-pleasing.
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Either you are reading this because the idea intrigued you or you are part of the strange Venn diagram of gin and jaffa cakes lover but no matter what, this is worth a try! It's not as expensive as some other gins but it certainly is a lot different. - On the nose: This is still a gin, and thus it has a relatively strong smell of juniper on first whiff, but once you get acclimated to it, it gets really hard to not pick up strong notes of sweet orange marmelade with a tinge of bitterness from the dark chocolate. You could have a glass of relatively neutral gin next of a half eaten jaffa cake and smell both at the same time, you wouldn't be that far off from it. - On the palate: Starts bitter for me with the juniper being forward then mellows out into the dark chocolate and ends with the tangy orange sweetness that lingers well over the finish. Every now and then a taste of pine tree shows up out of nowhere, not sure if it's the wood notes I am getting or if my brain is confused with another spice. - Overall: An excellent balancing act between the gin part and the flavor of the jaffa cake, at no point in time it feels overbearing or just overly sweet like some other gin liqueurs, everything feels and taste at the right place and I couldn't ask for anything more. I rather prefer it neat but I can name a couple of cocktails where it would be amazingly great.
This Jaffa Cake worked well with Lime Slices (a bit of zest too) and with Clementine tonic and some slices of hot red chilli! Try it!!
I loved it. Smells and tastes just like Jaffa Cakes! I love Jaffa Cakes and gin, couldn’t imagine the two together... but thought... ‘What the hell, life’s too short, I need to try this’. And I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed it, as did many of my friends.
Had to try this and wasn't disappointed as truly hits the total combination of a jaffa cake biscuit but double the pleasure in a drink. Was given mine as a present but will defo be purchasing another very soon !!!!
Great balanced Gin. If you could drink a melted alcoholic Jaffa cake then this would be it. Try it and enjoy.
