Asking for a gin and tonic in Gran Canaria has mainly resulted in me being offered Bombay Sapphire, Gordons or Beefeater gin, but yesterday when out I was offered Larious Gin.
As the bartender started to pour the gin at the table; I noted that the bottle was nothing particularly exciting, but as budget gins go it’s list of botanicals sounded promising. The botanicals contained in Larios are:
- Juniper
- lemon
- bitter oranges
- coriander
- cinnamon
- almonds
However, once poured it must be said that botanicals were not apparent on the nose, there was a hint of citrus but a harsh alcohol bite was most notable. On taking the first sip, the citrus flavor really came through with a faint hint of coriander, but very little in terms of spice.
As I added the tonic water to the Larious my hopes for this gin begin to perk up, because what happened was a bit of a citrus explosion. The taste of the lemon was balanced by that of the bitter oranges and a slight almond edge came through.
Now by no means was this gin and tonic exceptional, it was very skimpy on depth, but then I enjoy deep, woody, spicy gins, but it was a nice light tipple and great to drink in the balmy Gran Canaria weather.
I was pleasantly surprised by this gin as I had heard it described as harsh. Indeed somewhere I read about it being the stuff that is used to clean down the bar at the end of service and it was not a harsh cheap booze at all, instead it had a lot of cocktail making potential.
My conclusion is that if you like a gin that is heavy on the citrus then you will really enjoy quaffing Larios. I certainly think it would make a great addition to a lemon Martini and it is not going to break the bank to invest in a bottle.
