Review: Beatties Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin (83.5/100)
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Posted on November 02, 2023

Beatties Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin is produced by Beattie’s Farms & Distillers in Alliston, Ontario Canada. Although the distillery is a more recent addition, the farm has has been in the family for five generations. It began with great-grandfather Roland Beattie, who immigrated from Scotland in 1876. He instilled the core values the family business lives by to this day:

“Work hard, love what you do and give back to your community.”

Today, Beattie’s Farms & Distillers is led by Ken Beattie and his team of family, farmers and distillery staff. They have one ambition and that is to make what they believe is the world’s best tasting spirits. 

The Cranberry Blood Orange Gin (like all of Beattie’s spirits) is produced from a base of potato spirit from  potatoes grown, peeled, mashed and distilled from their very own farm. This is a flavoured gin which of course features the combination of Cranberries and Blood Oranges. Previously I reviewed Beattie’s Navy Strength Gin and found it to be one of the best I have sampled to date (see here). So I am looking forward to sampling the flavoured version which I understand is intended as a holiday offering.

The spirit has been bottled at 30 % alcohol by volume.

In The Bottle 4/5

The bottle presentation for Beattie’s Cranberry Blood Orange Gin is shown to the left. It is a no-frills no nonsense display in a bottle which feels like it could have been used half a century ago. Its a heavy bottle with a lengthened neck and wide mouth for easy pouring. The label is simple and to the point letting us know the spirit was bottled on October 2 2020 from batch number 2.

I am not a fan of the green lettering on the orange label which looks kind of strange and hard to read. But I suspect this is a small batch offering and the cost of designing a fancier label would have pushed the price of the spirit up a little too high.

In The Glass 8.5/10

The flavoured gin sends fruity scents of sweet orange peel and cranberries in the breezes as soon as the glass is poured. I like the aroma is pleasant rather than aggressive. The juniper as well as the other gin botanicals are obscured by the fruit leaving only vague traces in the air that seem to vanish as soon as you notice them. Hints of licorice, a vague sense of coriander and angelica and fleeting glimpses of menthol are all that I can discern. This is a flavoured gin, and it is proper that the flavours the gin is named for are at the forefront.

In The Mouth  50/60

The flavoured gin is well balanced with the fruity aspect of the spirit leading the parade, and the juniper and gin botanicals playing a strong supporting role. Although sweetness was implied on the nose, I am glad that it is quite restrained as I sip. The balance appears to be about right, and the restraint shown towards the sweetness of the spirit means that a full range of cocktail possibilities exist. I would suggest something that enhances the cranberry and blood orange zest flavours, perhaps a modified Cosmopolitan. In fact I took my hand at mixing one and you can see the result down below.

In The Throat 12.5/15

Cranberry and blood orange peel are both a little on the tart side and the fruit peel in particular can bring a little bitterness forward. That is the case in the finish which is perhaps a touch more bitter than sweet. My thought is that I prefer this light bitterness to the more common sugary sweetness of most flavoured spirits.

The Afterburn 8.5/10

Beattie’s Cranberry Blood Orange Gin is a pleasant diversion. The cocktail I envisioned during my tasting sessions worked out nicely, and I am certain that others with more talent than I in the realm of mixolgy can find many more worthy libations. Gin Punch comes to mind off the top of my head. The flavoured gin might even work in a Negroni.  I’ll leave that to others to work out.

I like Beattie’s Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin, and if you like gin, I suspect you will like it too.

You may read some of my other Gin Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

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Suggested Recipe

Alliston In Wonderland

1 1/2 oz Beattie’s Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Cranberry juice
1/2 oz Lime juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup (Optional)
Ice
Blood Orange Peel and Cranberries

Add the first five Ingredients into a cocktail Shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain the cocktail into a chilled glass
Garnish with Blood Orange Peel and Cranberries

Note: If  you are interested in more of my cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

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My Final Score is out of 100 and you may (loosely) interpret that score as follows:

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing spirit.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)