Citadelle Gin has a history which stretches back to 1775 when King Louis XVI authorized two Frenchmen, Carpeau and Stival, to open a genievre distillery at the Citadelle in Dunkirk, which would serve as the Royal Distillery with an exclusive 20 year privilege. The Citadelle Distillery produced about 1000 litres of genievre per day which was predominantly shipped in small casks for sale in England, where gin was very popular.
About 200 years later in 1989, Alexandre Gabriel of Cognac Ferrand, recognized that in France, gin had become more of an industrial spirit with much of the heritage and refinement lessened by time. He decided to create a handcrafted gin using small copper pots in the style and tradition of the Citadelle Distillery of old. Fortunately records existed of the old gin making techniques at the Citadelle Distillery, and after several years of research Alexandre was successful in distilling an old style handcrafted gin under the Citadelle name at the Cognac Ferrand facilities in Cognac, France.
When I reviewed Citadelle Gin, I noted how well-balanced the flavour was in particular how the spicy cardamom and coriander seemed to play so nicely with the strong push of bitter juniper. This combination resulted in some fantastic cocktails including a recipe I designed called the March Lion. The strong balanced flavours also results in a fantastic Gin and Tonic!
My G&T Score for the Citadelle and Tonic based on my standard cocktail is 89/100.
Just so you do not have to keep track of these scores yourself, I have constructed a separate page to keep a running tally of all scores as they are published, and you may refer to that page here;
Rum Howler 2014 Gin and Tonic Challenge
As well you may read my published review of Citadelle Gin here:
Review: Citadelle Gin
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