Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin is produced at the Avadis Distillery in Wincheringen in the tri-border region of Germany, near the border of Luxembourg and France. This is wine growing country, especially famous for the semi-sweet Riesling dinner wines which, when I was a youngster, seemed to be present at every wedding I attended and almost all major occasions. It is not surprising then, that Master Distiller, Andreas Vallendar has chosen to infuse his dry gin with Slate Reisling Wine.
The gin draws its name from Royal Prussian District Forester, Ferdinand Geltz who was the historical co-founder of the VDP Mosel-Saar-Ruwer growers’ group. Within its recipe are 30 botanicals, all of which have apparently been hand-picked either by the distillery staff or by the producer from which the botanicals have been acquired. (Directly behind the distillery are quince trees; lavender grows in the fallow vineyards; and lemon-scented thyme is grown in the Distillery’s own garden.) And, as mentioned earlier, topping everything off is the wine infusion which uses hand selected harvest wines from the large Saarburger Rausch vineyard site.
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin
Please enjoy this review which is the first of about a dozen new gin reviews which will be published over the next few months as I embark on an early season Gin Binge.
While examining the spirit, I decided that its character would be well suited to Martini cocktails where the many nuances of flavour within the gin would not be lost. I decided that a Vesper-like cocktail which combined a high quality vodka (Belvedere) with Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin would be an ideal starting point.
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