661502 Thu Oct 22 12:18:21 -0700 2009 3 36 Spirits 0 5123134 I recently saw a bottle of gin that didn't look terribly familiar. It's called Beefeater 24. It looks like it's billing itself as a new high-end gin. Apparently it is made with sencha green tea and the 24 refers to a 24 hour botanical steeping period. Apart from that, I don't really know much else. Any hounds here try it or know anything more about it? Thu Oct 22 12:18:21 -0700 2009 199612 Fritish 1 5123559 reviews describe it as more herbal and citrusy than regular Beefeater...I tried it as part of PDT's (NYC) Spice Trade cocktail, which was fantastic Thu Oct 22 14:44:30 -0700 2009 5123134 13161 barleywino 1 5125473 We got to try it at the release party here in Boston about a month ago (as well as getting a bottle from the Pernod-Ricard reps). Basically it is smoother due to more of the heads & tails (impurities) in the distillation being thrown away than normal Beefeater. And with more botanicals (especially citrus and tea) than normal Beefeater. With that, B24 costs a bit more than the regular Beefeater, and the differences can only be detected in certain cocktails (Martini, yes; Pegu Club, maybe not so much). An excerpt from the blog post we wrote about it: "Beefeater 24 is more citrussy than normal Beefeater with peels from Spanish grapefruit, lemon, and Seville orange in the botanical mix. Also noteworthy in the 12 botanicals are two teas -- Japanese Sencha and Chinese green tea. Desmond Payne, Beefeater's master distiller, added the tea in homage to James Burroughs' (who founded Beefeater in the 1800s) father who was a tea merchant. Tasting the gin straight, the citrus notes stood out the most with the tea being a little more subtle. In addition, the juniper was a lot more subdued than in the regular Beefeater." rest is here: http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2009/09/bee-sting.html Fri Oct 23 10:39:00 -0700 2009 5123134 256764 yarm 1 5135995 Yarm is right on: interesting botanicals--including teas--in this thing. We haven't gotten to try this yet but it scored poorly at (relative to other gins anyway) at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2009 getting a bronze medal. (By comparison, Blue Coat Gin from Philadelphia won as "best gin" and the regular Beefeater gin received a gold medal.) --Neal (Proof66) Tue Oct 27 18:10:47 -0700 2009 5123134 1104512 proof66