Wait, this isn’t whiskey? What?

Dogfish Head was one of my first craft beer loves, so when one of Sarah’s trips took her to Baltimore a few years back, I turned it into my Delaware trip and a stop in Milton, DE to hit my favorite brewery finally. I brought back several beer varieties, and even a Dogfish Head-branded record player…and this gin.

I don’t drink gin often. Typically as a changeup cocktail dining out. Which is why I still have this bottle at home. It is the only gin I sip neat. I used others for mixing.

Gin is vodka distilled with juniper berries and any other botanicals the distiller prefers. This particular one is their Analog Vodka with Juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, black peppercorn, lemon peel, green cardamom, hibiscus, orris root, orange peel, lime peel kaffir lime leaves and cinnamon. Yeah, that is quite the list. The Analog vodka is made using their brewer’s malt and a proprietary yeast. A lot of breweries do this now, but like most things Sam Calagione does, he was in on that game early.

Juniper is the taste-forward aspect of most gins. It is what makes it “piney vodka”. And four-years into this bottle, it is more aggressive than I remembered. It had a fair amount of citrus when I bought it, but either that has died down on me, or this is a post-Covid taste thing. I still get a decent amount of pepper on back end, I’m guessing from those coriander and peppercorn. And it still drinks smooth without an overpower burn, which was part of what attracted me to the gin initially.

Rating: 88.

Whiskey Ratings

90: High West Campfire
83: Buchanan’s Deluxe 12

Gin Ratings

88: Dogfish Head Compelling Gin