World Gin Day - Bulldog Gin

I am a sucker for a good gin and tonic. After a stressful day of drinking loads of wine (ahem), there is no better way to relax than with a G&T, so when Bulldog offered to send me some of their gin in time for World Gin Day tomorrow, I was well up for it.

Bulldog Gin landed in 2006 and has clearly spent a lot of cash on its branding. Personally, I'm not a fan of the bottle (it's a bit too 'cheap aftershave' for me!) but plenty of people love its sexy black shine.

This seems to me to be a gin created for the American market which I found a little worrying before I tried it. I wasn't exactly in love with the stereotypically-British Bulldog name, but I hoped the gin inside would live up to it.

And you know what? It isn't half bad. I tried it straight first, and on it's own the nose is quite powerful, which works with the whole 'bulldog' thing obviously, but it isn't really a sipper! The aroma has got lots of juniper, which is lovely, but I personally missed the more flowery/herby smells you can get with more delicate gins.

To taste, it's lighter and nice and crisp, and the flavours develop in the mouth much more than on the nose, but at 40% the alcohol gives it a real wallop. It's not really a gin for the faint-hearted, but if you like your sauce with more oomph then you won't be disappointed (I imagine it would make a mean martini.)

They also sent me a bottle of Fever Tree Tonic to make my own Bulldog G&T, and this made it much softer, with more interesting characteristics coming through: this is definitely a great gin for mellowing out with a mixer.

Bulldog gin is available from Master of Malt for £21.68. Although I personally prefer more herby varieties like Death's Door (£35.27), they tend to be much more expensive - Bulldog is definitely one of the better value for money gins out there at the moment, and gives a kick like no other.

What will you be drinking on World Gin Day? Let us know below or on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

Photo taken from FoodBev Photos' photostream under the Creative Commons License