Thirsty Thursday Eve - Kirkland Signature Gin

It's been a minute since I bought a bottle of gin, but when I saw that Costco carried a new Kirkland Signature branded gin, I had to try it.

Name: London Dry Gin
Source: Kirkland Signature
Style: Gin
ABV: 44%
Price: $17.99
Volume: 1.75L
Price per oz: $0.30

In the early days after I could legally buy alcohol, I bought a lot of things that were new to me. I was raised in a teetotaling household, so I didn't get to try a lot of alcohol through my youth. Some things stuck, but others (like Southern Comfort) were quickly abandoned.

When I discovered that I liked Long Island Iced Tea, I decided to pick up the constituent ingredients (including gin) and make one at home. It would be cheaper per drink than buying them at a bar. I figured out the hard way that Long Islands are pretty tough to make well, so I bounced off that idea after the first one.

I bought that bottle of Beefeater on May 24, 2014. That one handle of gin stuck with me for several years. By November 2016, it appeared to have about a quarter left. On October 26, 2017, I sent a picture of an empty or nearly empty bottle next to a shot glass to a friend. Presumably, I finished it then or soon after. A little over 3 years, then, is how long I kept that single bottle.

Turns out, I don't really love drinking pine tree. To each his own, but the flavor of juniper just isn't something I enjoy all that much. Much like the Southern Comfort, I would take a shot every now and then with friends, but the bottle just wouldn't seem to go away.

Why, then, would I buy another bottle some 9 years later? I've found that a lot of cocktails call for gin. The botanicals match better with certain flavors, a distinction that I ignored in my youth. After I figured out that a Long Island Iced Tea was too hard to make, I mostly just took shots straight or tried to mix it with soda.

During my recent attempts to elevate my alcohol consumption to something more tasteful, I found out I was using gin wrong all those years. My first company party with my last job was at Juniper, a gin bar in Greenville. Of all the gin joints... Alas, if they were serving gin, I figured I may as well find something I would drink. On the recommendation of a coworker, I tried a Tom Collins and I really enjoyed it. Maybe gin wasn't ALL bad.

When I saw that Costco carried a Kirkland Signature branded gin for pretty cheap, I figured that was my sign. I picked up a handle (go big or go home, amirite?) to stock the home bar. I tried a shot straight, as is customary, and it tasted like pine trees just like I remembered.

While I was reorganizing the liquor cabinet, I noticed a bottle of lingonberry syrup we had picked up from IKEA a few months prior. I meant to try it out, but I just never opened the bottle. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. The sweetness of a fruit syrup sounded like an obvious pairing with the botanicals of gin.

Lingonberry syrup straight tasted something like a slightly sweeter raspberry. I poured a 1oz shot into a glass and cut it with 4oz of water. The bottle calls for a 1 to 6 ratio, but I felt like that would have been too weak. I added a shot of gin and prepared for the worst. I was pleasantly surprised. The pine tree flavor I associated with gin was significantly less pronounced, and seemed to play nicely with the tart fruit. I added an extra shot of gin to see if I could amp up the alcohol, but the flavor profile wasn't as good. In my experience, a 4:1:1 ratio of water to syrup to gin was perfect. It was earthy and floral, but still sweet.

Now that I'm not just throwing whatever alcohol in with whatever mixer, I can appreciate more of the nuance of gin. It certainly won't be my go-to when I'm making a simple cocktail, but I'm glad I have it on hand. If you're looking for something to experiment with, Costco makes an affordable gin that will scratch the itch without paying top shelf premium.