The Top 20 Most Expensive Gins in the World
Only 3% of people have tried more than two… how many have you tried?
The Gin market has been booming the in the past few years and now there’s more gins out there than we can hope to taste in a whole year! Distillers got creative and created all sorts of concoctions with pink gin being one of everyone’s favourites recently. Most delicious craft gins will cost you £30 to £40 and we like to use those for our regular gins and tonics. But what about the extra premium ones? Like fine wine they can get really expensive… We have put together a list of those gins you want to crack open on special occasions, they all have something special and unique about them! Can you guess how much is the most expensive gin in the world? Read to the end to find out! Let’s start easy…
20. Nelson’s Navy Strength Gin
£65
The botanics to make this gin are sourced from all over the world, where they are found in their finest form. Lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves come from Thailand, vanilla from Madagascar and cinnamon from Sri Lanka. Navy Strength uses the same botanicals as the London Dry Nelson’s Gin but increased amounts to get the balance right for a 57% gin to allow a smooth, fresh and clean finish.
Clean, fresh taste and aroma which is at the same time deeply and surprisingly complex.
19. Cambridge Japanese Gin
£65
This is the world’s first gin to focus solely on Japanese botanicals, the Master Distiller became enamoured with these exciting and unusual flavours, which were only accessible because of Cambridge Distillery’s low-temperature distillation processes.
Japanese Gin is made using six botanicals: juniper, shiso leaf, sesame seeds, cucumber, sansho and yuzu: each distilled individually in a vacuum, then blended together for exceptional purity of flavour. Serve long with an equally delicate tonic, and garnish with a fan of crisp green apple.
18. Nolet’s Silver Dry Gin
£67.32
Every batch of NOLET’S Silver (47.6% abv) is distilled and bottled at Nolet Distillery in Schiedam, Holland, using a recipe created by Carolus Nolet, Sr. in collaboration with his sons. NOLET’S Silver’s gin base is distilled with selected gin botanicals using small copper pot stills. Its signature botanicals – Turkish rose, peach, and raspberry – are individually macerated and then distilled to yield the highest concentration and purity of natural flavours and aromas!
The family distilling tradition has been going for a whopping 325 years.
17. Skin Gin Cask Aged Overproof Edition
£68
This Skin Gin has been aged for 12 months in a white sweet wine barrel to create a sensational product. Despite the strong 51% abv. this gin tastes much gentler. A must try for every gin lover!
The handmade 0.5l bottle has a green leather look with gold foil embossing on all sides which makes it super stylish, elegant and unique. Only 400 bottles are available to buy so get your hands on one of these limited editions asap! On the palate you’ll get green cardamom, honey and oily pine and the finish is junipery, just how we like it…
16. Hobart No.4 Gin
£70
Hobart No.4 is a Tasmanian Single Malt Gin enriched with four native Australian botanicals – lemon myrtle, anise myrtle, wattleseed and Tasmanian pepperberry. During the colonial era in Hobart, gins were made using malted barley spirit, but this practice was lost as more efficient distillation methods were developed. This gin harks back to this old fashioned style, made with exactly the same single malt spirit the distillery uses for their award winning whiskies, double distilled from 100% Tasmanian barley. This lends Hobart No. 4 Single Malt Gin a weight, body and malt character that you’ll appreciate from the first sip.
This gin is different, with a texture and malt flavour you won’t find in a London dry style. Try Hobart No. 4 on the rocks, in an old fashioned, or for an ultra textural Negroni.
15. Nginious! Vermouth Cask Finish
£76
Well well… this bottle looks so beautiful we’d feel bad opening it to drink it!
To create nginious! Vermouth Cask Finished Gin, the distillery uses our Swiss Blended Gin as the basis for the cask finished variant, which contains 43% abv. The maturation in the vermouth cask adds notes of bitter orange and oriental spices, but the herbal note that is typical for nginious! Swiss Blended Gin is not lost.
This gin stays about 5 months in Vermouth di Torino casks!
14. Wa Gin
£76
Another Japanese gin makes the list! Wa Gin’s base spirit is shochu distilled from Japanese sake and then aged for 10 years. Seven botanicals are used including juniper, orange peel, lemon peel and cinnamon. Strongly citrus driven with an unbelievably smooth texture that comes from the sake base. On first impression reminds of creamy, chocolatey orange. The profile is tight, exotic with a velvety smooth finish.
13. Spring Gin Gentleman’s Cut
£78
Spring Gin distills its gin four times, allowing the botanicals to release their complex signature aromatics. The first three times the gin is distilled with grain. In the fourth distillation we include thirteen gin botanicals: coriander, lemon and orange peel, star anise, black pepper, cardamom, ginger root, delicate orange blossom, cinnamon for the spiciness, angelica for the dryness… and augment these with two native botanicals, being rhubarb root and pine buds: a highly distinctive, soft gin with a wonderfully crisp finish is born.
Bottled at 48.8% abv., this gin is not for the faint of heart. Though the mouthfeel is rich, the finish is gentle. Extreme clarity of taste, citrus freshness: the Gentleman’s Cut excites the taste buds allowing you to undergo a salvo of flavours as they burst across the palate.
12. Cambridge Truffle Gin
£80
Truffle is one of my favorite things ever so I am dying to try this one! It is definitely an unusual combination, do you think it works?
A trial batch of just 36 bottles received such phenomenal feedback that Cambridge Distillery had to bring this to the market now for general sale. Lovingly and painstakingly distilled just one litre at a time, they’ve based this gin on the most incredible white truffle from Alba, Italy. Truffle Gin makes a spectacular digestif, which Cambridge Distillery recommends you enjoy simply over ice.
11. Crossbill Special Edition Dry Gin
£85
This gin is very very special because of one key ingredient used in it… juniper! Crossbill are one of the very few producers in Britain to be able to pick juniper locally, precisely on their doorstep. One day they discovered that a particular plant they were picking berries from is a 200-year-old specimen!! As it is quite rare to find in Scotland so they decided to honour this aged berry and make a gin with it. At a 59.8% abv. this gin is juniper forward, it has fresh pine notes, kept in check by the sweeter, slightly fruity rosehip.
10. Cambridge Seasonal Gin
£90
It does not get more craft and small batch than this! This strictly limited edition Cambridge Seasonal Gin has been distilled using botanicals from the local area, which have been grown or foraged in the first part of the year. The Spring-Summer gin features distillates of magnolia blossom, zesty lemon balm and award winning local honey.
9. Limited Edition Monkey 47 Distiller’s Cut 2018
£110.00
Every year Monkey 47 releases a new take on the regular gin for the joy of Gin enthusiasts and bartenders. In the 2018 version leaves of red mustard cress were added to the macerate of the 47 “traditional” ingredients of Monkey 47. They were then distilled again in a second extraction procedure, left to mature for three months in earthenware containers, and finally combined with soft, local spring water. This gin is piquant, yet elegant with delicate green top notes that lend it a unique complexity and unparalleled density.
8. Foragers Clogau Reserve Gin
£130
The launch of this very special single-cask expression, created to celebrate the Royal wedding in May 2018, has seen only 440 bottles crafted, with a very limited 250 bottles being made available to the public! And unfortunately now they are all sold out…
This Gin is delicately hand-crafted using selected botanicals indigenous to the Welsh mountains and coastline, including juniper, sea buckthorn, apple, elderberry, gorse flower and heather. The special thing about it is the use of a single, hand-selected, oak cask from one of Northern Spain’s finest wineries, combined with pure Welsh mountain waters from the Clogau shale in Snowdonia, naturally filtered through seams of gold. We are very jealous of the lucky ones who have had the chance to try it!
7. Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin Goldcap
£132
Only created once a year, Ferdinand’s unique small batch Saar Dry Gin Goldcap is crafted using dried Riesling grapes, mirabelles (a plum so wickedly delicious they’re illegal in America), cocoa beans, acacia shoots and pears. It’s infused with the highest awarded wine produced by the 275-year-old Weingut Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken’s, which is bought at great expense at auction for the job.
The result is an almost Cognac-esque concentration and a showstopper of a gin. Smooth and laced with honeyed fruit, pine needles, woody herbs, pineapple mint, caramelised orange peel, ginger and peppery juniper. And can we talk about how beautiful the packaging is?! You can get yours from Harvey Nicholls!
6. Ramazzotti Dry Gin 1960s Bottling Note
£144
This is a rare bottle sold by a collector on Master of Malt, so once it’s gone – it’s gone! This Ramazzaotti Dry Gin B.B is believed to have been produced in the 1960s. We have no idea how this will taste, but it’d look very smart on your gin shelf!
5. Cambridge Anty Gin
£200
Formica rufa, the red wood ant, are found in forests around the Northern Hemisphere, and are inspiringly sophisticated creatures. The formic acid that they produce is a very reactive compound in alcohol, serving as an agent for producing various aromatic esters. And many of their chemical pheromones are the same volatile molecules we perceive as aroma. Through distillation of these wood ants, it is possible to explore the tasty universe of these naturally occurring molecules and reactions, capturing the flavours of this fascinating species. Each bottle of Anty Gin will contain the essence of approximately sixty-two wood ants!
4. HMS Victory Oak Barrel Aged Navy Strength Gin
£355
A rare chance to own and taste a piece of history. In partnership with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, The Isle of Wight Distillery have recreated the type and style of gin drunk by Naval officers during the 1800’s. Gin was stored on board ship in oak barrels that had often previously been used to store wine. As with whisky, a lot of the colour, flavour and character is carried over from the oak itself!
Each release is limited to 251 bottles as 2016 was the 251st anniversary of the launch of HMS Victory in 1765. Every bottle will be presented in a locally made oak box with leather handle and engraved coaster together with a miniature of the limited edition oak-aged gin to taste, in case you do not wish to open your bottle. Each release includes a presentation and reception on board HMS Victory with guest speaker David T Smith, the noted gin historian and author. This is a true must have for someone who loves gin and is passionate about history!
3. Nolet’s Reserve Gin Modern
£530
Inspired to create a gin like no other, NOLET’S Reserve is the personal creation of Carolus Nolet, Sr., 10th generation distillery owner. Bottles are allocated annually, individually numbered by hand and presented in a prestigious gift box. This limited edition gin is bottled at 52.3% Abv. To achieve NOLET’S Reserve Gin’s complex, unforgettable flavour and dry, long-lasting final impression, Carolus Nolet Sr. handcrafted a recipe highlighting two distinctive botanicals: warm spicy saffron and subtle, delicate verbena. Meant to be enjoyed with great company over ice!
2. Cambridge Watenshi Gin
£2,000
Revered by gin collectors as the absolute pinnacle of modern spirits production, Watenshi is the “angel’s share” of Cambridge Distillery’s Japanese Gin, normally lost to evaporation but preserved using new pioneering distillation processes – which yield just 15ml of spirit per distillation, less than a shot. The result is a gin of unparalleled intensity and complexity, an expression of refined elegance which has previously only been attainable by the finest single malts and significantly aged cognacs.
Only six bottles of Watenshi are produced in each batch: presented in a hand-blown decanter bottle and finished with silver elements by a jeweller whose other clients include Chanel, Tom Ford and De Beers. Pretty luxurious! The liquid inside is just as exquisite, with notes of sweet citrus and spice, supported by bitter juniper and an incredibly long, complex finish.
1. Morus LXIV Gin
£4,000
Distilled from the leaves of a single, ancient Mulberry tree, a single batch of this exquisite cask-strength (64% Abv.) gin takes more than two years of careful work to produce. Hand-harvested and individually dried Mulberry (Morus Nigra) leaves take the lead in this very rare, finely crafted gin. Botanicals grown for generations, their soil nourished by the same age old, underground stream.
Smokey, long and deceptively smooth. Very Bloody Marvellous.
So which ones of these super premium gins would you want to try? I am very curious to taste the Watenshi Gin, it sounds very different from all the ones I have had so far and perhaps will be a pleasant surprise! The choice of tonic is key to complement the botanicals used in the gin so I’d pair it with Merchant’s Heart Tonic which I love in every flavour 😉
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