Tarquin's The Seadog Navy Strength Gin - 70cl - 57% ABV

Southwestern Distillery is one of the most boldly adventurous and brilliant distilleries in the UK.

Based in Cornwall, the small team have been making delicious craft gins since 2013, with the eponymous maker of the entire Tarquin's Gin range stuffing his car with newly waxed bottles and delivering them across the length and breadth of the county.

Juniper has always been key to Tarquin's Gin, but also key to the brand's success is collaboration – from the Eden Project, to Rick Stein and even to our sister site, Gin Foundry, Southwestern Distillery is always keen to share ideas and work with others to create often mad but always brilliant gins.

Southwestern Distillery’s Navy Strength Gin began as a run of 771 bottles, created to mark the disbanding of the 771 Naval Air Squadron. The popularity and sheer brilliance of the spirit, however, meant that it would have been wrong to keep it as a limited run.

The recipe similar to their flagship, but all of the botanicals have been ramped up. There’s fresh orange, lemon, grapefruit, coriander, violet, juniper, cinnamon, angelica, orris, cardamom, liquorice and almond.

The juniper is vivid and violent, punching the drinker across the chops with a swift, pine hit. It’s crazy strong, but joined very quickly by a spiky cinnamon. Rich, rooty and cheek filling, the gin has a wonderful viscosity, too, and is completely and utterly perfect in a G&T. One of the world’s best, we’d go so far as saying.

To serve: Indian tonic and a grapefruit wedge in a G&T, but it's at it's best in a Negroni!

Read Gin Foundry's full review here: Tarquin's Gin