Damrak Amsterdam Gin is 41.8%abv and 83.6proof. It is what I would describe as an in between style of gin, halfway between a Genever and an English dry style. It is made with malt like a Genever but is much lighter in style than a true Genever because plain, unmalted grain is used as well; and it is then distilled five times. This is definitely a robust gin and has 17 botanicals including juniper, citrus, honeysuckle, and a combination of spices, herbs, fruits, berries, and more.

The aroma is sweet and citrus forward, I think a bit of orange and grapefruit comes through. Then the floral notes come through with the unusual honeysuckle presence, which is very noticeable to me. Mostly because I am very familiar with it from this past summer when I picked thousands of the small honeysuckle flowers, one by one in the mornings over several weeks, and made them into honeysuckle liqueur. This entire aroma comes over a firm but light juniper and malt base. The flavor is spicy and sweet with a hint of citrus and malt, the floral notes, herbs and spices, and finishing with a sharp licorice bite. To call it complex is an understatement, and it is very full and thick on the tongue.

This is not a gin for GnT's. Either serve it in the Dutch style of very chilled as shots, have it on the rocks, or possibly in a cocktail where the fruit and grain will be shown to the best advantage. I haven't tried it in a martini because basically I think it has so much going on that vermouth would just confuse the issue. Once I started tasting this with a few friends, we ended up drinking more than half a bottle, served on the rocks during a long and mellow evening.

Gin is one of my favorite types of spirits. Over the next few months I will post reviews on quite a few of them, but first I should cover some background on the subject. Gin could technically be called a type of infused spirit sort of like the infused vodkas that are so popular today.

Gin was first created around 1650 in Holland by a physician as a medicinal tonic and was called genever, which is Dutch for juniper. Genever as a tonic was very rough, heavy, and sweet. The English started drinking the spirit and shortened the name to gin, as well as changing the recipe over time to become dry, i.e. not sweet. Genever is still made in the Netherlands but has developed over time to its current form.

To be called gin, the primary or base flavor/aroma is juniper berries which have a piney, sweet/sharp taste and smell. In addition gin may have a wide variety of herbs, spices, roots, pits, peels, and other plant substances added for more complex flavor. These flavoring elements are referred to as botanicals. Some commonly used botanicals besides juniper are: almonds, angelica, aniseed, caraway seed, cardamom pods, cassia, cinnamon, citrus peel (lemon, orange, and bitter orange), coriander seed, cubeb berries, cumin seed, fennel seed, ginger root, iris root, licorice root, nutmeg, paradise grain, savory, star anise, and violet root. Probably anything else you can imagine has been used as well.