Very shortly after announcing yesterday that the middle-class reviewer was willing to take requests for gin reviews, the suggestion arrived for a dirt-cheap gin from one of the European discounters.
Needless to say, when it comes to own-brand things, the middle-class reviewer is more familiar with Waitrose and M&S than he is with Lidl, however given that the request was made, he ventured into Lidl and purchased a half litre of this stuff for the princely sum of £9.99. Opening the bottle this evening with some trepidation, a light sniff was afforded, with the expectation of nasal passages melting like the unfortunate glaciers that I’m sure other people will manage to do something about one of these days.
Knowing something about the production of gin, and perhaps more importantly the operation of the taxman, it is hard to imagine how Lidl can make anything beyond paintstripper when a half litre weighs in at less than a tenner. However. They have somehow managed to make something that actually is half decent. It is by no means a terrible as one has every right to imagine it would be. Far from being a paint stripper, it instead outstrips the mainstays of mass-produced British gin, being slightly above par when compared to Gordon’s and leagues beyond Beefeater.
As we’ve learned from Hendrick’s, cucumber is a bad garnish for gin. What is mild and refreshing in a crustless, lightly buttered sandwich becomes a nuclear blast in a gin & tonic, obliterating all but the most aggressive of botanicals from our spirit, and honestly, your reviewer regrets his choice of garnish for this gin. Given the price point, this drink is quite a revelation. Whilst it is unlikely to find its way into regular rotation at Chez MC, it is certainly not a gin that one would feel guilty about if it were served to a guest that one actually likes following a dinner party.
The next serve will not be with the bellicose butcher of botanicals that is cucumber; instead this citrusy surprise will be coupled with a more genteel, generious garnish. A thin slice of pear I think should compliment both the drink and the meal to go with it. Tonight’s middle-class meal will be slow-roasted belly pork spiked with fennel seed, accompanied by buttered new potatoes, garlic and basil sauté kale and, of course, roasted slices of pear.