Review: Bloom Gin
Bloom is a real enigma: Born from the distiller of one of the world’s first London Dry gins — parent company Greenall’s celebrates its 250th anniversary this year and is the producer of Bombay and Bombay Sapphire for Bacardi — Bloom is a brand new gin with a modern twist. It is designed for women, by a woman.
Joanne Moore is the world’s only female master gin distiller, and after 15 years working her way up the ranks at Greenall’s, she’s finally been given her own empty bottle to fill.
It should have happened a lot sooner, because Bloom — female-focused or not — is one of the best gins on the market today.
Bloom is part tradition, part newfangled innovation, and Moore took me through a private tasting of the spirit, the seven ingredients that make up its infusion, each paired with a single-ingredient distillate, which show how different (or similar) an infusion can taste vs. the aromatic that goes into it.
Bloom is distilled from English wheat, and the infusions start with Tuscan juniper, Moroccan coriander, and angelica — all traditional gin flavoring agents. She then goes wild, adding Indonesian cubebs (a member of the pepper family), chamomile flowers, honeysuckle, and Chinese pomelo (part of the grapefruit family). The final spirit is bottled at 80 proof.
Results: Amazing. Bloom had been previously described to me as “floral,” but unlike, say, Nolet’s, which is full of perfumy rose petals, Bloom is floral only in the sense of standing in a rain-soaked meadow full of wildflowers. Honeysuckle and chamomile are not heavy aromas, and they do not overpower the rest of the aromatics here. In fact, it’s citrus that comes on the strongest — driven by that pomelo and possibly the fruitier characters in the two floral ingredients. But best of all is how perfectly these seven ingredients all come together: Bloom is balanced, smooth, and easy to sip straight, even at room temperature. Call me a girl if you want: I love this gin.
Bloom officially launches today in San Francisco only, then spreads across California and beyond.
80 proof.
A / $35 [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS] [BUY IT NOW FROM THE WHISKY EXCHANGE]
Bloom Gin
$35
Good gin is good gin, regardless of the intended audience or their gender. Sounds wonderful.
Yeah, I too have noticed the floral notes of pomelo peel. I used it as a base to make floral bitters: http://spiritedremix.blogspot.com/2011/05/mxmo-lvii-floral-bitters.html
Looking forward to finding this gin.
Can’t find it in the U.S.
Had this in London, cannot find it over here in the US. Any plans to sell it in the NY area?
chi lo commercializza in italia
Bob,
Get it at Total Wine in River Edge, NJ….5 minutes over GWB.
I bought a bottle of this in the USA for $25, and I think I overpaid. This seems like a rougher version of bombay sapphire. The only differentiation I can make of this gin from Bombay Sapphire is that is seems less polished and more boozy. Still not a horrible gin but definitely did not live up to my expectation for a more floral, feminine gin.
I picked up a bottle of this based on this review, as I tend to like what you do. And for my $5 (snagged at a clearance price at my local grocery 2 years ago) I enjoyed this a lot. The Pomelo working well in a G&T with lime. Definitely will replace the bottle.