Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin: This Will Give You One Hell Of A Mouth-gasm!

There’s nothing we like more than arriving home after a hard days work to find a guy on your doorstep holding a beautifully packaged bottle of gin for you, (well, maybe a beautifully packaged bottle of gin and a winning bloody lottery ticket but hey, we can’t have everything!) And that’s exactly what happened to us when the awesome guys at Four Pillars sent us a bottle of their Navy Strength Gin to try out and guys, it’s fair to say you made our freaking day! But what excited us more was the decadently potent content of this sharply designed bottle. And as it was Christmas, and in the spirit of Christmas and sharing and all that sap, we decided to take this back to the family to enjoy it exactly how you’re meant to enjoy booze; together with friends and family you love but also want to punch occasionally! And it went down a bloody storm! So much so it got to the point that we were shouting; ‘Dad, stay away from that fecking bottle, we need to review it and it’s your bloody turn at Pictionary!”

So once we had recovered from the inevitable Christmas hangover and thank Christ there were still a few drams in the bottle left, we got down to boozy business and reviewed this insanely moreish gin. Here goes…

First, as always, let’s get down with this gin’s facts. Hailing from Victoria, Australia, this 58.8% gin is distilled in Four Pillars German copper pot still, Wilma, and uses water straight from the Yarra Valley. After much experimentation they added finger limes to this expression but if we’re honest here, we’ve never actually had a finger lime before so we didn’t really know what it would add to the overall flavour. But after some high powered Googling, turns out this bad boy is the superior lime in its zesty family, kind of like the sibling who’s became a millionaire whilst you're still working at McDonalds! It maintains the steadfast flavour of a standard lime but with a more aromatic flavour to it. They also added into the mix fresh ginger and turmeric to give this gin an earthy quality and a good deal of weight. And that it does. So, facts digested? Great, let’s get to it!

And as soon as you get your nose stuck in, fresh lime zest hits you in the face with one hell of a refreshing punch and it’s just so damn wonderful! Then following in behind are bursts of spice; coriander, cinnamon, ginger, which start to worm their way up your nostrils and it’s almost like you’re sticking your freaking nose into one aromatic, pimped up key lime pie that’s taken a few trips to the Orient! And we bloody love it! Orange and lemon sneaks their way in from the back, just in front of juniper which takes a backseat in this botanical parade, but still makes it’s presence known with a modest nod of the head. This gin has also got a enticing sweetness to it, like a thick, vanilla sweetness but the spice and subtle hit of pepper balance it out nicely. Considering it’s boozy ABV, you get no unwanted alcohol stings up that snout of yours, which is always a bloody bonus!

But for the love of God, once you get this down you, man does it give you one hell of a mouth-gasm! This gin simply expels flavour upon flavour all over that unexpected mouth of yours and it’s freaking awesome! Citrus is still the queen of this botanical prom with it’s fresh, crisp taste, sashaying itself across your tongue with all those fabulous, warm spices that are now joining this fragrant knees up. And those spice hits are simply amazing; peppery, full and beautifully aromatic. And not surprising, you only have to glance through the botanicals in this gin to see, it has a delightfully delicate Asian element to it. Subtle aniseed pokes its head up in the middle with it’s piquant behaviour but stays with you till the very end like an oh-so-loyal flavour solider.

Juniper is in there but it takes a backseat like a recitent drinker sitting in a dimly lit corner, it’s in there but the other botanical party goers that are stealing this boozy show. The sweetness of this gin is really captivating with it’s creamy vanilla edge and it also has a slight fruitcake element mulling around in there too. The consistency is quite thick and oiled which we like, and the finish is smooth, warming and charmingly seductive; exactly how we like our bloody gin!

This is a wonderfully fresh, clean and beautifully aromatic gin with a great earthy factor and a beautiful sweetness that helps tick all those boozy boxes. It really is bloody well rounded! The strength of this gin doesn’t blow your head off as much as you might think it would, but it does certainly packs some serious balls! And you can drink this gin straight up neat too, it’s that bloody awesome, which is a damn good touch if you’re no good at making cocktails or you’re all out of mixers! This is one playfully fresh, aromatic gin that needs to be in your home bar. Top stuff!

Pick up a bottle here

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