I have had to return to this most independent, most awkward of blogging platforms, as I have unfortunately fallen victim to the dreaded Community Double Standard of Facebook, and as such I cannot update the Gods & Spirits page, where I have been blogging for the last seven months. Please do take a look, if you have any need to catch up.
Here is a post which was intended to go up today, on the Facebook page. For now I will simply post to here, instead.
One of Britain’s top independent breweries, have gone from brewing beers in a class of their very own, to branching out into distilling their own gins, and even helping to manufacture their own alcohol hand sanitizers, to help mitigate a shortage of that critical resource during the pandemic, since earlier this year. And BrewDog have achieved all of this, in less than 14 years!
For this year, they’ve brought out a special half-advent calendar, with 12 sampler 50ml bottles, each with a different specially crafted flavour of their Lone Wolf gin.
Rather than make you read until the end of this post, I’m going to drop a link for you to purchase this fantabulous grown-up means of celebrating the run up to Yuletide right here.
And I REALLY recommend you make a purchase today! Brewdog have retained their Black Friday price on the Twelve Wolves of Christmas. It’s still discounted £10, down to the SUPERB value price of only £39.95!!!
Today I’ll give you a review of four of these gins, and then review four more before Christmas. I haven’t picked them in any particular order, though! I don’t want to spoil everything about this luscious selection! 
Neat tasting:
The nose on this flagship retail version of brewdog’s spirit delivers a generous lot of citrus and pepper aromas, which are strong and alluring. The palette is sharp, very herby, with heavy dollops of cardamom, which can be picked up with the lemongrass, lemon peel and mace. The finish is smooth and truly spicy, licking your throat with all sorts of flavours.
With a regular diet tonic:
The citric and milder spicy notes hit you in all the right places. Regular diet tonic waters are definitely made for this gin, without a doubt.
This is a delicate pleasure. Much better than I’d anticipated - a gin crafted to high artisanal standards, but selling at a reasonable price. Definitely one to enjoy with a curry - which it just so happens I did!
Cactus & Lime gin
The eponymous Lime of this flavour is delivered in a strong, Junipery nose.
The palette delivers the same level of spice, and pretty much carries the same botanicals as the original flavour does. But the lime and cactus flavours are both carried quite weakly into the spirit. What you pick up from a neat sip, is really not much different from the original flavour.
The finish is very much the same as the original, as well. But still smooth and spicy.
Blended with diet tonic:
This blend offers much more lime! Also much more specific flavours of spice! Exciting! I guess perhaps the cactus flavour isn’t too easy to pick up. But you get some sense of being in the native environment of cacti.
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Gunpowder gin
Letting some ice melt in a neat pouring of this gin can deliver a really lovely smoky texture, ironically enough.
The nose in this flavour carries more juniper than spice, but yes it really does still entice!
It offers a smooth palette, with such a broad range of spices and botanicals that it makes the tongue feel teased, but not prodded.
The finish is a LOT more like gunpowder! It literally packs an explosive punch!
Served with tonic, the flavour is this deep gorgeous combination. A party drink for sure - but with a very sophisticated flavour profile!
Again, Lone Wolf never seems to fail to blend well with tonic water!
White Peach gin
This fruity variant has got lots of juniper for the nose! That definitely outweighs the spices, which you don’t get in most of the other flavours. And it’s a very true implication of the strength of this gin’s complete flavour.
What it offers the palette seems to be like trying to wade through a big vat of peaches. No, I’m not joking! Your tongue gets the feeling of being driven over a rough, bumpy road, but it’s..... peach flavoured!
The finish has nice subtle notes of warmth, but still lets you enjoy all that sweetness in the right places. I would say, even if you don’t normally like sweet flavoured gins, this is still a sophisticated one you can enjoy. It’s a really cheerful spirit, with none of the bitterness or bite of schnapps. But it’s also grounded in that dulcet mix of proper botanicals.
Blended with... Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water (low calorie edition) ;
A gloriously balanced combination! This definitely does not need any flavoured tonic to go with it. It’s not over-sweet. It just does sumptuous things in your mouth. And your mouth picks up a slightly chromey finish, but that's just its way of saying “thank you”.
If you remember a peach flavoured drink that you’ve liked before, and can picture that as a cocktail, then this is definitely the mixer for you!
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