Boreal Spruce Gin is from Vikre Distillery in Duluth Minnesota.

Boreal refers to the northern forest where they harvest some of the botanical for this gin. When I first saw this gin, I had to try it. It reminded me of my brother, Alex’s love of spruce tip beer. Just like Alex, Vikre harvests light green spruce tips and adds them to their gin.

You can see more about Vikre at:  Vikre Distillery

Gin is a clear, distilled spirit that is be made with juniper berries and other botanicals.  Caitlin from Vikre told me that they taste the tips from each tree to ensure the tips are sweet.  They only use the best tasting tips in their boreal spruce gin.  It must be worth the effort because this gin is very good.

Taste and Appearance

The gin is clear and devoid of any color with some body.  The smell of juniper is a sweet pine, like a freshly cut Christmas tree.

There is no burn at the start or end of the first drink. That was not expected, because it is 90 proof or 45 ABV.  On the first drink, it coats the entire mouth with a smooth, piney flavor that is not overpowering.  This is not anything like drinking turpentine, even though I can’t says I know what that would be like. This is a very pleasant tasting gin.

I wonder if you could sip this gin over ice and enjoy the flavor and body with its smoothness.  This gin definitely would make a great gin martini. The chill from the ice cube brought out even more of the spruce tip flavor. If you love spruce tip beer or gin, then you enjoy this gin and it should be part of your basic bar stock.

When I first tried this gin, the people at Vikre gave me lessons on how to pronounce the name, which wasn’t that hard.  They even wrote it out on their business card for me.  Here is your first lesson:  “veek-ruh”.

Drink of the week

If you enjoy gin, there is no better drink than a Gin and Tonic. A couple of weeks ago, I read that even people who do not like gin generally enjoy Gin and Tonic. The two flavors compliment each other at a molecular level.  On a hot day, this is definitely a nice drink.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Boreal Spruce Gin
• 4 oz chilled Tonic Water
• 2 Lime Wedges
• Splash of Orange Bitters

Fill an old fashioned glass with ice.  Add gin and tonic and mix well. Add orange bitters and squeeze limes over glass and drop in.