Boodles Gin helped define the London Dry style of Gin. But for years, you couldn’t get it in the UK. It all started at the Boodle’s Gentlemen’s Club located in the exclusive Saint James district of London. In 1845, the club came out with its own private-label Gin produced locally by Cock Russell & Company. Through a long series of mergers and acquisitions by the huge mega-corp Spirits companies, Boodles continued to be made in the UK, but was only available for sale in the US. Crazy, right? Anyway, the brand was purchased by Proximo Spirits in 2012 who have maintained the original formula and process — now produced at the Greenalls Distillery — and returned this historic Spirits to the UK and the world.
Boodles British Gin starts with a base of British wheat and the Spirit is distilled in a Carter Head copper still. Interestingly, the list of botanicals includes no citrus at all. The original makers assumed that a lime or lemon wedge would be used, making infusions unnecessary. But you will fine plenty of juniper along with nutmeg, sage, rosemary, angelica root, caraway seed, cassia, and a few additional components they keep secret. The point is to achieve that clean, dry, classic note that Boodles help invent all those years ago.
Smartass Corner: The "Carter Head" still was developed with Gin in mind. It has a copper basket on top of the column where the botanicals are infused inline during primary distillation.
