Edinburgh Gin – Small Batch – The Classic Edinburgh dry gin review.

Often considered the best gin brand from Edinburgh, by sheer number of customers, it would be easy – but also a mistake – to close this case early. We’ve tried many, many gins from Edinburgh and, as a consequence, we are starting to build a picture of the quality of the gins from this northern gem of a city. 

For most locals, Edinburgh Gin is a prominent tourist attraction in the city. As Edinburgh has grown as a gin city, many have argued that this growing industry has been inspired by this very brand. 

So, let’s get into it. Let us review the classic Edinburgh Dry Gin by Edinburgh Gin. 

After reading this review, we’ve broken down what we think are the best Scottish gins. It is a comprehensive guide, including our favourites, of all the gin we’ve tried (and that is a lot).

More about Edinburgh Gin. 

The name “Edinburgh Gin” is fairly on the nose, but it has clearly worked. Established in 2010, as a distillery in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, and over the years, they have pioneered the wave of flavoured gin cocktail mixers. For some time, the flavoured gins could be found across the UK in supermarkets, and are a favourite for drinkers during the summer. They are much less prominent today, but still a very popular tipple. 

Alongside its success in UK supermarkets, the Edinburgh Gin distillery is an extremely popular tourist destination in its own right. It welcomes visitors from across the globe. 

The one thing you’ll notice about the brand is that they can produce an eye-watering selection of gins. This is not a “small batch” gin like Millstone or Pentlands Gin. 

The Classic Small Batch Edinburgh Gin Review.

This gin has been inspired by Edinburgh. It’s lush green parks, dark rainy days, gothic architecture, and citrus produce imported through the historic docks at Leith. It’s marketed to have notes of pine buds, lavender, and lemongrass. Mulberries and orange peel.

This is fundamentally the style of an Edinburgh gin. While a London dry has a heart of spice and citrus twist, Edinburgh seems to like to lean more into the sweeter flavours for tropical sweet flavours. The grassy notes of lavender and pine are what interest us most.  

Nose

On the nose, it starts punchy with juniper but settles into lovely floral notes of pine and lavender, with a sweet citrus twist from the lemongrass. It’s not harsh on the nose, but certainly not as appealing as Lind and Lime, for example. 

Taste

A lot is going on with this gin. It is very robust and hearty up front. A proper punch of juniper and spice that is tightly packed. It’s hard to tell exactly what spices, but it’s a peppery, lovely, slightly bitter flavour from juniper, that desipates into something quite surprising; the gin flows into something that is almost grassy. Waves of pine, lavender and basil, which are settled by sweet citrus notes. It is a very lovely way to round off all the flavours. Like Edinburgh, robust, dark and stormy, but green and flowing upon closer inspection. 

Verdict – 7/10

For the price tag, this gin is excellent. The flavours are beautiful and robust –  with elegant citrus and pine notes to bring the gin to life. It is clean, crisp, and very interesting upon closer inspection. This is one I’d keep for guests. 

Cocktail ideas

I wanted to do something that brings out the fruity flavours in this, and went heavy on the gin in a Pineapple Gin Punch. I’ve liked the recipe here in the article, to make it easier to follow. At this point, i’ve had a bit too much vitamin G to do just about anything – other than sit on the sofa. 

Final thoughts 

The Classic Edinburgh Gin is not small batch, but it has big flavours. Punchy yet sophisticated. It’s not a bad gin at all, but it’s not great. I suspect my brain just can’t get past the brand. It’s a massive company – and while true, the gin is lovely – i feel I wanted more from the experience. Particularly when compared with Lind and Lime, I felt this was trailing behind, 

In saying that, this is the ideal gin for a dinner party. It’s not fancy enough to be top shelf, but elevated enough to show off a bit.