This Award-Winning Gin Brand Just Dropped a New Berry-Infused Expression

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We just released our list of the 13 best gins to drink now, and there are many different styles and countries represented. One brand that got a shoutout was France’s Citadelle Gin, with its 19-botanical core expression making the list. This week Citadelle announced the launch of Rouge, a new expression flavored with red fruits and berries that sounds like it might be a great cocktail component for the hot summer months.

Alexandre Gabriel founded Citadelle in 1996; he petitioned the AOC (Cognac’s appellation d’origine controlee) to be able to use his stills during the seven months of the year when they are not allowed to produce Cognac. The core expression, as mentioned before, is made from a 19-botanical recipe that includes juniper, lemon peel, violet, coriander, nutmeg, and fennel. The spirit is distilled on a Charentais pot still, the same type that is used for Cognac, using what the brand calls “progressive infusion.” This means that each botanical is macerated in the spirit for a different length of time and at a specific ABV, which Gabriel believes allows the flavor of the particular spice, herb, or flower to truly shine through. In addition to the core gin, there are some interesting experiments like Vive Le Cornichon, which was infused with its namesake small, tart French pickles from Maison Marc; Jardin d’Été, which features Charentais melon as a flavoring component; and Citadelle Old Tom which is barrel-aged and has a bit of sugar added.

Enter Rouge, a new gin that Gabriel says was inspired by childhood memories of his grandmother’s preserves, which were triggered by the scent of his wife’s berry and rhubarb jam. This gin adds fruits and berries to the botanical mix—specifically cranberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackcurrant, and rhubarb. The gin is not colored, but the flavor is said to be full of bright fruit notes with a balance of sweet and tart flavors, buttressed by the fact that it’s bottled at 83.4 proof (which is slightly higher than your average London dry gin). A suggested cocktail in which to use Rouge is the Citadelle Rouge Bramble, which combines the gin with blackberry liqueur, lemon juice, and simple syrup, shaken and served in a glass of crushed ice.

Citadelle Rouge Gin is available starting this month (SRP $30) at liquor stores around the country and at websites like Total Wine, where you can also find the core expression and some of the other variations as well.