alc./vol: 44%
Proof: 88°
Vintage: 2012
Aged: 6 months
Product of: France
Introduced in 2008 as one of the first modern day ‘aged gins’, each vintage differs slightly in style. This 4th Citadelle Reserve was distilled with the usual 19 Citadelle botanicals plus 3 new botanicals: yuzu, génépi and bleuet (cornflower). It was then for 6 months in lightly charred oak casks.
Citadelle Gin is made in direct fired (naked flame) Charentais copper pot stills in cognac stills using French wheat neutral spirit and 19 botanicals:
1. French juniper berries
2. Orris root
3. French violet root
4. Moroccan coriander
5. Almonds
6. Spanish lemon peel
7. Mexican orange peel
8. Angelica from North Germany
9. Indian cardamom
10. Indian nutmeg
11. Cassia bark from Indochina
12. Sri Lankan cinnamon
13. Mediterranean fennel
14. African grains of paradise
15. Cubeb from Java
16. Chinese liquorice
17. Cumin
18. French anise
19. Savory
The AOC laws of the Cognac region, which stated that cognac can only be distilled between November and March, left the region’s copper alembic stills and skilled distillers unutilised for six months of the year. Alexandre Gabriel, owner of Cognac Ferrand, lobbied the BNIC, the governing body of Cognac, to allow him to use his stills to produce gin during those months when he could not make cognac. Having succeeded he researched historic French gin production and discovered that in 1771 two distillers in Dunkirk, Carpeau and Stival, had made gin from juniper berries and exotic spices brought by vessels arriving from the Orient for sale to gin crazed England. Incredibly, their distillery was located in the Dunkirk’s Citadelle, the historic fortress protecting the town. Hence Alexandre named his gin Citadelle gin.
Knowing that gin was originally stored and transported in wooden barrels and therefore somewhat ‘aged’, in the mid-2000s Alexandre Gabriel began experimenting with barrel-aging his Citadelle Gin and introduced aged Citadelle Gin Reserve Limited Edition in 2008.
With each subsequent annual release of Citadelle Gin Reserve Gabriel has fined-tuned the aging process, experimenting with different types of casks and aging periods.
Citadelle Gin Reserve is available in limited quantities in individually numbered bottles.
Sampled on 12/07/2014
Clear, pale straw yellow.
Elegant cedarwood, piney juniper, floral honeysuckle and light white pepper.
Initial light sweetness. Harmonious piney juniper and cedarwood, zesty lemon, tropical fruit and well-judged herbal spice.
Spicy pine, mandarin orange and grapefruit zest and complex spiciness.
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