Ojo de Agua Dry Gin

Product of: Switzerland

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Conceived by Dieter Meier, the Swiss aristocrat, front man of the electronic music group Yello, conceptual artist, owner of three restaurants in Zurich, Frankfurt and Berlin, and producer of Argentinean organic wines.

After consulting with Adrian Baumgartner from the Paul Ullrich AG, the Basel Meier based wine merchants, Dieter Meier approached Oliver Matter of the Matter-Luginbuhl Distillery near Bern in Switzerland to make Ojo de Agua (meaning Waterhole in Spanish), a gin inspired by Argentina and South America.

Ojo de Agua is distilled with lemons from Tucumán, about 15% of a wine distillate from Dieter Meier’s Malbec wine and a blackberry distillate produced from blackberries grown on the Ojo de Agua farm.

Other botanicals include: juniper, coriander, lemon peel, orange peel, angelica root, rosemary, lavender and Mate (a tea-like caffeinated beverage made yerba mate plant which is Argentinan’s national drink). These are macerated for 24 hours in grain neutral alcohol before being triple distilled.

Review and Tasting

Sampled on 14/11/2015

Appearance:

Crystal clear.

Aroma:

Pungent rosemary, lavender, nutty angelica and piney freshness.

Taste:

Dry lavender notes lead with rosemary and piney juniper close behind.

Aftertaste:

Fades with coriander, lavender and rosemary and muscular black pepper and cardamom spice.

Overall:

Distilled in Switzerland, this gin is designed to have an Argentinean character with Latin American botanicals including rosemary, Mate and distillate from Malbec wine, which along with lavender dominates. Ojo de Agua has some interesting flavours but they are far too exuberant producing a “gin” with aggressive spice that lacks harmony and subtlety.