Jawbox Gin Review

Travel Distilled reviews Jawbox Gin from Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Irish gin isn’t yet quite a thing in the way that Scottish gin has become. It’s not through lack of gins as there are at least a few dozen brands out there, from all over the country – Dingle, Kilkenny, Wexford, Galway, to name just a few places.

It’s just that the buzz about Irish gin doesn’t seem to be there yet. But there has definitely been a buzz about Jawbox Gin, a new gin from Belfast. Well, the gin’s actually distilled in Kircubbin on the Ards Peninsula, about 20 miles south-east of Belfast, and it’s a classic dry gin bottled at 43% ABV.

One of the botanicals is Belfast Black Mountain heather. Black Mountain isn’t actually a mountain, but a hill which overlooks the city of Belfast.

Jawbox Gin has been around since 2016, but it’s been getting a lot of coverage lately thanks both to a push to promote it and to people discovering how good it is.

What is a Jawbox?

So, what is a jawbox? It’s other name is a Belfast Sink and it was a particular kind of sink that used to be common in houses in Northern Ireland. They were big enough to wash anything in, not just dishes and clothes but children and even adults. They were places where people would congregate and spend time talking and gossiping, or jawing, the equivalent of the water cooler in an office.

It’s a great name for a gin. It’s catchy, alliterative, easy to remember and describes the kind of situation where the distillers hoped their gin would be enjoyed – by people sitting around talking and gossiping and generally enjoying life. It’s also a nodding reference to bathtub gin, of course. Great name. But is it a great gin?

Mojito cocktail made with Jawbox Gin from Northern Ireland — The Jawbox Gin Take on a Mojito

Jawbox Gin Review

Jawbox comes in a nice, solid bottle, that’s short and stubby with an attractive label that’s a mix of old and new. On the nose there’s a hit of juniper, though not too heavy, and it’s balanced by, for me, more pronounced notes of citrus. It’s definitely clean and attractive on the nose.

The freshness of the nose transfers to the palate, the juniper and citrus both remaining prominent, though the more you sip the more you start to notice a peppery spiciness and a touch of that Black Mountain heather.

Ginger Ale

One of the suggested serves for Jawbox Gin is in a Gin and Ginger, which is basically a Moscow Mule but using gin instead of vodka. Gin and ginger? In this case, why not? Ginger ale was first created in Belfast by an American surgeon and apothecary, Thomas Cantrell.

We had some Fever-Tree Ginger Ale chilling in the fridge so did the suggested pour (35ml Jawbox Gin to 100ml of ginger ale). I didn’t have a lime wedge but what the heck, there’s plenty of citrus in the gin already. I poured it over a lot of ice in a coupe glass and took two glasses out to the garden to enjoy in the sunshine.

Wow. Gin and ginger is definitely going to be part of our cocktail repertoire from now on. The Jawbox Gin balances the ginger ale beautifully, making the ginger taste a little less prominent than it is in a Moscow Mule and adding flavour notes that vodka obviously doesn’t have. A sign of its success was that my wife, who normally limits herself to one cocktail before dinner, asked: ‘Do we have enough ginger ale for another one?’ And fortunately we did.