Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin

Travel Distilled reviews Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin from Kentucky, aged for 9-12 months in used rye whiskey barrels.

One of the best gins I tasted last year was a Dry Rye Gin from St George Spirits, which made it onto Drinkhacker’s list of the Top Ten Gins of 2019. Now comes Rabbit Hole’s Bespoke Gin, also aged in rye whiskey barrels, and it’s already on my own top ten list as a gin of the year.

Rabbit Hole are based in Louisville, Kentucky, where they make some strong spirits. Naturally in the bourbon capital of the world they make a straight bourbon whiskey, which is a hefty 47.5% ABV. They set aside some of that bourbon and age it in Pedro Ximinez sherry casks. If you’ve never tried Pedro Ximinez sherry then I suggest you sample some PX ASAP. It has a lovely nutty-sweet taste to it, totally unlike the dry white sherries most people are familiar with. The thought of a bourbon aged in PX casks is mouthwatering indeed.

Barrel-Aged Gin

Rabbit Hole also make a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, also at 47.5% ABV, which is aged for at least three years in #3, wood-fired, toasted and charred new American Oak barrels. In this case, instead of setting some of the whiskey aside they set aside the used oak barrels, buy in a London Dry Gin, and age it from 9-12 months in the same used casks. The gin emerges at 44.5% ABV and with a delicate pale golden/straw color, not unlike a pale dry sherry, in fact.

Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin Bottle

The bottle for this barrel-aged gin is short and chunky, with a subtle engraved herringbone pattern around the sides. Each one is numbered (mine is Batch 1 Bottle 993) and the cork on the top has a gold coin on it which says “Beholden to No One”. This is the belief of Rabbit Hole’s founder, Kaveh Zamanian, who thinks it should also apply to spirit drinkers everywhere. I agree.

Tasting Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin

On the nose the spirit smells warm like a whiskey rather than crisp like a gin. There’s the smell of oak and vanilla from the oak barrels, and a burnt wood smell coming through too. There are pine and citrus aromas, with the juniper in the background rather than in the foreground, as with a conventional gin. The original gin’s botanicals are angelica, coriander, juniper, lemon peel, licorice, orange peel, and orris root, and of these the citrus is most evident on the nose.

The effect of the oak barrel comes through very strongly on the palate, producing an oakiness set off with a burnt-caramel sweetness, balanced by zesty orange citrus and even a suggestion of peppermint from somewhere. As with the nose, juniper is there but way back in the mix, so it may not appeal to the gin purists. Indeed, there is some controversy about whether these barrel-aged gins should be called gins at all. My feeling is: who cares what you call it? When a spirit is as good as this, just drink it, don’t define it.