I just got ahold of a bottle of DH Krahn gin recently, and have now mixed enough Pegus with it to write a review. If you can’t get this stuff where you live, or on your travels, you can get it from MondoLiquor. Krahn’s website is beautiful (see picture stolen from the splash page, above), has some interesting stuff about the gin they make, and has a generous number of recipes, a few of which are in my notebook to actually try.
The gin is a small-batch product, manufactured (crafted?) in the U.S. by a couple of New Yorkers, but please don’t hold that against them or the gin! They produce their gin with a single-pass Alambic still. They claim that this preserves the botanicals and produces a smoother, richer flavored gin. They also, due to the small batch size, can use more premium botanicals in the process. My admittedly hazy grasp of standard gin manufacturing makes these claims sound reasonable. The fact that they set their proof slightly lower (80), than many gins like Sapphire (94), may also have something to do with the smoothness that they are talking about.
Regardless, I had been wanting to try the stuff for a while, and now I have. Whatever the reasons, this is a very delicate, smooth gin. Its aroma has almost no acridity (is that a word?), but is complex and interesting. As I said, I’ve had a couple of Pegus made with it now, as has Maggi. We both like it, but Maggi more so. There does not seem to be any cinnamon in DH Krahn’s process, but you could certainly get the impression there is. It is an interesting accent note. For the rest of it, the Krahn Pegus are very lite and refeshing, but lack some of the kick that I usually desire. I may save the bottle for very hot days, when I think the more refreshing, lest robust mix would suit very well.
The other thing I intend to use the Krahn’s for, and will post on this in due course, is in a Gin Martini. I don’t drink Gin Martinis. I started loving Pegus precisely because they were an awesome drink for a vodka lover to try in order to try gin. But the Krahn is so lite that I think it would be an excellent way for a Vodka Martini drinker to ease into Gin Martinis. I’m not sure whether I hope I like it or not, but the Krahn is definitely the best gin I’ve run across for the experiment.
DH Krahn gin is expensive stuff, but it its characteristics are what you’re looking for, it would probably be worth it. The only thing I can say against it is that James Tiberius Kirk really seems to have some kind of problem with it….