If you’re not an avid gin drinker and you’ve tasted some version of the popular spirit, there’s a good chance it was London dry gin. For the uninitiated, London dry gin is (like all gins) a juniper-infused spirit that often features aromas and flavors from additional herbs and botanicals. It’s well-known for its juniper berry-forward, herbal, earthy, dry flavor profile. It’s also the baseline for a variety of iconic cocktails, including the martini, gin gimlet, and the beloved gin & tonic.
Not all gin is good gin, of course. But the good news is that you don’t have to spend an uncomfortable amount of money to get a solid bottle. You can find quality bottles of London dry gin for under $25. Yes, you read that right. Flavorful, balanced, highly mixable, juniper-filled gins cost less than a meal at a fast-casual restaurant.
To prove it, I picked eight London dry gins and blindly tasted them. I nosed and tasted each and ranked them based on balance, flavor, and overall quality as a mixer. This isn’t a sipping-based test!
Today’s Lineup:
- Tanqueray
- Gilbey’s
- Broker’s
- Bombay Sapphire
- Beefeater
- New Amsterdam Stratusphere
- Burnett’s
- Gordon’s
Read to the end to see how your standard gin pour fared!
Part 1: Under $20 London Dry Gin Blind Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
Juniper, orange peels, and some spices, along with a harsh alcohol aroma make for a very interesting nose. The palate is heavy on pine, orange peels, and cinnamon, and not much else. The finish is kind of bitter and there’s a lot of uncomfortable heat. Not a great gin.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
The nose is heavy (almost too much) on piney juniper. There are also notes of lemongrass, licorice, and other spices. Drinking it continues this trend with a bold kick of pine needles, orange peels, menthol, and licorice. The finish is warming, dry, and pleasant with more juniper flavor.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
The nose is all pine, lemon, ripe orange, coriander, lavender, and licorice. The palate is more expansive than the nose with hints of coriander, pine needles, lemon, wildflowers, and peppery spice. This full-flavored gin finishes dry, slightly acidic, and is filled with warming but not unpleasant heat.
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
The nose is heavy on juniper, but it’s hard to find a second aroma. Maybe hand sanitizer? Rubbing alcohol? Something at least mildly abrasive. The palate also heavily leans into piney juniper. There’s also some citrus, but overall, the harsh heat makes it difficult to drink on its own.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find a heavy wallop of piney juniper and some backing flavors of coriander and citrus. Overall, not a bad start. Drinking it reveals more juniper as well as some mint, licorice, citrus, and more spice. It’s not a bad mixing gin, but a little heavy on juniper and has a little too much heat on the finish.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
This is definitely a unique gin, as orange aromas seem to be more abundant than the expected juniper. There are also some underlying cracked black pepper, coriander, and cinnamon aromas on the nose. The palate continues this trend with a ton of borderline synthetic-tasting orange up front followed by piney juniper, coriander, and maybe some mint.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
The nose begins with pine and moves into orange peels, lemon zest, licorice, and gentle floral aromas. Sipping it brings forth notes of orange zest, lemongrass, anise, juniper, and cracked black pepper. It’s a spicy, sweet, earthy gin that mixes well into classic gin cocktails.
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
A nose of pine needles, mint, anise, and lemon peels greets you before your first sip. The palate is well-balanced with juniper up front followed by lemon zest, orange peels, licorice, coriander, and pepper. The finish is a warming, dry combination of citrus and pine.
Part 2: The Rankings
8) Burnett’s (Taste 4)
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $18 for a 1.75ml bottle
The Gin:
You’d have a hard time finding a cheaper London dry gin that doesn’t similarly resemble rocket fuel. That’s a lot of booze for $18. Produced for more than 200 years (making it one of the oldest brands in England), this juniper-heavy gin comes in a plastic handle, so… you know.
Bottom Line:
This is truly a bargain London dry gin. It tastes like it. Hide this gin in a drink with a lot of other flavors or you’ll regret it.
7) Gilbey’s (Taste 1)
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $14
The Gin:
Gilbey’s is another plastic handle, cheap London dry gin that’s crafted to be used as a mixer only. It’s flavored with a blend of 12 herbs and botanicals including the always present juniper as well as coriander, lemongrass, orange peel, cinnamon, and other spices.
Bottom Line:
Gilbey’s is another gin you might want to avoid unless you want to really hide it in a complex cocktail. But at that point, why devalue your complicated drink with this?
6) Gordon’s (Taste 5)
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $17
The Gin:
One of the oldest gins in the world still in production, Gordon’s London Dry Gin was first launched by Alexander Gordon back in 1769. The most popular gin in England since the 1800s, this value spirit is also the top-selling London dry gin in the world.
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason Gordon’s is so popular. It’s cheap and a decent mixer. Don’t expect any more than that though.
5) New Amsterdam Stratusphere (Taste 6)
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $17
The Gin:
New Amsterdam has long been known for its value gins and its New Amsterdam Stratusphere London Dry Gin is no different. Instead of the usual one-trick pony of the Juniper-forward classic London dry gin, the distillers at New Amsterdam opted to create a two-trick pony — juniper and citrus.
Bottom Line:
This is the bottle of London dry gin to pick up if you prefer your drinks to have more of a citrus lean and less of a juniper presence.
4) Tanqueray (Taste 2)
ABV: 47.3%
Average Price: $21
The Gin:
Tanqueray is a big name in the London dry gin world, yet it remains surprisingly reasonably priced. Distilled four times, this iconic brand doesn’t rely on a parade of flavors as it contains four herbs and botanicals. They are juniper, licorice, angelica, and coriander. All are quite present on the palate.
Bottom Line:
Tanqueray is a classic London dry gin. It has everything you could want and leans heavily into juniper. A great mixer.
3) Beefeater (Taste 8)
ABV: 44%
Average Price: $21
The Gin:
Beefeater is the nickname for the Yeomen Warder of King Charle’s Royal Palace and the guardians of the Tower of London. It’s also the name for one of the most popular London dry gins in the world. This classic gin is flavored with nine herbs and botanicals including juniper, lemon peel, and Seville orange.
Bottom Line:
This might be one of the most well-balanced London dry gins on the market. This is one for fans of juniper who also don’t want it to be totally overwhelming.
2) Broker’s (Taste 7)
ABV: 47%
Average Price: $21
The Gin:
Based on a 200-year-old recipe, Broker’s London Dry Gin is made with ten herbs and botanicals including juniper, sage, lemon, lavender, orange peel, licorice, and more. To flavor the gin, the ingredients are steeped for 24 full hours in pure grain spirit.
Bottom Line:
This gin is spicier than some of the others on the market and that’s a good thing. It will give your favorite drink a memorable, warming, spicy kick.
1) Bombay Sapphire (Taste 3)
ABV: 47%
Average Price: $22
The Gin:
There are few gins as well-respected and well-known as Bombay Sapphire. And yet, it remains fairly priced. This classic gin gets its flavor from the addition of ten specific ingredients including juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, almond, lemon peel, licorice, cubeb, cassia, and grains of paradise.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to well-balanced London dry gins, it’s difficult to beat the appeal of Bombay Sapphire. I didn’t know I was picking such a stalwart as the champ but did nonetheless — what can I say? It’s good! And it ticks all the London dry gin boxes.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
There are many things I learned when nosing and tasting these gins. Clearly, it requires patience to meander past the flavor of heavy juniper found in some of these expressions. But the main takeaway is the idea that you can go cheap with gin, but not too cheap. There’s a big difference between a $21 gin and a $18 handle of gin in terms of overall flavor as well as harshness.
Your best bet, even if you want to save some cash, is to not go too cheap. You’ll regret it. And your cocktails will be worse because of it.
