Süd Polaire Rare Oak Cask Gin

The aroma features citrus (lemon peel, orange peel, grapefruit, lemon myrtle), with supporting vanilla and grassy/spice elements. As it sits, the nose sweetens, but there's a distinct lack of juniper. The initial taste is citrus, specifically lemon oil with herbal undertones. It's grassy and fresh, but also has some hot and sour qualities. The texture is creamy. The finish is short, with citrus persisting into the aftertaste. For my 666th review, I selected something fittingly diabolical. When a friend visited and brought this bottle last week, the choice was clear. Gin crafting is an art, but like all art, mediocrity is a constant danger. This gin, one of several produced and marketed by the Hobart establishment Institut Polaire, falls short in several crucial areas. The citrus is overpowering, with almost no juniper detectable on the nose or palate. While not unpleasant, it strongly resembles lemon-infused vodka rather than gin. If you prefer citrus-forward gins with hidden juniper, you might like it, but its profile is very one-dimensional and narrow. Furthermore, its aging in "the finest new custom French oak casks" seems to have had minimal impact, beyond giving it a pale yellow color and a touch of vanilla. Despite the prominent citrus, the gin has a flat, hollow quality, and compared to other barrel-aged gins I've tried, the oak character is virtually absent. It's more than subtle; it's missing. Adding to the disappointment is the price: AUS$150 for a 500ml bottle, nearly double the cost of Monkey 47 and four times that of Roku Gin, which offers a more refined citrus profile. Finally, while their website boasts about glacial cold, pure water, and pristine desolation, it provides very little substantive information. Even the name, a French-German mix likely meaning "polar south," is ultimately meaningless. This sums it up well. It lacks the depth, breadth, complexity, and distinctiveness essential for a truly great gin and is poor value. It's as meaningless as its name. "Inferior": 68/100 (1.75 stars).