Essentially any fan of gin would be able to tell you that at the end of the day, gin is all about its botanicals. The choice of which fruits, spices and herbs to use in infusing a neutral spirit–beyond the ubiquitous juniper–ultimately determines the vast majority of a gin’s flavor profile. What’s less clear is the nuances conveyed by terroir, especially when some of the same botanicals are involved. Does it matter where a lemon or orange is grown, in the context of making gin? Where coriander or cardamom are sourced? Oftentimes, the quickest way to truly ground a gin in a sense of place is to turn to botanicals that can only be found there, as in the African-based Procera Gin. Stray Dog Wild Gin, meanwhile, is another brand striving for this kind of sense of place, although they don’t have quite so many unusual botanicals to focus on. What they have, though, is a rock-solid spirit, so that’s certainly worth something.
Stray Dog Wild Gin is a product of Greece, potentially the only Greek gin available on U.S. store shelves. Its theming revolves around wild foraged botanicals, most of which hail from the region of the Aridea Mountains, which also provide the water in this spirit. The company has the stated goal of capturing these Mediterranean flavors and infusing their essence into Stray Dog Wild Gin.
With that said, the majority of botanicals here are actually quite classical: Lemon, orange, rosemary, sage, coriander and cardamom are all the sort of thing you’d expect to find in many classic London dry gins. Where Wild Dog really embraces its home is in the use of mastiha or mastic, a substance that is effectively a type of tree sap, excreted by the resin glands of the mastic tree on the Greek isle of Chios. This edible resin can be chewed, reportedly having a bitter flavor that transitions into something more sweet and refreshingly resinous/herbal. The substance is referred to as the “tears of Chios,” for the teardrop shape of dried bits of sap. It sort of makes sense for this to function as one of Wild Dog’s signature flavors.
The finished gin, meanwhile, weighs in at a modestly robust 43.5% ABV (87 proof), and an approachable MSRP around $35. So with that said, let’s get to tasting it.
On the nose, Stray Dog Wild Gin is very fresh and bright indeed, featuring lemon-lime zestiness melding with sweet pine sap, modest juniper and the distinctly musty/earthy/citrus character of freshly cracked coriander. It’s also notably floral, with a profile that really trends toward the “verdant” side of the spectrum. You can easily imagine yourself strolling in a pine-cypress forest, nosing this.
On the palate, this is again quite floral, herbal and decidedly “planty,” and appreciably on the dry side as well. It’s redolent in pine resin and the character I can only assume is contributed by the mastic, combined with minerality, savory sage, wild flowers, juniper, piercing lemon citrus and moderate bitterness. To make a possibly fanciful stylistic comparison, it has the same sort of combination of brightness, florals and bitterness you might find in a great German pilsner. Spice notes are more on the subtle side, but you can pick out the coriander in particular. Ethanol heat is mild to moderate, with an overall impression that plays as a nicely subtle variation on familiar gin tones.
All in all, I quite like this. Stray Dog Wild Gin is plenty flavorful for the proof point, and I would think it should stand up well to classic cocktails. It’s on the dry side, eschewing the bold sweetness of so many modern U.S. gins. I’m not much of an olive fan, but it does seem like an obvious pairing for a classic olive-garnished martini, or a G&T garnished with sage and lemon. You might say that this one is just novel enough to stand out in the way it needs to do.
Distillery: Stray Dog Wild Gin
Region: Greece
Style: Gin
ABV: 43.5% (87 proof)
Availability: 750 ml bottles, $35 MSRP
Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.