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.