Uncle Val's Botanical Gin

Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin presents a complex and subtly pleasing sensation of flavors. The botanicals were chosen because they were not only Uncle Val’s favorite cooking ingredients, but also happen to make a truly unique and smoothly delicious gin. Each sip bolsters the botanical flavors, along with a continuous presence of piney juniper. Uncle Val’s Gins are small-batch botanical gins inspired by Zio Valerio’s love of gardening and native Tuscan cuisine. The botanicals are not only Uncle Val’s favorite cooking ingredients, but also happen to make exceptionally unique and smoothly delicious gin.

“Inspired by a man and his garden,” Uncle Val’s namesake— Valerio Cecchetti— known to brand founder August Sabastiani as Zio Valerio, was an avid Italian gardener and cook. Therein lies the inspiration for Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin. The side of the bottle describes the process as “Distilled 5x and infused with Uncle Val’s favorite botanicals.”

Infused suggests a less-traditional process. Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin botanical tea bags to infuse the spirit with the botanicals. While,”distilled gib” by definition permits the addition of both essences and other ingredients after distillation (for example, Hendrick’s infuses its distilled gin with rose and cucumber). Uncle Val’s is perfectly clear, suggesting some sort of post-infusion distillation. Though that vibrant, fresh cucumber note reminds me of other gins which add a cucumber note after distillation (as distilled cucumber often is a bit heavier and more vegetal). Process-wise there isn’t a ton of detail available, so some of this is educated speculation.