Collins combined this history with his interest in gin and what he created - Schwarzwald Dry Gin - became the trademark spirit for the guesthouse until the 1970s. I have to agree with those who say it tastes like the creators of Monkey were trying too hard, and in so doing they went to far.

Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin | Expert Gin Review Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin | Expert Gin Review

Our Schwarzwald Sloe Gin is distilled in small batches from 47 predominantly unusual but regional botanicals and macerated with wild-growing, handpicked sloe berries from the Black Forest.

Monkey 47 reminded me of a mixture of Bombay Sapphire and Ransom Old Tom gins: It’s definitely gin, but the flavors are unique, and not perfectly balanced– honestly, the flavors are too complex for my tastes. I suspect that at some point I will be convinced to reward myself, maybe on some very special occasion or life threshold. Also sign me up for newsletters so I can get special offers, recommendations, and expert advice to my inbox!

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It's very well structured, and difficult to unpick but a citrus fresh start segues into pine and wood notes for a drying finish. Southern Germany may seem like a strange place to have a wealth of distilling expertise, but with a history of creating fruit liqueurs and brandies as well as being the home of many coppersmiths experienced in building stills, it remains (despite a now more global craft distilling revolution) probably one of the best places to create a new spirit. As a whisky drinker, I find it quite complex, very floral, and almost perfumy on the nose and palate. Once created, the distilled spirit is rested for three months in earthenware containers and then cut to 47% ABV with soft water from the Black Forest to before being sealed in 500ml bottles. There are fantastic gins on the market that use between 4 and 10 botanicals, so why would Monkey 47 use almost 50?

I absolutely love it, as a liquor though and not as a gin—because you hardly think of gin when you are tasting it. Since its launch in 2010, aficionados, bartenders and connoisseurs the world over have come to appreciate the incredible complexity and harmony. Maybe the additional information on the sheer complexity and abundance of the botanicals, and the generosity of its creator toward a kindred primate will persuade me that this is a worthy indulgence.

Monkey 47 Dry Gin | Master of Malt

You see, this Commander also helped rebuild the world-famous Berlin zoo, and during the course of this he came to support Max, an egret monkey, who lived in the zoo. Wing Commander Montgomery “Monty” Collins of the Royal Air Force was posted to the British sector of divided Berlin.A near-psychedelic experience of being conveyed into woodlands, open fields, down the long tables of a greenhouse. The result is a fresh and zesty, award-winning gin that suggests eucalyptus on the nose, lime and juniper on the palate and a citrus and pine finish. For the first five years the distilling happens in what can only be described as a beautiful old Arnold Holstein still. The idea behind the D istillers Cut is to harness the inherent Monkey 47 flavour profile and accentuate a certain aspect of it by adding a signature (more dominant) new botanical to the line up, which they refer to as their “species rara”. Happle suggested to Christoph Keller that he use the Spignel in Monkey 47 and in midsummer 2015 around two dozen harvesters (with herb and Monkey expertise) gathered on the hillside, hand-picking large quantities of the wild spignel seeds, which were later dried for distillation.