Martin Miller’s Gin expands its line, adding 9 Moons, a single cask-aged gin. This new barrel-aged version — which will be available in the U.S. by December — shares the same DNA as Martin Miller’s Gin, with citrus and juniper characteristics, but is distinctly augmented with deeper complexity alongside a wonderful mix of vanilla sweetness and hints of creaminess from the light oak which is apparent in the finish.
Creating 9 Moons involved much tinkering with several barrels types in a quest for the perfect balance in flavor and finish, the company said. The key was to respect the original gin and not, through over enthusiasm and over-aging, create what amounted to terrible whisky.
So, in the aging of Martin Miller’s Gin, more subtle enhancements were sought that would add depth and emphasize the existing flavors of the gin. Barrels were lovingly monitored, tasted and discussed at great length. After precisely nine months, one of the new American oak barrels showed a perfect balance, maintaining the gin flavor, but with a little additional magic endowed by it’s nine leisurely months resting in its oaky bed.
9 Moons, a cask aged gin, has come from a single new Bourbon oak cask. It was filled with high strength Martin Miller’s Gin then aged for 9 months, or 9 moons, in Martin Miller’s Gin’s barrel store in Borgarnes, Iceland. Around 2,000 bottles, each individually numbered, were drawn from the cask and then blended at the source to an optimum bottling strength of 40% with Icelandic spring water, adding an exceptionally smooth quality.