Simon’s Sommergarten Gin
Summer in a bottle
- Country
- Germany
- Alcohol
- 42.5%
- Bottle size
- 500 ml
- Producer
- Simons Destillatmanufaktur
- In short
- Fruit'n'floral
- Botanicals
- Juniper, Lavender, Red berries
Aromacode®
- 1 Pine, 44 of 100
- 2 Citrus, 22 of 100
- 3 Fruits, 51 of 100
- 4 Blossoms, 45 of 100
- 5 Grass, 33 of 100
- 6 Herbs, 37 of 100
- 7 Wood, 17 of 100
- 8 Spices, 2 of 100
- 9 Sharpness, 28 of 100
The Aromacode® shows how strongly each aroma comes through. The larger the wedge, the stronger the aroma. Numbers match the list.
About this bottle
Where Simon’s Sommergarten Gin comes from
The Simon family has lived, sown, harvested and distilled near Altenau in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, since 1707. Johann Simon received a distilling licence in 1879, and the family is now in its fifth generation of distilling. Today, husband and wife Susanne and Severin Simon run the distillery true to their motto: keep an eye on distilling tradition and translate it into modern spirits. It works beautifully, and neither of them simply inherited the role. Susanne trained as a craft spirits sommelier, while Severin studied wine production and qualified as an engineer in wine production and cellar management.
Browse the distillery's social media posts and you'll see how closely everything works with nature: harvesting here, growing there. For some products, it's a journey from field to bottle. Lovely to still find something like that.
The botanicals in Simon’s Sommergarten Gin
Simon’s Sommergarten Gin is an intense gin that captures summer beautifully with these botanicals:
Juniper berries
Lavender
Various red berries
A few others that aren't specified
After distillation and dilution to drinking strength, the gin rests for a few weeks before being bottled at 42.5% ABV in 0.5-litre bottles.
Tasting notes for Sommergarten Gin
On the nose
Very floral and fresh. Juniper mingles with lavender and a hint of fruit, almost like apples. The alcohol blends pleasantly with the aromas and doesn't dominate the nose. Overall, it's a very fruity nose with a few delicate herbal notes.
Taste and palate
The flavour starts very gently. Juniper again mingles with lavender and some fresh herbal notes. Sweetness isn't as dominant as the first sniff might suggest. Although berries are used, the profile isn't as intense as Huckleberry Gin or perhaps Brockmann’s Gin. This gin takes a much more delicate approach and doesn't need a sledgehammer to get its idea into the glass. Juniper fans, don't worry: it still deserves to be called gin. That gentle twist of needles and resin is there. The heat is well balanced and builds slowly into the aftertaste.
Finish and aftertaste
After a sip, you're left with gentle heat that isn't intrusive, and the lavender and fruit are unmistakable too. When I say lavender, I don't mean an overdone, soapy lavender. It's more a delicate hint, like a mist of very diluted rose water.
With ice
Ice and meltwater bring out some sweetness — more than just a hint, in fact. The heat also eases a little. Overall, though, there's no change of direction, just a slight shift in the balance of flavours.
Perfect serve
The gin works beautifully in a gin and tonic with a classic Indian tonic. A Mediterranean tonic works just as well. Which way to go is more a matter of taste. Your best bet is to try a few variations.
Final thoughts on Simon’s Sommergarten Gin
Plenty of gins hope to become the drink of the summer. This one brings summer into the glass even when the season is long gone. It's also an intriguing choice in a Negroni: a very fruity experience playing off Campari's bitterness.
Simon’s Sommergarten Gin and Simon’s Destillatmanufaktur were my discoveries of 2018. The distillery's range is huge, and its products are really good. I'm sure we'll be testing and writing about several more of its gins here.