Devil's Grin Gin Review

A gin that’ll make you smile: Devil’s Grin

Review: Devil’s Grin Texas Gin

Made in: Fort Worth Texas by Trinity River Distillery

Base:  Corn

Method: Step maceration.

44% alcohol/88 proof

Botanicals (14): Juniper, Cedar, Anise, Cardamom, toasted Mesquite Bean, Galangal,?

Style: Modern Gin

As I was wandering through my favorite gin shop in Colorado (Argonaut Wines and Spirits in Denver) looking for spirits I can’t easily find at home on the East coast. As I browsed, the sales clerk asked me if I’d tried Devil’s Grin. Since I hadn’t tried—nor even heard of it—I took a bottle home.  

While I’d noted it on the shelf, I hadn’t originally given it much thought. At a $22 price point for the bottle I didn’t expect much. Still, with the enthusiastic recommendation, I figured I’d bring it back to my mother in law’s home for a proper tasting.

The story of Devil's Grin is intriguing. It´s made in Texas with a hint of London Dry flavor profile, but it´s definitely not a London Dry gin. Devil’s Grin is something entirely different. It's a combination of foreign botanicals from six continents and local Texas ingredients such as Mesquite Beans and Texas rainwater.  

Each ingredient is macerated separately by taste rather than formula, before being distilled and blended, then diluted and bottled over the course of a month.

After doing further research I found maybe I was in for a surpriseÑ Devil’s Grin has some serious chops having won six gold medals, 2 in London and 4 in the US, including the New York and San Francisco World Spirits Competitions. With all that in mind, I was looking forward to a real taste.

So what’s in the bottle? Let’s find out.

Tasting notes:

Sipping: Nice flavor with a bit of heat. Soft and citrusy with a flash of juniper, notes of wood, spice and floral tones. Very pleasant. Certainly far more than I was expecting at this price point.

Nose:  Spicy with strong perfume of juniper, lemon blossom, and hints of cedar.  

Taste: multidimensional with juniper up front, notes of sandalwood right behind, followed by hints of cinnamon adding some heat, then some black licorice leading to a mellow slightly sweet back end. Impressive layers often missed in gins.

Mouthfeel: Soft and light.

Mixability:

Now as my long term readers know - I believe there are only two drinks where gin is really the star, and I weigh those categories heavily.  First and foremost is the martini: a more classic drink where the flavors of the gin can shine though without having to fight their way through the flavors of other ingredients. 

Tried this in a martini at a roughly 6:1 ratio with Dolin dry vermouth. When ice cold it stands up nicely, but it isn’t elite. The sharp crispness of a London dry which often defines a martini, just isn’t there. It’s soft and sneaky with mellow juniper and cedar notes but with something mushy in the background. It’s likable and enjoyable but not classic. While good, it wouldn’t be my first choice for a martini.

Where it shone was in the next classic: the G&T. I tried it with two different tonics, Fever Tree Mediterranean and Strongwater Spanish Tonic. In either case I’d give it high marks. Such a complex flavor here that with each sip I tasted different levels—just beautiful.  

For something more complex my ingredient list was a bit limited, so I came to the Gimlet.  Here the gin was fantastic, soft and round, its layer of flavor came through in so many ways. It would be great in a Collin’s or French 75. Probably spectacular in a Corpse Reviver as well.

Overall

I have to say this is a good gin, but one that’s a bit perplexing and that leaves me a tad unsure as to what to compare it to. This is a gin far more complex than most.  While more clearly an actual gin than something like Monkey 47, in which the juniper is buried among their 46 other ingredients, this gin shares a lot of characteristics of that style.  It would still be outstanding value even at double the price.

You have juniper, cedar, spice, and hints of sweetness, so well blended that unlike many gins where you can taste and differentiate ingredients, this one is an amalgamation of flavors where those ingredients come to be something greater than the sum of their parts.  The juniper-heads won’t love it, as it’s definitely not classic, but this is a gin that most will appreciate.  Definitely a good choice for beginners as well as connoisseurs. 

Flavor profile.

spice: 4 of 5

Herbal: 1 of 5

Juniper: 4 of 5

Floral: 3 of 5

Citrus; 3 of 5

Heat: 3 of 5

Rating (Sipping): 90 - a nice gin with complexity and good flavors. It’s pleasant and worthy of keeping around to sip.

Rating (Mixing):  90 - if it wasn’t lacking on the classic martini scale I’d give this one a much higher rating.  That said, it’s a monster in a G&T and adds levels of complexity to several drinks where I don’t expect most gins to come through.

Overall rating: 90:  This is an excellent gin, bordering on being elite. At this price point it’s a gin I’d consider for a house gin—just not for a classic martini.

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What you need to know about my reviews: All my reviews are my honest opinions based upon my own personal tasting. I am NOT a paid reviewer, and no compensation was given, or expected. I may from time to time choose to do a second review and amend my opinion of a product, should I feel like it and find my review criteria has evolved, or that I’ve found it different at a later date. That said, as I’m unlikely to repurchase anything I thought was less than very good to excellent, it would be by chance or at the request of a distiller who thought I rated them very unfairly - BUT even then, whatever you get will always be my honest opinion.