10 best flavoured gins to add a twist to your G&T

We’re already big fans of Silent Pool’s crisp, clean gin made on the Duke of Northumberland’s Albury Estate using a whopping 24 botanicals including local honey, lavender and chamomile.

Their latest invention adds a tropical twist to those homegrown notes with the citrus freshness of kaffir lime to offset the piney juniper perfectly. Zesty and vibrant, it has a distinct aroma, smooth finish and bright lime flavours that give way to a hint of unexpected pepper. It’s ideal if you want to dabble in flavoured gin but don’t want to mess with the classics too much. Plus, it will give any G&T a serious upgrade, garnished with a generous wedge of lime of course.

If you can’t get enough of sweet fresh berries each summer, this is the gin for you. Made by Bombay Sapphire, this one is infused with a 100% natural fruit infusion of tasty blackberries and raspberries with no added sugar. The pop of berry brightness is perfect for anyone who likes to add fruit to their G&T, but it’s also a fast-track to a berry-centric cocktail. Although it’s not for those who hate sweet drinks, the peppery undertones stop it becoming too cloying and we reckon this could become our go-to gin when the sun is out.

One sip of this and we wanted to lock the door, start a fire and hibernate for the winter. It’s made using a base of the original, award-winning Bathtub gin, inspired by illicit gin distilled in bathtubs in the 1920s and produced in small batches.

This one tastes like a crisp autumn evening in a bottle, with classic botanical flavours spiced up with juicy damsons and aromatic bay leaves. It has a moreish jammy sweetness that makes it ideal for drinking on its own over ice and it’s already won a Masters medal at this year’s Global Spirits Masters Competition for its downright deliciousness. Plus, it gets extra marks for the bottle’s endearingly old-fashioned appearance, wrapped in brown paper with a hand-drawn illustration of a bathtub on the front.

One sniff of this orange-scented gin and we felt like we should be dining alfresco in a Spanish courtyard.

This silky smooth gin combines traditional botanicals with sun-kissed Valencian oranges and a citrus hit from triple sec which balances perfectly with the classic flavours of orange peel, liquorice and almond. The flavours develop in the mouth but are never overly sweet, and this gin was a particular favourite with one tester who swore they loathed all types of gin. Serve it over ice to savour its citrus warmth or add it to a negroni to balance out the bitterness and really make it sing.

We tried to avoid including too many pink gins in this roundup but a couple were too good to swerve. Stylishly packaged and great for gifting, this Harvey Nichols gin is made in collaboration with The Secret Garden Distillery on the outskirts of Edinburgh. They turned a derelict piece of land into a garden thronged with flowers, herbs and plants used to make their gin. All are tended by hand using no chemicals or fertilisers and are hand-picked and air-dried, with no added sugars, artificial colours, flavourings or additives for the purest possible gin-drinking experience.

Botanicals used in this gin are all grown in the garden and include juniper, coriander, lemon and geranium. Delicate notes of rose, hollyhocks and Turkish delight add a fragrant lightness that makes this gin beautifully easy-drinking, but we reckon it would be even better with a splash of prosecco on a summer’s day.

It might horrify gin purists but we were surprised by just how tasty this Jaffa Cake-infused gin really is. True, if you loathe the distinctive chocolate biscuit, it won’t be for you. But if you’re partial to chocolate orange and want a fun tipple that works wonders in a negroni, you won’t go far wrong.

Surprisingly, the gin is not as sweet or artificial as you’d imagine and is made by distilling oranges, cocoa powder and genuine Jaffa Cakes to give notes of earthy chocolate, vanilla and almond with a discernible base of juniper so you won’t feel you’ve just scarfed a whole packet of biscuits. Though we definitely had the urge after sipping this.

We just can’t get enough of pink gin, so had to include a couple of the finest examples around in this list.

This one is a real head turner in a baby pink ceramic decanter that we’d buy just to show off on a cocktail trolley. Made in Staffordshire, it’s inspired by an original recipe from the 1980s and is astonishingly smooth, with a rush of rhubarb against sweeter notes of strawberry and raspberry. There’s a twist of citrus and a pervasive juniper backbone with a long finish that is deliciously refreshing. We’d serve it on a summer’s day garnished with plenty of ice and fresh strawberries and reckon life wouldn’t get much better.

If you’re going to choose a flavoured gin, you may as well go all-out and have some fun with the options. This is the most unexpected tipple we tested but it would go down a treat with anyone who loves gin and has a sweet tooth. Made in the UK by artisanal distillers, it’s inspired by the brand’s own candy floss marshmallows for a rush of nostalgic fairground flavours. The retro sugary flavours make this gin very easy-drinking, but don’t entirely drown out the woody juniper so the overall effect is far more balanced than you’d imagine.

Not quite sweet enough? The Naked Marshmallow Co. recommend garnishing your drink with a cloud of candy floss which will guarantee your G&T is the talking point of any party.

Not all flavoured gin involves chocolate biscuits and strawberries. If you’d rather not mess with a classic but want to try something a little different, this beautifully packaged gin is a real winner in a stunning, reusable glass bottle that we’d happily keep out on show.

It comes from opera singer Katherine Jenkins, who formed Cygnet with her husband Andrew Levitas. Their gin is made in a traditional Welsh distillery by a female master distiller using traditional methods and the purest Welsh water in a 300 litre Arnold Holstein copper pot. This one focuses on subtle flavours and warming spices, with a blend of 22 botanicals and Manuka honey to give it a soft sweetness that lingers on the palate finished with a moreish touch of vanilla. Think of it as gin with a twist that could easily become your new favourite tipple.

Another great gin which is subtly flavoured rather than an all-out taste explosion. This one was created to celebrate Elephant Gin’s tenth anniversary and is designed to highlight the very best African ingredients for a gin unlike any other. These include fragrant buchu leaves from South Africa, white ginger and monodora from Cameroon, sumbala seeds from Burkina Faso, baobab and lion’s tail. It’s a deliciously unexpected gin with notes of grapefruit and blackcurrant and undertones of fresh ginger for a sophisticated finish.

Plus, it comes in a lighter eco-glass bottle that uses 65% recycled glass, topped with a traditional cork stopper and decorated with traditional glass beads handmade by Maasai tribal women in Kenya, which can be used as sunglass strings. Even better, 15% of bottle profits go to protect the critically endangered African forest elephant in Cameroon through the African Wildlife Foundation. A winner all round.