Citadelle Gin Reserve

Nearly every gin sold on the market today is bottled immediately after distilling, but Citadelle Réserve Vintage sleeps for several months in small, seasoned French oak barrels before being bottled. While this is very unusual today, this painstaking and lengthy practice is reminiscent of how gin was stored and transported more than 100 years ago when glass (too fragile and expensive), plastic and stainless steel were not options. Gabriel’s experimentation began in 2008 when he put his Citadelle Gin into a few old French oak casks – and voilà, Citadelle Gin Réserve was born and became the first barrel-aged Citadelle gin. It was a very rounded gin with notes of wood and vanilla while still being very juniper forward. It was such a new and unique gin that it sold out within weeks of its global introduction! Upon tasting Citadelle Réserve 2008, the Spanish press called Gabriel the “master of spirits.”