Pink Grapefruit Gin Liqueur – 500ml

Pink Grapefruit Gin Liqueur by Hoos for Summer Evenings

Pink Grapefruit Gin Liqueur by Hoos is a fruity, tart aperitif from Karlsruhe, built upon the house's London Gin. Grapefruit peel and lemon balm are macerated in it, and fresh juice is added – yet it remains far from sweet.

Pink Grapefruit Gin Liqueur is the summery edition of the Hoos London Gin by Heiko Hoos from Karlsruhe. Pink grapefruit peel and lemon balm macerate in the finished gin, after which freshly squeezed juice is added. With an alcohol content of 30.5 percent, it is a gin liqueur, but it remains significantly more tart than most of its kind.

Grapefruit upfront, herbs behind, bitterness underneath

The pink grapefruit comes first, juicy and with that typical tartness that grapefruit peel provides. Behind it, the herbs of the London Gin remain clearly recognizable, especially juniper, pine shoots, and chamomile. Lemon balm makes the whole thing bright without it veering into lemonade territory. What sets it apart from many other pink bottles on the shelf is precisely this bitterness – it is reminiscent of Mediterranean bitter liqueurs and keeps the sweetness in check.

The lower alcohol content makes it milder than the classic London Gin, which is why it can also be drunk neat, well-chilled and in small sips. Unlike its dry sibling, it is finely filtered after maceration so that the juice does not make it cloudy. The result glows a delicate rosé without looking garish.

The aperitif for long evenings outdoors

As an aperitif, it requires little effort: ice-cold in a glass, with a slice of grapefruit. If you want to make it a longer drink, top it up with a tart blood orange soda and garnish with grapefruit peel – a long drink that lasts longer on the terrace than a gin and tonic. A dry tonic also pairs well with it, pushing the bitterness to the fore and taking some of the roundness away from the fruit.

It is in its element with olives, salted almonds, and cheese crackers because the saltiness makes the grapefruit seem even fruitier. Place the bottle in the refrigerator beforehand; it tastes significantly clearer cold than at room temperature. Those who wish to place the dry classic alongside it can find it as London Gin, and for those who want to get to know it, the Pink Grapefruit is also available in a 200 ml bottle.

A trip to the South Seas from Karlsruhe

"Just because we are committed to local herbs doesn't mean we don't occasionally dream of the South Seas," says Heiko Hoos about this bottle. The base remains his London Dry Gin with fifteen botanicals, which he has been distilling in batches of 120 bottles since 2014 and numbering by hand.

Only then does the second round begin, in which pink grapefruit peel and lemon balm steep in the finished gin before freshly squeezed juice is added. Because fresh fruit always brings some turbidity, the aperitif finally passes through a fine filter before it enters the dark bottle.

Behind all this is still a one-man operation without an investor, which won silver at the International Spirits Competition in 2015 and the Best Innovation Award at the Cocktail Spirits in Paris. The rest of the range can be found at Hoos, and further bottles for the twilight hour in the aperitif shelf. A summer drink with backbone.