Skin Gin – Reptile Brown

Skin Gin Reptile Brown with Moroccan Mint from Buxtehude

Skin Gin Reptile Brown is the handmade German Dry Gin by Skin Gin from Buxtehude. Seven botanicals are distilled individually, with Moroccan mint joining the juniper as a special note. The bottle features a skin with a reptile look, wrapped by hand, piece by piece.

Skin Gin Reptile Brown is the mild, minty-fresh Dry Gin from Skin Gin in the Altes Land region outside the gates of Hamburg, bottled at 42 percent in a square 500-milliliter bottle. It is the original form of the brand, the edition with which Martin Birk Jensen entered the market in 2015. To this day, it remains the bottle by which Skin Gin can be recognized from afar.

Juniper provides the structure, mint sets the accent

Juniper from the Lüneburg Heath gives the gin its structure, Moroccan mint provides its own unique note, and orange, pink grapefruit, lemon, and lime round it off.

This makes it refreshing and mild without losing the clear spice of a Dry Gin, as Vietnamese coriander adds a fine sharpness underneath. Those who previously knew gin primarily as a juniper powerhouse will encounter something lighter, cooler, and more herbaceous here.

A gin and tonic with orange peel and rosemary

Pour four centiliters over large ice cubes and top with plenty of tonic water, and the mint will come through clearly without masking the citrus fruits.

Martin garnishes his gin and tonic with an orange peel and a sprig of rosemary, which extends the herbaceous side and gives the drink length. If you prefer to make your own tonic, the organic tonic syrup from Hamburg is also a great choice. Neat, the Reptile Brown shows its mint most openly, which is why it is more of a choice for dedicated mint lovers in this form.

Individually through the old copper still

Each of the seven botanicals goes separately into the spirit basket of an old copper still operated by master distiller Arndt Wessel in the Altes Land, just a few kilometers from the company headquarters.

This method allows for almost 100 percent of the essential oils to be extracted. Only then are the individual distillates blended and reduced to 42 percent. The detour takes time, but it keeps every ingredient recognizable, so that the mint remains mint and the citrus peel remains citrus peel.

A skin made of paper, wrapped by hand

The reptile skin that gives this edition its name is created in a Bavarian family workshop, where hot-stamped paper in a leather look is applied to the glass by hand, bottle by bottle.

Anchors, lettering, and the cap shine in copper, and because every skin sits a little differently, you are holding a unique piece in your hands. The idea for all this came to Martin Birk Jensen in 2014 while on vacation in Greece. "At some point, the common types of gin started tasting too strongly of juniper to me," says Martin, a native Dane, about the beginning of his brand.

Eight months later, his first bottle was on the shelf, and a year after that, 14,000 of them were on their way to eight countries. The other editions from Buxtehude show how the same gin can appear in different skins. Those who prefer to taste their way through distilleries will find gin from German manufacturers with us. A gin that feels comfortable in its own skin.