Most people like to bring some holiday souvenir back home. Our case is usually full with sausage and cheese from local markets and sometimes we bring also a bottle of wine. On Tenerife, we spontaneously packed a bottle of gin and two glasses as souvenirs. Macaronesian Gin. To be honest, I didn’t even know exactly then, what is meant by ‘Macaronesian’.

Macaronesia is an old name for the island groups off the African coast in the Atlantic. Namely, the Azores, Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands. Actually the Macaronesian White Gin comes from one of the Canary Islands. It is distilled in the south of Tenerife, in San Miguel de Abona and was the first Gin ever produced in the Canary Islands.

Rather surprising, because the conditions on the islands are ideal for gin: excellent water filtered through lava rocks and botanicals growing locally favored by the Canary climate. So the Macaronesian Gin is characterized by a soft and balanced flavor and a very fine scent of juniper. Juniper abound in the laurel forests of the island. Other botanicals are angelica root, licorice, lemon and orange peel and cardamom. It tastes like summer in a glass.

By the way, the ceramic bottle is “made in Germany”. This also explains why it seems to be so familiar, Gin Sul and Knut Hansen Gin come in very similar presentation. But their taste is somewhat rough, not at all like sun – but typical northern German.