Fords Gin Officer's Reserve Navy Strength

Simon Ford was sitting in a gin bar when he realized that of all the overproof gins on the market, none was barrel-aged navy strength — the way gin actually reached British sailors in the 18th century, shipped in casks. Officers' Reserve, released in February 2019 as Fords' first limited bottling, fixed that. It starts with the same nine botanicals as Fords Gin — Italian juniper, Romanian coriander, Spanish lemon, bitter orange, Turkish grapefruit, Chinese jasmine, angelica, orris, and cassia — distilled by Charles Maxwell at Thames Distillers in London, then rested three weeks in used 64-liter Amontillado sherry casks and blended with unaged Fords Gin to balance the oak's richness against the fresh botanicals. Proofed with well water and bottled at 54.5% ABV (109 proof), believed to be true Royal Navy strength. 88 Bamboo tasted it alongside the original at a Simon Ford masterclass: expect the flagship's bright lemon-and-orange bounce and earthy juniper backbone, now carrying a faint gold tint, a nutty, dried-fruit Amontillado note, a rounder texture, and considerably more grip, finishing long with grapefruit pith and oak-touched spice. Honest note: three weeks is a kiss of cask, not a barrel-aged gin in the whiskey sense — it's still emphatically a gin. That's the design: a navy-strength Fords for a Negroni that never fades, a Martini with real presence, a Last Word, or a Gimlet built the way the officers' mess would have made it.

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