Gabriel Boudier Saffron Gin

Saffron is the most expensive spice on earth, and Gabriel Boudier — the Dijon house famous for Crème de Cassis — built a gin around it in 2008, when chairman Jean Battault rediscovered a 19th-century recipe in the company archives: a colonial-era marriage of British gin-making and Indian spice, made entirely in Dijon. Nine botanicals go into the copper pot still — juniper, coriander, lemon, orange peel, angelica seed, iris, and the curious addition of fennel — and then saffron is macerated into the finished gin, giving it a vivid golden-orange color, bottled at 40% ABV. Honest note: the color is helped along by certified food coloring, which Drinkhacker flagged, and the saffron is subtler on the palate than the hue suggests. The Rum Howler scored it 84.5. Expect a surprisingly traditional nose — juniper center stage with citrus beneath — that shifts on the palate: the juniper fades, the saffron's earthy, honeyed musk and the fennel's soft anise come forward, with a slightly enhanced viscosity and a hint of sweetness, finishing with what Whisky Rant called a stingy kick. The Gin Is In found it best on the rocks or in a very dry Martini; Distiller reviewers note the orange-peel note prevails in a G&T and the gin holds up to tonic. Spirit Animal frames it as a new-world profile with juniper dialed back and citrus dialed up — built for modern cocktails rather than the classics. One of the most striking bottles on any shelf, and a genuine conversation piece.

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