First Impressions
Anokha — Hindi for 'different' or 'unique' — is created by Defiance Distillery in Manchester with twenty botanicals sourced from across the Silk Road. This is a gin designed to be paired with spiced cuisine: mango, turmeric, Himalayan salt, bird's eye chilli, mustard seed, fennel, and lembu fruit create a botanical bill that reads more like an Indian spice market than a European botanical garden. The concept is bold — a gin that can stand alongside a curry rather than fighting it.
Tasting
Twenty Asian botanicals. The nose is sweet tropical mango followed by savoury layers of aromatic spice and turmeric's earthy warmth. On the palate at 42%, savoury and aromatic: anise leads to peppery heat from bird's eye chilli, fragrant herbs provide depth, and mango's tropical sweetness balances the spice. Himalayan salt adds mineral complexity. The finish is delicate and smooth — surprisingly long, with chilli heat building gently.
The Bottom Line
Anokha earns a 7 — a gin that commits fully to its Indian spice concept and succeeds. Twenty Silk Road botanicals could easily create chaos, but the mango-turmeric-chilli combination has a natural affinity that keeps everything coherent. Best served with spiced cuisine — a G&T alongside a biryani, or neat as a digestif after a curry. At £35, a genuine alternative for anyone bored of floral and citrus gins.
