First Impressions
Stephan Garbe left Hamburg advertising to follow his heart to Portugal. Walking the 75-kilometre Trilho dos Pescadores fishing trail along the Costa Vicentina — the wild, barren west coast — he noticed juniper growing everywhere, alongside rockrose (cistus ladanifer) and enormous lemons. He fell in love with the old hippie town of Odeceixe and decided to capture the Portuguese feeling of saudade in a gin: that untranslatable longing, part wanderlust, part melancholy. He wanted to build Portugal's first real gin distillery, but Portuguese bureaucracy defeated him. So he returned to Hamburg and founded the Altonaer Spirituosen Manufaktur in the Altona district, importing all fourteen botanicals exclusively from Portugal — including a specific year-round lemon variety from a contract farmer, with fruits growing almost as large as grapefruits.
Tasting
Distilled in a handcrafted 100-litre Arnold Holstein copper still — tiny batches that allow aromas more time and space. The nose is soft juniper with rosemary, lavender, honey and Portuguese lemon brightness, cistus ladanifer adding a resinous quality unique to this gin. On the palate, soft and dry with spice transforming into resinous lemon — the oversized Portuguese lemons providing intense citrus, rosemary warmth, cistus creating an aromatic character like walking through Mediterranean scrubland. The finish is clean with Portuguese lemon and rosemary lingering, the cistus providing a distinctive long tail.
The Bottom Line
Gin Sul earns an 8 for capturing a specific emotional landscape in a bottle. The cistus ladanifer is the secret — this resinous Mediterranean shrub gives Gin Sul an aromatic quality that no other gin possesses. Made in Hamburg, dreamed in Portugal, bottled in stoneware that recalls genever — the bottle alone tells you this is a gin with a story. Stephan Garbe could not build his distillery on the coast he loves, so he brought the coast to Altona. Saudade in 100-litre batches.
