Blood orange gins have become one of the most crowded corners of the flavoured gin market. So when a bottle like Nicholson Blood Orange Gin lands on my desk, the question isn't whether it'll taste of citrus — it's whether it brings anything worth remembering.
At 40.3% ABV, Nicholson sits just above the 37.5% legal minimum, which is a good sign. Too many flavoured gins hide behind sweetness at lower strengths. That extra bit of backbone suggests there's genuine juniper spirit doing the heavy lifting here, not just a citrus liqueur in disguise. It's a small detail, but one that separates the serious from the novelty.
Style & Character
Flavoured gins live or die by balance. The best ones — and I've tried dozens across Europe and Asia — let the added ingredient complement the juniper rather than bulldoze it. Blood orange as a flavouring agent has real potential. It's bittersweet rather than simply sweet, closer to a Seville orange or a Japanese yuzu in its complexity than a straightforward navel orange. That bitterness, when handled well, can create something genuinely compelling alongside traditional botanicals.
The Nicholson brand isn't widely documented in terms of its distillery or full botanical bill, which makes it harder to assess the craft story. I'd like to see more transparency there. But judged on style alone, a 40.3% blood orange gin occupies promising territory.
Best Served
I'd go bold here. Build a spritz: Nicholson Blood Orange Gin, a splash of Aperol, topped with prosecco and a dash of soda. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary and a thin wheel of blood orange. It leans into that bitter citrus character and makes for a knockout aperitivo. Alternatively, try it in a G&T with a premium Indian tonic and a pinch of cracked pink peppercorns — the spice plays beautifully against blood orange's tartness.
