First Impressions
Solway Apple Caramel Gin from Dumfries & Galloway takes the dessert gin concept and runs with it — infusing apples and sweet caramel into their classic London Dry base. It is unashamedly sweet and indulgent, designed for drinkers who want their gin to taste like a toffee apple at a bonfire night fair.
The Distillery
Solway Spirits produces this gin by infusing their Dry Gin — a classic London Dry distilled with juniper, citrus, and other traditional botanicals — with apples and sweet caramel. The result is a flavoured gin at 40% ABV.
Tasting
The nose is sweet apple pie and toffee fudge — warm, inviting, and unapologetically dessert-like.
On the palate, sweet apples meet rich, smooth, luxurious caramel and slightly aromatic cinnamon. The mouthfeel is silky smooth. The initial caramel sweetness is followed by a slightly dry finish from the juniper — the London Dry base preventing the sweetness from becoming overwhelming.
The finish is rich and smooth, with caramel warmth lingering.
How to Drink It
In a G&T with ginger ale instead of tonic for an autumn serve. Over vanilla ice cream as a dessert pour. With Indian tonic and a slice of apple.
The Bottom Line
Solway Apple Caramel earns a 6.5 as a well-executed dessert gin that delivers exactly what it promises. The apple and caramel are rich and convincing, the London Dry base provides enough juniper to keep it recognisably gin, and the cinnamon adds seasonal warmth. At around £34, it is positioned as a premium flavoured gin, and the Scottish craft production justifies the price. Toffee apple season, extended indefinitely.
