Monk’s Road Dry Gin & Monk’s Road Barrel Finished Gin
Style: Dry Gin and an Aged Gin
Producer: Log Still Distillery
Origin: Gethsemane, Kentucky, USA
ABV: 86 Proof (43% ABV) and 93 proof (46.5% ABV)
MSRP: $23 and $30
Availability: Mainly the Southeast, plus Ohio and Indiana
Reviewed By: Susan Reigler
The Monk’s Road line of spirits comes by its name honestly. One leg of the route taken south from Bardstown, part of State Highway 247, to reach Log Still Distillery, is called Monk’s Road. It runs right past the Abbey of Gethsemane, a complex of somewhat medieval-looking turreted buildings situated behind a stone wall. The monastery is best known as one-time home of Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton, and for a bourbon soaked fruit cake the self-sufficient resident monks sell every year at Christmastime to help support the order.
The owners and distillers at Log Still are three Dant cousins: Wally, Lynne, and Charlie. In 2019, Wally purchased the land on which his great-grandfather William Washington Dant had had a distillery. Opened after Prohibition, the Dant & Head Distillery made bourbon until it closed in the early 1960s and the site deteriorated. The current Dants have restored the water tower, which had remained as a local landmark, and built a new distillery.
The distillery name is a nod to the early Nelson County farmer-distillers who, unable to afford a full copper still, would hollow out a poplar log, line it with a copper pipe, and make whiskey. In a further nod to that history, the distllery’s 33-foot tall column still has a hammered copper skin made to look like poplar bark.
Dry Gin - What We Say
Color: Crystal clear.
Nose: Bright lemon zest and some fresh green aromas with a tickle of cinnamon, and enough of a juniper note to signify its style.
Palate: Citrusy lemon dominates, with much more subtle notes of juniper, a touch of anise, a floral center, and a light pinch of coriander. Very fresh and balanced with just the right amount of astringency.
Finish: The spice speaks last, leaving a very pleasant tingle at the back of the throat, before drying to lemon peel.
Absolutely lovely in a well-chilled dry martini. Naturally, it calls for a lemon twist instead of an olive. Try it in a gin and tonic, too, Again, with lemon, which seems to be how the cocktail is usually served in Britain, instead of the lime encountered in the U.S.
Rating: Four Stars
★★★★☆
★ Not Recommended
★★ Recommended
★★★ Highly recommended
★★★★ Excellent
★★★★★ Ethereal
Barrel Finished Gin - What We Say
Color: Crystalline pale yellow.
Nose: Subtle notes of pine resin, vanilla, and dried wildflowers are apparent with just enough juniper peeing through for gin character.
Palate: Light vanilla spiked with some lemon zest. Baking spices vie with the citrus for the lead, with juniper playing a backup role, all carried along with a very smooth mouthfeel.
Finish: A quick note of juniper sounds before being taken over by some citrus and a touch of oak, a relic of its time in a wheated bourbon barrel.
Intriguing sipped neat. (Store the bottle in the freezer.) Fun to experiment with in cocktails and lends itself equally to a martini or a Negroni.
Rating: Four Stars
★★★★☆
★ Not Recommended
★★ Recommended
★★★ Highly recommended
★★★★ Excellent
★★★★★ Ethereal
Former restaurant critic and beverage columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Susan is bourbon columnist for Food & Dining and Covey Rise magazines and also writes for Bourbon+, LEO Weekly, and American Whiskey (tasting notes and ratings). Susan has authored or co-authored six books including Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide, The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book, The Bourbon Tasting Notebook, and The American Whiskey Tasting Notebook, and Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? – Setting the Table for Tastings, Food Pairings, Dinner, and Cocktail Parties. Susan is a member of the Order of the Writ, former president of both the Bourbon Women Association and the Kentucky chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, an organization of women culinary professionals.
