Banks and BurbidgeNon Alcoholic SpiritsReviewBanks and Burbidge Non-Alcoholic Gin Review

There are soft, complex and spicy flavours of juniper, citrus and a bouquet of floral notes through the Banks & Burbidge Non-Alcoholic Gin. It is a non-alcoholic spirit that blends well with tonic due to its traditional flavour profile and allows you to tailor garnishing to suit your preferences.

In my recent podcast with Mike Graham, Founder of Banks & Burbidge, Mike mentioned that the benefit of Banks & Burbidge is that it:

• contains complex core gin textures and flavours.
• is built around floral, citrus and earthy juniper notes.
• finishes with spicy warmth from Tasmanian Pepper Berry and Chilli Pepper.
• has a well-weighted mouthfeel due to the production process.

Keep an eye out for the Podcast that I’ll be releasing with Mike soon!

Is Banks & Burbidge for you? Find out below.

As a general rule, if you enjoy traditional gin like Tanqueray or Bombay Saffire, you are going to enjoy Banks & Burbidge Gin. Mike Graham, Founder of Banks & Burbidge says the gin was developed and tested with 4 rounds of focus group research, to ensure traditional gin flavours were achieved.

With the use of focus groups to guide flavour profile development, Banks and Burbidge have been mindful of developing an alcohol-free spirit that meets the expectations of drinkers who enjoy a traditional tasting gin, and gin and tonic.

If you are looking for more polarising flavours or specialty gins, this might not be the gin for you in which case, I would recommend you check out the brilliant Clovendoe Stem that is full of bright and bold summery flavours that may be more suited to your tastes!

Banks and Burbidge Gin is available through all retail channels including directly through Banks & Burbidge, Brunswick Aces and Craft Zero, to name a few.

Each bottle will cost you around $39 – $42 per 700ml bottle.

If you’re looking to give it a go, a few different retailer links to get you started are all below:

• Banks and Burbidge Direct
• Brunswick Aces
• Craft Zero Bottle Only
• Craft Zero Bottle & Fever-Tree Light Tonic

Banks and Burbidge Gin is 100% alcohol-free. No alcohol is ever included in the product; therefore no alcohol removal is required. The base ingredient Banks and Burbidge is created with is distilled water and the botanicals are then added and macerated for a period to help the flavours develop.

Banks and Burbidge gin is created with high quality locally sourced ingredients that include:

1. Distilled Water.
2. Juniper Berries.
3. Tasmanian Pepper Berries.
4. Coriander.
5. Cilli peppers.
6. Caramon
7. Lemon peel
8. Liquorice root
9. Orris root

The Banks and Burbidge non-alcoholic gin has 0 calories and 0 grams of sugar per 100ml. It is a low calorie, sugar-free, fat-free and suitable option for anybody looking for an ultra low-calorie option while enjoying traditional gin flavours.

Comparing it to other non-alcoholic gin options I have written reviews on, like the Brunswick Aces Hearts Sapiir. The Banks and Burbidge is in similar company. The Hearts Sapiir has only 9 calories per 100ml and under 3 calories per 40ml

Looking for full Banks and Burbidge nutrition information, the set of numbers is below.

Avg Quantity Per Serving (40ml)		Avg Quantity Per 100ml
Energy	<1 kJ <1 Cal	<1 kJ <1 Cal
Protein	0 g	<0 g
Fat, total	0 g	<0 g
— saturated	0 g	<0 g
Carbohydrate	0 g	0 g
— sugars	0 g	0 g
Sodium	<1.5 mg	<3 mg

As a general rule, Banks and Burbidge can be enjoyed as a substitute for any traditional tasting alcoholic gin due to its Juniper led and citrus based profile. That includes in bold flavourful cocktails, through to dinner parties or any time an alcoholic gin would be used.

In my recent discussion with Mike, he mentioned the product was developed to be that ‘go-to’, high quality non-alcoholic gin that would:

1. fit perfectly into scenarios like dinner parties with friends and family;
2. satisfy that itch for a traditional gin and tonic; and
3. fill the gap left by traditional alcoholic gins such as Bombay Saffire and Tanqueray.

I really appreciate what Mike is doing here and it was great to hear how he is driven by giving people options to choose how they drink!

As a general rule, the Banks and Burbidge non-alcoholic gin is created through a process of maceration that is built around the use of distilled water and sees the botanicals and ingredients:

• brought up to temperature and boiled – to release the flavours;
• left to soak, a process known as seeping, for more than two days – to extract the most flavours out of each botanical; and
• distilled and bottled.

According to Mike Graham, the product has been continually iterated and built on following customer feedback. Interestingly, it now contains approximately 20% more botanicals than the first batch created.

This shows the dedication and willingness to develop a flavour profile that meets the expectations of drinkers and to develop a product that has great depth of flavour which then allows it to stand up to mixers like tonic.

Launching in the pre-pandemic world Banks and Burbidge had planned to launch with gin parlours and bars across Australia like Shucksbar in Brisbane.

Unfortunately, due to the increasing disruption caused by the pandemic, Mike and the venues had to press pause on the rollout. This means coming into 2022 and beyond, Banks and Burbidge will be appearing in venues just as we all start to return.

If you are looking to get that Friday after-work drink in, but need to drive – keep an eye out for it on the menu.

Like I touched on right at the top, the Banks and Burbidge non-alcoholic gin is sophisticated. It does an amazing job of bringing a weighted mouthfeel and heat a non-alcoholic spirit option that fills the gap in the traditional alcohol-free tasting Gin.

I have enjoyed this with a number of different mixers and on its own – think tonic (both flavoured and basic) and other options like sparkling rose water or in cocktails.

The fact that Mike has been able to achieve both heat and a weighted mouthfeel while maintaining subtle and soft flavours is really quite impressive. For this reason, the Banks and Burbidge gets an 8/10 from me

If you’re interested in getting some into your glass, click here to be taken up the page to the list of retailers.