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The 30 Best Gins for 2025

For more than a decade, a swell of producers have offered inventive alternatives to traditional London Dry gin, expanding the category with approachable expressions that place less emphasis on piney juniper. Similarly, they’ve looked beyond the classic supporting cast of savory herbs and bitter roots to instead focus on vibrant fruits and expressive flowers, all with the added upshot of delivering a sense of place.

That’s not to say London Dry doesn’t deserve our attention or isn’t worthy of its status as the standard bearer for the category. Without it, there would be no classically made Dry Martinis or Negronis — no bittersweet dance pairing gin’s juniper with tonic’s quinine.

Still, modern interpretations from increasingly international producers represent the lion’s share of new products that arrive at the VinePair HQ for our annual gin tasting. Equally refreshing are the newer craft outfits challenging the London Dry stalwarts with their own take on the traditional style. And of that OG old guard: how do they fare against the fresh contenders looking to take their crown?

Find out right here in our list of the 30 best gins to drink in 2025.

Why You Should Trust VinePair

Every year, VinePair conducts dozens of tastings for our “Buy This Booze” roundups, highlighting the best bottles across the world’s most popular wine and spirits categories.

As part of this work, VinePair’s tasting team and editorial staff sample thousands of bottles annually. This ensures we have a close eye on what’s new and exciting. Crucially, it also provides us with the context needed to distinguish the simply good from the truly remarkable, whether from a quality or value-for-money perspective — or both.

Ultimately, our mission is to offer a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking. Learn more about VinePair’s tastings and reviews department here.

How We Taste

We conduct tastings as our readers would: with full awareness of the producer and, crucially, the price of each product. As such, our tastings are not performed blind.

For this gin roundup, all samples were poured in Glencairn glasses and given five minutes to breathe before tasting. We analyzed each gin’s aromas, flavors, texture, and finish, while appearance did not factor into the equation unless there was a notable flaw or irregularity.

How We Compiled This List

In order to provide our readers with the most comprehensive and thoroughly tested list of the best gins to buy, VinePair invited producers, distributors, and PR firms working on their behalf to send samples for consideration. These bottles were submitted free of charge — producers didn’t pay to submit nor did VinePair pay for the products. All were requested with the clear understanding that submission does not guarantee inclusion in the final list.

Not only would such an agreement contradict our editorial ethics and samples policy, it simply wouldn’t be possible to include everything we received. For this roundup, we tasted almost 100 new submissions and also retasted a handful of bottles that were sent to VinePair over the prior 12 months.

During tasting, we assigned a score to each product on a 100-point scale based on the quality and intensity of its aromas, flavors, texture, and finish. Then we reviewed all scores and compiled an editorially driven list that meets our criteria of 30 best gins to buy right now. It’s important to note that these are not the 30 highest-scoring gins we tasted this year. Instead, this list showcases the best bottles across every price and for every scenario.

The Best Gins Under $30

Big Gin London Dry

A classic London-Dry-style gin by way of Australia and the Pacific Northwest, Big Gin includes the uncommon Tasmanian pepperberry alongside eight other classic botanicals. Distilled in Seattle, and bottled at an assertive 47 percent ABV, it holds its own in all of the Prohibition-era and modern-classic gin cocktails.

Average price: $25
Rating: 91

The House of Suntory Roku Gin

Translating to “six” in Japanese, Roku is a delicate, citrus-forward, modern-style gin. Its name reflects the native ingredients included in its botanical bill (sakura flower, sakura leaf, yuzu peel, sencha tea, gyokuro tea, and sanshō pepper), and inspires its sleek, hexagonal bottle. We love it in a refreshing summer highball served with a plump citrus twist.

Average price: $25
Rating: 92

Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin

Uncle Val’s seeks to highlight fresh garden botanicals, including cucumber, sage, and lavender, along with lemon and juniper berries. The combination translates to bright, herbaceous aromas, and a palate with a snappy citrus zing. Forget Martinis and G&T’s, this gin shines best in a Gimlet, Tom Collins, or Gin Fizz.

Average price: $27
Rating: 90

Tenjaku Gin

Another high quality Japanese gin that includes botanicals sourced from and native to the island nation, Tenjaku is fruity, herbal, and complex. It gains that profile from peaches sourced from the Yamanashi region, fresh yuzu, sansho pepper, and green tea, along with more common ingredients like juniper, cassia bark, and angelica root. With dialed down juniper character and a bottling strength of 43 percent ABV, this is a great option for beginners.

Average price: $28
Rating: 91

Fords Gin

Created by former bartender Simon Ford and master distiller Charles Maxwell, Fords has long been beloved by industry pros and is now building a good head of steam among home bartenders. It represents the pinnacle of a newer wave of British gin brands putting out classic expressions of London Dry. Bottled at 45 percent ABV, it’s not quite as punchy as some of its competitors, but the profile remains bold and assertive, allowing it to excel in the applications for which it was devised — namely, cocktails.

Average price: $28
Rating: 94

The Best Gins Under $50

Citadelle Gin de France Rouge

Between the name and its label illustrations, there should be no confusion over what this French gin is intended to be: a red fruit bomb. Indeed, Citadelle has balanced a lengthy cast of 24 botanicals, allowing rhubarb, cranberry, raspberry, and violet to shine alongside juniper. This has simple highballs and tangy sours written all over it. But if you do want to take a classic approach, double down on the raspberry via an amped-up Clover Club.

Average price: $30
Rating 91

Bayab African Grown Classic Dry Gin

Among the steady flow of African gins arriving on the American market, Bayab remains a standout, reliable offering. Distilled at South Africa’s Midlands distillery, it includes seven botanicals from five different nations on the continent. Prominent among them is the sweet, citrusy, vitamin-C-loaded baobab fruit. Dry and well balanced on the palate, sample it in shaken classics, such as the Last Word.

Average price: $32
Rating: 92

Right Gin

With lemon, bergamot, key lime, and orange all included in its botanical bill, this Swedish New Western style gin is bursting with citrus character. Interestingly, the brand initially bottled it at a lower proof but upped the strength to 47 percent ABV after receiving bartender feedback. That increase makes all the difference when mixing this gin in spirit-forward classics.

Average price: $32
Rating: 92

Junipero Gin

Formerly known as the Anchor Distilling Company, and now named Hotaling & Co., this San Francisco distillery was a pioneer in American craft spirits, leading the way with the release of Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey and Junipero Gin in the 1990s. The latter gains its name from the Spanish translation of juniper, and this expression continues to place that ingredient front and center. Also of note: its 49.3 percent ABV bottling strength, which ensures intense presence in cocktails while never smelling or tasting overly boozy.

Average price: $33
Rating: 93

Eau Claire Distillery Parlour Gin

Typically, we raise an eyebrow when encountering gins bottled at 40 percent ABV — the common outcome being a slightly diluted flavor profile and lackluster finish. Yet, that’s absolutely not the case with this 80-proof Canadian offering. London Dry in style, it features the unique inclusion of rose hips and Albertan Saskatoon berries, which contribute toward a slightly sweet, well-rounded palate.

Average price: $35
Rating: 91

Edinburgh Gin The Classic

Produced in the heart of Scotland’s capital in a carbon-neutral distillery, this gin lives up to the “classic” billing in its name, with an overall juniper-forward, piney, citrusy, and floral profile. Its flavors are clean and defined, arriving on an approachable 43 percent ABV palate.

Average price: $35
Rating: 93

Farmer’s Botanical Small Batch Organic Gin

Gin relies more heavily on fresh ingredients than other spirits, and that’s clearly something the aptly named Farmer’s Gin wants to highlight. Its label features multiple prominent inclusions of “organic,” along with other health-halo-y terms like “gluten free,” “no carbs,” and “clean.” The latter aspect might seem like a marketing ploy, but the gin inside the bottle holds its own. Its aromas are a slightly reserved mix of juniper and lemongrass, but the palate comes to life with bursts of elderflower and lime zest. All signs point to a refreshing G&T with a juicy lime wedge.

Average price: $35
Rating: 92

Gin Lane 1751 Victoria Pink

Brightly colored, fruit-forward, and often flavored, pink gins never took off this side of the Atlantic as much as they did in the U.K., especially in the late 2010s. Purists mocked their lack of tradition, but as cocktail nerds will attest, there exists a legitimate historical interpretation of Pink Gin that mixes London Dry with Angostura bitters. With this release, Gin Lane has taken care of the heavy modest lifting, perfectly replicating the simple mix in a product that works as both a (undiluted) cocktail and standalone base spirit.

Average price: $35
Rating: 90

January Spirits Five Flower Botanical Gin

January Spirits was conceived in 2020 by longtime NYC bartenders Jon Langley and Lucky Preksto. Complementing the amaro and genepy in their lineup is this intriguing Long Island-distilled gin, which features 12 botanicals in total. Five of them are flowers — marigold, chamomile, elderflower, jasmine, and lavender — and they provide a unique and singular drinking experience. By pure coincidence we whipped up an authentic Pink Gin with this gin and it was absolutely divine — the floral notes matching the intensity of the aromatic bitters.

Average price: $37
Rating: 92

Elena Dry Gin

From Piedmont, Italy, this small-batch gin carries a Pinot Grigio-like light gold hue that comes from wood-fired distillation and natural herb infusion, according to the brand. That color makes it stand out on shelves and back bars, while the herbal character hits immediately — mountain mint and angelica flowers most notable among them. With a vermouth-style bitterness on the palate, match like for like by mixing in a G&T or Negroni.

Average price: $38
Rating: 92

Harahorn Norwegian Small Batch Gin

The second Nordic take on classic London Dry gin on this year’s list, Harahorn features 23 botanicals, many of which are wild-foraged or grown in the distillery’s garden in Grimstad, Norway. The nose and palate transition from fruit to herbs to savory spices, while a notable peppery bite defines the finish, signalling an excellent crisp Dry Martini awaits.

Average price: $39
Rating: 93

Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin

As the savory Martini trend continues its march, Australia’s Four Pillars offers an ideal gin, distilled with three different types of olive oil and olive leaf, as well as rosemary, bay leaf, and a handful of other botanicals. Those ingredients contribute to its green, savory nose and palate, while macadamia nuts and citrus oils deliver a rich, luxurious texture.

Average price: $40
Rating: 93

Gray Whale Gin

Everyone enjoys a drink that supports a good cause, and this California producer offers just that, working with marine conservation organization Oceana, and also a member of the “1% for the Planet” group. The gin itself is similarly feel-good: a sweet, herbal, zesty spirit with hints of brine and nuts coming from kombu and almonds. Combine with soda and a lime wedge garnish for a thirst-quenching highball.

Average price: $40
Rating: 91

PiùCinque Gin

Sage and bergamot take center stage in this bright, fresh, distinctly Italian gin. The brand’s origin story notes that this release is the product of four friends who liked gin so much they decided to make their own. Indeed, this is a gin made for (and by) gin lovers. It doesn’t shy away from piney or bitter notes, yet citrus is always on hand to provide balance and freshness. Bottled at the common sweet spot of 47 percent ABV, and priced at less than $50, this is an excellent choice for at-home Martinis.

Average price: $40
Rating: 94

Stray Dog Wild Gin

Mastiha, the sticky resin drawn from mastic trees, is the most notable botanical in this Greek gin, but it steals no limelight from nine other wonderfully balanced ingredients. Sage and bay leaf enjoy equal billing on the nose, while the palate jumps between cardamom and citrus. Try this in a G&T topped with a fresh sage leaf and a few sprigs of rosemary.

Average price: $40
Rating: 92

Tanqueray No. Ten

Billed as “the ultimate cocktail gin,” Tanqueray No. Ten has earned a reputation as a bartender favorite over the past two decades. Its profile is more delicate and nuanced than standard Tanqueray (which we also love), yet it still manages to imprint its identity on drinks like the G&T, Martini, or Last Word. An obvious upgrade on entry-level gins, the price point nevertheless remains relatively affordable.

Average price: $42
Rating: 95

Arbikie Nàdar Gin

A craft distillery located in the Scottish Highlands, Arbikie gained international attention for its Nàdar gin and vodka, which it touts as the “world’s first” climate-positive spirits. Using peas as the base ingredient for those spirits plays an important role in its sustainable credentials and it also influences the final flavor, imparting a green and breezy profile. Makrut lime and lemongrass join juniper for a stripped-back yet still expressive botanical profile, and a spirit that shines in a properly made Gimlet.

Average price: $43
Rating: 93

The Botanist Distiller’s Strength

Launched in September 2024, The Botanist Distiller’s Strength utilizes the same 22-strong mix of hand-foraged ingredients as the brand’s Islay Dry Gin, but delivers them at 50 percent ABV (versus 46 percent). The increased alcohol intensifies the aromas and bolsters the palate, upping the mouthfeel and adding weight to the texture. All of which means it will shine even brighter in spirit-forward drinks like the Martini and Negroni.

Average price: $45
Rating: 94

Archipelago Botanical Gin

Home to Ginebra San Miguel, the world’s best-selling gin brand, the Philippines boasts some serious gin credentials. From the decidedly smaller brand, Full Circle Craft Distillers, Archipelago Botanical is a welcome and worthy addition to that heritage, first arriving on the U.S. market in 2023. Produced from a base of winter wheat, and with 28 botanicals (almost 80 percent of which are sourced from the Philippines), this a tropical, fruity, and floral gin, with a solid juniper backbone. Highballs, shaken cocktails, and, dare we say, even Martinis? This gin can do it all.

Average price: $48
Rating: 92

Conniption Navy Strength Gin

From North Carolina’s Durham Distillery, this Navy Strength gin is bottled at 57 percent ABV and employs a mix of vapor and cold vacuum distillation, depending on the botanicals. The alcohol is not as in your face as you might expect, and sampling neat takes you on a journey — one that begins with piney juniper and fresh citrus, before transitioning to deep savory spices and herbs. Combine with an equal quantity of dry vermouth (or a split of dry and blanc vermouth) for the best 50/50 Martini going.

Average price: $48
Rating: 93

The Best Gins Under $100

Tamworth Distilling Tamworth Garden White Mountain Gin

Tamworth’s spirits typically included unexpected ingredients, and in the case of this gin, the experimental distillery blends traditional botanicals with Centennial, Citra, and Amarillo hops. The combination is extremely expressive — bright, fresh, and somehow eye-opening and familiar at the same time. Pair with a homemade cocktail onion in a Gibson to balance out its aromatics with zingy acidity, then let the cocktail experimentation commence — Tamworth will surely approve.

Average price: $55
Rating: 92

André Brunel Le Gin 13

From the Rhône in France, this grape-based gin features 13 botanicals — a nod to the 13 grape varieties grown in the famous wine region. The botanicals themselves are much more traditional: The usual suspects like juniper, angelica root, rosemary, and coriander all make their presence known, particularly the latter. Compared to other grape-based gins, the base ingredient has more of an impact on texture than flavor, and it’s an enjoyable drinking experience throughout.

Average price: $70
Rating: 94

Ferdinand’s Saar Dry Gin

Another gin from a notable wine region, this dry gin hails from the Saar in Germany, which is famed for quality Riesling production. While not used for the base spirit (wheat, spelt, and rye play that role), Riesling grapes make their way into the gin in the form of semi-sweet wine, along with 30 botanicals. It’s unclear from all brand materials exactly when and how the two liquids are combined. But what we can report is that it’s a wild, enjoyable ride, delivering aromatic intensity, and a zesty, persisting palate.

Average price: $70
Rating: 93

Dyfi Gin Pollination

Produced at the Welsh Dyfi Micro-Distillery, this truly small-batch gin contains 17 botanicals that co-founders Pete and Danny Cameron hand-forage 10 and a half months of the year, as well as almost a dozen non-foraged traditional ingredients. This helps justify its hefty price tag, as does its vibrant and fresh profile. It doesn’t stray too far from the classic London Dry style, but it does taste refreshing and new at the same time.

Average price: $72
Rating: 92

Nozawa Onsen Distillery Classic Dry Gin

The Nozawa Onsen village is located in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture, and is known for its hot springs and close proximity to world-class skiing during snow season. Produced using rice, local spring water, and ingredients from the peaks of Mount Kenashi, its native botanicals include sansho pepper and Hiroshima lemon. Fruity and floral on the nose, the citrus arrives in candied form, with just a light hint of the locally sourced ingredients as well as juniper. The palate and finish have a beautiful presence, thanks to its 48 percent ABV bottling strength.

Average price: $75
Rating: 95

FAQ

What’s the best-selling gin in the world?

Philippines-based Ginebra San Miguel is, by far, the best-selling gin brand in the world.

What is the best affordable gin?

At just $25, Big Gin London Dry is one of the best affordable gins on the market — receiving a score of 91 from our tasting panel.

*Image retrieved from Igor Normann via stock.adobe.com

The article The 30 Best Gins for 2025 appeared first on VinePair.

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