Gin Mare: The Mediterranean Gin That Started a Whole Style

Gin Mare is one of those rare bottles that did not just enter a category but effectively created one. Released from a small coastal town near Barcelona, it defined what “Mediterranean gin” means - savoury, herbal, and built around olive, rosemary, thyme, and basil rather than the classic juniper-and-citrus template. It is unlike almost any other gin, and while its distinctive character means it is not a do-everything workhorse, in the right drinks it is extraordinary. For anyone curious about how far gin can range, Gin Mare is essential tasting.

The production

Gin Mare is made in Vilanova i la Geltru, a fishing town on the Costa Dorada coast near Barcelona, and its whole identity is rooted in that Mediterranean setting. Launched in 2008, it was among the first gins to build itself explicitly around the flavours of the Mediterranean, and it became the reference point for the style that followed.

The botanical bill is what sets it apart. Alongside the classic base of juniper, coriander, and cardamom, Gin Mare uses a signature quartet of Mediterranean botanicals: Arbequina olives (its defining, unusual ingredient), rosemary, thyme, and basil. Several of these are macerated and distilled separately before blending, to capture their delicate, savoury, herbal character. The olive in particular gives the gin a soft, savoury, almost briny quality found in no classic gin. It is bottled at 42.7% ABV.

What it tastes like

Gin Mare is savoury and herbal in a way that surprises people expecting a classic gin.

• Herbal and aromatic, not piney. Rosemary, thyme, and basil lead, giving a garden-herb, almost savoury aroma rather than a juniper-forward one.
• A soft, savoury olive note. The Arbequina olive gives a gentle, briny, savoury roundness that is Gin Mare’s unmistakable signature.
• Juniper in the background. It is still a gin - juniper anchors it - but it plays a supporting role rather than leading.
• Smooth and rounded. The texture is soft and full, with a warm, herbal, lingering finish.

The overall character: Mediterranean in a glass - herbal, savoury, aromatic, and distinctly different from anything in the classic canon. It divides opinion precisely because it is so distinctive, but at its best it is captivating.

How it sits in the market

Gin Mare occupies the premium, characterful tier - a special-occasion or specific-purpose gin rather than an everyday one. UK retail is typically £30-38, US $35-45, with European pricing broadly similar. You are paying for a genuinely distinctive style, and for a bottle that essentially defined its category.

The competition:

• Classic London Drys (Tanqueray, Beefeater) are its opposite - bold, juniper-forward, versatile. Gin Mare is not competing with them so much as offering something entirely different.

• Other Mediterranean gins have followed in its wake, but Gin Mare remains the benchmark of the style it created.

• Nordes and other regional gins offer their own sense of place; Gin Mare’s is the most savoury and herb-driven of the lot.

For someone who wants one classic all-rounder, this is not it. For someone who wants a distinctive, characterful gin that does something no other bottle does, Gin Mare is close to essential.

What to do with it

The Mediterranean gin and tonic. Gin Mare’s natural home. Serve it in a large copa with a good tonic and a Mediterranean garnish - a sprig of rosemary, a few green olives, or a strip of orange. The herbal, savoury botanicals shine, making a gin and tonic quite unlike a classic one. This is the drink it was built for.

Martini. Superb, and unusual. A Gin Mare Martini is savoury and herbal, and it takes beautifully to an olive garnish, which echoes the gin’s own character. A genuinely different, sophisticated Martini.

With food. Its savoury, herbal profile makes Gin Mare one of the most food-friendly gins - excellent as an aperitif before Mediterranean food, and lovely alongside olives, charcuterie, and antipasti.

Where it struggles. In classic, juniper-dependent cocktails like a Negroni, Gin Mare’s soft, herbal character can get a little lost or sit oddly. It is a gin to use where its distinctiveness is the point, not where you need a bold classical backbone.

The honest verdict

Gin Mare is a landmark gin and a genuinely distinctive one. It created the Mediterranean style and remains its finest example - savoury, herbal, built around olive and garden herbs, and unlike anything in the classic canon. It is not a versatile everyday workhorse, and it is not the gin for someone who wants a bold, juniper-forward classic. But as a characterful, special bottle that transforms a gin and tonic into something Mediterranean and makes an unforgettable savoury Martini, it is superb.

Buy it not as your only gin, but as the distinctive one on your shelf - the bottle you reach for when you want a gin and tonic that tastes of the Mediterranean coast. On that count, nothing does it better, and the style it launched has yet to be bettered by its imitators.