Robert Parker: Monkey 47 gin deserves 100 points
25 February, 2015
By Martin Green

The world’s most famous wine critic has thrown his weight behind Black Forest craft gin brand Monkey 47.

At a press conference in London this evening Robert Parker, famous for “making or breaking” wine brands by scoring them out of 100, said that if ever a gin deserved 100 points it was Monkey 47.

Parker said: “Monkey 47 is the greatest gin I have ever tasted. It’s as good as it gets. If ever a gin deserves 100 points it’s that.

“The aromatics on it are just amazing.”

He added: “I tweeted about it and the owner sent me a letter, he was really pleased and he said they tried to make this gin like a wine.”

Wing Commander Montgomery Collins of the RAF created the gin when he was posted to the British zone of Berlin after the World War II, inspired both by the local flora and his upbringing in Madras.

Collins also sponsored a monkey in Berlin Zoo and later opened a guesthouse called the Wild Monkey. When the house was being done up at the start of this century the recipe was rediscovered and the gin was reborn as Monkey 47.

Monkey 47 is distributed by Spirit Cartel in the UK and retails for £40-£50.

Harvey Nichols’ wine and spirits buyer Ivan Dixon describes it as “a perfect combination of background story, quality of liquid, versatility and genius branding”.