Gunpowder Gin: Drumshanbo's Irish Gin, Its Price and Proof
There is no gunpowder in Gunpowder gin. The name comes from Chinese gunpowder tea — green tea leaves rolled into tight little pellets that look like old musket shot and unfurl when they hit hot water. It is one of twelve botanicals in the bottle, and it is the one that makes this gin taste unlike anything else on the shelf.
The full name is Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, it comes from The Shed Distillery in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, and on our shelf it is $40.99 for the 750ml at 43% alcohol — 86 proof. It also happens to be one of only two gins we stock that records a hechsher on the listing.
The quick answers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | $40.99, 750ml |
| Alcohol | 43% — 86 proof |
| Country | Ireland |
| Distillery | The Shed Distillery, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim |
| Botanicals | Twelve, including Chinese gunpowder tea |
| Hashgacha on our listing | KLBD |
| Kosher for Passover | No |
Here it is: Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, 750ml.
Why it is called Gunpowder
Gunpowder tea is a real and old product, and the name is about shape rather than explosives. Each leaf is withered, steamed and then rolled into a dense pellet, which keeps it fresh far longer than loose leaf and gives it a smoky, slightly bitter edge when it brews. Western traders in the nineteenth century thought the pellets looked like powder grains, and the name stuck.
In gin, that tea does something no juniper can do. It brings a dry, mineral bitterness and a vegetal green note that sits underneath the citrus instead of on top of it. The effect is less sweet than most modern gins and noticeably more savoury.
What is actually in the bottle
Twelve botanicals, slow-distilled in copper pot stills. Juniper and bright citrus zest lead the nose, with green tea, coriander and meadowsweet behind. The palate brings warm spice, the oriental botanicals, and that pronounced gunpowder-tea minerality. The finish is long, dry and faintly grassy, with clean copper-still character running through it.
The phrase worth holding onto is slow-distilled. Some of the botanicals are distilled in the pot, and the more delicate ones are vapour-infused in a basket above the spirit so the heat does not flatten them. That is why the tea and the citrus read as fresh rather than stewed.
If the whole category is new to you, start with what gin botanicals actually are, and then what dry gin means.
Is it a London Dry?
No, and that is deliberate. London Dry is a legal production method, not a place, and its rules are strict: everything must go in before distillation, nothing may be added afterwards except water and a trace of sweetening. Gunpowder sits outside that box because of the vapour infusion and the tea, which puts it in the loose modern category usually called contemporary or New Western gin — juniper is still there, but it shares the stage.
Practically, this matters when you mix. A London Dry like Tanqueray at $33.99 or Beefeater at $29.99 disappears politely into a cocktail. Gunpowder does not disappear. It is a flavour you are choosing.
How to drink it
Our serving note is the right one: over a single clear cube with a premium tonic and a wedge of pink grapefruit. The grapefruit picks up the citrus oils and the tonic's quinine bitterness runs with the tea rather than against it. Skip the lime here, which fights it.
Beyond the gin and tonic, it has the backbone for a sharper Negroni, and it makes a very good tea-forward gimlet. It also softens vermouth noticeably, so a martini made with it needs a drier vermouth than you would normally reach for. If you want the tonic side of this done for you, the J. Folk Gin & Tonic cans are $19.99 for a four-pack, and there is more on that idea in gin and tonic in a can.
The kosher question, plainly
Our listing for Drumshanbo Gunpowder records the hashgacha as KLBD — the London Beth Din — and records Kosher for Passover: No, which is standard for a grain-based spirit.
That is a short list to be on. Of the sixteen bottles on the shelf in our Kosher Gin collection, exactly two record a hechsher on the listing:
| Bottle | Style | Hashgacha on listing | Passover | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Drop Gin | London Dry, grapefruit-led, Illinois | OU | Yes | $39.99 |
| Drumshanbo Gunpowder | Contemporary Irish, tea-led | KLBD | No | $40.99 |
Gin is generally a simpler kashrut question than whiskey, because gin is not aged in casks and the cask is where most of the trouble lives. But flavoured and sweetened spirits are their own discussion, and the general principles are set out in is it kosher liquor. For any bottle without a hechsher on the listing, ask your own rav rather than a wine shop. If you need the Passover bottle specifically, that is Dead Drop, and the wider picture is in our Kosher for Passover spirits guide.
What else forty dollars buys on the gin shelf
Forty dollars is the top of the mainstream gin shelf and the bottom of the craft one. These are the bottles sitting at or near the same money:
| Bottle | Character | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Beefeater London Dry | Classic, juniper-forward, the mixing standard | $29.99 |
| Bombay Sapphire | Light, vapour-infused, very mixable | $32.99 |
| Gray Whale Gin | Californian, kelp and juniper, coastal | $32.99 |
| Whitley Neill Quince | Fruit-forward, soft, easy | $32.99 |
| Tanqueray London Dry | Four botanicals, dry and sharp | $33.99 |
| Amass Botanic Dry Gin | Herbal, modern, lots of botanicals | $34.99 |
| Hendrick's Gin | Cucumber and rose, the gentle one | $35.99 |
| Purity Old Tom Organic 34 | Old Tom style, lightly sweetened | $35.99 |
| Scapegrace Black Gin | New Zealand, jet black, colour-changing | $39.99 |
| Gin Mare Mediterranean | Olive, rosemary, thyme, savoury | $39.99 |
| Drumshanbo Gunpowder | Gunpowder tea, mineral, savoury | $40.99 |
| Barr Hill Gin | Raw honey finish, Vermont, rounded | $42.99 |
| Empress 1908 Gin | Butterfly pea blossom, indigo, floral | $45.99 |
| Barr Hill Tom Cat | Barrel-aged, closer to whiskey | $54.99 |
The honest comparison is with Gin Mare. Both are savoury gins that refuse to be background. Gin Mare goes at it with olive and herbs; Gunpowder goes at it with tea and citrus. If you liked one you will probably like the other, and if you want something that stays out of the way instead, go back to the London Dry column.
Worth buying?
Yes, with one condition: buy it because you want to taste it, not because you want a workhorse. At $40.99 it is dearer than Tanqueray and Beefeater and it will not do their job, which is to vanish. What it will do is make a gin and tonic that somebody comments on, and it is the only bottle in the collection where green tea is the point. The KLBD on the listing is a real bonus in a category where almost nothing carries one.
Browse the rest of the shelf in Kosher Gin, or read gin versus vodka if you are still deciding which bottle the night calls for. We ship everywhere in the country — if you want it, we will get it to you.
