It’s been 30 years since Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre dropped “Gin and Juice.” And for each of those 30 years, it’s been a classic cut. If there was a Mount Rushmore of hip-hop songs, Gin & Juice would be on it. How do you depict a song in a mountain carving? Just don’t think about that!
Anyway, Gin & Juice is a top 5 hip-hop cut, that’s undeniable. Everyone knows this song, and it’s so powerful that just hearing the words “gin & juice” causes the song to play in your head. Even when someone says the words, they can’t help but sing it. So what better way to celebrate the 30 years of this song being a radio and hip-hop playlist staple than by its very creators dropping a canned version of the classic cocktail?
In celebration of the song and the 30th anniversary of Snoop’s Doggystyle, Dre and Snoop have linked up once again on the first ready-to-drink product from their new premium spirits company, and fittingly, it’s a canned gin and juice.
Dubbed “Gin & Juice By Dre And Snoop,” — always an earworm with these two — the new RTD canned cocktail consists of four flavors, Citrus, Melon, Passionfruit, and Apricot in 355ml cans with 5.9% ABV. Unlike lesser RTD cocktails on the market, this one isn’t made with malt liquor, instead, it’s a blend gin, real juice, and other natural ingredients based on flavor.
We’re glad that Dre and Snoop didn’t go the cheap route in putting this together, it matches the high expectations we have when it comes to a collaboration between the two. But just because something is a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s executed well. So to find out if Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop lives up to the song that inspired it, we put all four flavors to the test. Here is our review:
Gin & Juice By Dre & Snoop Taste Test
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Before we talk about the flavors, let’s just congratulate the designer, creative director, artist, and musician Ini Archibong for his inspired package design. We don’t love this just because of the low-rider, which is an obvious nod to West Coast g-funk culture, and LA car culture in general, but what strikes me is how clean the presentation is.
Archibong could’ve decorated the cans with loud graphics and various colors, hell he could’ve just recreated the Doggystyle cover and people would’ve loved it. But instead what he gives us is something minimal, refined, and precise (the “Parental Advisory” warning is a nice tongue-in-cheek touch). A perfect echo of Dr. Dre’s production style.
All right, enough nerding out, let’s talk about what this stuff tastes like. Because the four flavors are built off the same gin base, I’m going to refrain from giving each flavor an individual entry. I’ll give a ranking of my favorite flavors at the end.
Gin can be a divisive spirit, some people just aren’t into the botanical almost medicinal quality of certain bottles (I love it), it seems that Dre and Snoop anticipated this because each of these four flavors is very fruit-forward. That makes each of the four distinctly different, though all of them end with a sort of herbaceous and citrusy aftertaste.
Each flavor has an added natural ingredient that compliments the base flavor. For Apricot, it’s bergamot and honey. For Passionfruit, it’s pineapple and ginger, For Watermelon, it’s hibiscus. For Citrus, it’s rose. These added flavors aren’t that obvious, but they help set the experience of each can apart from one another. That’s a cool feature and something more multi-flavored RTDs should do.
Overall, I’m surprised by how well Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop works. Each flavor is sweet and fruit-forward, but remarkably natural, which is in keeping with the experience of drinking gin, and ironically, not the cheap and easy cocktail that inspired the song.
So if you come to this thinking it’s just Gin and Juice in a can, it’s not, it’s something unique and more along the lines of what you’d find whipped up by a bartender who is interested in the art mixology.
The Bottom Line:
Far more elevated and refined than you’d expect from an RTD, especially one that shares its name with a popular mixed drink.
As for where each flavor ranks, for me it’s like this:
- 1. Apricot. It’s dry yet sweet flavor profile is unique in the RTD space. It’s sweet, floral, and well-balanced with a touch of bitterness.
- 2. Passionfruit. The sweetest of the bunch with a touch of mild spice.
- 3. Melon. Tropical and sweet, but a bit flatter than my top 2.
- 4. Citrus. The only dud of the back. It has this bitter rind flavor that I find off-putting.
Pick up Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop here, or your favorite spirits store.