John Ross - The Pioneer

"In 1827, the legendary hero John Ross set out on foot in Port Natal, leaving his ship 'The Mary' which was stranded in the bay. He needed to obtain medicine and vital supplies for his crew-mates to survive the trying conditions of the tropical East African Coast. On his journey to Delagoa Bay, he experienced the healing properties of the abundant South African botanicals. He discovered that the botanical extracts did not only provide nourishment, but it was an alsoan elixir of life."

Everyone, meet John Ross, The non-alcoholic gin made with the finest South African Honeybush. Ingredients include essence of Juniper, Rose, Lavender, Angelica Root, Lime, Coriander and as mentioned Honeybush.

What do I think?

Smells sooooo good! 🥰 Like that Honeybush wants you to know that she is around swimming in there somewhere. It doesnt taste botanical, it has so much flavour that you could drink it with just ice. Its not to sweet, kind of has a tangy taste to it.

I didnt waste time with cocktails also. As you can see from the image on the right, you can make beautiful cocktails from this bottle. When mixed with tonic, my drink looked like something that was sun-kissed. And yes, the most important part is that it does give you gin vibes when you drink it. I am truly surprised with these non-alcoholic gins because they can actually do the trick. One recipe I made was ice in a glass, do not be shy with the John Ross drink, a slice of grapefruit and top it of with Indian tonic water. So refreshing, I love it!

John Ross says their serving suggestion is taking a cold wine glass (or glass of choice). Add ice, the larger the cubes the better. Add some John Ross - 50ml (I say pour some more lol) and squeeze a lemon wedge over the ice and drop it into the glass. Add ice cold Barker & Quin Finest Indian tonic water and squeeze another lemon wedge & drop it in the glass, stir briefly. Sit back and driiiiink!

Lockdown has many people looking for alternatives to drinking and just making healthier choices and these brands get a high five from me for supplying something that people can enjoy. Sidenote though, It is very funny that I am actually writing this article on the day that SA is going to #Level2 and we can buy alcohol now 🤣. But, its also good because some people have probably made the choice to stay on the sober route, while others can't waste to taste the good old gin babe. Either way, the fact that the gin market can cater for both is really great.

Okay, back to Mr John Ross. The brand has three options to choose from, The Pioneer as mentioned above. The Mary which has a beautiful colour as a result of using natural anthocaynin pigment. The classic rose water almost Turkish delight bouquet is supported by the juniper and fynbos characters and makes for a foral driven, yet complex experience. *Thinking* Might be interesting to try that one actually. They also have The Herbarium, lol this one already sounds like it makes you get that weird face. The Herbarium with the subtle green colour notes makes for a herbaceous drink with all the plant based characteristics you would expect.

What I love about The Pioneer is that it is not a complicated drink, mix it with tonic and we good to go, no stress. Sometimes when I drink something, I dont want to be"Curious Ntswaki"and find what could be best with the drink. This is one of those, a simple nice baby.

The only downside I had was that the package came all weird. You see how pretty it is on that image above, tjo! mine came with the sticker all torn and stuff, like was it wrestling bears?! It stripped me off the priviledge of taking good shots. Also, my delivery came late. I lowkey think they had forgotten about my order😅.

John Ross has an online store on their website so you can order a bottle a bottle from there, you are looking at parting ways with about R290 for a bottle. I am no going to comment much on the price because I think if I was not an alcohol drinker who wanted something nice, I probably would buy it. ALSO, this hobby of collecting gin is not cheap LMAO, so I need to get used to the prices. I do think their e-commerce process can be tightened up a bit though, waiting for a bottle for over a week? Nah bro, but they do have free delivery. I'm here for free delivery, lol.

John Ross is a product of Two Green Lemons, a company that assists prospective beverage entrepreneurs with the process of creating a unique, premium and marketable beverage.  Their expertise are focused on non-alcoholic beverages as well as the non-alcoholic elements of various Ready-To-Drink alcohol mixes. They also own Barker & Quinn? The tonic water brand, perfect combo I guess.

Final thoughts:

I like this one, I want to try The Mary as well to see how matches up to The Pioneer. I am confident in the 0% gin that I think the other two bottles might be worth it. The sober section of gins in SA is really out here making amazing brands, I'm so impressed!

I could not find any other reviews on this brand, so I hope this article will help with what you can expect from it. If you have had a chance to drink it, let me know what you think. I want to know what other people think especially because its non-alcoholic.

Now because our country is semi-open (Thank You, Mr President) I am going to start collecting our favs as well. I will still do a #SoberEdition every now and then (We cant always be lit guys 😂) So stay with me as we journey through our Gin industry.

Will be back soon with another addition to the collection. Cheers!

This article was written with the help of JohnRossvirgin.co.za and TwoGreenLemons.com

Remember, what ever we do; we drink responsibly.