Ginvent 2019 – Juniper cubed gin

Day 24

One of the highlights every year in Ginvent is seeing what Emile and Olivier come up with as their own Ginvent gin. This year, they decided juniper was the way forward. Lots and lots of juniper. Using 200 litres of various gins as a base, they then redistilled this with three types of juniper (hence, Juniper Cubed). From the Mediterranean we have juniper communis, juniper phoenicea from the Spanish island of Formentera, and finally the Africa juniper procera. It seems fitting to end this year’s Ginvent with a mountain of juniper, so let’s give it a taste.

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Never Never Juniper Freak gin

Note: This post contains affiliate links marked as [Ad], if you click on this and buy a bottle of gin then I will receive a small commission. 

Never Never Juniper Freak gin

Back in June, I visited Junipalooza and finally got a chance to meet the Never Never Distilling Co. Based in Adelaide, Australia, they say they embrace the Australian spirit of adventure (is that a thing?) and produce some of the most juniper forward gins on the market. This inspires the name Never Never, which TBH just makes me think about Neverland, which is kinda of the point – they celebrate those that dare to be different and seek more from life. Started by friends George (the science whizz), Sean (sales and marketing expert), and Tim (head distiller), the three came together and are currently based at the home of Big Shed Brewing, but long for their own space in the outback. They currently make three key gins, their ‘normal’ gin is Triple Juniper (which funnily enough is juniper heavy), their Southern Strength (52% ABV) and then today’s gin, the Juniper Freak which is an ode to the juniper berry. This gin sits at 58% which gives it a punch and helps to amp up the oily juniper – the description for this might be my favourite ever: “It’s a seriously big gin, but hey, we’re not here to fuck spiders”. I don’t know if that’s an Aussie saying but I love it. The Juniper Freak won Australia’s Best Navy gin at the 2019 World Gin Awards, so how does it taste?

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Warner Edwards Farmed & Foraged Gin

Note: I pester Emile and Olivier over at Gin Foundry a lot and at Junipalooza they kindly handed me an apple mint plant and told me to be patient. Two months later, they have now gifted me a little bottle of gin to go with the garnish, but as always, I’ll let you know what I think.

Team Warner EdwardsEven newbies to the gin game should recognise Warner Edwards, if not, they are basically the people that made the first rhubarb gin. They also make lots of other yummy gins, I’m particularly in love with their Honeybee gin with lemon, honey and a splash of hot water whenever I have a cold. They are very big on sustainability and grow many of their own botanicals (including the honey from their own bees) from their farm. They use water from their spring and are believers in good things coming to those that wait; no over harvesting here. Instead they try to put more back into the soil than they take. They’ve been besties with the Gin Foundry crew for a while, being one of the few brands that have been involved with Junipalooza from the beginning, and they have now teamed up for a limited edition gin. They gave the team at Warner Edwards a challenge – only use botanicals within a three mile bee flight of the distillery. They wanted to look at not just the botanicals that work together, but how the environment can shape a flavour profile and working with the land around you from planting through to harvesting.

Farmed and Foraged gin

This approach fits with the Warner Edwards ethos, but also presented a challenge – if you can’t use citrus fruits, coriander seeds or angelica root, what do you put in your gin? Luckily within the three mile radius they have a plethora of goodies including lemon thyme, lemon verbena, lavender, chamomile leaves, bee pollen, dandelion root, toasted applewood and some homegrown green juniper (note: some juniper is also bought in from further away, but they understand that real gin actually tastes of juniper so needed to up the game slightly). Each bottle is preceded with a pack of seeds so you can grow your own apple mint garnish. My seeds seem to be struggling, but luckily I have a pregrown one to fall back on. So, how does it taste?

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Ginvent 2017 – Ginvent Gin

Merry Ginmas! It’s officially December which can only mean one thing – DAILY GIN! We kick off Ginvent with Ginvent’s very own gin. Now we tried this last year as a special gin made just for the calendar by the folks at Gin Foundry HQ, so how will this year’s edition fare?  Continue reading

Ginvent 2016 – Ginvent Gin

img_9970Happy Christmas Eve! With the happy times comes one sad thing, the end of Ginvent 🙁 I must admit, the pressure of daily blogging has been a bit much but I have loved this month. As our final drink, we’ve been given an exclusive bottle of the Gin Foundry‘s very own Ginvent gin. Themed around the festive season, this gin brings us tastes of red fruits, juniper and chocolate – what, no brie??

img_9971It certainly smells Christmassy. Nice and soft, with hints of berries and an almost vanilla hint. In the glass it opens up a bit, it smells comforting and like a nice cuddle. Mum takes a sip, coughs and says “it just tastes like neat gin”. Fact. Tasting it brings out the star anise and spiciness, it’s very warming but palatable. With tonic, this is really nice. Doesn’t taste too strong, but there’s a slight bittersweetness of the chocolate at the back of the throat and a fruity edge to it. I like this; it feels right for the season unlike the lighter Pinkster Gin and such types. Slightly earthy but comforting. I’m a fan. Cracking end to 2016’s Ginvent.

img_9972You can find Gin Foundry on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If it comes back in stock, a bottle of this costs just £29 on Master of Malt.

If you missed any of Ginvent, you can catch up here and let me know your thoughts over on Twitter and Instagram.

Now I’m going to go eat my body weight in pigs in blankets and stuffing. Merry Christmas.