Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin

Posted on March 6, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

It’s the best time of year again – my Craft Gin Club delivery arrived! Another bumper box includes a full bottle of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, a bottle of Peter Spanton No. 9 Cardamom Tonic, New York Delhi Wasabi Peas, Butler’s Milk Chocolate Irish Cream Truffle Bar and, if there’s any room left, Ten Acres Sweet and Sour Crisps. After my tumble down the stairs the other week, this was finally a ray of sunshine. Can we also take a moment to talk about how beautifully designed this month’s copy of Ginned is? Mostly just for the cracking travel photos. Which leads nicely into the gin – based in Ireland with botanicals from around the world, this gin is the brainchild of Patrick J. Rigney. Whilst travelling in Morocco, he discovered Chinese Gunpowder green tea. Blended with grapefruits from Indonesia, kaffir limes from Cambodia, juniper from Macedonia, and caraway seed and cardamom from India, this gin’s botanical list is basically my travel bucket list. I’m fully expecting a big, bold gin with this one – anything that crams so many flavours in to one bottle is never going to be dull.

Opening the bottle and pulling out the branded cork, it smells gentler than I anticipated, but opened up in the glass it hits you. Big, bold and zesty it hits your nostrils with a bam. Loosened up with some water, it is more savoury than I anticipated. It’s quite deep in flavour and heavy but not too oaky. A hint of spice at the edges but with a lightness at the front of the tongue.

I decided it would be rude to not try it with the tonic provided (which on its own is very yummy and exciting, slight hints of curry from the cardamom but the lightness of the tonic, I wouldn’t normally drink tonic on its own but this tastes really exciting) and the cardamom from the tonic highlights the more exotic flavours and it tastes absolutely nothing like a normal gin and tonic. I’m suddenly really gutted that I was too lazy to go buy a lime to garnish this with. It’s not too heavy, but also not too “strange” – we know from ginvent I’m not a massive fan of overly flavoured gins but this one has a good balance to it. It’s different to your usual tipple, and I imagine will work well with normal tonic, ginger beer or in a cocktail to add some depth of flavour. At first taste I wasn’t sure of this, but the more I drink the more I’m used to the flavour. I really like the little hit of citrus at the back of your throat which helps to lighten the drink.

You can find a bottle of the 43% gin on Master of Malt for £31.50 (at time of writing). My opinion – invest in a bottle. It will spice up your evenings without being too wacky. You can get in touch with Drumshanbo on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

So what do you think? Let me know on Twitter and Instagram.

The Lakes Gin

Posted on February 25, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Note: I emailed the Lakes Distillery asking for a sample and they kindly sent a bottle over – as always, you’ll know if I’m not impressed.

The Lakes Gin hails from – I bet you can guess – the Lake District. The distillery (which also features a Bistro and distillery tour) is nestled above Bassenthwaite Lake in a Victorian model farm. Water feeds down from Scafell Pike and they started with a blended whisky. Their range now includes a gin, a vodka and a single malt whisky. But we’re here for the gin. Made with 13 botanicals local to the Lake District, the gin features flavours including bilberry, heather and meadowsweet. They say the gin is “big, clear fresh citrus, fruity and floral” – that’s a lot of adjectives, so let’s see how it lives up.

Straight from the bottle it certainly smells big, fresh and citrusy. In the glass the juniper comes to the front and, mixed with water this is lovely. Very smooth and easy to drink, there is a slight sweetness on the front of the tongue, a herbal savoury note to the sides and a crisp finish at the back. No chemical or alcohol burn which is nice! There is a slight kick to it, but this is (I imagine) from it being distilled at 43.7% – slightly higher than the average gin.

Made into a gin and tonic (back to Fever Tree to celebrate the move into the new flat) and this is a delight. It is light and fresh, the citrus tones are at the front but are not overwhelming. It is very smooth and easy to drink, and leaves your mouth with a dryness that leaves you wanting more. This to me is a perfect gin and tonic, the classic drink. It is fresh but dry. Adding a slice of lemon brings out the citrus notes without making it too much. I am a BIG fan.

You can get a bottle of The Lakes Gin from their shop for £29.95 for a 70cl bottle, and for this price it may well be my new every day gin! Give them a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (and a whole load more social networks but I’m old and don’t understand the others).

Let me know your thoughts on Lakes Gin over on Twitter and Instagram.

Mews Gin

Posted on February 13, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Note: I contacted the team at Mews Gin to see if they wanted to send me a sample for the blog and they were kind enough to send me one. As always, you’ll know if I’m not a fan.

Mews Gin is a new artisan distillery set up in the heart of Surrey using the combined skill of founding brothers Richard and Daniel Mew. After two years of researching and experimenting with recipes and distilling, they had their final product in 2014 – just in time for a family wedding. Daniel is an engineer bringing technical skills and precision to the process and Richard brings his business experience to form their team – and a gin that combines “the vibrancy of youth with the subtlety of maturity”. Whilst I don’t fully understand that sentence, I think this is reflecting in their branding – the bottle label feels both modern and classic. But what about the gin? All of the classic botanicals are joined with pink peppercorn, lavender and cubeb berries. They vapour distil their gin – costing more in time and money – but they think this is key to making a lighter, more subtle gin.

Cracking open my little bottle it smells nice and citrusy, a smell which sticks when mixed with water in a glass. Straight up this doesn’t taste like 38%. Very smooth and very easy to drink, there’s a hint of juniper and a hint of citrus. Not really getting the peppercorn but there is a lightness that I associate with flowery gins which I presume comes from the lavender. There is no alcohol burn as it goes down – a sign of a good gin!

Mixed into a simple gin with two parts tonic (sadly still Tesco) this is different to usual. It tastes like a classic gin, but just at the back of your throat you get a sudden hit of flavour. I can’t fully describe what it is, but either way this is fresh and zingy (yes, I went for zingy). It has woken me up after my long day at work and 5k run and I imagine this little bottle won’t be lasting very long.

A bottle of the 38% gin is currently available on Master of Malt for £31.95 (although also currently sold out) and I would snap this up, pronto! This has the flavour and characteristics of a much more expensive bottle, so if you can snaffle it for under £32 then grab it while you can. You can get in touch with Mews on Twitter and Facebook.

Have you tried Mews Gin? Let me know what you think on Twitter and Instagram.

Esker Gin

Posted on February 7, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Note: I emailed Esker gin asking for a sample for the blog and they were kind enough to send me some. As always, you’ll know if I don’t like it

Scotland might well be best known for its whisky, but the Scottish craft gin scene is booming (WSTA conveniently put together a tasting map of Scotland for anyone looking to visit some of their distilleries). Esker Spirits is one of these new distilleries set up in October 2015 and is the first in Scotland to use silver birch sap as a botanical. Esker takes it name from “a long ridge, typically having a winding course, created by a glacier” – a sight reflected in their local geography in Royal Deeside, home to Balmoral Castle nonetheless. Developed over a two year period (with lots of experimentation) Esker settled on a recipe of over a dozen botanicals – including their silver birch sap tapped from the Kincardine Castle Estate which adds a touch of sweetness to the gin.

I’m in love with the label of this gin – simple, clean and elegant. Designed to reflect their local area, its a modern look with a nod to tradition and heritage and including mountains, rivers, castle and juniper berries. Popping the cork, it’s a lovely smell that comes out. Reminiscent of the outdoors – not in a heavy, oaky way, but in a fresh meadow kind of way. The juniper leads the way once it is opened up in the glass. Mixed with a spash of water (tap, not fresh Scottish mountain water unfortunately) it is well balanced with flavours – a slight peppery taste at the front of the tongue and a very smooth finish. A savoury, floral note reaches the back of the nose (can floral be savoury?). Either way, it’s good.

Pouring out a proper measure and mixing it with tonic (sadly all I have in the house is Tesco), this caused me to say “ooh?” and look at the glass I had just put down. It is full of flavour without being over the top. You can certainly get hints of juniper and a certain freshness – and a sweet tinge to it which comes from the silver birch sap. I was worried it would be one of those gins where they add a wacky botanical and it ends up a bit grim, but I like this a lot.

Steve from Esker saw how much I hate orange and said that whilst garnished with orange zest is nice, he also recommends grapefruit or rosemary – but more importantly also says that they don’t enforce a certain serve and it’s up to the consumer to decide how they like it. YES! A real bugbear is a brand trying to enforce their way of serving your gin to you. So, having gone and bought a grapefruit especially for this moment, I add a small piece of zest and this highlights the citrus notes – plus the smell from it adds another dimension to the tasting experience. I also can see rosemary working well if you prefer a more savoury finish.

Esker Gin seems to be tricky to find outside of Scotland at the moment, but you can get it online from The Good Spirits Co for £36 a bottle (although out of stock at the time of writing – don’t worry, they’re in the process of moving to larger facilities to keep up with demand). I like this, I would definitely pay £36 for it. Plus the bottle will look beautiful on your shelf. You can also get in touch with Esker on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Have you tried Esker gin? Let me know your thoughts over on Twitter and Instagram.

Cotswolds Gin

Posted on January 28, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Note: I emailed them for a sample for the blog and Zoe kindly replied and sent one to me. Then sent me another one when the first got lost in the post. But as always, if I don’t like it, you’ll know about it.

Cotswolds Gin hails from the Cotswolds (funnily enough) but is the brainchild of native New Yorker Dan Szor. They’re committed to keep it local – the barley and malt is produced within a 50 mile radius for their whisky and the botanicals for the gin are locally sourced. They produce a huge range of products now – their dry gin, a hedgerow gin, a barrel aged gin, espresso martini, sherry, cream liqueur… The list goes on. The Cotswolds Dry Gin mixes lavender, bay leaf, grapefruit, lime and black pepper. I’m hoping for something full of flavour and hopefully well balanced – otherwise it will be awful!

Twisting the cap off you get a citrus smell with a spiced tinge. Good start. Pouring it into the glass releases a great smell into the room. I only have a 50ml sample so I’m just trying it straight with no water, and boy does that wake you up. The freshness from the citrus meets a small kick of spice at the tip of the tongue. Mixed with a good measure of Fevertree tonic, this is different. The spiced tones come forward and balance out the zestiness from the citrus. It’s balanced but full of flavour. This tastes nothing like I expected it to, and I like it. Enough flavour to make you interested and get your tastebuds going, but not over the top or chemically. I’m a fan of this. Normally I’d add a lemon wedge, but as they use lime as a botanical I throw a slice in. The lime enhanced the citrus whilst toning back the spice. Whilst I like this, I think perhaps on its own is just as nice!

A bottle of Cotswolds Dry Gin is currently on Master of Malt for £34.95. I think this is pretty fair, especially if you want something livelier to add to your collection. They’re available to contact on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Have you tried Cotswolds Gin? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter and Instagram.

Anno Kent Dry Gin

Posted on January 19, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

My aunt got me a cracking Christmas present: tubes of gin. Specifically Chilgrove gin (already tried, review here), Mason’s Gin (coming soon) and Anno Kent Dry Gin.

Anno Gin hails from Kent (funnily enough) and I’ve seen them in various places but never given them a try. At Anno, they blend traditional botanicals with locally sourced lavender from the award winning Downderry Nursery, elderflower, rose hips and samphire. I’m expecting floral and slightly… salty? It certainly sounds like it packs in the flavour; the tasting notes on their website says it starts with juniper, moving to citrus and sweet spice – a flavour that grows as you drink it. Apparently it is “bold and long” (oo-er) with leafy herbal notes. It’s blended with hops so I’m expecting it to be slightly earthy amongst the other flavours.

Cracking open the tube (I should point out I have a bit of a blocked nose) it certainly smells floral and herbal. Tinges of walks in fields, light and fresh. I have a 50ml sample so I’m going to go for the Ginvent style of tasting – no mixing it with water. In the glass it smells headier and the juniper becomes more prominent. It’s slightly silky on the tongue, the taste certainly grows. Slightly sweet at the front, developing to a bolder flavour at the back of the tongue. I can also detect a slight saltiness which contrasts – and compliments – the woodier tones.

Alas, I only have a smidge of Fever Tree left, so it’s back to Tesco tonic. Sadly, the tonic slightly drowns the gin, but hints of flowers come through. With tonic, I can’t sense the soft spicy notes, but it is fresh and citrusy and a great post-run pick me up! (Training for my 10k run is going great btw…). Throwing in some lemon slices, it helps to bring the citrus flavours to the front. I’m not overwhelmed by this, but I think if I mixed it with a drier Fever Tree tonic it would help enhance the flavours.

A bottle of 43% Anno gin is currently £31.20 on Master of Malt which is pretty fair considering it’s from a microdistillery (Kent’s first in 200 years nonetheless). I’m certainly going to give this another go. You can get in touch with Anno via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Have you tried Anno? What do you think? Let me know on Twitter and Instagram.

6 O’Clock Gin

Posted on January 12, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Note: I emailed 6 O’Clock gin for a sample for the blog and they replied by sending me a whole bottle. However, if this gin is grim, I’ll be honest about it. Although I am very happy that their version of a sample is 70cl.

I’ve known about 6 O’Clock gin for a while, and strangely have tried their tonic but not the gin. – the tonic, btw, is very good as well. Packaged in a lovely blue bottle with some simple branding, I’m a fan. They have a few gins to their range, the London Dry bottled at 43%, a sloe gin and a damson gin – as well as a whole range of liqueurs to complete your cocktail cabinet. Their gin is made in a classic copper still which is solar powered, making this a carbon neutral gin – important considering the amount of gin that is produced (and that I consume). Key botanicals juniper, orris root and angelica are joined by Winter Savoury (a Mediterranean herb akin to rosemary and thyme), elderflower and orange peel. They think the perfect serve is: gin, served with two or three times tonic. Correct. No poncy suggestions, but instead a nice note from them: “Forget the mango slices rolled in pepper corns, no need for sprigs and hold the fruit salad; our gin does the talking.” We know from the colour changing adventures of Ginvent that I’m not a huge fan of gimmicks so let’s see how this gin stands up on its own.

There’s no wax seal for me to battle with today, which is probably best after yesterday’s bouldering adventure which today means moving my arms too much hurts quite a lot. The bottle comes with a glass cork, a terrifying noise when you don’t know this is happening! Haven’t broken anything. Just the lid. The open bottle releases a string citrus smell – always a winner in my books – which fades slightly in the glass. Mixed with a dash of water, the juniper smell becomes more prominent. This is very easy to drink – I worry I drowned it in water. Definite taste of juniper and a hint of floral from the elderflower. They say on the bottle that it is “strikingly smooth” and they aren’t wrong. This is very easy to drink.

Mixed with some fevertree (treated myself on the way home), the taste of the gin is almost lost from the bitterness of the tonic. I can’t taste any gin. There’s hints of flowers and citrus, but it’s slightly lost in the tonic (I tried this as a 1:2 and 1:3 mix). A couple of slices of lemon bring this to life and highlight the citrus tones to it. I imagine mixing it with an elderflower tonic would produce similar results and highlight the floral notes. Personally I’m not sure this has enough flavour to make it stand out, but this is rather nice to snuggle up with on a snowy rainy evening. Simple, but done well. I think this is their aim, no gimmicks, no fancy flavours, just a quality gin. A bottle of this in your home could be used for many things – I think this will work well in baking as well as cocktails.

At time of writing, a 70cl bottle of 6 O’Clock gin is available on Master of Malt for £24.10 – but is listed on their website as £35. Personally for me £35 is a bit more than I would pay, but for £25 I’d certainly grab a bottle.

You can find 6 O’Clock gin over on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. What do you think about 6 O’Clock? Let me know over on Twitter and Instagram.

Dizzy Gull, Brighton

Posted on January 8, 2017January 8, 2017 by jennyinbrighton

It’s a Sunday. Therefore we needed a plate of roasted foods for lunch. So after seeing a number of tweets about Dizzy Gull‘s food at the Brighton Beer Dispensary, we meandered up the road to get some grub. They start serving at 12, so thanks to the fear that good Brighton eateries have instilled in me in that if you haven’t booked, you won’t get a seat, we arrived at 12.01pm to get a table. We were literally the only people in there for at least 45 minutes. They don’t take bookings, but we were there until gone 2pm and there were plenty of tables, so don’t worry about rushing down there.

Luckily for me, the very nice lady behind the bar was very helpful in guiding me towards a beer, and I was soon handed a Brighton Bier and we settled ourselves in to the back corner with Connect 4. Then we ordered one beef roast, one Dizzy burger, beerkins and three cheese fries (to clarify: this is one portion of fries with three cheeses on it, not three portions of cheese fries). In hindsight, this was too much. The beerkins were crisp and salty when they arrived, deep fried in batter and served with mustard mayo. As a gherkin lover, I was a fan. The boy isn’t such a gherkin fan but agreed they were pretty good. Sadly, our food arrived super quickly so these got abandoned and as soon as they got cold they were just a bit oily. The beef roast was delicious. As usual in a pub roast, the potatoes weren’t the best; but the beef was tender, the Yorkshire was fluffy and the accompanying veg was good. My main issue was cauliflower cheese. I don’t like this at the best of time and I don’t appreciate cheese in my gravy.

The boy’s burger looked yummy, and as he picked it up juice and sauce came dripping out and covered the plate – perhaps a second plate is needed for people like me who actually put their food down during a meal. His review was “it’s structurally sound, tasty and attractive”. Despite the amount of sauce that dripped out, the bun held itself together and the chips were well seasoned and fluffy – again, like the roasties they could be crispier.

The chips carried on with the three cheese fries. Dripping in smoked applewood, Brighton blue and Sussex charmer they were really yummy. For the four I managed to eat. Sadly we grossly over estimated the amount of food we wanted as the first meal of the day. But these lasted way past our meals and a few more overly competitive games of Connect 4 and were still pretty yummy when cold.

We ended up somehow paying £42 – £12 for the roast (very reasonable), £10 for the burger (very good), £5 fries and £4 beerkins, which left £10.40 for two beers and a lemonade. Would we go back? Yes. The food was nice and freshly cooked, the staff were super lovely and it wasn’t rammed so we didn’t have to fight for space or yell to hear each other. Plus they have board games so it’s a winner in my books.

Have you been to Dizzy Gull? What do you think? Let me know on Twitter and Instagram!

Foxhole Gin

Posted on January 6, 2017December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

A while ago I was in a pub in the mighty Haywards Heath and got chatting to two random women about gin – as I do. They mentioned a new gin made in the area, and I went “oh that sounds interesting” and promptly forgot all about it. On Monday at work, a friend handed me a leaflet and a business card and said “I met this guy the other day, you should get in touch”. Lo and behold, it was Foxhole Gin. I was in love instantly, purely because I am in love with their font and the use of a fox on the logo. I gave James, the managing director, an email and I was lucky enough to be sent a sample (thanks!) for this blog. They actually sent it to me at the start of December, but I was kinda distracted by Ginvent. But here we now are.

Foxhole use a grape spirit as the base, the unused by products from Bolney wine estate down the road. This makes the gin eco friendly in my books as they reduce wastage and utilise a sustainable raw ingredient. I’m expecting some similarities in taste with Chilgrove Gin as they use a grape base spirit as well. The tasting notes James kindly supplied say I will get a velvet texture with floral coriander and balanced with citrus from grapefruit and lemon. All in all, sounds good.

Smells slightly thick (makes sense when you smell it) and rich and fresh. The fresher tones open up in the glass. Straight up it has an almost peppery front to it, the flavour is deep and textured with a slight bitterness at the back of the threat. Mixed up with tonic, this is very smooth and fresh at the tip of the tongue and the citrus bitterness is enhanced at the back of the throat. Not overwhelming with flavour, it feels like a nice summery drink. The bitter tones make it more exciting, and this could well be a nice every day drink.

A very limited edition of the first batch of bottles are available to buy on their website at £40 a bottle. Now, is this a bit pricey? Yes. I however, think it’s worth it. It is a lovely, small batch gin with a BEAUTIFUL hand crafted bottle. I’m a believer in supporting local businesses, so once I’ve had a raid on the bottle collection in my house, this is on the to buy list.

You can follow Foxhole Spirits on Twitter and Facebook, and let me know if you’ve tried it on Twitter and Instagram.

Whilst I was sent this sample for free to review, this is an honest review. I don’t pretend to love things if I don’t.

Arbikie Gin

Posted on December 31, 2016December 12, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Imma start with an apology – this is a very late blog. This came at the beginning of December, but I had enough gin to drink from Ginvent so here it is, on the last day of December. I can’t write about December’s gin in January. That would be stupid. But anyway, at the start of December I received my favourite package, my Craft Gin Club delivery. In it came a bottle of Arbikie Gin, a gin I’ve seen a lot on Twitter and wanted to try for a while. This bottle is a special batch of AK’s Gin – we’re the first to try it yo! This gin pays tribute to A.K. Stirling – the father of founders David, Iain and John. Arbikie is pretty special as it is a one estate distillery – their main gin uses a base spirit made from farm grown potatoes and botanicals are sourced on their land. AK’s gin departs from this and and uses a wheat base spirit to give it a buttery start, and adding AK’s favourite food as botanicals: honey. Joining honey sourced by a neighbouring beekeper are mace, thistle, black pepper and calamus root.

Straight from the bottle it smells good, rich and deep but nothing overpowering which in the glass opens up some fresher, lighter notes. Paired with a splash of water (can I quickly say how strange it feels doing a tasting with more than 30ml of gin, this feels like a very long process already!) there’s no nasty alcohol burn. It’s smooth and silky – the buttery finish is very clear. A hint of spice in the back of the mouth gives it a little lift and kick of flavour. We all know drinking straight gin is a terrible thing for me to do, but this is nice. Particularly on a dark, cold, misty Brighton day. Yay winter.

I’m using the tonic provided in our box – The London Essence Co. Classic London Tonic Water (all of their mixers are naturally low in calories and sugar, perfect for those being ‘healthier’ in 2017) – which on its own is actually drinkable. Especially considering it’s low sugar. Not too shabby. But onto the gin. The gin brings out some more acidic flavours, but it keeps the earthiness at the back of the mouth. A small sweetness (from the honey) balances out the woodiness. A lemon wedge (because no matter how many times people suggest using orange, I WON’T DO IT) adds a citrus note to the front of the tasting. It’s interesting. The earthy back notes certainly give it more depth, but it doesn’t have a hit of flavour up front. This might be because it’s been sat in my flat, aka the coldest place in Brighton, for a month. Craft Gin Club suggest some warm cocktails, or a cinnamon stick as a garnish which I think would enhance the flavours.

Also, DAYUM that shortbread is good. This does not lie when it says melts in the mouth.

Because this gin is super exclusive I can’t seem to find it online anywhere, but a bottle of their flagship Kirty’s Gin is currently £34.26 on Master of Malt. You can get in touch with them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Check out Craft Gin Club on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The London Essence Co. are also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Finally, Happy New Year to everyone reading. I’ve had an awesome 2016 and I’d like to thank y’all for sticking with me. Chat with me about gin and other fun things on Twitter and Instagram. Laters 2016 xx

Jenny in Brighton

I'm Jenny and I live in Brighton

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