For today’s blog, we are travelling to Germany, specifically a town called Göttingen, to try Von Hallers gin. This town is known for their University – alumni include the Brothers Grimm – and the Old Botanical Garden. This was planted by Albrecht von Haller (aka the father of modern physiology) in 1736 and today contains over 14,000 species. Continue reading
review
The King of Soho gin review
Note: I was sent this gin free of charge to review here, but as always my thoughts remain impartial. There is also an affiliate link at the end which means I get a miniscule payment if you order gin via that link.
I’ve seen The King of Soho gin around before – the blue bottle with gold lettering stands out on a back bar. I also have a feeling I might have tried it before in a pub, but this is the first time I’ve taken a proper look at it. Back in 2013, Alex Robson and Howard Raymond decided they wanted to make a gin to celebrate Howard’s father. Paul Raymond was known for his risqué shows in the heart of Soho, and they designed this spirit to be as vibrant as he was. Continue reading
Kirkjuvagr Yuletide Gin
It’s the most wonderful time of the year….aka Christmas! And what does Christmas mean? It’s Craft Gin Club delivery time! This month’s bumper box contains a festive special edition of Kirkjuvagr gin. I have tried their Origin and Aurora gins in the past, and since then they’ve had a rebrand and have some rather stunning new bottles. Based on an island which is closer to the Arctic circle than it is London, their home is important to them. Not only are they inspired by their Viking ancestry, but they are also lucky enough to pick their own native angelica on the island. For this Christmas edition, they carefully selected Aronia berry (also known as the Viking berry) alongside festive spices cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Because it’s Christmas, they also add some frankincense and myrrh – although the only gold you’ll see here is on the bottle. To balance all the spices, they add rose hips and three types of rose – Burnet, Ramanas and Red roses.
Cotton Garden Gin
It’s somehow September, which means it’s time for me to get my quarterly Craft Gin Club box. This month is yet another special edition, this time hailing from Yorkshire’s Otterbeck Distillery. Founded by a group of friends and set up in a formerly derelict cotton mill on their land, their original gin took six months of experimenting to develop. Clearly this is time well spent as the Cotton gin has won a Gold at the 2020 Spirits Business Awards, Bronze at the 2021 IWSC, and Silver at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Since then, they have designed the Cotton Garden gin to reflect the long, sunny September evenings spent outdoors.
They wanted to highlight some of Yorkshires native botanicals that are found in their garden and along hedgerows including elderberry, yarrow, rosemary, sage, thyme and mint. They balance these herbal notes with lemon, orange, cassia and coriander seed and leaf. This is their fifth gin – their original Cotton gin features watercress and hand-foraged spruce, and their collaboration with Sir Tom Moore is inspired by his childhood holidays in the area. Eliza – their custom built still – includes a vapor chamber allowing them to include the more delicate flavours, which would otherwise get lost in the main pot.
Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Edition
Note: I was kindly sent this bottle as part of a collaboration for International Scottish Gin Day, but as always I’ll let you know my real thoughts.
Let’s face it, we’re all swayed by branding. In my opinion, some of the most beautiful bottles on the market come from the Rock Rose team. I love a ceramic bottle, and the detailing on their bottles is exquisite and instantly recognisable. Started by husband and wife team Martin and Claire Murray, they launched for pre-sale in July 2014 and sold out within 48 hours. Now celebrating their 7th birthday, their range includes four core gins, four seasonal gins, a sloe gin, a vodka, and a host of special edition spirits.
Previously I’ve tried their Winter Gin and Pink Grapefruit Old Tom through Ginvent calendars, but today we are drinking the Citrus Coastal gin which was created in partnership with, and launched through, Craft Gin Club in August 2020. It went down so well that they added it to their permanent collection, and is now available to buy as an eco-refill pouch or through their refill club subscription. This gin certainly doesn’t take the “more is less” approach, it is packed with flavour. Botanicals include two types of juniper, bilberries, locally foraged rock rose root, water mint, lemon verbena (from the distillery garden), and kelp foraged from the shore amongst others. After distillation they add a touch of liquorice salt, sourced from Hebridean Mustard Company, to give it some extra zing. Continue reading
Meet the makers… Dunnet Bay Distillers
To celebrate their seventh birthday, I had a little chat with the team at Dunnet Bay Distillers to get to know them a bit more…
The Artisan Gin
Note: I was sent a sample of The Artisan Gin to try, but as always I’ll let you know my honest thoughts. Any links marked [Ad] are affiliate links which means I’ll receive a small commission if you use it to buy anything.
If I asked you what country you associated with gin, what would you say? Today I’m drinking a gin from Croatia which isn’t known for producing gin, despite being a big exporter of juniper. The Artisan Gin is made by Vedran Sisak who wanted to create a London Dry style gin using the flavours of his homeland. He uses 14 hand picked, organic botanicals including lemon and orange peel, elderflower, lavender, olive leaf, almond and Croatian national flower, iris. As the botanicals are grown in small scale family farms, each batch is unique and reliant on that season’s weather and growing conditions. This level of care extends to their branding, with a stunning black opaque bottle. Designed with flowing ridges around the bottle, you just want to reach out and hold it in your hands. To ensure what is inside the bottle is just as good as the outside, Vedran vacuum distils each botanical to ensure only the best flavour makes it into the final mix. So, how does it taste?
44ºN gin
Note: I was kindly sent a pouch of 44ºN gin to try from BBBdrinks, but as always I’ll let you know what I think. This blog post also contains affiliate links which are marked by [Ad] and if you purchase the gin through this link, I will receive a small commission.
44ºN gin hails from Côte d’Azur in France and is named after the co-ordinates of their home town. They aimed to create a luxury spirit which reflects the Mediterranean coast, with the bottle is designed to reflect the bright blue colour of the sea as the sun starts to set. Based in a perfumery, they’ve been renovating the building and bringing together traditional distilling and new technology. They distil bitter orange with cade (a juniper variety from the Med), immortelle (a scrub plant which mixes dried fruit with hay), mimosa (no, not the cocktail, instead a sweet plant), verbena (for that lovely herby/citrus note), and Centifolia rose. They describe the taste as an “intriguing journey”, so let’s see what it’s got.
Inverroche gin
Note: Charlie from BBB Drinks sent me some sample of Inverroche gin, but as always I’ll let you know my honest opinion. This post contains affiliate links, marked by (Ad) which means if you click that to buy your bottle of gin I will receive some pennies.
Inverroche gin hails from Still Bay, in the Western Cape of South Africa. Founded by Lorna Scott six years ago, the name comes from “Inver” – Scottish for a confluence of water – and “Roche” – French for rock or stone. Here in Still Bay, they have a rare ecosystem called fynbos which is home to 9,500 species of plant and vegetation. Lorna, during her stint as mayor, made friends with a local botanist and his wife and their knowledge and love for the area led her to experimenting with distilling these local plants. They believe that their gin is a social creation, not just involving their family but also the local community. 70% of their employees are indigenous women, meaning 45 local families benefit from the business. I have three of their gins to try, so let’s get started.
Fynoderee Elder Shee gin
It’s summer! The sun is officially out (at time of writing) and it’s time for June’s Craft Gin Club box. This month we get a special edition gin from Fynoderee (pronounced Fi-nod-er-ee) distillery on the Isle of Man. Based on the island, the name comes from the folklore of Kitty Kerruish. Long story short: Kitty fell in love with Udereek, a fairy (big no no), and to punish them they poisoned Kitty and turned Udereek into a satyr. Half-man and half-goat, he was renamed Fynoderee – Manx for “hairy one”.
Founders Tiffany and Paul Kerruish live outside Glen Auldyn, which is where The Manx Wildlife Trust are reintroducing juniper plants to the island. Recognising the name, Tiffany rediscovered this tale and the shared surnames piqued their interest. They hope to one day use Manx grown juniper for their gin, and for this edition harvest local elderflowers – after first paying their respects to the fairies that live in their roots. They distil this alongside coriander seed, pink grapefruit peel, lemon peel, rosemary, orris root and thyme. Paul himself said that they knew they had the recipe nailed when they first smelt their distillate coming off the still. He describes it as a “conversation starter” so I’m intrigued to give it a taste. Continue reading