shropshire

Henstone Rosé Gin

Posted on by jennyinbrighton

Note: The team at Henstone Distillery kindly sent me a sample to try, but as always I will let you know that I think.

You might have previously seen my ramblings about Henstone Distillery‘s classic London dry gin and their navy strength gin, and today we are trying their rosé gin. Note the accent, it isn’t rose or sugary sweet, this instead is their gin taken off the still at 65% and put into American oak casks before being bottled. The ageing process imbues a light golden colour to the gin, as well as a “subtle vanilla flavour”. The ageing also brings this down to a more drinkable 44.9% ABV – the same as their London dry gin. The rosé gin recently was a runner up (and highest scorer for England) in the cask aged gin category for the Gin Guide awards – so, how does it taste?

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Henstone Navy Strength gin

Posted on by jennyinbrighton

Note: Chris at Henstone Distillery kindly sent me a sample to try but as always, I’ll let you know my real thoughts.

For the avid readers, you might remember that I tried Henstone gin back when I first moved house, well now that time has moved on we are trying their navy strength offering. When Henstone Distillery set up shop in 2015, their goal was to make whisky. When they were collecting their still, they tasted the manufacturer’s gin and suddenly had a new goal (although, FYI, the whisky is currently in barrels and is available pre-order as it should be ready in January 2021). Their navy strength gin is bottled at 57.3% and uses juniper, coriander and citrus like their original gin along with angels wreath and cardamom plus some secret ingredients. So, how does this taste?

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Henstone Gin

Posted on by jennyinbrighton

Note: I got in touch with the Henstone gin team and they kindly sent me a sample to try, as always, I’ll let you know if I don’t like it.

Henstone gin comes from Oswestry in Shropshire, just on the Welsh border. Their licence application was granted just before Christmas 2016 and they got cracking on their distillery – including a trip to Germany in January 2017 to find their perfect still. Flash forward a year and their first whisky was in barrels, but their gin didn’t come along until February 2018. The resulting product is packed with flavour from juniper, citrus peel, coriander, cardamom and angels wreath. They talk openly about how their product louches when a cold mixer is added, this is due to the essential oils from the botanicals distilling with the base spirit which then emulsify with cold water. They recommend serving their gin with Indian tonic, juniper and a wedge of orange (which won’t be happening in this house), so let’s see how it tastes.

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Tiger Gin

Posted on by jennyinbrighton

Note: I met Tiger Gin at  Imbibe Live and they were kind enough to send me a sample for the blog.

Tiger Gin is the product of JJ Lawrence (who starts emails with “Hi Tiger” FYI), a Shropshire lad with a passion for gin. He did what we all have thought about doing – wouldn’t be be awesome to make my own gin? And, well, he did it. What followed was a lengthy court battle against a global brand (Tiger beer familiar?) to be able to use the name, but finally Tiger Gin arrived. Using botanicals such as juniper (from the Balkans), coriander seeds (Eastern Europe), dried sweet lemon peel (Spain), cassia bark (China), nutmeg (West Indies), cinnamon bark (Madagascar) and two secret ingredients all blended with 100% grain spirit and pure English water, this gin is a global product.

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