It’s a horrible coincidence that today’s gin is opened the day after a lorry attack on a busy Christmas markets in the streets of Berlin. When I first read that we would be receiving Berliner Brandstifter Berlin Dry Gin in our calendar I was excited and couldn’t stop thinking about my holiday there last year, so it’s a shame that we can’t all try it under nicer circumstances. This gin was launched in 2013 and is designed to make you think of “taking a wonderful walk on a careless summer day in the capital” using elderflowers, woodruff and mallow as key botanicals. This gin is limited to just under 10,000 bottles per year, and each bottle is hand bottled and labelled. It sounds like this should be a nice refreshing, floral gin. Hopefully a lighter note to brighten our days.
From the bottle it certainly smells fresh (Note: I do currently have a bit of a blocked nose and am wearing a pore strip so my nose isn’t on top form right now). It reminds me slightly of Blackwater No 5 (the best gin) in that it smells a bit like rain – although this has a stronger juniper nose to it. Tasting it straight, the main flavours (after the small shock of drinking straight gin) is floral and light and slightly sweet like a hint of sherbet sweets. I like. With tonic, this is a delight. Slightly sweeter than a usual gin, but not too sweet. Just light and refreshing, with a flowery aftertaste. It’s hard to describe (check out #ginvent on Twitter for people being more eloquent [it’s been a long day]). Less fresh rain and more kids sweets, but I’m enjoying.
You can find Berliner Brandstifter on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and you can grab yourself a bottle of this from Master of Malt for £47.85. This seems quite a lot for something I don’t think I could have as my every day gin, but it certainly feels like something special. Perhaps it’s the import costs?
Catch up on the last 19 days of Ginvent here and let me know what you think! I’m around on Twitter and Instagram.
Another day, another gin. Today’s gin is Audemus Pink Pepper Gin. Hailing from France, Audemus gin uses traditional techniques “blended with a modern alchemy and a passion for innovation”. Pink Peppercorn sounds like a good example of this. Their Pink Pepper fin is designed “to be an entirely unique, intense and aromatic gin”. The flavour should change from a spicy pink pepper and juniper blend to a warmer vanilla and honey tone as the gin ages and comes to room temperature.
Straight from the bottle the smell is very fresh and slightly savoury – not what I expected for something that tastes of honey as it warms (this has been sat in my lounge for the last month so it’s not exactly cold…). It smells smooth (yes I know that’s strange) but I can sense the vanilla. This tastes nothing like I expected. The pepper comes out, with the smoother softer vanilla at the back of the tongue. Making it into a G&T, this is certainly unusual. The pepper tastes fade away, and it is reminiscent of cake. The vanilla and honey are more prominent than expected, and not in a bad way. It’s smooth to drink, with no nasty alcohol burn. Sweet, but not cloying, I quite like this. Do I think I could drink this every day? No, but as a one off now and again it is certainly a nice change. And this comes from someone that doesn’t like a sweet gin.
You can find Audemus spirits on Facebook and in basically no shops so find them over on Masters of Malt where a 70cl bottle (44% ABV) will set you back £45.91 (at time of writing).
Have you tried the Pink Pepper Gin? Let me know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram, and catch up on Ginvent here.
-A slightly different version of this blog is available on the Brighton Girl website. We attended the Gin Festival for free to blog about it and I jumped at the chance because I hadn’t been quick enough to buy a ticket-
There are currently over 600 different active gin brands in the world. Gin has recently been going through a resurgence, with the Wine and Spirit Trade Association predicting that sales of gin in Britain would reach new highs of £1 billion by the end of 2016. Making the most of this trend is married couple Jym and Marie, the heroes that set up Gin Festival. When they headed to Brighton and invited us along, we rushed down to the Clarendon Centre to drink ALL THE GIN (please remember to drink responsibly).
On arrival we each got a branded copa glass (the best way to drink gin IMO) and a brilliant guide to all of the gins on offer. After a quick perusal, we headed upstairs to get trying. We went straight to the Brockmans stand to have a chat to their team. Brockmans use blueberries, blackberries and liquorice to create a unique tasting gin that has a sweetness from the berries and a tartness from the liquorice. I’ve tried this before and I wasn’t a massive fan so the team on the stand suggested mixing it with ginger ale. This cancels out the sweeter notes and makes it a warming wintery drink and super yummy.
Popping to the stand next door we tried a gin I’ve never heard of – Sir Robin of Locksley. A quick taster led us downstairs to distiller John’s masterclass. Mixing it with elderflower tonic whilst we hear about the history of gin, we also have a chat about why Brexit is affecting gin prices (sob). Created as a sipping gin, the main botanicals are elderflower, pink grapefruit and dandelion – again the balance between the sweet and the tart works really well.
After all the samples, we decided it was only about right to get a proper gin. Heading to Bar A (the Dry Gin bar) we plumped for a Slingsby Gin and a Silent Pool. Silent Pool is wonderful, causing Catriona to say “where have you been my whole life?”. Slingsby Gin stunned me to silence (momentarily) – clean and fresh with a hit of citrus fruit. Bar B gave us some unusual flavours in the form of Wild Mermaid Gin – a slightly salty edge from the rock samphire picked from a secret location on the Isle of Wight – and Wicked Wolf – a new gin from Exmoor which is strong and punchy with Kaffir lime and hibiscus (and slightly reminiscent of Opihr Gin)
Bar C featured foreign gins where I plumped for American Aviation Gin. Gin in America is a bit different as it doesn’t need to be ‘predominately’ juniper as it does in Europe giving them greater flexibility with flavours. It reminds me more of a Genever, smokey and savoury. It made a nice change from the juniper-heavy gins from earlier, although I’m not certain I could drink more than one of them. Catriona skipped to Bar D for flavoured gins to get herself a Zymurgorium Sweet Violet – “It’s the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth”. Basically it’s a glass of liquid Palma Violets and nowhere near as cloying as I anticipated.
We decided to grab two more samples before we headed home. Stop one was Pinkster Gin which I’ve been hearing about for ages and happy I finally got a taste. It’s delightful. The steeped raspberries give it a pale pink colour and wonderfully refreshing taste. Adding a touch of tonic makes it like a more bearable Pimms. It is super summery. Next to them as a new gin, at just 10 months old Silverback Gin has been made under the guidance of Dr David Clutton (the creator of Berry Bros & Rudd No. 3). Bottled at 46%, they call their gin ‘Mountain Strength’ and they suggest it served with some orange. After politely declining this by saying it would make me sick, Catriona said “it has the bittersweet taste of a negroni”. It’s one to watch out for (plus it’s distilled near my home town of Fleet).
With live music and street food on sale, Gin Festival was a great afternoon out. They’re taking place all over the country so get involved – we’ll be the first to buy our tickets when it comes back. But keep an eye out, tickets sold out for the Brighton event so you’ll have to beat the other 1,500 people to get yours!
You can follow Gin Festival on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for info on all of their upcoming events.
You can see plenty of gin related posts from me on Twitter and Instagram. Have you been to a Gin Festival? Let me know what you think!
After a bit of a kerfuffle with Royal Mail and their tracking system, my September Craft Gin Club delivery finally arrived. I’ve seen Elephant Gin around a few places but I’ve not yet had a chance to try it, so imagine my excitement when I open my box to find a full size bottle of an exclusive batch, PLUS small bottles of the regular gin and sloe gin (reviews of these to come after my holiday as I’ve run out of time). We were also lucky enough to receive ChariTea Red, Divine‘s newest flavour – dark chocolate and pink Himalayan salt – and a bag of Buchu (literally no idea). 15% of Elephant Gin’s profits go to help elephant conservation through Big Life Foundation‘s Ranger Club and Space for Elephants Foundation and all products in this box are fair trade, so I can feel totally good at spending this months subscription cost. Each batch of Elephant Gin is named after a real elephant that is either being protected or has played an important role in Africa’s history. Mshale, my bottle’s namesake, is a 40 year old elephant living in Kenya’s Tsavo National Park – one of the largest with tusks weighing 100 pounds each (aka £25,000 worth of ivory).
The large bottle has some lovely decoration (we all know I’m a sucker for a good label) and string wrapped around the bottle neck. It gives a feel of something old that has been shipped to us, helped by old world postage stamp designs and a map of Southern Africa. No wax seal to break through here (thank god), just a simple cork top. First sniff is fairly pungent. I can’t work out what the smell is – but this is probably from the rare African botanicals they use (Devil’s Claw, Lion’s Tails or Buchu anyone?). Straight away the smell packs a punch in the glass, but the taste is less intense than anticipated. It’s certainly got flavour to it. But I have no idea what that flavour is. Not sweet, the gin falls more on the savoury side with an almost herby smell (after tasting it I checked out the botanical list, Mountain Pine, that will be the one). A small amount of heat is noticeable on your tongue – ginger is one of the botanicals. It goes down very easily straight (never a good sign for my liver).
Mixed with tonic (and a small panic when I realise I am now out of tonic water) this is an absolute delight. Fresh apple flavours (but no disgusting fake sweetness) keep it light while heavier spiced tones make it deep and earthy. No burning sensation at any point – one could almost confuse it for exciting water. Different areas of the mouth come alive as you take a sip. At 45% I was expecting this to be harsher, but it is clean and simple in taste. I felt no need to add any lemon or lime to this gin. I happily sipped away at it all evening, and will continue to do so. I can’t wait to crack open their signature gin and the sloe gin.
A 50cl bottle of the signature blend is available on Masters of Malt for just £29.49 (as of day of publishing). Absolute bargain. This will be on order the second this bottle is finished. Elephant Gin are all over social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Don’t forget to check out Craft Gin Club and congratulate them on their success in Dragon’s Den – welcome on board Sarah Willingham! They’re on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well.
Finally, give me a follow on Twitter and Instagram and let me know what you think!
This week was historic. It’s the week that Britain threw a strop and voted itself out of the EU. I’m having post-Brexit Blues which coincided with pay day which ended up with me in Grape and Grain after work buying myself a bottle of gin. Monkey 47 to be precise. I’ve tried it before but a long time ago, so after an extensive discussion with the shop owner and staff I decided to give it another go. Also it’s German so prices will clearly rocket if we actually leave so thought I’d get it for a good price while I can!
Monkey 47 hails from the Black Forests of Germany and was first produced in 2008. It went on to win Best Gin in the World Gin catagory in 2011 at the IWSC and Gold in the World Spirit Awards. So it comes highly recommended. The name hails from the 47 botanicals used to make the gin, and it is handily bottled at 47% as well (they sure know how to create a strong brand – speaking of which I highly recommend their website). Some of their botanicals are listed on their website’s Encyclopaedia Botanica. Each batch is hand bottled and they list their batch number on the bottle – apparently each batch is subtly different, I guess I’ll just have to buy another bottle to see!
The bottle isn’t sealed with wax, but has a cork edged with a metal ring, going for an old pharmaceutical look. The cork comes out easily and the smell is quite fruity. Nothing overpowering. Mixed with water and the juniper comes to the front. Super smooth and easy to drink, it again has no overpowering taste to it or a chemical burn that some gins have, leaving just a fragrant taste in your mouth. The 47% abv gives it a warmth that isn’t as overpowering as a navy strength gin.
Mixing up a G&T with some light Fevertree tonic it really comes alive. A variety of flavours swill across your tongue. It has that exciting sherbert quality that Cornelius Ampleforths Bathtub Gin has. It’s sweet but not cloying. Tart but not sour. Hints of pepper. I add a lemon wedge which brings out a citrus tone and makes it very refreshing. Wowzers. I’m super sad I haven’t embraced this earlier.
I paid £39 for this at Grape and Grain. Worth. Every. Damn. Penny. Even if it hadn’t been pay day. Get this now and add it to your collection. Yes it’s pricier than Gordon’s but my god it’s more exciting. Masters of Malt stocks it for £36.46 (plus delivery) – and if you need more convincing then check out some of it’s reviews!
If you’re ever in Haywards Heath, head to Grape and Grain and speak to Ed. He loves gin and will happily chat to you about it for as long as you want (until you have to run off and catch a train home in my case) – or they’re on Facebook.
Finally, if you like what you read and see then give me a follow on Twitter and Instagram.
Happy Ginuary! As part of Tryanuary, The Nightingale Room over the Grand Central in Brighton hosted a series of free gin tastings. Right up my alley. So last Thursday, off we went to see what is was all about.
Gin gin gin gin
The Nightingale Rooms are nicely decorated, but very red (hence why all my photos are red, or horribly bright from my phone flash). With tables around the outside of the room, the middle was taken up with four large tables crowded with bottles, glasses and garnishes. Claiming a huge table for the two of us, we quickly made friends with the group that joined us. Up steps our leader for the evening, and what commences was great fun. Not so much a tasting, as a quick history of gin and lots of free gin and food.
Bols Genever (photo with flash on)
Our tables are full of Fever Tree tonic, and our first tasting comes in some beautiful champagne saucers filled with Bols Barrel Aged Genever. I’ve had genever once before in a cocktail, so it was a treat to have some served up. Straight in the glass it’s very warm and “woody” (Anderson, C. 2016). It smells a bit like cinnamon, with a strong flavour and a very grown up taste. Strong on the tongue, with a heavy flavour and is quite heady. This barrel aged genever is reminiscent of whiskey – perhaps a gin that my sister might finally like! Mixing it with a dash of tonic, the smell is less intense and the flavour mellows out. Less harsh and slightly fruity – it maintains the heady smell but a lighter flavour. It is distinctively different to normal gin, and not in a bad way.
Whilst we’re sipping our genever, the second gin gets handed around.
Brockmans Gin (photo with no flash)
This time it is Brockmans – a gin that I’ve tried before and enjoyed, but sadly this time not as much. Straight in the high ball glass it smells chemically and fruity, like Sibling Gin it uses blueberry as a key botanical. Once the gallon of ice they provided melts, it has light fruity notes and a dry finish down the throat. With the tonic, the chemical smell disappears and it settles down. It lacks character and tastes plain. I like big bold flavours and this lacks that. Catriona has a different opinion: “I like it but it tastes like an alcopop. I’m into it (said by my inner 15 year old). I can imagine drinking this in summer on the beach possibly from a tin.”
Gin Mare
Passing my Brockman’s onto Catriona to enjoy, our third gin arrives garnished with a olive, lemon wedge and rosemary. Welcome to the table Gin Mare. Initially the rosemary over powers the smell of the gin – the copa glass doing exactly what it is designed for, funnelling scents up into your nose. With the rosemary removed it has a clear smell with no botanical standing out. On the tongue it’s clean, a slight salty taste coming from the olive. It’s bright and fresh. With tonic it’s fresh and crisp. Again no one flavour is coming to the front but in a good way. Brockmans lacked flavour and tasted a bit bland whereas this is just a well balanced gin that goes really well with chorizo and prawn skewers (which we were conveniently given, yes the free gin tasting also provided free food).
Brighton Gin <3
Then we come to gin four. Brighton Gin. Big big fan. We all know my love of this gin, the gin that started this blog. The Grand Central serves it with a piece of Brighton Rock. Whilst I appreciate the utter Brighton-ness of this. I hate rock. Mine was moved into Catriona’s glass super quickly, and a mouthful of hers resulted in me going “mmmmm thats OH GOD BLEUGH EUGH EUGH EUGH EUGH EUGH”. Which she found amusing. I spent the next five minutes screwing my face up. God I hate peppermint. But that aside, beautiful beautiful gin.
Brighton Rocktail
All in all, for a free night out, we had a great time. Did I learn anything? No. Did I find some new gins? Yes. Whilst I won’t be rushing to get me a bottle of Brockmans anytime soon, I definitely want to do some more research into genever and give that a good go, Gin Mare was delightful and I definitely need to replenish my supply of Brighton Gin!
All the gins we tried are commercially available and online:
This was a present from my sister for Christmas (yes it’s taken me this long to crack into it, I’ve been trying to be ‘healthy’ and ‘cut down on the amount of units you drink in a week’). She got it because “after research it sounded most like what you like”. This from a girl that hates gin and loves whiskey. I know the brand has a good following so I’m fairly confident in her choice.
Bath tub gin stems from the prohibition when people were trying to make their own spirits either using a metal/ceramic bath tub to mix the spirit and botanicals (small enough to not tip off the police) or because the favoured style of bottle at the time was too big to top off from a sink so used a bath tap. Nowadays it generally refers to gin made in a compound rather than distilled method.
Oops…
Finally I reach to peel off the wax seal and it splits in my hands, sending pieces across the kitchen surface, oops. More plastic than wax. But I get there eventually. With the cork popped, the smell doesn’t hit you instantly, which I think is a good thing as it’s usually a chemically smell that reaches you. It smells junipery and Christmassy – the label cites cloves and cinnamon as botanicals so I’m not surprised. Having tidied the kitchen over Christmas, I’ve managed to hide the shot glasses from reach so decided to use my cocktail jigger instead to measure my sample. The liquid has a slightly yellow tint to it, this is because the gin is “naturally coloured by the botanicals” (looks slightly like wee tbh). With water, the zesty tones come to the fore and its soft on the tongue. Palatable, which a lot of commercial gins aren’t when straight, and perfumed at the back of the throat. No particular flavour stands out, it is well balanced and doesn’t make you screw your face up. Bonus. (not that I do that obvs as I’m a proper gin taster…)
Pairing it with the solid standard Schweppes and my beautiful new Copa glasses (thanks Nanny!), I take a mouthful and ended up going “ooooohhhh”, alone, standing in my kitchen. Not my usual reaction. Well that tastes like sherbet in a glass! Literally, imagine refreshers or love hearts. Crush them up. Hello gin. I’m pretty stunned right now because of how much it tastes like my childhood (the sweets part obviously, my parents didn’t feed me gin). Adding lemon slices really brings out the citrus notes. The style of my glass helps bring the flavours rushing to your nose, but the slight bitterness from the lemon tones down the sweetness of the gin to make one flavourful mouthful. I could drink this all day. It is fresh and tangy in the mouth, in hindsight due to the sudden temperature drop I shouldn’t have added ice as I am now basically an icicle. But drink gin I must! The cinnamon is recognisable when you first have a drink, with a slight warming sensation on the front of the tongue, giving way to the sweeter notes on the side and back.
All in all. Brilliant. If it were summer and making fancy g&ts was possible at festivals, this would be brilliant to drink in a field, in the sunshine with some music and friends. Alas I shall settle for on my sofa, under a blanket, watching The Simpsons alone losing feeling in my slowly turning blue hands (seriously, my flat is cold).
This gin is available from Master of Malt at £33.95 – pricing it higher than a standard gin and just reaching craft gin prices. Whilst I’m not 100% certain I would buy this again, their range is so broad I would probably buy the other gins to see what they’re like!
You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter (probably a better idea as they haven’t updated their Facebook page since October 2015…)
As always, if you’re bored and enjoy random ramblings, I’m on Twitter and Instagram. My sister Fiona also takes some pretty good photos (mostly of her cat).
This review is a bit late. I actually first experienced Two Birds gin in October after the lovely Morgan Rees bought me some as a present (October 10th for those wondering when to send gifts). Then I started my blog and got distracted by other gins and unemployment and new job and working all bank holiday weekend in Liverpool. But a conversation with my manager prompted me to get my act together and do this. Plus I was scared because I have so little left and I’m dreading the moment when it runs out 🙁
So. Two Birds. Another small batch gin, this one made in batches of around 100 bottles in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. As well as their London Dry gin, they also make a Vodka and Absinthe (plus some fun flavoured Vodkas depending on the season). This is the bottle that started my love of pretty designs on bottles.
(Note: the bottle doesn’t normally come with a polka dot bow. This is Morgan’s version of wrapping and I enjoy it too much to remove it)
The bottle is a screw top so whilst you don’t get the satisfying noise of a cork popping out the bottle, it is much quicker to break your way in (an important factor in my gin drinking life). The smell from the bottle is dry with the juniper coming through as the predominant note. I did the standard mixing it with water to release the botanicals and, unusually for the gins I’ve been drinking recently, you don’t get a hit of citrus. It tastes smooth on the tongue, no nasty screwed up faces ensue when drinking. It leaves a warm lingering tastes in the mouth and the dryness comes through leaving you wanting more.
Time for the G&T test.
For the test I’m using Tesco Low Calorie Tonic Water. This isn’t to be sniffed at. Tesco do a great range of tonics from normal tonic water to some flavoured with cucumber, jasmine and elderflower. They also do a great bitter lemon, and they are 4 for £1.50. And, most importantly of all, it isn’t Britvic.
Moving on. It is reminiscent of the Blackwater No.5 Gin in that it is smooth and fresh as you drink it. Whilst it doesn’t have the big punchy characteristics of some other gins, the smooth quality makes it very quaffable (it is seriously running low in the bottle). I usually love a citrus garnish but I don’t feel this needs it. Quite dry on the tongue (a good point in my books), Two Birds leaves you wanting more. I imagine it would work well in a cocktail or as a good base to any mixer as the simple flavourings would allow any added flavours to come through.
The gin is made with four botanicals (and juniper) which helps to explain why there is less going on, but bottled at 40% and a 70cl bottle setting you back a mere £28, I think this is a good buy. This gin will be great as an everyday G&T but it is special enough to feel like a treat. Plus look at the bottle. How beautiful will that look on the shelf filled with fairy lights (the current fate of all my empty gin bottles).
You can order Two Birds spirits from their website here, and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for daily rantings and gushes.
It’s a horrible coincidence that today’s gin is opened the day after a lorry attack on a busy Christmas markets in the streets of Berlin. When I first read that we would be receiving Berliner Brandstifter Berlin Dry Gin in our calendar I was excited and couldn’t stop thinking about my holiday there last year, so it’s a shame that we can’t all try it under nicer circumstances. This gin was launched in 2013 and is designed to make you think of “taking a wonderful walk on a careless summer day in the capital” using elderflowers, woodruff and mallow as key botanicals. This gin is limited to just under 10,000 bottles per year, and each bottle is hand bottled and labelled. It sounds like this should be a nice refreshing, floral gin. Hopefully a lighter note to brighten our days.
From the bottle it certainly smells fresh (Note: I do currently have a bit of a blocked nose and am wearing a pore strip so my nose isn’t on top form right now). It reminds me slightly of Blackwater No 5 (the best gin) in that it smells a bit like rain – although this has a stronger juniper nose to it. Tasting it straight, the main flavours (after the small shock of drinking straight gin) is floral and light and slightly sweet like a hint of sherbet sweets. I like. With tonic, this is a delight. Slightly sweeter than a usual gin, but not too sweet. Just light and refreshing, with a flowery aftertaste. It’s hard to describe (check out #ginvent on Twitter for people being more eloquent [it’s been a long day]). Less fresh rain and more kids sweets, but I’m enjoying.
You can find Berliner Brandstifter on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and you can grab yourself a bottle of this from Master of Malt for £47.85. This seems quite a lot for something I don’t think I could have as my every day gin, but it certainly feels like something special. Perhaps it’s the import costs?
