It’s the end of week one of Ginvent! Today I get to try the gin with easily my favourite name: Bertha’s Revenge Irish Milk Gin. The Irish team behind the gin (Ballyvolane House Spirits Company) were interested in using whey alcohol as a base spirit and after hearing Charles Maxwell’s (Head Distiller at Thames Distillery) approval on the subject they headed home to get experimenting. By batch 19, they’d got it. As of 27 April 2015, Bertha’s Revenge was born. Key ingredients are orange and grapefruit, with a liberal amount of childish enthusiasm and love – hopefully those last two flavours really come out in the tasting!
Cracking open the bottle, it smells lovely. Considering I know there is a lot of orange in it, it smells great and I’m very excited – the cumin and cardamom come to the front and it smells like a welcoming, gentle curry. Tasting it neat, the spices are clearly a main ingredient, it’s warm and earthy. Mixed with tonic (still sticking with Tesco) it’s incredibly flavoursome. It tastes of an incredible spice blend, not hot spicy but warm earthy cinnamon. Whilst I think it would go brilliantly with ginger beer with tonic it comes to life. I can’t work out what the whey base spirit brings to the party (sorry team) but this is brilliant. If you’re looking for something to jazz up your evening, this will do the trick. “That sip tasted like a fancy sausage roll”. Move over Catriona, the boy is the new taste tester on this blog.
A 70cl bottle of Bertha’s Revenge costs £35.84 on Master of Malt. Personally, I think it’s worth it. Unless you like boring gin, in which case stay away.
As the first week of Ginvent draws to a close, I finally get to try nginious! Smoked and Salted gin. Alongside traditional juniper, bitter orange and coriander there’s quince and ginger. The Swiss distillery also add 40-hour cold smoked chestnuts for a gentle smoky flavour, and stone salt from the Swiss Alps that has been smoked on larch tree boards. This is rather special gin as it is only produced once a year with 3,000 bottles being created in 2015. The full sized bottles are also rather lovely – we know I’m a sucker for a nice bottle.
Smelling it from the bottle I’m confused. It is smoky and salty. Almost slightly fishy. In the glass it’s just as confusing. I’ve had ‘savoury’ gins before that smell herby, but the salt is confusing. I didn’t try it straight because basically my body recoiled in horror from the smell. Adding tonic calms it down a bit and it doesn’t taste like it smells – luckily. But it’s definitely smoked. Like a smoked fish kinda smoke taste. I can’t taste the salt, for me the smokey flavour is overwhelming. I imagine this would go brilliantly with ginger beer or in a dark cocktail. But right now, this isn’t working with just tonic (and as this is the only sample I have I guess I’ll never know). Never thought I’d say that about a gin!
The rarity of this gin means the price is a bit higher than the usual craft gin – on Master of Malt a 50cl bottle is £48.64. Personally, I shan’t be investing.
We’ve made it to day 5 and are treated to Slingsby Gin. When I tried this at the Brighton Gin Festival it stunned me to silence – a hard thing to do. Their website opens with a Charles Dickens quote, as if I couldn’t love them more. Based in Harrogate, Slingsby has a long history when William Slingsby discovered the unique properties of the Tewit Well spring water in 1571, giving the town Spa status and this gin a name. The key botanicals are grown locally, and combined with other ingredients in Yorkshire – although some ingredients are imported from around the world.
It smells just as I remember. Juniper with a hint of fresh rain and lemon. It’s tangy on the tongue with a nice warmth to it. With tonic it’s perfect. I can’t say much more. I love this gin. And I’m happy I still love it. But really sad that it’s only a teeny tiny bottle. To anyone reading this and wondering what to get me for Christmas: it’s this gin please.
A bottle of Slingsby gin is currently £39.95 on Master of Malt and you’ll be fighting me for a bottle, and you can find them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
What do you think? Let me know on Twitter and Instagram, and don’t miss a day of Ginvent by clicking here.
Day four brings us a gin from what is probably Scotland’s smallest distillery – Strathearn Distillery. Situated near a village in Perthshire, they produce a range of spirits including single malt whisky, and, more importantly – gin. Four gins to be precise. For a small distillery they must be BUSY. Our gin today is the Heather Rose gin, a gin produced in very small batches of just 280 bottles. In the bottle is has a dark yellow colour, which by some witch craft apparently turns pink when mixed with tonic.
Straight from the bottle it has a very strong nose to it – it gets right to you. Heavy on the juniper. Straight on the tongue it’s like a whiskey, that’s a bad bad idea. A bit too strong and earthy for me.
Adding tonic hasn’t changed the colour. It’s still a dehydrated wee colour. The tonic makes it fresh and fruity. Very lemony and citrusy with a deeper juniper edge at the back of the throat. I can’t work out if I like it or not. I think I do, it’s reminiscent of Burleigh’s with a woody hint to it.
A bottle of Heather Rose gin is currently £29.95 on Master of Malt. Personally, it’s not for me.
They are available on social media on Twitter and Facebook. Have you tried it? Let me know what you think on Twitter and Instagram.
It’s Saturday! Day 3 of Ginvent brings us the City of London distillery’s Christopher Wren Londom Dry Gin. City of London distillery produces a range of gins including an Old Tom and a Sloe gin – I’ve heard of them before but never had the chance to try them. London is obviously steeped in history for gin, being home of Mother’s Ruin and the Gin Craze – and indeed inspiring my favourite image of Gin Lane and the crazy drunk mother dropping her baby off a wall. A relatively new distillery, City of London opened in December 2012 and they now have five gins in their arsenal.
It certainly smells zestier than the last two days of gin – sweet orange is a major botanical in this gin which worries me as we all know I hate orange. Fresher than yesterday’s heavy Strane gin, it’s certainly more citrusy than before. Drinking it straight from the glass I pick up the orange straight away, the boy manages to notice is is more citrusy but not specifically orange. It’s alright. I’ll make him do this more often and he’ll learn.
Sticking with the standard Tesco tonic, the orange isn’t as obvious and the flavour becomes more general-citrus – the lemon comes to the front. Boy likes this (probably because he isn’t a freak that hates orange). We both love lemon so this is a good gin.
A 70cl bottle (at 45.3%) is currently £41.95 on Master of Malt. Personally, I’m not convinced I would pay this much for a bottle as it’s not my favourite gin ever, but I’ll certainly keep an eye out in a bar and give it another go.
Day 2 is here (again, a bit late because I went to see a musical…) and bestows upon us the Merchant Strength version of Strane Gin. Made by the established Smögen Whisky distillery on the west coast of Sweden, batches are made in a 100 litre still making it very small batch indeed. The Merchant Strength gin is bottled at 47.4% – if that’s not enough for you they also produce a Navy Strength (57.1%) and an eye watering 76% Uncut Strength. Even I think that sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen!
Smelling it from the bottle, it’s not as strong as yesterday’s Half Hitch gin. Boy think’s it is fruitier, I’m less convinced. Mostly because I’m not sure what a fruity gin would be like.
Tasting it, it has more of a kick to it on the tongue but a more rounded flavour than Half Hitch. The flavour feels more complex and slightly smokey – a flavour I image that is coming from their whisky heritage. Boy thinks the flavour is “harsher and more short lived”. I have no idea what he is talking about, he isn’t a gin drinker. Sticking with the trusty Tesco tonic (obviously not because I’m drinking multiple day’s gin in one night), it’s not quite as smooth as I thought it might be. I think the deeper notes are staying, making it heavier than a normal gin and tonic. My favourite thing about a G&T is that it is light and refreshing. I like a dry drink more than anyone, but this isn’t a dryness so much as a depth. Nosing on their website shows the botanicals include mint, basil and sage alongside almonds. This explains the savoury edge.
Strane Gin’s Merchant Strength costs £39.45 for a 50ml bottle over on Masters of Malt (at time of writing). Personally, I’m not convinced this is the gin for me. But I’ve also only had a small tasting and I’m sure I could change my mind after a second serving (as I often do). They are also available on Twitter.
What do you think of the Swedish export? Let me know on Twitter and check out some photos on Instagram.
Welcome to the first day of Ginvent (although this is published late as I stupidly planned to be out on December 1st)! We’re kicking off December with Half Hitch Gin. Camden Lock, 1869, the former home of London’s gin distilleries is the home of Half Hitch. Reinvigorating the London gin scene and reliving history, Half Hitch takes its name from the rope knot used to tie barges to the lock – barges that used to convoy the gin around the world.
As Ginvent only supplies a 30ml sample of gin, the tastings of these gins will be a little different (and as you can see, shorter) than usual. Not wasting time or gin with trying it with water, it’s straight to the gin and tonic.
Straight from the bottle it smells very juniper heavy. Boy joined me for this tasting, he doesn’t drink a lot of gin. “Would it be wrong to say it smells like a sharp tasting haribo?” Brilliant. There’s not enough to mix with water so we’re going for it straight, then with tonic. On the tongue it’s strong and heavy on flavour, quite deep and earthy. Boy says “well, it doesn’t TASTE like sharp tasting haribo”. So there’s that.
With tonic (Tesco Indian tonic) it’s very palatable, or as boy called it “inoffensive”. Not floral, and not citrusy. Very easy to drink and quite light. After the earthy tones from having it straight, I wasn’t expecting it to be this fresh.
A 70cl bottle of the 40% Half Hitch is available on Master of Malt for £39.95 (at time of writing).i think there’s something nice about the simplicity of this gin, and if you’re looking for a better everyday gin than your standard mainstream brands I think this is a good shout.
I got my sloe gin with my Elephant gin – bloody love this month’s Craft Gin Club delivery. After the joy that is Elephant gin (and you can read more about that here), I’m excited to try their sloe gin. After ripping off the plastic wrapping (thank god for long nails) I unpop the cork and the smell is sweet and syrupy. A slight sourness comes through so the smell isn’t overwhelming. Slightly Christmassy. Initially dark in colour, when held up to the light it’s a rich amber.
In the glass the juniper smell is strong, then I notice the label says “compared with other sloe gins, relatively low sugar content paired with higher alcohol volume” – it’s 35% which is higher than the average 15-30% (although EU laws say it must be a minimum of 25%). On the tongue when straight it’s very syrupy and sweet, with a strong kick of gin. Mixed with a touch of water it mellows out and produces a rich berry flavour. The juniper isn’t strong when you drink it, tasting slightly more of Chambord as a fruity mixer. Watered down slightly it doesn’t even have a taste of alcohol about it, but I am now obsessed with the idea of it being Christmas.
I don’t usually drink sloe gin with tonic, so instead I’m mixing it into a sloe gin fizz (one of my favourite cocktails in case you’re wondering). 50ml of sloe gin, 25 ml of lemon juice, a teaspoon of caster sugar and topped up with soda water. Nom nom. It’s soft and gentle, the flavours don’t overpowering anything else in the cocktail. Admittedly the recipe I followed called for an extra shot of gin, and perhaps this would have given it that little extra punch it perhaps needs (for my taste buds anyway). The bitterness of the gin and lemon juice is perfectly balanced with the sweetness from the sugar. Perfectly quaffable. I love sloe gin.
A 50cl bottle of Elephant Sloe gin is £31.95 on Masters of Malt (at time of publishing). I’d invest, now the winter and the dark nights are drawing in
March’s Craft Gin Club delivery comes all the way from Northern Ireland in the form of a special edition wild clover batch of Shortcross Gin. I’ve heard lots of good things about Shortcross Gin (mainly from my manager who has only had this gin and he thinks this makes him an expert. Ha.) so I’ve been interested in trying it for a while. This batch was made specially for us – because we’re a well fancy group us craft ginners. It comes with a bottle of Franklin & Sons tonic, goji berry and pomegranate Suki Tea, cheese and onions Taytos and some viola seeds to make our own edible garnishes. Now the problem with our flat (after the mould and the damp and the general shabbiness) is that we have no garden, nor a windowsill large enough for plant pots, or indeed any sunshine. So the viola seeds will be sent to my mother for her garden and for me to use on trips back to the shire.
Now. The gin. The good bit. Each bottles is hand corked, waxed and sealed so it’s time for everyone’s favourite game: how long does it take Jenny to break into a waxed bottle? Seriously. If there’s a trick for this which isn’t attacking a bottle with a knife, please let me know. Luckily today I had some semblance of logic, cut straight down the bottle and it came off in one piece. On first sniff my reaction is “oh wow”. Floral with hints of (what seems to me) cardamom (having just checked this, no. I was wrong). Slightly curryesque. In a good way.
Mixed with some water the smell is obvious even from standing away from the glass. The juniper notes come to the front and it’s very palatable on the tongue. No harsh bitterness, no sickly sweet tanginess. Barely burns as it goes down the throat. It is well rounded in flavour, although at the moment I am not noticing the “uplifting aroma reminiscent of summer meadows, wild berries and Irish clover”. Perhaps Hampshire’s summer meadows taste different to the Irish ones. At 46% this is dangerous for me to be enjoying straight on a Sunday night.
Time to be sensible and crack open the tonic. Oh my. I’m not a fan of tonic on its own (because what’s the point of it without gin) but that’s rather nice. No bitterness that comes through in cheap tonic, and has almost a sweet edge to it. I’ve never heard of Franklin & Sons but they seem to do an interesting range of soft drinks and mixers so I’m definitely going to start looking out for them! The 200ml size bottle is perfect for two drinks at Jenny strength (50ml gin to 100ml tonic).
With tonic the slightly sweeter berry notes come through, staying dry on the tongue and sweeter at the back of your throat. You know when you eat Tangfastics and the insides of your cheeks go a bit dry? It gives that kind of feeling. It definitely has a floral aroma to it, whilst it doesn’t come through in taste, you can sense it while drinking it (that sentence makes no sense unless you understand me well). With some lemon chunks it adds a touch of bitterness to balance out the sweetness. Although, unusually for me, I think I prefer it without the lemon.
All in all this is different enough to feel special, but not so unique that it confuses you about what you’re drinking. This months Ginned magazine suggests making a syrup with the tea to then add to a cocktail, so this will be done in the future when I have my long overdue cocktail night. Just need to get a tea infuser first.
Now this gin isn’t available to buy, because we’re special, but normal ordinary Shortcross gin is available on Masters of Malt for £39.95 for a 70ml bottle. If this was the Wild Clover gin, I’d be happy to pay that. Although my bank balance might not be. Because sadly I can’t enjoy £40 bottles of gin as my every day drink…
You can find Shortcross gin on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and don’t forget to follow me for all the gin ramblings on Twitter and Instagram. You should also show the Craft Gin Club some love. Because they are wonderful on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram AND real life.
Now imma sit down and have my Taytos and plan some activities for my Dublin trip in a few weeks. Yes technically Dublin isn’t in Northern Ireland, but they have Dublin City gin and I’m kind of near Blackwater No. 5 gin so basically it will be a gin (and Guinness) filled affair. But seriously, any tips for tags to do/see/eat/drink in Dublin are appreciated!
My December delivery from Craft Gin Club arrived whilst I was in Bangkok, so I hot footed it home to give it a try (technically my holiday had finished and I was coming home anyway but whatevs). This month’s treat came courtesy of Sibling Distillery, a family of four aged between 16 and 23. Makes me feel rather inadequate that they’re all younger than me and have their own gin. Maybe I’ll start distilling – who wants to invest in me?
The four grew up working in Battledown Brewery, set up by their parents to supply local pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops with premium local ales. The foursome from Cheltenham work on a ‘grain to glass’ approach, fermenting their own grains to make vodka before infusing it with their botanicals to make gin. This process means it takes nearly three weeks from start to bottle, by way of comparison a big brand can turn around a batch in hours, and craft gins that buy in their base spirits take around 12-48 hours. Their botanicals are changed every 17 batches to ensure freshness, with lemons, oranges and blueberries hand chopped and grated. Interesting fact: as the quartet are under 25 they aren’t allowed to to use images of or communicating any information about themselves on their website or at trade events – basically they can’t include a photo of all of them for another 9 years until Digby, the youngest, turns 25. Guys, if you need a brand ambassador over 25, I’m here. Just saying.
I digress. The bottle is beautiful – I enjoy well designed bottles as these end up as lamps around my flat, plus it feels nicer to drink if they have put effort into the bottle (just me?). The siblings created “the first glass and stainless steel still in Europe, ensuring that we produce the purest vodka base” – you can tell brewing is in their blood, can’t you? The botanicals they use are slightly different, in between the usual coriander, orange and lemon there sits blueberries and vanilla.
After having a little struggle to open the seal (in my defence, when I cracked into my bottle I hadn’t slept for a while and was still on an Asian time zone), I pop the cork. Taking a whiff from the bottle, the vanilla is quite prevalent. It smells sweeter than other gins but not in a cloying way. Diluted with one part water, the juniper scents come out along with more vanilla. It smells a bit like a cake in a glass. Smooth and easy to drink (never a safe thing to say about straight 42% gin), the botanicals are well balanced so that none of the flavours are overpowering. There’s a slight tang at the back of the throat – coming, I presume, from the orange and lemon but the vanilla and blueberries balance it to leave a good taste. I’m not one to drink straight spirits (alas the days of my youth are gone) but this is nice. It helps that as I type this, a Brighton seafront storm is brewing, it’s dark and cold and windy and wet outside, but I’m snuggled up. If only my flat had a fireplace!
It’s impressed so far, but how will it fare in the gin and tonic test? Before I opened this I had a look on the Craft Gin Club Facebook page and was concerned to see a few negative reviews – would this finally be the gin I don’t like? Pairing it with the Bottle Green Light Tonic supplied in my box and making it in my new Martini glasses (birthday present from the wonderful house mate Jenny Bernarde) – although I then realised due to the size of the Martini glass compared to the size of my gin serving I am in for a strong drink.
On first taste I understand one of the Facebook reviews which I believe said it reminded her of disinfectant, it certainly has a chemically taste to it on the first mouthful. With the tonic it seems sharper on the tongue – whether this is the gin or the tonic I don’t know, I’ve never had the Bottle Green tonic before and a quick taste of it shows that it is slightly more bitter than other tonics. I am also aware that I’ve made a strong drink which will alter the taste.
Once you’ve got past the initial taste, the blueberries come out and a sweeter taste comes in. After a few sips I added a little more tonic to make the drink better balanced/I was already slightly pissed and the chemical taste disappears and you’re left with a fruity gin. I’ve had a “mixed berry” gin before that was fairly terrible as it tasted of fake fruit and sugar but this has a subtle hint to it. If I didn’t know it had blueberries in, I wouldn’t have guessed it.
Adding some lemon wedges (because I’m sorry Sibling distillery and others, I will NOT be adding orange to my drink, won’t, shan’t) makes it, in my opinion, pretty damn close to perfect. I know I’m a fan of citrus, but the sharpness from the lemon contrasts the sweetness and enhances the sharper notes making it a smooth drink. With some lemon, I will happily drink this all day long.
All in all, yes it’s a little different at first taste, but very rewarding. I like that it is set up by a group of young entrepreneurs, I think they are ginspirational (that’s right, I went there) and it’s a shame they can’t present their product as a family (although I do wonder how much tasting the 16 year old does…). But seriously, if you’re hiring…
You can get your hands on a bottle through their website, their 42% 70cl bottle is £34 plus £6 postage. This price puts it up in the luxury gin area, but (including postage) this is the same amount as my fave Brighton Gin and others. I appreciate this might be a bit much for people to buy to drink every day, but this brings some interesting flavours to the party and will make an impressive addition to any upcoming Christmas cocktail parties. I know that once I’ve shaken this post-holiday lurgy I shall be enjoying it and trying out a few new drink ideas to change things up a bit for the New Year.
Sibling Gin are all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (of course, they are run by a load of youths!)
It’s the end of week one of Ginvent! Today I get to try the gin with easily my favourite name: Bertha’s Revenge Irish Milk Gin. The Irish team behind the gin (Ballyvolane House Spirits Company) were interested in using whey alcohol as a base spirit and after hearing Charles Maxwell’s (Head Distiller at Thames Distillery) approval on the subject they headed home to get experimenting. By batch 19, they’d got it. As of 27 April 2015, Bertha’s Revenge was born. Key ingredients are orange and grapefruit, with a liberal amount of childish enthusiasm and love – hopefully those last two flavours really come out in the tasting!
Cracking open the bottle, it smells lovely. Considering I know there is a lot of orange in it, it smells great and I’m very excited – the cumin and cardamom come to the front and it smells like a welcoming, gentle curry. Tasting it neat, the spices are clearly a main ingredient, it’s warm and earthy. Mixed with tonic (still sticking with Tesco) it’s incredibly flavoursome. It tastes of an incredible spice blend, not hot spicy but warm earthy cinnamon. Whilst I think it would go brilliantly with ginger beer with tonic it comes to life. I can’t work out what the whey base spirit brings to the party (sorry team) but this is brilliant. If you’re looking for something to jazz up your evening, this will do the trick. “That sip tasted like a fancy sausage roll”. Move over Catriona, the boy is the new taste tester on this blog.
You can get in touch with the team via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Let me know what you think about this gin on Twitter and check out my photos on Instagram – and keep up to date with Ginvent here!
