gins
This is where modern gin gets most exciting, or where the category is being devalued or destroyed, depending on your point of view. Purists say that flavoured gins are not gins at all, but are flavoured vodkas, particularly where juniper is relegated to the passenger seat. Others argue that there is no difference between these gins and liqueurs.
But it’s not that simple. Firstly, the flavours aren’t added in the most direct sense, but are infused with the gin spirit during distillation, or as part of a maturation process in the cask. And while the natural reaction is to assume that some of the concoctions sound sickly, cloying, and oversweet, that doesn’t need to be the case at all. A new wave of gin distillers argue that they are inventing new styles and exciting new drinks, whether they are strictly gin or not.
Sources for flavoured gins that have been used in the past include Shiraz grapes, clotted cream, quince, and Yorkshire tea. But a special mention needs to go to Sikkim, a Spanish gin using red tea from Sikkim, Tibet, mixed with, among other things, wild strawberries, cranberries, bilberries, bitter orange, and coriander. It is described as pleasant, tasty, and refreshing.
PRODUCER: Bramley & Gage
ABV: 43%
REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Gloucestershire, England
WEBSITE: www.bramleyandgage.com/6-oclock
BOTANICALS: Includes juniper berries, orange peel, elderflower
Bramley & Gage is a company originally founded by husband-and-wife team Edward Bramley Kane and Penelope Gage, who were fruit farmers in Devon. They started making fruit liqueurs in the 1980s and became rather good at it, expanding the drinks side of the business. The company is now run by a new generation of Kanes. This expression of gin was launched in 2010, and is named after the time when the great-grandfather of current directors Michael and Felicity would sit down for a gin and tonic. This stylishly packaged gin is distilled on a two-hundred-litre still known as Kathleen, and it is one of a range of products that include a sloe gin and a damson gin. The company has expanded over the last thirty years, and is now based in Gloucestershire. 6 O’clock has won countless awards, and can be tasted as part of the distillery’s tour and tasting package.
PRODUCER: Anno Distillers
ABV: 60%
REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Kent, England
WEBSITE: www.annodistillers.co.uk
BOTANICALS: Juniper, orris root, coriander, angelica, cassia bark, liquorice, cubebs, Kentish hops, Kentish lavender, Kentish rosehips, camomile, Kentish samphire, lemon, bitter orange, kaffir lime leaves
This is another gin from Anno Distillers, which makes Kent Dry Gin, and uses local botanicals including Kentish hops and lavender in its recipes.
This gin was originally released as a limited edition of 1,000 bottles to celebrate founders Andy Reason and Norman Lewis’s sixtieth birthdays. However, the distillery says that because of the overwhelmingly positive response it received from consumers, the distillery has decided to continue with it. As it was a celebratory release, the distillers say they made sure that the flavour would burst in the mouth. This was done by combining a selection of local hops, woody botanicals, and enticing spices with a full 60% ABV. The bold flavours work particularly well in a negroni. Just months after its release, Anno 60 Squared claimed the title of ‘Specialist Drinks Category Winner’ at the Taste of Kent Awards in March 2016.
PRODUCER: Adnams
ABV: 40%
REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Southwold, England
WEBSITE: www.adnams.co.uk/spirits/our-spirits/distilled-gin
BOTANICALS: Juniper berries, orris root, coriander seed, cardamom pod, sweet orange peel, hibiscus flowers
Adnams is a highly respected award-winning brewer, but it had always been a desire of chairman Jonathan Adnam to make distilled products including whisky. Copper House was built on the brewery’s Southwold site after the company successfully overturned arcane rules that forbade brewing and distillation under the same roof. Distiller John McCarthy and his team now make a range of distilled products, but this was the starting point, and it has won awards regularly. The distillery points to the use of hibiscus flowers as the least expected ingredient. The team say they fell in love with the hibiscus petals’ bitter floral taste when they tasted it in hibiscus tea. The distillery also makes an enjoyable eau de vie based on its Broadside bitter.
PRODUCER: Anno Distillers
ABV: 43%
REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Marden, Kent, England
WEBSITE: www.annodistillers.co.uk
BOTANICALS: Juniper, orris root, coriander, angelica, cassia bark, liquorice, cubebs, Kentish hops, Kentish lavender, Kentish rosehips, camomile, Kentish samphire, lemon, bitter orange, kaffir lime leaves
The co-founders of Anno Distillers are bringing a scientific approach to the making of a gin, but they have combined the classroom ethos with a friendship and trust borne of years working together, and combined it with a joint passion for great-tasting spirits.
Research and development chemists Andy Reason and Norman Lewis took early retirement from GlaxoSmithKline in 2011 and set about creating premium gin. With the help of Andy’s daughter Kim, who handles the marketing side of the business, they have created a gin that stays close to a traditional gin model but gives it a Kent twist with a range of locally produced botanicals. The gin is produced
PRODUCER: Davos Brands
ABV:
