NB
Our second gin of 2015 and something we have been keen to use since the gin bar at Brew at the Bog in March 2014 is NB. Up until recently I had no idea that NB stands for North Berwick, which is fitting as it’s made there. I do wonder at the intelligence level of myself, I knew this was made in North Berwick but didn’t twig that’s what the NB was for.
NB is made by Husband and wife (I really want to say wife and husband) team Steve and Vivienne Muir their own micro-distillery in North Berwick (NB). It’s made from pure British grain spirit and a combination of eight botanicals, all of which have been, meticulously selected to produce a smooth and balanced flavour which is not overly complicated. We haven’t been told what those eight are though.
Launched in October 2013, NB Gin is stilled, blended, bottled and labelled by hand in North Berwick in very small batches, to ensure that every bottle is of the highest quality. The still itself was custom built in London and installed in North Berwick by the oldest still makers in the world, John Dore & Co.
Since it’s launching in 2013 there has been overwhelming demand for NB Gin. Thousands of bottles have been sold and the number of trade customers it’s attracting across the UK is growing by the day. It is already being stocked across the UK and beyond.
NB Gin was honoured with a silver medal in the Micro Distillery category at The Gin Masters 2014, just nine months after launch. Chaired by The Spirits Business magazine, the awards are staged to find and reward the finest brands and are judged by a panel of leading spirits and on-trade specialists in a blind tasting. NB Gin was one of only nine gins, and the only Scottish gin, to win an award in the Micro Distillery category.
NB Gin is a classic, when you first try it neat it is bright and fresh, you can taste the citrus coming through, and with a dominant hit of juniper (it is a gin). I was trying to think of the best way to describe this gin, I just keep thinking classic and classy. These words don’t mean much on their own but from the font, down to the quality of the distilling this is a classy gin that stands on its own. I get juniper, coriander, angelica, orris root, cardamom, liquorice and something citrus, Vivienne and Steve don’t say what goes into it though.
Thanks
Graeme
THE GLASGOW GIN CLUB 