Glasgow Gin Club

July’s Gin Club

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Firstly, can I just start by apologising for typing this later than expected, we at Gin Club like the blog posts going out at 3pm on a Wednesday, which according to the Google Machine is the best time to post anything to Social Media.  I general find that it isn’t the timing that causes a difference but more the content.  Cake and Gin seem to do better than anything else so we are winning this race already.

Last week we had a double bill of Gin Club, in that we ran two events.  The first was our July dedicated Brand event and was all about No.3 London Dry Gin.  Anyone reading this regularly (this is where I question you all for reading these ramblings) will know that we have worked with No.3 London and several occasions.  It was featured at our first Gin Club then again at our 1st Birthday Party and it was also the first time we did a dedicated Gin free event.

This time round though we teamed up with a new Eyewear store (store is very American I apologise) called IOLLA Eyewear, which is in deepest darkest Finnieston.  At first I had no Idea what an Eyewear store was, I kept calling it an opticians and saying “look at these glasses” where I was corrected and then eventually started saying eyewear.  I am now a convert to this shop though; they even found glasses for my football shaped head and Macdonald cheeks.

Amanda Baxter from Berry Brothers & Rudd came up from London to give the 30 odd guests a brand masterclass on No.3 London.  Going through the history of Gin, Gin in London, the Berry Bros & Rudd Brand then specialising in on what makes up what we regard as one of the best Cocktail Gins on the market No.3 London Dry Gin.

In between all these talks, Stuart and I were handing out classic G&T’s, then neat tastes (cracking jokes back glasses for drinks and putting glasses next to reading glasses – classic dad humour), an alternative G&T which was Lemon Grass and Coriander, then to break up the Gin madness we served old fashioned Gin Fizz cocktails.

I really want to say thanks to Amanda, Claire, the folks at IOLLA Eyewear, the guests, Stella the dog and Betty and Bee for making it a great night with us. #IOLLAxNo.3

Then on Friday the 31st July (yes summer has officially ended – not that it began) we hosted our regular end of the month Gin Club event in the Hidden Lane Tea Room.

So July has been a wet month and something we have notice has really affected Gin Club goers, it seems not many people want to do much when it’s miserable outside and you never know if it’s going to rain.  But we did get a fair few of you out to drink the best spirit on the planet.

We decided to shake things up a bit this month and move the bar to front room in the Tea Room which I can safely say is the smartest thing we have done.  It even meant people sneaky neat tastes for those waiting for the loo.

Our first Gin for the evening (remember these come in no form of order you can bring the GinMe to the bar and chose anyone) was Shetland Reel.  I can safely say I was thrilled to be featuring this Gin and have Stuart the master distiller there to chat about it.  I have been trying to get Shetland Reel at Gin Club all year and finally it arrived.

Shetland Reel comes from Unst, which is part of the Shetland Islands. The Shetland Distillery Company was created by four people sharing a passion for producing top quality products in local communities. Frank / Debbie Strang and Stuart / Wilma Nickerson.  The gin uses 8 botanicals including locally grown apple mint.  On the nose there is a strong hit of Juniper and coriander, with fresh floral notes. To try it neat it is dry with a juniper spine and a clean dry bite.  This then becomes smoother and sweeter.

The more you drink the fruitiness builds making it a wonderful Gin, a truly loved product with of course a decent solid Juniper taste (it is a Gin)

Along with neat serves (on the sly) we intended on doing G&T’s with Fever Tree and Raspberry, but Stuart convinced us to try Kiwi fruit.  No surprises he was right.

Our second Gin for the night (which technically isn’t a Gin) was Minus 33.  Minus 33 is crafted by scientist at the Locabev Laboratory in Rosyth and started out in the labs at Edinburgh Uni.  Yes this Gin is really made in a lab.  Minus 33 comes in at 33% so technically does not qualify as a London Dry Gin but It is a Juniper distilled spirit (which is also one of their taglines).

After 3 years and 539 test tubes of experimentation Locabev decided that the optimum strength for a really smooth spirit was 33%.  This also makes it the perfect drink for those on a diet as that makes it just 46 calories per serve.

To taste Minus 33 it is fresh and floral with hints of juniper, citrus, lavender, elderflower and angelica. For the serve we were going to be using lemon and coriander but again the distiller Sam convinced us otherwise and we used dried Hibiscus.  Sam even used our old bar space to create a small lab which he served Minus 33 cocktails in beakers.

Then we had Diplôme.  Diplôme is created in Dijon and has been created roughly the same way since 1945; however the recipe was perfected during WW2.  After the end of the war, Diplôme Dry Gin became the official gin for the American Army stationed throughout Europe.

Using botanicals sourced from Europe and Morocco, Diplôme Dry Gin is made up of; Juniper (it is a Gin), coriander, whole lemons, orange peel, angelica, saffron, orris root and fennel seed.

On the nose of Diplôme gives a slight smell of cherry trees and cloves, you also get the Juniper and Coriander.

To taste you get the natural hit of Juniper (it is a Gin) but it also has zesty citrus fruit, slightly nutty and possibly lavender.  I have heard people say it almost feels oily.  I haven’t got that however I stress that we at Gin Club tend not to be wearing Tweed waist coats, while doing tastings and try to thing how the Gin will work and how it will be enjoyed. Which we served as a classic G&T with Fever Tree, garnished with Grapefruit

Our last Gin for the month was Sipsmith.  Sipsmiths is an old fav of ours which we would rave about all day if we could.  Sipsmith’s was launched by Sam Galsworthy, Fairfax Hall and Jared Brown to pursue their passion for handmade spirits.

Sipsmith is made using ten botanicals: Macedonian juniper berries, Bulgarian coriander seed, French angelica root, Spanish liquorice root, Italian orris root, Spanish ground almond, Chinese cassia bark, Madagascan cinnamon, Seville orange peel and Spanish lemon peel.

Each botanical plays its part however a few liquorice, coriander and angelica play distinctive roles.  To taste Sipsmith has strong notes of juniper but there are also definite citrus notes and a depth to the liquid that lingers.

Thanks to all of you for braving the weather and coming along.

The next one is the 28th August.  Get your tickets from Ticketweb.

Thanks

Graeme

French Gin (Diplome) and German Stills (Sipsmiths)

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Our last two Gins, which we have the pleasure of announcing for tomorrow night, are Diplôme and Sipsmiths London Dry (I know we have had it before but it was a dedicated Sipsmiths night so technically it doesn’t count).

So Diplôme is created in Dijon (famous for mustard) France and have been created roughly the same way since 1945, however the recipe was perfected during WW2.  Along with other cuisine and mustard Diplôme is very famous in France for its unique recipe and long standing stature.

After the end of the war, Diplôme Dry Gin became the official gin for the American Army stationed throughout Europe.

Using botanicals sourced from Europe and Morocco, Diplôme Dry Gin is made up of;  Juniper (it is a Gin), coriander, whole lemons, orange peel, angelica, saffron, orris root and fennel seed.

On the nose of Diplôme gives a slight smell of cherry trees and cloves, you also get the Juniper and Coriander.

To taste you get the natural hit of Juniper (it is a Gin) but it also has zesty citrus fruit, slightly nutty and possibly lavender.  I have heard people say it almost feels oily.  I haven’t got that however I stress that we at Gin Club tend not to be wearing Tweed waist coats, while doing tastings and try to thing how the Gin will work and how it will be enjoyed.

I would say that Diplôme tastes old.  Old class, it is very French but I can’t describe why.  Its French in the way you know Daft Punk are French just by listening but in no shape or form did the French invet Funk music they just seem to excel at creating their own unique identifiable funk based genre.  It is a very smooth Dry Gin which works well in many drinks.

So Sipsmiths, well lets begin by saying we love Sipsmiths, their whole range we also have in the Gin Shed.

Anyway…

In 2009, Sipsmith was launched by Sam Galsworthy, Fairfax Hall and Jared Brown to pursue their passion for handmade spirits.

Sipsmith became the first copper-pot based distillery to start up in London in over 150 years, a fact that made the process of being granted a license a long and tiresome affair.

Sipsmith is made using ten botanicals: Macedonian juniper berries, Bulgarian coriander seed, French angelica root, Spanish liquorice root, Italian orris root, Spanish ground almond, Chinese cassia bark, Madagascan cinnamon, Seville orange peel and Spanish lemon peel.

Each botanical plays its part however a few liquorice, coriander and angelica play distinctive roles.

To taste Sipsmith has strong notes of juniper but there are also definite citrus notes and a depth to the liquid that lingers.

The gin is distilled in a beautiful still affectionately named Prudence where she lives alongside Patience her sister at the Hammersmith HQ.

Tickets can be purchased here:

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/glasgow-gin-club-tickets/178989

Minus 33 – Not the average summer temperature this year!

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For our second July Gin, we look to the East…  Of Scotland.  Sadly we haven’t found a Gin from Japan or China, there probably is and we at Gin Club have not found them yet.

Anyway Minus 33 our second “Gin” (Why this is in quotation marks will be explained in due course) is crafted by scientist at the Locabev Laboratory in Rosyth.  Yes this Gin is really made in a lab.

So why did we use “Gin”?  Well if any of you read this regularly then you should know the rules.  And I don’t mean the NO Gordon’s rule.  But the Government rules of what defines a Gin.  In the EU, the minimum bottled alcoholic strength for gin, distilled gin, and London gin is 37.5% ABV.  However Minus 33 comes in at 33% so technically does not qualify even though it ticks all of the boxers of what is a Gin.  It is a Juniper distilled spirit (which is also one of their taglines).

After 3 years and 539 test tubes of experimentation Locabev decided that the optimum strength for a really smooth spirit was 33%.  This also makes it the perfect drink for those on a diet as that makes it just 46 calories per serve..

To taste Minus 33 it is fresh and floral with hints of juniper, citrus, lavender, elderflower and angelica.  We had the pleasure of sampling it at the Juniper Fest a few months ago and went back several times (rude not too).

We haven’t decided on how we are serving this on Friday though.

If you haven’t got your tickets yet them please follow the link below.

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/artist/glasgow-gin-club-tickets/944334

The Birthday & The Botanist Foraging Event

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First I would like to say thanks to everyone that came down for our Birthday party, it was one of those rare Gin Club’s now where Kate, Stuart and myself got to ditch the car (#carsgettingditched) and have “some” Gins for ourselves.  I completely hogged the Heather Rose.

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I have said it in a couple of other Blogs, our best ideas are conceived drunk at 1am, Gin Club was one of them.  Going to the Cat House when you are 31 after a Gin Club is not up there with the greatest of ideas, but worth it for all the looks “Alternative” teens (btw alternative doesn’t exist anymore, alternative is so mainstream that word is now null and void) were giving us when we were dancing, not a single f*ck was given.  Teens really are self-conscious, if only they had had Gin.

So after that minor expletive (I couldn’t find an alternative for that saying), we have moved out of our first year as Gin Club.  Again a massive thank you to all you Guests who came along drank Gin, learned about small batch and craft Gin, ate cake, cracked jokes and join Kate, Stuart and I in the art of social drinking.  When we started Gin Club (at the time we never thought it would come to anything), all we wanted to do was make something fun but at the same time have something the Gin brands would want to be part off.

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So on our first birthday we went back to our first event and used The Botanist, Strathearn Heather Rose, No.3 London and Caorunn.  These at the time were our most commonly used and favourite Craft Gins.  The Botanist was the first Gin we confirmed for Gin Club and picked up from Lynne McEwan before heading off to Ritchie Patton’s wedding at the time we had the date for the event but didn’t even have a venue.  Strathearn is a distillery close to our Perthshire homes and Heather Rose is one of those Gins I go back to time and time again, like a perfume you constantly buy as you like the smell, my drinks cupboard isn’t complete without it.  No.3 London was the Gin we used for our first dedicated single brand events, which we did in a Kroma Hair and again who we used for the Abandon Ship online and London shop launch events.

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The main difference (other than the free cake, balloons and party bags) between the setup we had at the first event and Birthday party was the garnishes we used:  On Friday I met with a lovely man called Gary and there in Argyle street he handed me three bags of greenery, which I in turn handed over money.  It looked exceptionally dodgy, but it was just bags of Sorrel and Spruce Shoots, all hand foraged by his himself that very day.

All our Garnishes for the birthday party were garnishes that can be found in environment around us then Foraged to be used in Gin. For Botanist instead of Lemon and a complimenting herb we used Sorrel.  It has a naturally and surprising taste of citrus and can be foraged around Glasgow.  For No.3 London we went away from the citrus notes and used Spruce Shoots, which add a pine flavour to the gin, when you chew it, its sweet but very very dry.  For Caorunn we used fresh brambles, mint and Braebury apples.  Wild mint grows all over the UK, Brambles are often the bane of a gardener’s life as it grows quickly and everywhere (Braebury apples are from New Zealand but hey two out of three ain’t bad).

The reason for this change in tact is that as of this Blog post we are announcing our first dedicated single Gin event of 2015 which will host The Botanist.

the botanist

On the 4th July we are hosting along with The Botanist a foraging event which will start at the Botanic gardens then walk through Kelvingrove park, while stopping along the way to forage for wild ingredients which are used in the production of The Botanist and for botanicals which can be used to garnish or make Gin cocktails with.

The foraging event walk will finish at the Kelvingrove Café on Argyle Street where the lovely Mixologist Danny Whelan will walk you through The Botanist, explaining the tastes and notes as you try it neat.  Then you will try three G&T’s all garnished with Foraged ingredients which complement the botanicals which create the fine drink.  After that you will get nibbles and a Foraged Gin Cocktail.

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Tickets for this event will be very limited as numbers have to be small.

Here’s the link for tickets (Golden ticked doesn’t include this sadly):

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/182875

 

Thanks for spending a year with us.

 

 

Proud Parents

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First Birthdays.

Obviously we can’t remember our own first birthday’s (if you say you do then you’re either Stewie from Family guy or your drunk), but we certainly remember other 1st birthday parties.  Having been to a few for my lovely Nephew and Nieces and now (god help us) my friends children, we know the format, crying, napping, half the adults drinking the other half drinking endless cups of tea, the one year old who couldn’t care less about the presents as the wrapping paper or the box is significantly more interesting.  A first birthday party is for the parents.  And if I’m honest they are lovely despite the flu or stomach bug you contract from playing with the little disease carriers (btw I’m getting a little broody in my old age) you really wouldn’t have it any other way.

So like proud parents (god does this mean that Caldo, Kate and I had a child together, remove Caldo from the equation and its normal haha), we move into the first birthday of our labour of love which is the Gin Club.

Our first solo event was the 6th of June 2014, however like a proper child it had a long gestation period, about nine months actually.  We recently did a blog for Ticketweb which describes how to create a club, so I best repeat myself on the gestation period to birth of Gin Club;

Conception

“The Art of Social Drinking” is something Caldo has always harped on about, where people go to a pub and drink nice alcohol and not just get wasted on the cheap stuff, dance and try and get off with people (these nights are ok too though).  Gin Club began while engaging in this Art form, two men in their late twenties, drinking artisan gin while trawling through YouTube for rap battles, Taylor Swift and Mylie Cyrus videos, then discussing the merits of both these two rather good female artists.

From these special moments slumped on a couch discussing which one would our mothers would prefer, a throw away thought in the form of Hashtag (#Ginclub) was born, which was instantaneously shared through each of our failing music and social media sites (it had been a long established fact that a photo of an album got less than 20 likes while a picture of a Gin pour or a beetroot and chocolate cake broke easily into triple figures).  In that one hashtag Gin Club was born (impregnated).

Don’t tell anyone it’s not three months yet

For the next few months we maintained the exclusivity of our club, while the member’s waiting list swelled with people retweeting, sharing photos and Gin Brands evening sending us stock!  But the intake was capped at two with the occasional “Gins a mine”, while our friends drank our expensive Gin and Tonic.   Keeping this cap along with the promotion of Gin and all its merits only increased demand.  Our Gin Club rules came into fruition too.  “No Gordon’s” and “Gordon’s is acceptable if there is nothing else”.

“Your showing”

Once our solid foundations had been set, we had demand, popularity and a thirst corporate engagement the next stage was to float our club idea. In the case of Gin Club this came with getting involved with the popular Brew at the Bog festival.  From this first big venture we had to draft in organised support in the third member, welcome the scientist (not the Coldplay song) Kate.

In developing this idea we had now made contact with all the Gin brands we loved and wanted to share with festival goers in Inverness.  This proved popular as all the Gin was drunk in the first day.

Birth

Our Idea was simple; it wasn’t to be formal Gin Club.  No noising glasses, just Gin served right so people could enjoy something a bit different to the norm and open to all Gin lovers.

Our club needed to be formative but informal so our guests left knowing more than what they did when they arrived without it being forced upon them or with them having to taste everything straight in crystal flute glass while writing notes in a language they would never use.

Fun / Nice were the words of choice, where people loved their night so much they took hundreds of photos, got to a good merry stage of drunkardness but happy their night wouldn’t be a late one.

Then after being at Gin Club they would want to go to a shop, buy a special Gin and realise what they have had in the pub for years is nothing compared to what they could be drinking.

We had the idea, we even had the date, the venue however wasn’t set, but a wee five minute conversation in Sainsbury’s solved that and it was set that we would be hosting Gin Club in a vintage tea room (with cake and the venue matched the feel of the night), then combine it with DJ’s, random props, table games, food (which get very competitive) and mountains of Fever Tree tonic.

Thinking back

I can’t believe that was a year ago!  Thinking of all the meetings with Kate and Caldo in Tinderbox or at Kate’s flat drinking loads of tea and eating way too much cake.

1st Birthday Party

So as it’s been a year we are going to celebrate by throwing a birthday party at the Hidden Lane on nearly the same date (one day out) as our first ever event.  To mark this we will be using the same Gins we started with;

Strathearn Heather Rose

Botanist

No.3 London

Caorunn

There will be all the usual trimmings along with lots of other special surprises.  I’ve been looking for the Happy Birthday song which gets playing in Jimmy Chung’s, can’t find it anywhere.

So get your tickets for the 5th June at the Hidden Lane Tea Room.

Spirit Christian Jensen

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Number three in our featured Gins for March is the wonderful Jensen’s (another pluralisation, but not one like when people add the S to the end of Miller –that’s Miller lager not Martin Miller’s or when they ask for “sailor Jerry’s”.  Grrrrr).

I have to say my first impression of Jensen’s was skewed.  This was because Stuart decided to experiment with Gin one night and had the Chipotle infused version and thought it would make a mean Red Snapper.  Most people who know me know I am a complete wimp when it comes to spice, I can barely handle a Korma, so Chipotle infused Gin is a bit of a trek for me.  Well I can safely say that after that experience the taste of their Bermondsey Gin changed my initial impression of “holy hell that will burn a hole right through me”.

Jensen’s base is in London and produce some truly fine Gin.  Along with the Bermondsey they have an Old Tom and a fair few infusions like the Chipotle one (everyone except this one appeals to my palate).  I have read that man behind this fine spirit Christian Jensen (Spirit Christen Jensen – sounds like a bluegrass Americana performer), was in Tokyo and feel in love with a certain Gin and was then told that it was defunct.  He then went on a mission and found the recipe for the Gin and worked with a team at Thames Distillers to recreate it.  To test they had it right he bought the lost spirit at auction and compared.  I haven’t worked out what this illusive spirit was thought.

How does it taste:

To smell it comes over with a strong sent juniper (it is a Gin – I might tire of this line), then you almost get sappy pine with coriander and liquorice. You also get fresh ginger, resin and violet. The liquorice carries through to the taste along with the piney juniper.  I read somewhere that one taster was getting Uncooked Runner beans – Thankfully I never got this.  No thanks to runner beans full stop, they remind me of my mother force feeding me them (by force feed I mean stern looks and ultimatums for not eating them).

Thanks

Graeme

Daffy’s Gin

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daffys-gin-70cl-bottle daffys-gin-age-gate

Our second Gin (I say second but remember there are no rules to the order of things in Gin Club, just hand over the #GinMe card and ask for the one you want) we get the feature (says a very excited me) the wonderful Daffy’s Gin.

I first tried this wonderful stuff while doing my now frequent loitering in the Good Spirit Company hoping that Mark will see me standing around and say “have you tried this one”, regardless of if the answer is yes I will say no just so that he whips out some glasses and whatever bottles are open under the counter.  On this particular occasion the answer was No.  I had heard of and seen Daffy’s on the shelf but never tasted and hadn’t read about it (yet).  But before I ramble on about 20 mins one day in the Good Spirit Co I should Segway back into Daffy’s Gin:

Founder Chris Molyneaux explains that he and the “Daffy’s team” spent 4 years on the Daffy’s journey learning, researching and testing.

Taking from their lovely website:

“We started by using the finest pure wheat grain spirit from northern France that we could find, then, distilling it in the same manner as malt whisky on an ancient single batch copper pot still. The botanicals that we steep and distil are a combination of the traditional – juniper, coriander seeds, cassia bark and the new – Lebanese mint and rare variety lemons.

The quality of the base spirit we use, along how we steep and distil our botanicals results in a deeply complex and well balanced spirit that is exceptionally good to drink on its own over ice, in cocktails or as a life-changing D&T with fresh mint and lime.

Lebanese mint as a botanical brings and extraordinary freshness to Daffy’s complimenting our other tasting notes of toffee, citrus, spice caramel and fresh mint”.

The Mint really makes the Gin stand out.  Its tough to place this next to other Gins.

Daffy’s also comes in a little stronger than other Gins at 43.4% proof.  I don’t know about the rest of you but I have grown accustom to stronger Gins over the years and need the larger alcohol content.  It almost makes the strength of the flavours stand for me.  This is probably a total contradiction.

Daffy’s is a perfected product; it feels like it’s afforded the same TLC of Tajima (Kobe Beef) cattle.  It’s a Gin a choose to drink straight which for me is rare.  When you first taste it, it doesn’t feel like a normal gin. It’s feels like a Gin Liqueur, which it clearly isn’t, it’s just crafted so well that it’s easy on the palate; this is a testament to creator Chris Molyneaux’s vision. There is the hit of Juniper but its masked behind the Lebanese mint.  Again you would be fooled into thinking this could be a liqueur because of this, but it is most definitely a Gin, a rather perfect one.   Chris thank you for crafting this!

Thanks

Graeme

Introducing Shortcross Gin

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Shortcross Gin was founded in 2012 by husband and wife team Fiona and David Boyd-Armstrong at the Rademon Estate Distillery which is located outside Downpatrick, County Down.  To say this Gin is a labour of love for the couple is an understatement.  Going on a Gin journey around the UK, visiting other craft distilleries to see how others did it, then decided on the flavours they want to encompass before going to our old friends Carl and ordering a custom made bespoke still from the German Still makers.  I know what you are thinking “a Gin distillery tour of the UK! What hardship” J.  I’ve been tempted to quit the day job (and evening job) and just go and drink Gin a few times.

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Emulating the Rademon Estate David and Fiona foraged wild clover then added local elderflower, elderberries and home-grown green apples. These regional botanicals are combined with juniper, coriander seeds, lemon peel, orange peel and cassia to a wheat spirit base and then local water is added to the mix.

Best talk about the Gin I suppose, as I always state to taste you really get Juniper (it is a Gin), with elderflower and elderberry hints, particularly on the nose.  Shortcross is very much a classic expertly made Gin. From the mix of juniper and clover with a citrus taste leading to peppery finish, there is also something in the texture which is different, can’t put my finger on it though, which means there is only one thing for it.  Drink more Shortcross Gin to decide!

We are really looking forward to featuring Shortcross at the March Gin Club.

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Thanks
Graeme

Mr Neill I Persume

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Whitley-Neill-Gin-Logo

Whitley Neill is distilled near Birmingham, in an antique copper pot still called ‘Constance’ who is over 100 years old. Using exceptionally pure water along with nine botanicals are which are carefully selected to ensure that they are of the highest quality. Whitley Neill’s tagline is “Made in London and Inspired by Africa” which is not only an insight to its creator Johnny Neill who is married to an African woman but also describes some of the botanical choices. In this line up are cape gooseberries and baobab fruit along with more traditional ones such as juniper, coriander, lemon & orange peel, angelica root, cassia bark and orris root.

Johnny established the company 2004 with the aim of offering consumers a new and different gin to those already in existence in the market. Despite the brand being 10 years old and this being Johnny’s first foray into gin he has family experience to back this up (Johnny Neill is from the fourth generation of the Greenall Whitley distilling family).

It’s also a Gin with morality as 5p from the sale of each bottle goes to Tree Aid in Africa to help with reforestation.  One of the few Gin brands along with Elephant Gin giving 15% of its earnings to two Elephants.

To taste you get juniper and citrus notes first followed by a subtle spice and complex finish. It really does not disappoint on the “different” quote as you do get more than you normally get from a London Dry.

We should be serving Whitley Neill with Fever Tree, garnished with a Cape Gooseberry (they have another name which sounds like an STD but no one can pronounce it), in a classic G&T.

Thanks

Graeme

Edinburgh Gin – Cannonball (Not Damian Rice)

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EGD_circle_logo6 EG Cannonball

Our third Gin for the February Gin Club is the mighty company of Edinburgh Gin.  When looking for Gins to be involved in February we weren’t initially think about Edinburgh.  This is mainly because we could have done a whole gin club just on them, their product list seems to grow and grow.  For February’s Gin Club we are getting something rather special, they are bringing along the new Cannonball Gin – along with other goodies too.

Edinburgh Gin is part of Spencerfield Spirit Company and was launched in June 2010. Edinburgh Gin’s parent company – Spencerfield Spirit Co also have Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose whiskies.

Now here comes the bit we at Gin Club debated for a long time, we always thought Edinburgh Gin was made in England and only bottled in Edinburgh, however…  For the first four years of its life it was made in England in a still called “Jenny”.   Then the spirit was shipped to Edinburgh and a selection of locally sourced and grown Scottish botanicals such as juniper berries, milk thistle, pine, heather were combined with the gin distillate from England, watered down and bottled.  But since summer 2014 the whole process now takes place in Edinburgh – thus ends the argument of Edinburgh Gins true origin.

The Edinburgh Gin range is rather impressive with Raspberry Gin (which we have been told are Rasps from Perthshire – hopefully Blairgowrie as Stuart and I have strict rules about the berries we eat as essentially our entire teenage years were paid for by working on the berries) and Elderflower Gin. And for us we will be using the strong “navy strength” stuff called Cannonball.

Edinburgh Gin has a full juniper hit (I keep saying this but Gins really should taste of Juniper) with heathery notes.  We haven’t tried the Cannonball yet though, I’m guessing it’s the same just stronger.  We might and I say might be making Martini’s for the evening which I want to call Mongs Meg Martini’s (doubtful if this will stick though).