What’s so special about craft gin?
Our regional craft spirits tasting experiences are all about exploring and sharing the stories of inspiring craft distilleries in local areas. As soon as we began visiting nearby distilleries, we fell in love with the creativity of craft distillation. Each distillery has a unique taste, showcasing diverse local botanicals and fascinating distillation techniques.
As we expand our regional collections, we continue to find incredible distilleries creating distinct craft spirits, so we thought we’d share a little about what we have found in the South West of England.
Showcasing Local Botanicals
Craft gins really make the most of the array of botanicals in their local areas, creating diverse flavours to explore while supporting local species. The South West has a variety of woodland, coastal and moorland botanicals and many distilleries forage or grow botanicals close to home.
Atlantic Distillery in Cornwall – the county’s only Soil Association-certified organic spirit producer – grows and experiments with a variety of botanicals such as ‘Ring of Fire’ chillies, Cornish blackcurrants and mint. With traditional botanicals sourced from high quality organic suppliers, Atlantic’s distillers aim to source everything they can locally (when we visited they were even growing juniper in the garden!). Using a traditional copper bain-marie still to distil their spirits, they produce a wide range of gin, vodka, liqueur and vermouth.
Papillon Distillery, the closest to Azu’s home on Dartmoor, has recently released its first Absinthe and has a celebrated collection of craft gins. Centred around a love of the Dartmoor countryside and a commitment to sustainability and conservation, Papillon’s original gin includes local botanicals such as Devon violets, hawthorn and rowan berries, and gorse flowers. Named for an endangered Dartmoor butterfly, the distillers donate financially and through volunteering to a local butterfly conservation project. Their Carabus gin celebrates a rare tree-dwelling Dartmoor beetle and is distilled with woodland botanicals such as hawthorn and rowan berries, wood sorrel and hazelnuts. Conservation and preserving natural ecosystems have always been deeply important to founders Claire and Adam, and their recent ‘B Corp’ certification recognises their dedication to the local environment.
Developing innovative ways to create exciting new flavours
Distillers have been building upon and experimenting with the science of distillation throughout history. Some traditional methods stand the test of time: for instance the Alembic Pot Still, created in the Islamic Golden Age, is used in many craft distilleries today. Other distilleries favour more modern or experimental distillation methods to incorporate their chosen botanicals.
When it comes to cutting-edge spirits using new techniques, Wrecking Coast in Cornwall turned to vacuum distillation to incorporate the famous Cornish clotted cream. By lowering the atmospheric pressure they can distil at a lower heat, avoiding letting the cream curdle and maintaining the freshness of the botanicals. This silky gin is included in our South West Specialist blind tasting collection. Wrecking Coast also have released other fascinating spirits including brandy, whisky, rum and liquor.
Similarly using vacuum distillation to attain the flavour from the botanicals, we recently visited George and Tom at Quayside Distillery in Exeter and were introduced to their fascinating distillery and range of spirits. A distillery and bar, they offer gin making classes, use local coastal botanicals in their flagship gin and experiment with a range of incredible flavours we’ve never seen used before.
Individual botanical distillation, a method used by Pothecary Gin, Wicked Wolf Gin and Quayside Distillery, is where distillers distil each botanical individually before blending them together. Providing a little more control over the balance between flavours, this also removes the need for ‘fixative’ botanicals such as orris and angelica root. Pothecary’s unique recipe includes just 5 botanicals: lavender, tillia flowers, lemon peel, juniper and black mulberries.
Celebrating the history of gin
Gin distilleries have been around since the 18th Century and have plenty of tales to tell! The history of gin is entwined with the development of trade routes, medicinal spirits and the progress in the science of distilling. Many gins celebrate this history through traditional recipes and production methods, and some are inspired by history closer to home.
Exeter Gin pays homage to the Roman Occupation in Exeter and its impact on the city. They use several botanicals enjoyed by the Romans including basil, cinnamon, marigold, cardamom and tarragon, and opt for the traditional copper Alembic still to distil their spirits. Made in Teignmouth just outside of Exeter, the distillery now includes a gin school and bar, so you can book tours and tastings and a gin making experience.
Sue Mullet from Bath Botanical Distillery & Herbal Apothecary taught herself to distil after becoming fascinated by the history of medicinal spirits and herbal medicine. Their Bath Botanical No1 Gin, featured in our Craft Gins of the Cotswolds blind tasting collection, includes hand-picked lime flowers from Bath alongside eight carefully chosen botanicals. As well as spirits, the distillery makes a range of herbal elixirs, bitters and fruit gins.
Taste six of these premium craft gins side by side in a unique at-home blind tasting experience.