THE BEST OF BRITISH GIN
From the backstreets of 18th-century London to the artisan distilleries of today, the historically notorious ‘mother’s ruin’ is enjoying a wholesome renaissance due to a combination of high-quality botanicals and innovative distilling techniques. And with independent, small-batch distilleries popping up around the country, the UK is now the biggest exporter of gin to the rest of the world. Self-confessed gin lover Emma Winterschladen hosted a blind tasting with the Wellbeing team to discover the new wave of British gins. SCOTLAND Edinburgh Christmas Gin Since launching in 2010, Edinburgh Gin has been at the forefront of the gin revival in Scotland, and has grown to become one of the most popular gins across the UK. A family-run business, it distils in small batches in the heart of Edinburgh using two stills called Flora and Caledonia. The Christmas gin is particularly good – distilled with frankincense and myrrh, you could really smell and taste the fragrant flavours of the festive season, with aromatic spices and sweet orange in particular giving it a real warmth. Our favourite way to drink this was with orange peel over tonic. £35 (43%) edinburghgindistillery.co.uk
The Botanist With its home on Islay, the ‘Queen of the Hebrides’, this gin hails from the Bruichladdich distillery (well-known for its whisky). The fact that 22 of the gin’s botanicals are hand-foraged from the island’s fertile, wild landscape gives a real sense of drinking in the great outdoors. The distillation process takes three times as long as normal gin and uses an ultra-low pressure ‘simmer’ still. The gin itself is almost floral in taste, with many of the team noting that it was one of the smoothest of all the gins. This makes a really refreshing gin and tonic when served with fresh mint. £33 (46%) thebotanist.com
NORTH EAST Poetic License Northern Dry Gin
Hepple Gin
The brainchild of TV forager Valentine Warner and gin This independent, connoisseur Nick artisan microStrangeway, this distillery, in the herbaceous gin heart of Sunderland, hails from the hills creates a wonderful of Northumberland. small-batch gin with With five out of the a big punch, using 14 ingredients sourced ingredients sourced from the Hepple Estate, from afar, as well as including green juniper those grown in its own and Douglas fir, it’s truly a botanic herb garden. gin of the British landscape. Its Northern Dry Gin is What’s more, the company an especially fresh and is involved in one of the fragrant spirit, with the most ambitious juniper warm spice of green propagation projects in the cardamom and almost UK, working to promote perfumed Persian native-grown junipers. lime really coming Its herby, woody through, especially when flavour was unlike served with ice and a the other gins and slice of pink grapefruit, proved a favourite which we thought really among the team, enhanced the zesty especially when citrus and eucalyptus served with a good undertones. quality tonic. £35.95 (45%) £32.50 (43.2%) poeticlicensedistillery.com hepple-gin.com
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YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER Slingsby Gin
This is named after the English soldier William Slingsby who, in the late 16th century, is reputed to have discovered the healing properties of the spring water from the Tewit Well, Harrogate. The restorative qualities that have been associated with the Yorkshire spa town ever since are the inspiration behind this gin. There are 24 botanicals, with 17 locally sourced by Taylors of Harrogate and the nearby Rudding Park kitchen garden. It comes in a beautiful bottle and was one of the lightest and most delicate gins we tried, with the jasmine and green tea undertones coming through. £39.99 (42%) wslingsby.co.uk
NORTH WEST
The Lakes Distillery Gin
Located in the heart of the stunning Lake District in Cumbria, this distillery uses water from the famous River Derwent to create a clear, crisp gin. As well as all the classic gin botanicals, it also uses ingredients native to the Lakes, including bilberry, heather and meadowsweet. The distillery prides itself on its green credentials; 124
from returning by-products of the distillation process to local farmers for use as animal feed and soil improvement, to biomass boilers and a significant investment in recycling. We found it to be a really refreshing gin, and although they say it’s best enjoyed straight from the fridge, neat over ice, for the majority of the team we enjoyed it best as a strong gin and tonic (ratio of 1:1). £29.95 (43.7%) lakesdistillery.com
WEST MIDLANDS Williams GB Gin
Using organically grown potatoes from its Herefordshire farm, William Chase distils llbeing The We urite vo its gin on fa Team’s tonic & in g site to ensure the highestquality product, with the potatoes watched from field to bottle. The company uses distilling methods that haven’t changed since the 1900s, to create an awardwinning, highly drinkable extra dry gin, which was the overwhelming favourite among the team – either neat or served with tonic, ginger and lemon. £35 (48%) chasedistillery.co.uk
EAST OF ENGLAND Spitfire Heritage Gin
Inspired by the birth decade of the iconic Spitfire plane, this single-estate retro gin is not only a celebration of the freedom to drink gin
but also the efforts of the young female pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) who delivered Spitfires to RAF bases during WWII. True to its vintage nature, it’s distilled from field to bottle in the heart of Cambridgeshire in hand-beaten copper stills. Two types of juniper are used, as well as bitter orange peel and almond, and the result is a deliciously aromatic gin that works served over crushed ice or with a quality tonic. £40 (40%) spitfireheritagegin. com
LONDON
Sipsmith London Dry Gin
Pioneers of the gin revival, Sipsmith was London’s first legal copper distillery to open for nearly 200 years. It makes its spirits by hand in small batches using copper stills, Constance, Prudence and Patience. Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin uses an eclectic mix of ten botanicals
from around the world, including Macedonian juniper berries, Spanish liquorice root, Bulgarian coriander seeds and French angelica root – which are perhaps the most noteworthy flavours. This was popular among the team, with many notingit was a particularly refreshing and crisp gin and tonic, especially when we added lime peel. £29.45 (41.6%) sipsmith.com
SOUTH EAST Silent Pool
Nestled in the heart of the rural Surrey Hills on the Duke of Northumberland’s Albury Estate, Silent Pool distillers use water from the mythical spring-fed Silent Pool lake, along with 24 of the finest botanicals, to create a smooth, full-bodied gin. We enjoyed the floral aspect of this gin (from lavender and camomile) and the inclusion of local honey, which gives it a subtle sweetness not found in most of the other gins. £39.99 (43%) silentpooldistillers. com
AND FOR THE TONIC… Mix your special gin selection with a top tonic. Our tonics of choice are from Fever-Tree, a great British beverage brand using all-natural ingredients, with no synthetic sweeteners, preservatives or flavourings used. fever-tree.com