Anno - The Spirit of Alchemy

LONDON GOLF CLUB IN HIGH SPIRITS AHEAD OF UNVEILING ITS OWN EXCLUSIVE GIN

6 GIN

ANNO DISTILLERS MULTI-AWARD WINNING SPIRITS ARE A FUSION OF ALCHEMY AND NATURE. EXCEPTIONALLY SMOOTH SPIRITS CREATED BY SCIENTISTS DEEP IN THE HEART OF THE KENT COUNTRYSIDE.

RUMLondon Golf Club members are being invited to raise a glass to their very own brand of gin later this year, with the specially commissioned spirit made from plants taken straight from our golf courses. The club has joined forces with Anno Distillers to create a unique custom gin that includes botanicals such as gorse and elderflower foraged from areas around the Heritage and International courses.

The proud tradition of gin distilling in Kent had been lost for more than 200 years when, in 2011, lifelong scientists Andy Reason and Norman Lewis offered a glimmer of hope to spirit lovers across the county, conspiring to create Anno and Anno Kent Dry Gin. Fast forward over a decade and one of the early pioneers of the craft gin craze now boast a gin which owns the title of “World’s strongest gin”.

The aptly named Anno Extreme 95 Gin, which weighs in at a hefty 95% ABV, proudly flies the flag for British distilling as the strongest gin anywhere in the world today. Despite its high alcoholic content, the gin is actually a really smooth and easy to drink offering, with exotic botanical notes of grapefruit, eucalyptus and nutmeg, and only needing five millilitres of the spirit to make a comparable G&T due to its concentrated botanical formula.

Over the years, Anno has become an acknowledged expert in combining the beautiful nature of the Garden of England with the “Spirit of Alchemy” to create multiple award-winning gins and spirits. Putting the company’s 300-litre copper-pot still – lovingly named Patience – to good use, their team is dedicated to helping others to also enjoy the spirits which they have such a passion for.

Anno is far from a one-trick pony, and boasts a stable of spirits that have won a number of prestigious awards. These include a sold–out, limited edition of Kent’s First Whisky; a range of gins including flavours such as the wonderfully crisp ‘Orange and Honey Gin’; a deep, fruity sloe gin; a ‘B3rry Pink Gin’ and a colour-changing ‘magic’ gin; and, most recently, a fantastic range of delicious rums with a modern twist. Every Anno spirit produced continues to maintain the high quality and dedication to scientific principles that have embodied the brand since its inception.

Fans of Anno’s spirits can visit the distillery in Marden to be taken through the process of making the perfect gin using science by its knowledgeable team of experts, as well as getting to sample the fruits of their labours with their suggested serves, whilst learning a bit more about the history of the spirit itself. For those that want to try their own hand at being an alchemist, Anno also offer blending experiences, where guests can create their own bottle of spirit in the gin lab before taking it home the same day with a personalised label.

To create the gin, work starts in Anno’s two-litre development still called ‘Faith’, with a ‘base gin’ developed that is distilled using traditional botanicals such as juniper and coriander seed. Separately, citrus elements such as orange, lemon and lime peels are distilled to make a citrus spirit.

The next step sees the foraged botanicals distilled to understand their flavour profile and concentration. The liquids are then mixed in a series of small experiments and the resultant blends tasted.

Subsequent blending and tastings are conducted until the desired flavour profile is obtained before calculations are made to work out how much of each botanical amount is required for a single, all-together distillation (conducted in Faith). It is only then that the operation is scaled up and increased to take the recipe to a 300-litre scale in Patience, Anno’s production still.

You’ll be glad to know that development of the London Golf Club gin is going well, and it will be available at the bar and shop in the coming months. Watch this space!

WHAT

Gin is a spirit that has been around for hundreds of years. During this time, it has evolved from the Dutch Genever style of spirit to the modern dry and flavoured gins which are now so popular across the globe.

So what is gin and how is it made? By law, gin is described as a spirit that is predominantly flavoured with juniper berries and that has an alcohol level by volume of 37.5 per cent or more. However, a gin that only has juniper in it would be rather simple in flavour and not very exciting to drink. Distillers, therefore, carefully select a set of additional botanicals to flavour their gins to a particular style. Botanicals are plant parts such as leaves, berries, flowers, woods and spices.

In making gin, the distiller starts with high-grade alcohol at 96 per cent ABV which has been specially distilled to remove all flavour apart from the alcohol itself. This is placed in a still with the mix of botanicals and then boiled to create a vapour which rises through the still, taking flavours from the botanicals with it, to the condenser where it is converted back to a liquid.

The first part of distillate is called the ‘heads’ and this contains flavours that are often sharp and therefore discarded. The main part of the distillate is then collected as the ‘heart-cut’ which has the alcohol and flavours wanted for the gin.

The final part of the distillation is called the ‘tails’ and like the heads has flavours not wanted in the gin and are therefore also discarded. The heart cut will typically be between 80 and 90 per cent ABV so is diluted with pure water to bottling strength.

IS GIN?

RECIPES

The Golden Bear

• 125 ml pineapple juice • 50 ml London Golf Club gorse and elderflower gin • Crushed lime and mint cordial • Dried pineapple wedge and edible flowers to garnish The Grand Slam

• 200 ml ginger beer • 50 ml London Golf Club gorse and elderflower gin • 5 ml Bottle Green bramble cordial • Dried grapefruit and edible flowers to garnish LGC G&T

• 200 ml Fever Tree tonic • 50 ml London Golf Club gorse and elderflower gin • 5 ml Chambord • Dried grapefruit to garnish edible flowers to garnish