It’s Gin O’Clock

Beautiful botanicals

The North Wales landscape lends itself perfectly to foraging for fresh botanicals, so it’s no surprise that the region is home to some of the best gins in the country…

Lemon and Lime Gin from the Clwydian Range Distillery

Dyfi Distillery is renowned for its unique gins

The Brecon Gin range is available from Llandudno’s Penderyn Distillery

Down a quiet lane in the heart of the Flintshire countryside, an extraordinary alchemy is taking place. Carefully chosen and prepared botanicals and infusions are gently commingling in a traditional copper still as eight tortoises of varying size bimble about in the garden outside. Time ticks by, drip by measured drip, in this place where everything is considered and nothing is ever rushed…

This is the home of the Clwydian Range Distillery, quite possibly the smallest distillery in Wales. This small business is solidly built on true family values, with everybody from the children to grandparents being involved at every stage, from picking local gorse petals through to labelling and delivery – indeed, it was the children who were keen to have a tortoise as the logo on their Cariad Gin bottles in tribute to the family’s much-loved pets, foraging for gorse flowers just as the tortoises

forage for their food.

After a couple of years of trialling different recipes and flavours

while waiting for various permissions and licences to be granted, Cariad Gin was launched in November 2018, with the introduction of the first two varieties, Marmalade & Bay Leaf

Gin and Blackcurrant Gin, followed by the more recent launch of Lemon and Lime Gin and Plum Crumble Gin.

Sweet offerings indeed, but the Clwydian Range isn’t the only distillery that has flavoured gins. Did you know Penderyn

Distillery produce the award-winning Brecon Gin range?!

Top: Cariad Gin is produced in the heart of the Flintshire countryside Middle: In 2014 Snowdonia Distillery opened the first copper distillery in North Wales in over 115 years Bottom: Forager’s Gin is crafted with passion

Up first is Brecon Special Reserve Gin, which won a Gin

Master at the Spirits Business Gin Masters in 2021. Next up is Brecon Botanicals Gin which has a rich complex taste, and won a Gold at the Gin Masters in 2021. But there are also three delicious flavoured gins – Chocolate Orange (a rich velvety chocolate flows around this gin), Rose Petal (rose petal and strawberries married with tart fresh raspberries and juniper) and Rhubarb and Cranberry (a tangy rhubarb blending with bittersweet cranberry).

These gins are available from Penderyn’s Llandudno distillery shop which is open seven days a week. Or, if you want to try before you buy, you can choose them as your free tasters in the bar if you take an hour-long tour of their Llandudno distillery.

Meanwhile, in 2014, Snowdonia Distillery opened the first

copper distillery in North Wales in over 115 years, creating Forager’s Gin.

“Forager’s has stuck to a simple, time-tested philosophy for the past seven years,” explains Founder & Master Distiller, Chris Marshall. “Make spirits that we love to drink. Enjoy what we do. But above all else? Take our time and never cut corners. The spirits we craft reflect this passion, from Y Bet Vodka, to

Marsette Liqueurs.

Forager’s Gin has become the signature of what Snowdonia Distillery does. Those incredible award-winning flavours

captured from the stunning water flowing from hills and the

botanicals native to our lands.

“Today, our team, and the range of what we distil has expanded,” adds Chris. “But we still use the same, beautiful copper still we did on day one. These things matter to us, because we know they matter to the people who love our spirits. A process you can taste.” Wales’ only UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, Dyfi Distillery

is renowned for its unique gins which completely reflect their

origins. Tradition and innovation interweave in creating four beautiful gins including a Dovey Native Botanical Gin called Pollination, with a distillation based on 20 different handforaged plant materials.

This is a culmination of brothers Pete and Danny Cameron’s experiences, combining Pete’s decades of foraging in this special valley, with Danny’s many years of working with some of the world’s greatest winemakers and judging at the most influential wine and spirit competitions.

The only distillery to have won the prestigious Best British Gin trophy twice, and the only distillery worldwide (at time of writing) accredited by the United Nations’ Support the Global Goals program for their approach to sustainability. Despite such attention, the family offer a warm and informal welcome to visitors without appointment during their opening times.

Four local distilleries, producing top quality gins from North Wales botanicals. The only question is, which one will you try first? n

Distilled and bottled in the Clwydian Range Distillery nestled in the heart of the North Wales Countryside

Tel: 07751 514 271 Halkyn Mountain, North Wales, CH8 8LY

Email: hello@cariadgin.co.uk www.facebook.com/cariadgin

www.cariadgin.co.uk

“This is the best gin in the world, in my humble opinion.” Joe Wadsack, BBC Food & Drink presenter

For opening times, visit www.dyfidistillery.com

Time to shake up your gin cupboard with a boole or two of Brecon Gins! Visit Penderyn Dissllery Llandudno for a tour where you can sample two gins from the range at our tassng bar! Or buy in our Dissllery Shop.