Wine World

Drinks

World Gin is still the thing

Five years after her article on the growing popularity of Irish craft gin, Mairead Robinson finds that the appeal of this spirit shows no sign of slowing down.

In 2016 I highlighted the growing interest in both making and consuming gin in this country, and the appearance of ‘micro breweries’ producing bespoke botanical recipes that a new generation just could not get enough of. And looking at the market now, five years on, this growing popularity appears to continue to spread out across the generations. No longer just a “G & T with Ice and a Slice” we are now looking at flavoured gins, pink gins and best of all, Gin Cocktails. Of course while the market is now full of Irish craft gin from all over the country, the key to their great taste and marketing appeal is of course the botanicals.

Juniper is the key ingredient in all gins, but local wild and cultivated flowers and spices mark out the gin’s individuality. We are talking about elderflower, cumin, coriander, almonds, rosemary, thyme, rosehip, fuchsia, heather, nutmeg and many other flavours that make up some of these gins. I found recently that while there are many new distilleries all over Ireland, there seems to be a particular concentration at the two ends of the country – Donegal and the South West.

Starting with Cork, West Cork Distillers has grown in recent years to become one of the largest independent distillers and while West Cork whiskies are what they are mostly known for, they also produce a number of other spirits including a delicious Garnish Island Gin.

Created by one of Ireland's first female Master Gin Distillers, Deirdre Bohane, each bottle of Garnish Island Gin contains 16 botanicals that are cold infused overnight to release their essential oils. They are then slowly distilled in a pot still, resulting in a full-bodied, aromatic gin that perfectly captures the unique, exotic character of the Island. gorgeous pink gin that is produced by West Cork Distillers. Pink Gin is so perfect for cocktails, so attractive in the glass, that this one which bears his name is a real winner. Infused with twelve botanicals and a blush of pink rose petals, Graham Norton gin is small batch distilled with rosehip, fuchsia petals and gooseberries. It is also produced by West Cork Distillers. Rebel City Distillery, the first new distillery in Cork city in almost fifty years, has launched its first release, Maharani Gin. The word ‘Maharani’, meaning Queen, is a tribute to revolutionary women everywhere. Rebel City Distillery was founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife Robert and Bhagya alongside Robert’s father Brendan Barrett. Maharani Gin celebrates a fusion of Cork and Kerala cultures, from where Robert and Bhagya respectively come from. This exotic premium gin is zested with pomelo fruit, and uniquely spiced with cassia and nutmeg-mace, all sourced from a women’s organic farming co-operative in Bhagya’s home state of Kerala, in India. This heady combination results in a gin of truly transcendental taste, a liberation of spirit and spice.

Support for cancer research has never been more important

Every three minutes, someone in Ireland gets a cancer diagnosis – and this rate of cancer is continuing grow. In the coming ten years we will see over 500,000 new cases of cancer occur in Ireland, making cancer one of the great health challenges of our time.

As we get better at detecting and treating cancers, the number of survivors will also increase significantly. This means that we must continue our efforts together to ensure that anyone dealing with cancer can have the best chance to overcome it and thrive afterwards.

Thanks to advancements in cancer research, cancer is no longer a death sentence. However, there is still much more that must be done. Support for cancer research has never been more important.

With cancer patients and some survivors considered a higher risk, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought huge changes to their lives with many cocooning, alone in isolation, and others having treatment plans changed. The challenge ahead is significant and those affected by cancer need us now more than ever.

The Irish Cancer Society focuses on research that goes beyond the laboratory, asking new questions and looking for answers that will ultimately save lives and lead to improved treatments. Scientists are always looking for the next breakthrough, the discovery that will make a vital difference to cancer patients and their families.

Many people of Ireland leave a gift in their Will to the Irish Cancer Society as their way of improving cancer treatment and care for generations to come. This will help ensure that patients diagnosed with cancer will have access to the most cutting edge treatments and the best possible care. Gifts in Wills, no matter what size, lead to enormous steps towards a future without cancer.

“Research is everything. It has made a difference to me and hundreds like me; I wouldn’t have survived without research into new and better treatments. Even if it’s not in my lifetime, there is hope that in the future people won’t have to go through this”.

Stephanie Powell, Breast Cancer Survivor.

For your free information pack please contact Eilis Dwyer on 01 2316 649 or by email on edwyer@irishcancer.ie to find out more about how you can help make cancer a thing of the past for future generations.

I hope that, one day, my grandchildren will ask, “What WAS cancer?”

You can help make cancer a thing of the past by leaving a gift to the Irish Cancer Society in your Will.

And moving over to West Kerry, Dingle Gin was one that caught my attention five years ago, and I am delighted to see that this distillery is going from strength to strength. Still using their own hand beaten copper still, they use nine locally grown botanicals and water from their own well two hundred and forty feet deep.

Dingle Gin has received numerous accolades including Best Irish Gin at the Irish Whiskey Awards 2017 and 2018 and the award for World’s Best London Dry Gin and the overall award for World’s Best Gin at the 2019 World Gin Awards.

Originating in Inishowen, Co Donegal, the Muff Liquor Company’s Potato Craft Gin is made by Laura Bonner, whose grandfather was well-known for the quality of his poitin. Keeping with the four hundred year old family tradition, and branching out to produce a range of spirits including whiskey, vodka and a fabulous gin.

Not so heavy on the juniper, the flavour is more about citrus with flavours of mandarin, lemon, grapefruit, rosemary and a “dollop of Champagne essence to give it a lovely finish on the tongue”. It has won seven gold medals and been voted best gin in Ireland in three competitions, so they are definitely on to a winner.

An Dúlamán Irish Maritime Gin is described as a love letter to the Donegal coast and is the first gin ever to be distilled in the county. Donegal’s Sliabh Liag Distillers, founded by James and Moira Doherty, use eleven botanicals in their multi-award-winning gin. Six conventional botanicals create a robust base for the gin and five locally harvested varieties of seaweed, carrageen moss, sugar kelp, dulse, channel wrack (Dúlamán in Irish) and the intensely flavoured pepper dulse are used to capture “Draíocht na Farraige” or the magic of sea.

They wait until the full moon and the lowest tides to harvest the Donegal seaweed botanicals. Each single distillation shot from their hand-hammered 500 litre copper still produces just over 600 shots of An Dulaman and once bottled, Moira Doherty, owner and head distiller hand writes every neck label with the batch number and lunar phase for the harvesting of their most elusive seaweed botanical – pepper dulse. Sliabh Liag Distillers now export An Dulaman all around the world.

This time I have chosen just six of my favourite Irish craft gins from the many unique and very successful distilleries that have grown up around the country, not just over the past five years since I last wrote about this phenomenon, but some have been operating for a decade or more. What they have in common is their very unique flavours and their ability to make outstanding cocktails. Check them out – you will be very pleasantly surprised. Hopefully you have been following the popular Wine World Podcasts and if so you will have enjoyed our last conversation on Celebrity Wines with Kate Barry from Barry Fitzwilliam who is also the founder of www.winesofthe world.com She has given us a special code for Senior Times readers who would like to purchase some of their wine on line. Just put in the code ST10 and you will receive a 10% discount off your order.

And if the subject of cocktails interests you, we will soon be releasing a podcast all about fabulous gin and whiskey cocktails that you can make at home! Stay with us on www.seniortimes.ie

By Debbie Orme Notes

Adrian highlights Carrickfergus’s role in World War 11

Adrian with WW11 tank and in the museum

The rich and varied World War Two history of Carrickfergus is becoming ever more accessible thanks to the Lead The Way walking tours, which are guided by local man, Adrian Hack.

After 30 years behind a desk as a civil servant, Adrian took early retirement and began investigating his father’s role in the Second World War. Adrian was just 18 years old when his father died aged 55, but, as he reached that age, Adrian began researching his dad’s life and, in doing so, unwittingly discovered Carrickfergus had a military history to be proud of.

‘My mother grew up in Holland under German occupation,’ he told Northern Notes, ‘and was always grateful to the allied forces who came and rescued them. After the war, my dad served in the RAF, and it was while based in Holland that a love story blossomed. The conflict that had raged worldwide for six years had created the circumstances to bring together a man from Carrickfergus and a woman from Eindhoven! ‘I remember on my 55th birthday, thinking, ‘I am now one day older than my dad ever got to be’ and how fortunate I was,’ he explained. ‘That's when the interest in finding out about my father's life kicked in. ‘That led me then, into finding out a bit more about the town itself where he grew up, and the history then of the Second World War in the town that I didn't know about. I lived a hundred yards away from the site of a major tank factory that I didn't even know was there.’ Undertaking research gave Adrian, now 57, an appreciation of how difficult life was during the war, and the part Carrickfergus played in the war effort. The town became home to 800 evacuees, an American soldier base, and a key manufacturing site for tanks. It also helped him connect emotionally to his father and understand the sacrifices people made during that time. ‘Uncovering the history of the town’s past in the 1940s revealed to me how a linen factory was converted to make parachutes, how the iconic US Rangers regiment was formed and the role the town had in sheltering refugees from the Belfast Blitz.

‘Carrickfergus actually has a military history dating back to 1177 when its landmark castle was built by John de Courcy on the northern shore of Belfast Lough, but it’s the part the town and its people played in the Second World War that I’m mainly interested in.