Gins with great Back Stories
One of the great things about Gin is that they can have great back stories. This may come from their history or from how they were crafted, or both.
One gin with an historical back story is Booth’s Gin. In 1829 Felix Booth funded John Ross’s expedition to the Arctic’s Northwest Passage, from the profits from his gin Distillery, established in 1740. It’s claimed that Booths Gin is the oldest Gin brand still in existence.
When it comes to crafting, the flavour of a gin is achieved by infusing base alcohol with botanicals. To be a gin, Juniper is the essential botanical. It imparts a piney, resinous, slightly citrus flavour that is central to gin’s character. Coriander is also usually used together with Angelica and Orris, the latter two to fix and stabilise the flavours from other botanicals.
It is these other botanicals that can express a gin’s unique back story.
Many gins have a story that relates to where they are made and the botanicals found around their distilleries.
Kirkjuvagr Gin, distilled on the shores of Kirkwall Bay, Orkney, connects to its Viking ancestors by using a variety of angelica as a defining ingredient, a botanical brought to the islands by Norsemen centuries ago. It also uses a distinctive blend of local botanicals, including Ramanas Rose, Burnet Rose and Borage and, uniquely, traditional Orkney bere barley.
Hepple Gin is distilled with botanicals grown within the Northumberland National Park where England’s cleanest waters, most ancient juniper, and wildest winds meet. Where vast moors of heather and grasslands grow, alongside old stone walls, babbling brooks and towering pine forests.
The Adventurers Drinks Company is all about creating and marketing drinks inspired by modern day adventurers and whilst not all its drinks are alcoholic it does have a range of great gins that tell some amazing back stories through their botanicals.
Peak Baggers Gin is inspired by Claire Hughes, who loves hiking and climbing the peaks of Britain. It embraces its back story with its unique flavour coming from the botanicals found on the mountains and peaks of Great Britain including Bearberry, Blueberry, Heather, and Mountain Ash.
Bearberry provides a natural sweetness complementing the slightly bitter taste of Mountain Ash. Blueberry provides a real depth of fruit flavour, and the Heather provides a subtle perfumed aroma, imparting a delicate grassy, floral note. Together they produce a fresh vibrant deep fruity gin, with an aroma that gives you that fresh invigorated feeling one gets when you are on top of the world.
Rowers Gin is inspired by Phil Kite, who loves rowing in all its forms, river, coastal and ocean. It embraces its back story with its unique flavour coming from the botanicals found on our riverbanks, coast, and the ocean that surrounds us.
Meadowsweet, in abundance along riverbanks with creamy flower heads, offers a bewitching sweet aroma, reminding us of summer regattas. Rock samphire, found on our coasts gives an incredibly concentrated burst of flavour, reminiscent of those crashing waves. Sugar kelp, found in the Atlantic Ocean, gives a soft slightly sweet maritime flavour, with a gentle saltiness, bringing memories of those ocean crossings. Together, these amazing botanicals, create a gin reflecting its rowing heritage and Adventurous Spirit.
Explorers Grand Slam Gin is inspired by Sir David Hempleman-Adams, the first person to achieve the Explorers Grand Slam by walking to the North and South Poles and climbing the highest summit on all seven continents. The Adventurers Drinks Company has created this inspirational spirit, handcrafted using botanicals found on each of the seven continents.
So, when it comes gin, and you are a Gin Lover check out their back stories as well as their amazing flavours.
