Gin O’Clock – Part Forty Three
The ginaissance shows no sign of abating.
If you stop and think about it with a relatively clear head, you can soon begin to see why. Gin, after all, is not a difficult spirit to manufacture. It does not need time to mature, like whisky, or an investment in tracts of real estate in which to grow the staple base product, like wine. There is an astonishing variety of botanicals which can be added to the hooch and the limitations on combinations are simply down to taste. The market is now so established that the addition of the words hand-crafted or premium or, heaven forbid, artisan is enough to move your product into the £30 plus price range.
These days you don’t even have to persuade your teetotalling local bank manager that your spirit is going to be the next Hendrick’s or Sipsmith’s. There are more fun ways of raising capital, like a crowd funding campaign on the internet. And this is the route that the distillers of the latest gin I feature, Granny Garbutt’s Intriguingly Thoughtful London Dry Gin have chosen to follow. Indeed, so new is this gin that my bottle, acquired at the wonderful Constantine Stores, headquarters of drinksfinder.co.uk, that it is marked number 69 from Batch 1.
Let’s deal with the back history first. Granny Garbutt is grandmother of the distiller who was rather fond of gin, as women of a certain were before it became on trend. Born on the North Yorkshire moors near Osthmotherly in 1901, she was a local character, much loved and talked about.
The moor theme is taken up with the botanicals used to give the hooch its distinctive flavouring. Like all good rock bands there is a solid bass line, provided by juniper (natch), coriander and orris root. The virtuosity is provided by locally sourced – despite the Yorkshire storyline, this gin is distilled in Exeter in a copper still called Isabelle – gorse flowers, marigold, hibiscus and heather. To finish off Dartmoor honey, blackberries and vanilla are added and it is reduced to its fighting weight of 42% ABV with pure Devon spring water. The label states that there are 14 botanicals used but these are the only ones specifically identified.
The bottle is squat with four slightly rounded sides, an artificial cork as a stopper and the labelling is in a pale green background with gold lettering in an old-fashioned looking script at the front and densely packed, almost indecipherable, script at the back. Again, the labelling, stylish at is may be, does not really make it stand out from the crowd.
To the nose, there is a strong juniper hit with floral elements coming through. On pouring into a glass the spirit was slightly cloudy – I assume this is intended to be so rather than a technical hitch with the first batch. To the taste it has a well-balanced feel about it with floral notes coming through. Rather like the label it is rather understated and modest in its pretensions but if you like your gin on the lighter and more floral side, you will not be disappointed. With apologies for the pun, it is definitely moreish.
They also produce Grandad’s Revenge, a Navy strength version of Granny Garbutt’s, which is best served cold and packs quite a punch.
Until the next time, cheers!
