Gin O’Clock – Part Seventy Four
The ginaissance has spawned such a crowded field of gins jostling for the toper’s attention that they tend to need some special characteristic to stand out. Quite a lot of the marketing puff that goes with the gins is often questionable but one trait that grabs my attention is what is known as a single estate gin. In a nutshell, or should that be a cocktail glass, it describes a gin that is sourced from produce in the distiller’s locale. You could call it from soil to bottle.
Of course, it could be a pretty limiting strategy depending upon the region you hail from but the Stirling brothers from the Arbikie Highland Estate in Inverkeilor on the Scottish east coastal region of Angus seemed to have cracked it. Their Arbikie Highland Estate Kirsty’s Gin, my bottle came via Drinkfinder’s on-line ordering service, is sourced entirely from the area. The story goes (there’s always a story with gin) that they found records suggesting that until 1794 there had been a distillery operating on the farm. Clearly, in those days the distillers could only use material they could get their hands on and this was the genesis of the idea to craft a gin from what is available in Angus.
The starting point is the neutral spirit. Rather than a wheat-based spirit, the head distiller, Kirsty Black, after whom the gin is named, uses a potato vodka made from three types of spud, King Edward, Cultra and Maris Piper, grown on the farm. The botanicals are added to the spirit in a copper still and left to soak for a day under a gentle heat. Once the heart’s cut is removed, the gin is left to rest for a few weeks and then distilled down to its bottled strength of 43% ABV.
The botanicals used are a mix of the traditional and the exotic. The traditional combo of juniper, angelica, coriander, liquorice and orris are joined by the exotica of kelp, representing the saltiness of the coastal region, Carline thistle root, and blaeberries (or to us Sassenachs, bilberries). The junipers are unlikely to be locally grown, about 80% of the Scottish juniper was wiped out by disease, but they are signed up to using local juniper when replacement trees are ready. It puts a bit of a dent into their claim of being single estate but there is more truth in it than in some others who claim the same distinction.
The bottle is tall, sturdy, and somewhat utilitarian. The white label at the front has a large swirly A and a depiction of the local Scottish botanicals in lavender. The use of black against white and vice versa makes the information contained on the label stand out, it is gluten free, for example. My bottle is from batch AG0004.
On removing the stopper made from artificial cork, the aroma is an enticing blend of sweetness and spice. In the mouth it is an incredible smooth, almost creamy, spirit (must be the potatoes) and a perfect, delicate mix of sweet sensations and the more warming spicy elements. The aftertaste is distinctly one of pepper and pine. I loved it and the introduction of the tonic seemed to enhance the sweeter elements which seem to dip in and out and weave around the juniper-led spirit.
This was a welcome addition to my collection and whilst you could categorise it as one of the ever-growing savoury gins that are emerging with a strong herbal element, it seems much more than that.
Until the next time, cheers!
