St Giles Gin
My bi-annual jaunt to West Cornwall leads me unerringly to the portal of Constantine Stores, headquarters of Drinkfinder, to stock up an empty box in the boot of my car with some more gins spawned by the ginaissance. The first to tickle my fancy was St Giles Gin, produced by the Norwich Dry Gin Company and launched in 2017. The project is the brain child of Professional diver, Simon Melton, who on his return to Blighty was inspired to produce a spirit influenced by the tastes and flavours that he encountered on his trips around the world.
The name that Simon has chosen for his gin resonates with the history of the spirit, St Giles being an area of London synonymous with gin shops in the 18th century. It also has a more personal association as it is the name of a road in Norwich where Simon’s company was founded. The distillery which is on North Walsham Road in Norfolk, uses a 400-litre still named Anna, named after Simon’s first daughter, and its head distiller is Pete Margee.
Being a bit of a bottle nerd, the simple but elegant design that Simon has chosen took my fancy. Made of clear glass, tapering slightly towards the almost flat shoulder, with rounded corners, a shortish neck, and a copper coloured top with artificial stopper, it makes quite a dash on the shelf. The labelling is minimal, using copper and white print on a pale blue background, and showing the year of origin in Roman numerals was a nice and classy touch. My bottle came from batch no 62, which, I am sure, was a fine one.
There are eleven botanicals used to create the spirit including the staples of juniper, coriander seeds, orris root, and angelica root, and to add a touch of the exotic lemongrass, black peppercorns, pink peppercorns, grains of paradise, and rose petals. There are obviously two other, undisclosed botanicals to complete the team.
On the nose it is impossible to miss the lemongrass but there is also more than a little hint of pepperiness. In the glass it is crisp and clear with pepper to the fore, both from the juniper and the peppercorns, balanced by citrus elements before finishing with strong hints of orange zest and rose petals. The contrast between spiciness, citrus, and the more elegant floral notes made for a complex, well-balanced and certainly different spirit which with an ABV of 42% is certainly strong enough to make its presence felt but not too daunting as to have second thoughts about refilling the glass.
If you like a gin with a contemporary twist that is not afraid to break out from the straightjacket imposed by the usual range of botanicals, this is definitely a spirit to look out for.
Until the next time, cheers!
