My introduction to gin began many years ago, with a distinctive green bottle and a little yellow labelled mixer.
Before the gin renaissance of the noughties, choices were limited. Gordon’s, Beefeater, Tanqueray, and Bombay Sapphire were all the gin shelf could afford. In 1999 there came another. A big blue bottle. Thick dark glass, it’s contents lighter, more floral than the other gins that had gone before.
Hendrick’s. It was, pre 2009, generally my gin of choice. Me and a friend were so well known for drinking it, we ended up being named ‘the Hendrick’s girls’. It was different to the other gins on the shelves, I guess, it’s one of the elements that has led me to where I am now – along with that familiar green bottle, and all the subsequent gins since.
Fairly recently I was a little saddened to see the bottle change. It’s thinner, more translucent, A sign of cost cutting, or more sustainable production, I’m not sure. But it felt cheaper, and made me nostalgic for the thicker, denser bottle.
The original Hendrick’s combines spirits from both a Carter-Head and a copper pot still, and master distiller Lesley Gracie developed the gin using eleven botanicals, and then adding infusions of cucumber and rose petals. The latter being the reason why it cannot be called a London Dry Gin, despite that being the dominant flavour profile.
Late last year, they released Orbium, a quininated gin – distilled extracts of quinine, wormwood and blue lotus blossom, and made in batches of just 500 litres (still more than many small producers can dream of). It offered something a little more punchy to the table than the original. Earthy, slightly woody, a bigger dose of citrus, but still juniper led, and still Hendrick’s.
This year, they have launched their Midsummer Solistice Limited Edition. Thanks to those lovely people at 31Dover, I’ve got my hands on some to try.
This time around, Lesley wanted to capture the essence of a midsummer day, and this time around, the flavour profile is a little more secret squirrel. It’s been infused with selection of natural floral essences, and like it’s sister Orbium, is limited to just 500 litres. It’s also comparable to both it’s sister gins in terms of ABV – original Hendrick’s is 41.4%, and both Orbium and Midsummer Solstice are 43.4%.
So, as I can’t talk botanicals, the only way we’re going to know what it’s like is to taste it. So let’s.
Neat, on the nose, there’s a sweetness and strawberry sherbet, gentle florals – chamomile comes through quite a bit, orange blossom and a little citrus.
On the palate, it’s all sweet berries, fruit and florals. The chamomile, orange flower and fruity sherbet note come through. Away from the sickly sweet offerings that comprise most pink gins, if pink gin were a flavour, this feels like it would be it. It’s like a big pink peony of a gin. Except… This isn’t pink.
In a G&T, the nose is softened by the tonic, but still offers a sweetness, with pink berries, violet, and chamomile. The juniper is still there, but pushed to the back by the light pink fruits, violet and rose, the cucumber comes through as a freshness.
I can’t claim it’s a midsummer day (I mean, I live in Manchester, they’re mostly grey and overcast), but in a big glass on the patio in the sunshine? It’s what you want your summer to be.
