I often end up in conversations about botanicals in gin. What people use, what they don’t use, why they do it this way or that. One thing that’s popped up again and again in conversation is cascara.

Cascara is the cherry that surrounds a coffee bean. Unsurprisingly, it has flavours similar to cherry, but a little more floral, sometimes even with bakewell tart notes, and it actually contains more caffeine than the bean itself. (Another tip, the lighter the roast, the more caffeine there tends to be. The hit you often get from a darker coffee just tends to be bitterness, not the caffeine itself).

It’s often brewed into a tea – which is rather delicious, it’s also been made into syrups for cocktails. But as with many things, less is more, as not only is it high in caffeine, but it tends to have a certain, er, effect if drunk in large quantities. 

As to it’s use in a gin, I’ve contemplated it, even thought about working with a distillery to play around with it. Even to try with coffee beans themselves – but now Puddingstone Distillery have beaten me to it! 

Take two kindred spirits, a myriad of sensory experiences absorbed from travels to countries near and far, throw in a realisation that good gin can be enjoyed equally as well outside under the stars as it can at the bar, and you have the birth of Campfire Gin.

Puddingstone Distillery is a project from Ben and Kate Marston. Named after a rare local rock formation, the distillery is home to two stills – Isabella (named after Isabella Lucy Bird) and Amelia (named after Amelia Earhart). As you can tell, the Marstons are not the stay at home types. 

In 2014 they decided to set up the first distillery in the region – crowdfunding to fund their gin adventure and yes, I was one of the crowdfunders (is that what we’re called?). I was intrigued by their idea, and particularly by their initial gin concept – Campfire Gin. 

Following their 18 month journey from idea, to crowdfunder, from hunt for premises to distillation has been fascinating. And I was thrilled with a little delivery over the Christmas period. My own sample bottle. 

 

 

Almost immediately, the botanicals had me intrigued. as well as the usual juniper, there was orris, coriander, angelica, coffee cherry (cascara), roasted hazelnut, physalis, fresh orange peel, and fresh grapefruit peel. Orris, coriander and angelica are common to most gins. Physalis (or Cape Gooseberry as it’s also known) is also used in Whitley Neill as one of it’s exotic South African botanicals, and orange and grapefruit too are relatively common, the latter is being used more and more for it’s floral notes. Roasted hazelnut was a new one to me. I’m aware of ground almonds being used often to provide a lightly nutty, creamy notes, but these were going to give something deeper and richer. 

 

 

I of course dove in nose first. 

Surprisingly given the name it’s not intense in the nose at all. there’s a soft spice, juniper and citrus. It’s quite gentle gentle.

In the mouth, it’s warm, and spicy, but it’s the finish that was heaven. It’s like fruit and nut without the chocolate. Round, nutty, the cascara adds a rich fruity note with just a hit of spice on the tip of the tongue. It’s really rather moreish. 

 

 

I sampled it both on it’s own and with tonic. Personally, if you put tonic with it, you would need to use something super gentle. Think 1624 tonic, think Fever Tree Light, and you want a gentle hand. Whereas a lot of gins are made for dilution with tonic, this is far too nice to mess with and should be drunk on it’s own, around a big warming fire, with just a little ice to open up the florals from the citrus peels. Too much and you lose that nutty characteristic which makes it totally unique.

And I think it’s one a few coffee roasters are going to be fascinated to try.

As for Puddingstone, they’re working on a navy strength and wood aged this year, alongside seasonal variations and collaborations.

I’m going to be watching to see what they come up with next!