Gin Review: Wayward Gin

The Prairie Schooner Taphouse in Urmston is a little bit of the American Midwest in Manchester. For the last five years they’ve been serving beers, ciders, gins, and have hosted their rather substantial bottle shop, should you prefer something to go.

I’ve hosted a gin tasting or two with them (even a rum and chocolate pairing) and been in for a beer or two. And gin. Lots of gin. A couple of messy ones too. Oops.

To celebrate their fifth birthdays, they decided to make a gin with the Manchester Distillery of Three Rivers. But not just any old gin. This gin has it’s roots in the Taphouse.

Let’s start with the name. Wayward Gin, is named after the Kansas song, Carry on Wayward Son (which means I can drop this youtube link here and have a little *dad style rock out here).

*It was on a CD of tracks called ‘dad rock’ that I gave my dad a few years ago.

Aside from it being a rather good track, it also connects to owner Rob’s history, him being from Kansas (now you see where the bar name came from, right?), and the link translates onto the bottle itself. Not only is the font style based on the album cover font, but the image on the front is of a schooner – and there are nods to the lyrics all over the bottle.

Real effort has been made with the labelling, to tie everything together.

But what about the gin I hear you cry! OK, maybe just ask. The botanicals are a rather interesting blend. Juniper, angelica, sweet orange, lemon, torrified wheat, butter and pistachio. The juniper is the backbone, the angelica adds a little earthiness, the orange and lemon citrus, the torrified what and pistachio for nuttiness, and finally butter for mouth feel.

Neat the nose is really light, mostly just a little creaminess, roundness. The butter comes in on the mouthfeel, lovely. Lightly oily, and a nice nuttiness. The citrus is there, but it feels tight, like it needs a little opening.

So let’s open it up.

In a G&T, the nose holds a hint of nuttiness, but otherwise is soft. The palate is very different to the neat gin. It gives you a juice bite of sweet orange, a little lemon, then comes the a nuttiness that sits for a little while after you sip.Whilst this is a limited edition gin, I’m kind of tempted to suggest that they reissue it in the summer, as I can see if being ideal for sipping in the summer sunshine.

If you fancy trying for yourself, Wayward Gin can be found behind the bar in the Taphouse, or you can buy a bottle if you ask them nicely.